Hardest part of reloading?

[Sieveboy]

paper patching has gotta be the worst

[tryNto]

Hardest for me is gathering funds ($$$) to buy what I want...

[Smoke-um if you got-um]

I think one of the hardest things about handloading/reloading is maintaining an up to date and accurate "knowledge data base". Over the years this has proven to be very necessary for me as components and load data has changed, sometimes very dramatically. I've handloaded/reloaded for over 40 yrs and still am constantly searching for anything pertaining to the topic to continue my education. It was this wish to continue the learning process that lead me to this forum and others like it. The great part about these forums is that both novices and accomplished handloaders can learn so much in so little time. A lot of the knowledge us old timers got was from the tried and true ways of word of mouth and trial and error. Magazines and loading data manuals were also available at considerable cost. The information on the Internet is largely at no cost and available from worldwide sources. While this makes the info easier to obtain it still requires a critical eye for validity and carefully testing for actual usefulness. The vast amount of info now available, in my opinion, makes the quest for accurate data even more difficult to obtain than it was years ago.

Mike

[leowa]

Takeing apart other reloaders junk . Stuff that should have never been put together in the first place.

[10x]

Takeing apart other reloaders junk . Stuff that should have never been put together in the first place.

Ain't that the truth!
I have about 350 rounds of .455 colt that is loaded with three grains over maximum in a mix of old balloon head cartridges and newer "modern " brass.
I do not dare shoot these loads in any gun. The old boy was of the opinion that the .455 colt was loaded to the same pressures as the 44 Remington magnum.

[mtnman31]

Personally, the hardest part is making or finding the time to reload. There aren't really any aspects of reloading that I find "hard" either mentally or physically. I do find sorting brass to be tedious but I usually end up sorting when I have gotten a bunch of extra brass either through range pick-ups or from other shooters. It ends up being a trade off - I have to sort this stuff but it was free.

BTW - I enjoy reloading and cast as much as I do shooting. I'm a busy-body and my hands are always working something.

[Bulltipper]

+1 on the pulling other peoples junk... I love free stuff, especially free gun stuff, but it seems like a lot of guys think a proper powder charge is filling the case and smashing in a bullet...

[Tom W.]

I don't like trimming brass AT ALL, but the hardest thing for me is trying a new load. What powder to use with what boolit... just to see how it does.

[cavalrymedic]

For me, the most tedious is preping brass. I like pretty brass so I use stainless shot along with LemiShine. I decap first, of course, so I can get pretty primer pockets. Then triming to length (really important for my M1 carbine, less so for the 30-30). Takes for-ever. But, in the end, I have pretty cases to reload.

The hardest part to get right has been dropping good boolits. So very many things I have to get just right. The alloy, the temp, and the latest bug that messed up my boolit making, the amount of lead in the Lee Production Pot. It seems if I have too little, it just trickles out and doesn't fill the mold up quickly enough leading to Ughh Lee boolits. Every time I cast, I find something else I was doing wrong. Still, I do love this hobby/obsession/way of life/preperation for the Apocolypse.

[biker_trash_1340]

The hardest part for me was just getting started, their wasn't anyone around me that reloaded their own ammo, let alone cast their own bullets, all I had were the manuals and I got so tired of hearing "Youll blow yourself up", LOL, but after squeezing off that first shot, I knew then and there I was hooked for life...............................steg

I know were your coming from. I started reloading before the Internet, AND sites like this one. Nice to have people with the same mind set to ask questions.

The lack of information was the hardest the part of reloading. I haven't asked many questions on here, but I sure am learning a lot...

Thanks All, BT

[WILCO]

Personally, the hardest part is making or finding the time to reload.

Same here. It's always a pleasure when I do get going though.

[MT Gianni]

I dislike the decisions of sorting my boolits. What gets tossed to the remelt and what gets shot. Base flaws and drop marks get remelted as do other obvious flaws. I still end up culling some at pickup from the cast pile, at sizing and at loading. I will weight sort match ammo but many times slight marks are OK for pistol @ 25 yards. It is just the sorting rather than picking up a batch of J-words and running them through.

[mold maker]

At one time we had to inspect/weigh/cull even factory jacketed. Things have come a long way since then. I started in 1964 and knew no one with experience. There were no forums, and a question ask of the gun rag writers took at least 2 months if then. For many years there were no close reloading/casting dealers. One of the first lessons I learned was not to trust hearsay as far as data. There were just too many chest thumping macho types.
I can look back only a few years and laugh at what I had always assumed was gospel.
You younger folks have no idea how hard we had it in the day.
Thank you Ken, the forum, and the willingness of it's members for sharing their knowledge.

[unclebill]

It's a tie between turning necks/trimming and pan lubing.

yep.........

[Charlie Sometimes]

The hardest to learn?
That would be ladle pouring, and getting a complete fill in the mold cavity- the base portion in particular. Using a Lee style ladle is a little more difficult to do it, but once I switched to an RCBS style (pressure pouring method) it happens all the time.

[keyhole]

Getting started in the reloading game was the most difficult part for me. My first reloading was in jr. high school back in the mid 60's. I had no mentors or knew anyone who reloaded. None of my friends did. I did have a Herter's reloading book and read that cover to cover. Herter's stuff was all I could afford or even knew much about. A lot of what I did was trial and error, just because I had no one to bounce ideas off of.

[BulletFactory]

Getting the bullet size right.

[-06]

Mil brass ticks me off when I bend rods or break them trying to staighten them. Just picked up a universal to do the 1200 rds in the box. Then there is the Berdans that sneak into the good brass--and bend more rods--grrrrr. Am a grease monkey at heart so lube does not bother me.

[Rangefinder]

Hardest part for me is making my cases "empty and available" again... I can always find a little time to sit at the bench--time is scarce for me usually, but the shop is right here. Finding time to go play with what I have loaded--now THAT is a different story right now. Popping a few test loads outside the shop doesn't count. Several hours of range time undisturbed just doesn't happen right now--the price of having a little one in the house again...

[geargnasher]

...
But really, the hardest part is just thinking as you stare at rounds that did not do what you want. You have to educate yourself, recover fired boolits to study, cure leading, etc.
I excel at sitting and staring!

Sometimes the hardest part is stopping. I tend to load a lot in the late evening, and I'll get into a rythm and lose track of time. Next thing I know it's nearly midnight and 0500 comes early.

Casting accurate rifle bullets was the hardest thing to learn to do. I can do it now, but it took a lot of trial and error. Consistency is the key. Sorting them by weight and casting session has helped more than anything. Also, careful inspection before shooting, if the bases and bands aren't right cull em.

For me the hardest thing is knowing when to quit. When is a load/boolit/combination "good enough"?

Sometimes the old tried and true recipes are impossible to improve on, and other times they are merely a starting point. Which is which? Well, trigger time is the only way to tell...Professor Pistol teaches truth, but you've got to be ready to listen to her!

Amen to all the above. The most difficult part for me is learning what it takes to get the accuracy I think I should get, and figuring out how to tell what to change next. This leads to the second hardest thing, making myself stop the obsessive quest at at two in the morning and go to bed.

Gear