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Reloading in Canada
Copyright 2020 – Stephen Redgwell

I reloaded my first cartridges in the mid 1970s. I didn't realize that my interest would increase to what it is today. I now have two rooms, five reloading presses, three bullet making presses, dozens of dies and piles of accessories. I credit a high school buddy with introducing me to the hobby. He came over to the house one afternoon long ago, and we made cartridges at the kitchen table.



There wasn't much stuff available back then. As much as we fuss about shortages in Canada today, it used to be worse. Sometimes, when I'm talking with friends or people at the club, I refer to my beginnings as the "dim times". There were more gun shops in the 1970s, but most were small, and they specialized. Some dealt with shotguns. Others were basically hock shops, selling used firearms and precious little else. Then there were those gems that stocked a lot of components, tools and accessories for reloaders...but they were the exception, not the rule.

A couple of long time businesses operated retail stores and offered mail order sales. Epps Sporting Goods, started in the 1930s in Clinton, ON, by a former motorcycle and bicycle repairman, Ellwood Epps. At one point he had three stores open – his original Clinton shop, another in Orillia and a third in North Bay. In the late 1970s though, he closed two of them, keeping only the Orillia store open. It still operates today, albeit it with new owners. Ellwood passed away in 2002.

Then there was SIR, which was short for Sidney I Robinson, the founder. that opened in Winnipeg in 1924. He had a retail store and started up mail orders as well. Most Canadians will remember their small, 51/2 by 8 catalogue. I kept a copy in my shooting bag. SIR was bought out by Cabelas in 2007. It wasn’t a hostile takeover, but many Canadians were upset that a big US company was going to own a Canadian icon.



It was the mail order department of these and other businesses where I spent a lot of dollars. But I wasn’t the only one. For many hunters and competitive shooters, the only way to get presses, dies, components and other things was to mail order them. The Internet and online shopping were years away.

If you're unfamiliar with the old fashioned method of mail ordering, here's a brief description. Paper catalogues were mailed out once or twice a year. Everyone waited impatiently for them to arrive. You pored over every page, looking for new products or things to put on your wish list. It was like Christmas, dreaming about the stuff that you wanted, but usually couldn't afford. If there was some extra money, you filled out the order form in the back, put a cheque or money order into an envelope, and mailed everything off.

Waiting for your stuff to arrive could be onerous. It took a week or so for your letter to reach their mail order department. Another week or two for the order to be filled. And finally, a week to ten days to get your stuff. Four to six weeks was the norm. And the wait could be longer in the early spring and late summer/early fall.

For reloaders who were lucky enough to live near a shop that carried the things they needed, there was often a wait too. Your favourite bullet or powder might be out of stock, or what you were after was a special order item. My first Rock Chucker took almost three months to arrive.

Things moved slower then, but times changed.

Progress Ain't Always Pretty

Before 1980, hunting and target shooting weren't really on the radar in Canada. To borrow from former US President George Bush, it was a kinder, gentler time. The public wasn't as fearful of firearms. There weren't many special interest groups attempting to paint firearms and their owners as evil. The government wasn't attempting to mine votes from urban Canadians – where those votes were concentrated – by creating more, and stricter legislation. The media didn't bombard the public with skewed or downright inaccurate information. In short, fewer people and institutions worked to generate irrational fears about hunting and shooting.

I do not remember anyone who looked at us with fear or suspicion. We went hunting in the fall with no problems. Trap and skeet shooters spent many pleasant afternoons busting clays. Many of us thinned the groundhog population in the neighbour’s oat fields. Army cadets took their rifles on a bus, or carried their rifles, uncased, through the local high schools. It's hard to believe now, but some of these institutions had rifle ranges in their basements.

After WWII, more people moved to the city. As a result, a fractured way of thinking evolved. Hunting, and meat consumption generally, came under attack. Movies and television, intentionally or not, programmed many boomer kids about the horrors of guns. An increasing divide between city and country folk developed. That was sad.

These changes affected everyone in the shooting sports. When I started, you walked into the gun shop, shot the breeze with the clerk and got what you needed. Bullets, powder and primers weren't hidden behind the counter. Loaded ammunition wasn't either. Hardware stores carried a small selection of the most popular cartridges, a few rifles, targets and some hunting accessories. Canadian Tire had a much better sporting goods section.

There were no government issued identity cards for rifle or ammunition purchases. No one had to carry what you bought to the cashier in a lock bag.

Hiding stuff and locking things up came about slowly. Many of us didn't notice it at first.

Is Reloading Still Worth the Bother?

Absolutely. Despite what the ammunition companies tell you, handloads will shoot tighter than anything they offer. Factory cartridges are a “one size fits all” product. Handloaded ammunition however, will be tailored to exactly what your handgun or rifle needs to perform its best.

When I discovered reloading, it was like a whole new world had opened up for me. Being able to tailor loads made my old military surplus rifle more accurate. Groups shrunk from three or four inches, down to 2 inches. I discovered that the stories about old 303s being inaccurate weren't necessarily true.

What are some other reasons to handload? It’s not always easy to find ammunition for your rifle. As a general rule, 30-06, 308, 223, and a few others are usually available. The field begins to thin should you need magnum cartridges or some of the older fodder like 303 British, 303 Savage, 250 Savage, 257 Roberts or 25-06. Certainly, the list is longer than this,

There is also the satisfaction of doing it yourself. Tinkering with powder levels, trying different primers and using new bullets is great fun, and truly satisfying. Chase that bughole! Loading the cartridges that take a whitetail or a coyote still give me the warm fuzzies.

With the Internet, we have access to more sellers of equipment and components. We can look around and source things that previously were difficult or impossible to get. We can price shop to find the best bargains and the fastest delivery. And although I look back with fondness at my old catalogue days, I don’t think that I would part with my laptop when I’m searching for a bullet or powder that I want to try.

Since I started, no one was ever distressed over what I was doing. My family and non-shooting friends never condemned my activities. The police never banged on my door. I have never experienced any negatives. Reloading taught me patience and I enjoyed experimenting.

It has always been a fascinating hobby.

Well written Steve! Brought back lots of memories, especially the catalogue from SIR. Living and working in an isolated post in Northern Manitoba 1970-73 the catalogue was the best thing going...all those rifles/shotguns/pistols actually available just a few hours south...precious times indeed, and safe too.

Paul

Thanks Paul!

When I was writing this, I thought about Wholesale Sports, Lever Arms, Lovett's Sporting Goods and some others. Most of them are closed now. Having more people in the city has changed the way we deal with firearms. Some of us were raised with them, and proper handling was second nature. Now, many have to be shown, and that means classrooms downtown.

The world continues to change!

Some of you might have known Keith Lovett. He ran a gun shop (Lovett's Guns) for many years in Kitchener, ON. I just found out that he died in 2018, aged 90. I talked to him a few hours after he sold his shop to a new owner. He told me that he and his wife were moving to Nova Scotia. We chatted for about 20 minutes before his ride came to pick him up at the store. Lovett's Gun Centre is now closed as well.

https://www.wjdooley.com/notices/Keith-Lovett

Ellwood Epps left us in August of 2002, aged 94.

Being in the gun business never hurt their health it would seem.

You can add Gun Craft, Russell Sports and Toys For Men to the list of long closed but not forgotten gun-shops in Calgary.
Times certainly have changed and not for the good I am afraid. As long as it seemed to receive a mail ordered package, I still miss the
anticipation of my copy of SIR or in the case of fly tying, Netcraft catalogues to arrive. Orvis, LL Bean, Dan Bailey and Cabelas were all much anticipated.
At Russell Sports, I could get all the gun/hunting/shooting equipment I needed/desired and all my fly tying/fishing stuff all in the same trip. And, it was always the best stuff available!

You are correct, we do have so much more in the way of bullets, powder, primers and tools available but it just seems so impersonal, click here, click there then add your CC info and hit submit.
Have a question about an item, send an email cause there isn't anyone there to answer a phone call, if you can find a number. Granted, not all companies are that impersonal but, it seems most are.
Jeff

I used to mail order from Russells a lot as well. Usually, it was a toss up between them, Wholesale and SIR as to which place would get my bullet orders. Most of the time Wholesale won. I think they bought more bullets from the distributors.

I think I have told this story before, but about 15 years ago, WS had a huge Remington bulk bullet sale. I bought 140 or 150 lb. of bullets, and they were delivered by Canada Post. They were mostly 224s and 6mms, with 1000 ea. of 125, 150, 165, 180 gr .308 bullets. My order came in 2 boxes. When I drove to the post office, the clerk asked me what weighed so much. I got the stink eye...and no help getting them out to the truck.

I find ordering different now, when I mail order from Cabelas. I'm not sure how their system works, but it is different from when SIR owned the place.

I suppose you could try phoning in your order and see if the human touch returns.

Mornin Steve, Bill here, I sure remember that SIR catalogue, it got past around the school yard with specific rules. Tear it, rip it, loose it & life wouldn't be worth living!!! We were tough bastids, well we thought we were. YA EPPS was a great place to go on Sundays, you could take the guns off the racks yourself & hold them & dream. But don't click them or old Elwood or Don would give ya hell out loud, for everyone to hear!!!! There used to be some nice old guns but nice new ones too. The smell of Hopps cleaner wafting through the air. Old grizzled guys telling stories, & some would look at ya as if to include you in the story. Felt like somebody! Now I'm that old grizzled guy at the counter, watching young guys buy (black) rifles & thinking the magic has gone out of it. Oh those were the days, no???? I could go on & on about the old days but the radio just crackled so there out coyote hunting, sorry gota go. Bill out. 🐾👣🇨🇦

Hi Bill. Yeah, getting the catalogues was an event.

I don't go to Epps anymore. It's not what it used to be, so I chose to take my business elsewhere. Younger generations might find it nice, and that's fine, but the staff has changed. The layout has changed. Stuff has been moved around. Access to some products has been restricted. Some of this is attributable to the government, for sure, but much of it is the result of the new owners, after Ellwood sold the store. His personality was in the place. You cannot have a business for 60 years and not leave something of yourself impressed upon it.

When Ellwood built the Orillia store, he lived in the house that was built onto the side. In fact, he and Isabel remained there after George bought the place. I used to chat with Ellwood occasionally in the store, after he sold it. He would answer any questions I had, or just shoot the breeze. George never said anything, and there was no harm to it. Of everyone there, Ellwood knew where everything was.

Ellwood and Isabel stayed there for a few years until the doctor told Ellwood that he shouldn't be walking up and down the stairs. They moved to a single level retirement cottage in the late 1990s.
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One short story and I'll end this post. About 10 or 12 years ago, I got an email from a fellow in California. He had read an article I'd written about the Lee Auto Prime 2 Press Mounted Priming Tool. This one.



Lee was getting ready to replace them, but the guy in California liked this auto primer and emailed Epps about buying one. He couldn't find any locally, he told me. The Epps staff said they didn't have those in stock, so he contacted me, asking if I knew where he could get one. I told him that I had just came from the store and they had at least ten on the shelf. To help him out, I went back with a copy of the email and spoke to one of the employees. He said he would fix things.

Less than a week later, I got another email from California. He was told again that they didn't have any. I returned to the store a second time and tore a strip off the guy who looked after the inventory and answered online inquiries. Despite being shown where these things were, and trying a couple of times to help this guy from the States, they ignored him...and me.

I will never know why we were both blown off, but it was another example of the degraded service there. Shortly after that, I stopped selling my books at Epps and went elsewhere.

Steve, the high school I attended had a full size rimfire rifle range in the attic. When my wife and I moved to the Yukon in 1971 we were delighted to find that the elementary school had a pistol range in the basement.

I started hand loading for 270 Winchester in 1966 using a Lee Loader and a composition mallet. 😊

Ted

Hi Ted. Yes, times have certainly changed.

Because of advances in reloading dies, I don't use my Lee Loaders as much as before, but they worked quite well for my bolt actions and even my single shots. I still use the barrel to gauge fired cases in my SS rifles.

I very seldom reload anymore, but have not bought factory ammo for 35 years. I found that I can shoot my bow for very very cheap and my TC Hawken like my home made patches and round balls. Still like to reload and have enough supplies to last till I am long gone.

Wow! The portions about Elwood Epps really bring back the memories of the good old days at his store. The last time I saw Elwood he was talking to a couple of customers at the store telling them how sad it was that both he and his wife had outlived all of their children. I still drop into Epps when I travel Hwy 11 but don't buy much as my interests are focused on really old stuff that isn't readily available anymore.

Good thread!! The SIR catalogues were wonderful. I spent hours combing the pages, mostly the ones to do with guns and related stuff. I have some old ones in my heaps of stuff.

I started my reloading with a second hand Lee Loader for 30-30. A friend sold it and a part can of IMR 3031, some primers and bullets, along with a plastic head hammer. Worked reasonably well for my 94's. I had a matched set of Canadian Centennials. My next big purchase was ca. 1975, a new Lyman Spar-T for Casey's Reloading Supplies in Midland, ON. I ordered a fair bit of stuff from him.

I do something associated with reloading, shooting, etc., nearly every day in the winter. A couple of years back, I started buying an old friend's complete inventory of guns, ammo, books, and a huge pile of reloading gear and supplies. Proves to me you don't actually have to die to get to heaven.

I think of many stores that didn't have catalogs, and rarely put ads in the papers. Some are still going.

You might remember in the mid 80s when CAF first appeared - Cdn Access to Firearms. And before, Gunrunner magazine. I hear people talking about Gunrunner from time to time, but I believe it's been gone for 30 yrs. It's fun to relive some memories, but not them control us.