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View Poll Results: How did you learn?

Voters
318. You may not vote on this poll
  • Read books or manuals

    205 64.47%
  • Watched videos online.

    9 2.83%
  • I had a mentor.

    70 22.01%
  • Other (please tell us below).

    34 10.69%
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Results 101 to 120 of 193

Thread: How did you learn to reload?

  1. #101
    Boolit Buddy hwilliam01's Avatar
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    Nov 2016
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    The Great White North (Maine)
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    157
    How did I learn to reload? Trial and error....it was a rough 25 years....

  2. #102
    Boolit Buddy
    Scorpion8's Avatar
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    Sep 2016
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    Quote Originally Posted by imashooter2 View Post
    My curiosity peaked from a post in the ABCs of Reloading thread. So… how did you learn starting out?
    I took the NRA course offered by the training counselor in this town, and then that started me on a path to be an NRA instructor and Hunter Ed instructor.
    Pain heals, chicks dig scars, glory ... lasts forever.
    Retired USN
    NRA Life

  3. #103
    Boolit Master


    David2011's Avatar
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    Jan 2007
    Location
    Baytown Texas
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    The first time I reloaded a friend helped me but there wasn’t much teaching. A couple of years later I met my mentor who was a brilliant man with practical skills. He was also a boolit caster. That’s where my slippery slope started.
    Sometimes life taps you on the shoulder and reminds you it's a one way street. Jim Morris

  4. #104
    Boolit Master


    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    Western Oregon
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    2,623

    Cool

    When a new family friend (Joe) and his wife entered our lives, I was the ripe old age of 15. Joe had been a competitive shooter and had several firearms, rifle and pistol and reloaded for most of them. My dad and Joe, brought me to the Allied Surplus store in Eugene Oregon. They (and myself) picked out a sporterized 98 Mauser. That was the first cartridge I learned to reload. That was 58 years ago.
    Last edited by littlejack; 03-18-2023 at 01:02 AM.
    If a 41 won't stop it, I wouldn't bet my life on a 44.

  5. #105
    Boolit Bub 460S&W's Avatar
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    Jan 2023
    Location
    Appleton, WI
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    34
    I had a family friend that gave me the basics the rest was learned from reading my first RCBS Manuel and trial and error

  6. #106
    Boolit Master redhawk0's Avatar
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    Apr 2016
    Location
    North East, USA
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    1,417
    Started by read ABCs of Reloading....still have that old book on the reloading bench....started loading with a LEE Loader Kit for 308Win back in 1977. I was 14. Wow...I've come a long way.

    The only stupid question...is the unasked one.
    Not all who wander....are lost.
    "Common Sense" is like a flower. It doesn't grow in everyone's garden.

    If more government is the answer, then it was a really stupid question. - Ronald Reagan

  7. #107
    Boolit Master slim1836's Avatar
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    Mar 2010
    Location
    Burleson, TX
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    2,120
    Totally self-taught, could not find a mentor for reloading or casting. Been lucky so far.

    Slim
    JUST GOTTA LOVE THIS JOINT.

  8. #108
    Boolit Buddy
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    Texas
    Posts
    273
    Brother and I bought a Mec 600 when I was in Jr High. Charge tables for the Mec powder bushings aligned with published data were used. Learning curve came with assorted 12 ga hulls and specific wads. 4-5 yrs later I bought the RCBS kit, much later started casting.

  9. #109
    Boolit Bub greybuff's Avatar
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    Feb 2022
    Location
    Mesa, Arizona
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    54
    Had a paper route when I was 13, and a gunsmith as a customer. He helped me buy an RCBS JR. and all the other necessary equipment and then taught me how to load weighing each load on a beam scale. 54 years later I still have the JR., a RC w/piggyback (for processing pistol brass), Summit and a Lyman All American turret press. Still weigh every round, but on an electronic scale now.

  10. #110
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    DougGuy's Avatar
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    Apr 2013
    Location
    just above Raleigh North Carolina
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    7,387
    Speer #11 book and a heavy dose of common sense. I read a lot of the gun rags back then too, 1980s, before internet. I could look at detailed photos and figured out this is what they are supposed to look like and followed suit.
    Got a .22 .30 .32 .357 .38 .40 .41 .44 .45 .480 or .500 S&W cylinder that needs throats honed? 9mm, 10mm/40S&W, 45 ACP pistol barrel that won't "plunk" your handloads? 480 Ruger or 475 Linebaugh cylinder that needs the "step" reamed to 6° 30min chamfer? Click here to send me a PM You can also find me on Facebook Click Here.

  11. #111
    Boolit Man
    Join Date
    Nov 2020
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    84
    Some would say I haven't learned.

    Sent from my SM-S906U using Tapatalk

  12. #112
    Boolit Man hades's Avatar
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    Sep 2010
    Location
    MN
    Posts
    91
    Lyman Pistol and revolver handbook 2nd ed for me. My uncle reloads but only rifle so was a very small help but I don't think he even owns a handgun let alone reload for it. I started with 45acp and 44 mag and it was nerve wracking trying to find loads for cast bullets when I almost immediately switched over to buy 500 packs of Missouri bullet company slugs. They don't give load data and their 240gr 'Keith' isn't the same as the 429421.

    What's max? Where should I start with a charge? Crimping was a challenge for the 45 also. Took me awhile to figure out how not to make horses$&i# rounds. A couple guys on a facebook reloading group gave me some pointers as my uncle really didn't know the answers to questions I was calling him about.

    Spent some time lurking here too picking up some good tips and advice when I first bought a pot and recast some reclaimed bullets off a couple of MBC 500 packs that a helpful snow pile stopped for me over a winter's worth of shooting.

    Back when primers were cheap and powder was cheaper. Think I had something like $5 into a 100 rounds of 45acp with 44s being a little more because I liked the magnum loads. (Not counting any equipment costs of course).

  13. #113
    Boolit Master
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    Jun 2012
    Location
    West Tennessee
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    2,157
    I couldn't vote in two categories, so I voted in the largest one. I had an uncle that started me, but gleaned most of my knowledge from manuals and magazine articles.

  14. #114
    Boolit Master wilecoyote's Avatar
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    Jun 2021
    Location
    venice, italy
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    630
    ...exploding & trashing away a .38 snub at my 1st try_
    Food is overrated. A nice rifle is way more important.
    Rob

  15. #115
    Boolit Man Hondolane's Avatar
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    Dec 2022
    Posts
    86
    Self-taught. It was and still is cheaper to reload for many calibers I have.

  16. #116
    Boolit Master
    John Guedry's Avatar
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    Dec 2005
    Location
    Baton Rouge La.
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    555
    Like most of the replys in here I am self taught. No mentor/internet,I wonder how many of the "younger generation" would have the patience to sit and read through that many printed pages. I have been trying to mentor my grandson (30 yo) and he has the attention span of a gnat.
    Old retired guy in Baton Rouge La.

  17. #117
    Boolit Buddy
    Join Date
    Jul 2014
    Location
    bedford, pa.
    Posts
    102
    my 2 pennies...my bro-n-law taught me for a time when i started at 21 years of age. from then on i learned from manuals/reading & my own trials.
    at 60 now and i`m pretty content although i still learn some things.

  18. #118
    Boolit Master brstevns's Avatar
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    Oct 2007
    Location
    MO
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    3,326
    Back in 1967 I got a Lee Loader kit in 7x57. That started the whole thing. Those were the good old days.

  19. #119
    Boolit Grand Master
    Ben's Avatar
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    Apr 2005
    Location
    Cleveland, AL
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    9,255
    Self taught, in 1967 I had a Herter's Catalog.
    Primers were .40 a pack. Powder $2.85 a pound. 8mm jacketed hunting bullets were $4.25 per hundred.

    My uncle loaned me a WW II K-98. He said the fellow he got it from didn't need it anymore. A lot of reading and a good bit of " faith " on my behalf and I was good to go.

    Ben

  20. #120
    Boolit Buddy
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Posts
    265
    I bought a press from the local shop. Owner spend an hour with me reviewing the steps on the press I bought. Loaded some 45acp ammo. Went to the range in back and verified I got it right.

    Jumped in with both feet after that.

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check