Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters What got you into reloading your own ammo?

A curiosity and fascination with how it all works. Then experimenting with what could be done beyond commercial ammo on both the high and low ends of the spectrum. Then tuning for accuracy way beyond what I could use as a practical matter. And somewhere along the line economy.

I'm curious to hear what got you into reloading? [/quote]

The high cost of factory ammo and the relative rarity of some of chamberings even then. My first centerfire was a Model 92 .32-20, then I used my sisters .25-35 and at twelve dad bought me a .300 Savage for my own use.

The first cartridge I loaded for was the .300 Savage. I used
Ball C-2 for powder, 100 grain half jackets for varmints and 150 grain Hornady flat base spitzers for deer. I used the reloading gear at the old Foster Sporting Goods in Portland at first. I was under the watchful eyes of the guys who worked there and they tauhght me enough to get by.
The .300 Savage with its short neck and sharp shoulder was a good one to learn on.

Reading John Wooters and Jim Carmichel is what got me interested.

45-70, same reason more or less as some of the others here.....expensive to shoot with factory....reloaded cast bullets were alot cheaper even not casting myself

What Bob said, years ago.

The bonus is, by the time my kids were of an age to start centerfire, I was plenty experienced enough to get some good starting point information from a couple of the guys here and develop ideal reduced recoil loads for them. The equipment has more than paid for itself in quality time dividends and economy.

Curiosity and a .257 Weatherby Mag.

Started with a Lee Loader and a .410 single shot back in 1976 at the age of 12. Made a whole lot of racket on moms kitchen table trying to crimp W-W hulls. Later progressed to handguns and rifles. Still have both the shotgun which was a Christmas present and the tools.

P.S. No one posting here truly understands terror until they have spilled a bag of number 8 shot on a green shag carpet in the AM and then trying to get it up before the parents got up!

It really had nothing to do with economics for me. Realistally speaking if I wanted to be economical I would have purchased a 308 of some sort and put food on the table for a life time shooting factory fodder for less money.

The truth is for me its a hobbie along with shooting that I really enjoy. It was worth every penny.

Shod

Bob's always right . However, the reason I started reloading a long time ago is because I bought a 300 wby magnum. I couldn't afford to shoot factory ammo. I bought a complete reloading kit for what a few boxes of ammo would have cost me!!! Been reloading and making good ammo for quite some time now. Oh I like accurate ammo too, so this is why I reload:



My handloads are still better than factory Bob. Probably better than other guy's handloads too. The proof is generally on the target, whether it's critter or paper...

leomort, I was in love with guns, shooting, and hunting since probably before 5 years old. Somewhere around that time we were visiting my uncle, and I watched him do some handloading. Bought my first centerfire ( Win. Model 88 in .308 Win.)at 14. Within months I bought the old Lee Loader($9.95 I think) and started loading.First centerfire handgun(S&W Model 28) at 16. At around age 20 started casting bullets for the Model 28.I'scrounged" wheel weights, a friend gave me a bunch of 38 Special brass,and I was shooting light-load 38's cheaper than I could get 22 LR's.Then started casting bullets for the Model 88 soon after. I shot turtles,snakes and armodillos during the summer, then on to squirrels and rabbits in fall, transitioned to jacketed bullets for winter deer hunting. I don't load,shoot,or hunt as much as I'd like, but still do some as time permits. memtb

P.O. Ackley

I grew up along the edge of the Blue Ridge mountains in Northern Va sandwiched between dairy farms (Catlett Va). In 1976 (16yrs old) I bought a Rem 788 in a 6mm Rem from Rankins Hardware $129 to deer hunt with. That spring and summer (77) I discovered the enormous population of groundhogs on the 20 plus farms within a few miles of our property. I enlisted a buddy of mine (Win 88 .243). We would take a card table two lawn chairs and a backback to rest the rifles on and set up on a field (both rifles wore 3X9X40 Bushnell Banners). We learned how to hit "hogs" out to 400 yds. The local farmers referred to us as the "groundhog boys" and would call our Dads and ask if we would come to their farm to help in the eradication of the varmits on their property. This required a lot of ammo. The summer of 77 I went to Clark Brothers Gun shop, Opal Va and bought a Rock Chucker kit and IMR 4350 and Sierra 85 gr HPBT (Dies for a 6mm and .243). Gained access to a lot of deer land. Hunting, reloading, and people seemed less complicated in 1977. I still have that Sierra manual with all my notes/loads.

I'm cheap

I didn't ever know anything different. Dad started letting me "help" when I was strong enough to run a Lee Auto Prime with two thumbs and a grunt.

Because I wanted to roll my own.

Getting a load specific for a certain rifle is fun and a little bit of pride.

I bought a Kimber 257 Roberts & at the time there wasn't much ammo to choose from.

To get the most out of what I've got.

About 1988 and me bitching at the range about the cost of Freedom Arms 454 Casull ammo, an older man that built all the locks and dams on the Arkansas river invited me to his place and showed me the ropes on handloading.

Bought an RCBS Master Reloading kit and got busy, had a 7 mag, 378 WBY and 458 Win Mag at the time too.

That day was the first of many trips and a friendship that lasted a couple decades till he passed away in 2009, helluva good man he was.

Economics initially, started with a Lee Loader for my 30-06 when I was 15 or 16. I'm 52 now.

375 H&H, I bought one, rounds were $30 for 20. At the time (early 80's) '06 and 7 mag was about $8 a box!! My simple math told me it was $1.50 every time I pulled the trigger, so I started reloading!