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

I was nuts. I bought a Winchester 1886 in .33WCF and another in .38/56. First reloads I made were actually not reloads, as I started with new Remington .45/70 brass that I resized to .33 and .38/56. The .38/56 worked out OK, but I had nothing but trouble with the .33's. Because the .38/56 was so easy, I didn't realize that I needed to neck ream the .33's.

I still load a bunch of calibers, and a ton of trap loads, but no more cartridge conversions for me!

Getting the bullet I wanted in the round I wanted... was not made at the time, only way to get it was to reload.

Of course it came in really handy later on when the wife and I started competition. I can only wonder what 20K of commercial 223 rounds would have cost us a year...components were high enough as it was...

During my early days reloading I cast a lot of bullets, always looking for wheelweights and linotype. During my gunsmithing school days we would go out to the range on the days the Law Enforcement students practiced. We "mined" the berm for the recently shot lead bullets, took our booty home and set the LEE production pot up outside and cleaned up the lead and cast it into ingots. It was recycling in the truest sense, our bullet cost amounted to the cost of the lube. Almost like getting bullets for free.

I bought my 1st rifle after I came back from college and went to work full time, a $100 worth of fajen stocked step barreled sporterized 03A3 '06 and was learning to shoot using milsurp stuff bought at 10 for a dollar prices in a paper sandwich bag at a time. Cheap scope, cheap ammo and a steel butt plate were not making me a happy newby and would barely hold a pie plate group at 100 yards. Told my Grand Pop, a horse/ or anything else trader what I was shooting when I turned him down on a 1st time invite to go deer hunting with him about the time I told him I was getting married that weekend instead. 2 weeks later he called and offered me a huge discount as a wedding present on a funny sounding furrin' rifle he'd taken as collateral for a personal loan for a guy and foreclosed on...that came with 5 box's of reloads.

That Redfield 3x9 & SAKO 243'd shoot those 75grHP's and 87gr SP's dang near in one hole...and the '06 went down the road traded on a new shotgun.

I could not find the same quality of ammo in a 243 factory load, and while it wasn't as bad accuracy wise as the '06's milsurp stuff had been it was very easy to build something better even on the cigar box & dipper Lee setup.

My 2nd married Christmas present from the Better Half in 1968 was a cigar box Lee setup (I still have it) and all the supplies...and the Austin TX made rubbery tupperware 20 round slip top box's the original reloads came in...with the little no rattle bullet guides in the bottom of each segament, are full of 270 ammo right now. In the pusing 50 years I've been around, or sold at wholesale reloading stuff, I've never seen any of these 20Round flip tops like those I got as used in 1967....wish't I kept that SAKO & scope I paid $160 for in '67 too...
Ron

What got me started was simply interested in the whole process of shooting.

Ammunition is a part of that, and how it goes together was something I was curious about.

I found it to be very therapeutic. The hours spent at the bench are very relaxing, unlike some of the hours spent working on a rifle...That can get frustrating.

I'm glad someone gets therapy out of reloading.

I do it to get what I want. Other than that its a total waste of time and about like going to work for me.

But I feel the same about cleaning guns too. Probably due to too many years of competitive shooting. There were years where the wife and I would shoot close to 40K rounds between the 2 of us, thankfully some was rimfire.

Not counting hunting, shotguns and plinking.... loading gets really old if yhou have to produce lots of quality ammo and are shooting 2-3 times a week, cleaning and reloading for all of that...

I'm not loading that quantity, but I load a bunch. Beats TV or mowing the lawn.

I just do it when I want to. If it backs up, no problem.

I'm sure that if I competed and it became a "must-do", I would share your feelings...

I do load between 3 and 4K rounds a year, though. About as much as I like to do.

I was a looney at an early age. At 14, with about 40 .308 brass to my name, I bought a Lee Loader ($9.99), a lb of 4064 ($4.99), a box of 150 grain Hornady sprire points ($4.99), and a box of CCI 200s ($0.69), all at the local Buttrey grocery store that had a sporting goods counter. I remember the counter man opening the box on the loader so we could check what powders were suitable for the .308 with the powder dipper that came with the kit. That was in 1974.

A few years back, I looked at the equipment I now have, and realized that economy is no longer a major reason for reloading for me . That said, I have purchased over the years good stuff, and other than replacing the Lee Loader with a good press in 1978, have mostly added on, not replaced. And for me, it is therapy.

My Dad started me when I was 5-6 years old. That was before plastic shotgun wads appeared, and he shot a lot of skeet. He made up a multi-wad stack of cardboard wads as an example, and asked me to make up 100 just like it. I watched him load those up and he then took me along the next time he shot. That's all it took. I can count on one hand, with a couple of fingers left over, the number of times I have shot rifle, shotgun or pistol factory ammunition (other than 22 RF)in my life.

When I left for college I bought a used RCBS reloading outfit which contained a RCBS "JR" press a Ohaus 10-10 scale, a RCBS powder dropper along with various powders and bullets. All for $35.00 and I am still using it, saw no reason to change.

My first caliber to reload was .243 but traded it in for a Ruger #1-B in 22/250. I still have the 22/250.

Doc

Wow, guys! Thank you for all your feedback. It's great to hear stories such as these!

Like I mentioned before it was the 44mag that finally pushed me into reload although I have the dies for my other cartridges: 45acp, 223rem and 308win.

I'm still trying to gather my reloading components in these difficult times.

Not sure why I have the 223rem other than perhaps as an understudy rifle for my 308win. It's defintely a cheaper cartridge to shoot with hardly any recoil.

Living in Indiana not alot of varmints to hunt, for predators perhaps coyote hunting?

Ironically I bought the 44mag Redhawk in anticipation of my move to Indiana from Pennsylvania as Indiana did not allow high power rifle cartridges at that time.


Leo

Dad started about the time I was born. We never had factory ammo when I was growing up so I fell right in with it.

Yep, loading 50 for the deer rifle, not a big deal. I"m still burned out of it a bit though. At least I don't shoot hardly at all anymore so I don't burn through that much. Found out once I learned the skills of shooting, at normal distances it just doens't take much practice, its like auto pilot generally.

When I was in my early 20's, I really wanted a .357. One day I walked into the my regular gun shop and started chatting with the owner. He reached into the case and pulled out a new, 7 1/2" blued Redhawk with scope rings. He offered it to me for $340. Totally not the gun I wanted, but I knew it was a damn good price and I bit. I picked it up a couple days later after getting a purchase permit from the cop shop.

Was I ever in for a shock when I went to buy ammo. This was the early 90's and even then Winchester's USA brand ran $30+ for a box of 50.

At the same time I had a brother in law who owned a 629 and also some reloading equipment that he'd never taken the time to learn to use. I called him up and set the wheels in motion. Our first loads were with some old Red Dot and probably pushed the 245 gr SWC's only about 6-700Fps, but they all worked and we were both hooked. Being the self-sufficient type, I bought my own reloading kit shortly after that.

Dad couldn't afford to keep me and my little brother in shotgun shells, so he bought a used mec 600jr with a box of components at an auction sale for $11. He didn't reload, and neither did anyone else we knew, but I figured it out from the old manual that came in the box. Still have all my fingers and that old mec still works just as good as it did when he brought it home. Dad still has never pulled the lever on a press, but he hasn't had to buy any shotgun shells (or rifle ammo) for many years so I think he got his $11 out of that first loader. It's the one in the middle. The only thing I've ever bought for it is wad guides and the steel shot conversion. (It has friends now.)



I'm not sure I've invested as wisely as he did.

I received my first true varmint rifle, my Dad`s Mod.20 in 250-300, with a Weaver K 2.5 on top, post and crosshair,
a hand-me-down when he went to the 06 for deer. Killed many woodchucks on the local farms here. But, ammo was expensive....87 grn Western load cost $2.89 a box. I bought a Lee loader, and commenced pounding the cases in and out. 1956 I think. Load for over ten different cals. now, and one shotgun.
Still because I love to shoot, and this is the cheepest way to do it.

When we moved here back in the 70's,my wife's Uncle shot a 270,both him and a friend reloaded their own.

I didn't own a rifle until then only shotguns.

Loaded on a lee hammer set then got a RCBS rockchucker set and a few Lee shotgun loaders.
Now i load for a slew of rifle/pistol and all of my shotguns 12 and 16.

You guys who are loadng mutiple chambering/cartridges got to let me in on your secret! How do you handle the logistcs with components?

I mean I have 223rem and 308Win, so I try to fid common poweders to use in both,ie Varget, H-4895, IMR-4064, Blc-2. I can also buy once fired lak city brass for both cartridges which helps save some $$$. The 308win's modest velocity performs nicel with cup-n-core bulets which are aslo cheap.


A fringe benefit in picking 45acp and 44mag as my handgun rounds is that I can use the same large pistol primers for both, WLP. Pluse both calibers can handl lead bullets fairly well which als help keep cost down vs jacket bulets. I may even expand into casting my own lea bullets once I get more involved into reloading.


Haven't had chance to replace my shotgun since my divorce, but may get there eventually.


Leo

22 Hornet got me started.

I reload but not to the extent of some.

I shoot but not to the extent of some.

I hunt but not to the extent of some.

But.....what else I do is....

Camp, Fish, Hike, Travel, Snowmobile, Off road, Wilderness explorer,Mountain Climber, Horse back ride, Mule ride, Train Horses @ Mules,Lake weekender, Down hill ski, Cross country ski, Sit around Campfires. And I do it all with Family, Friends, And most importantly an 8 year old little Girl.

A few years ago when the Campfire addiction hit me I reloaded and shot rifles and hunted. Then after about a year I remembered all the other things I was missing out on.

I will always be a rifle loony....I have just learned to balance my loonyism.

Shod