Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles who showed you the ropes

Oh I know I could come here to ask questions most of all the people on here are very helpful

A buddy and I saved our cash and each bought a new M29 Smith in 1978 (I was 16), our first handguns that we both still own. We bought a couple of boxes of the old,stout Win 240 lead gas checked ammo. That did it. We would rarely shoot given the cost. We saved a bit more (had been working at a produce market since age 11) and bought an RCBS Reloader Special kit, opened the manual, followed the instructions and that was that. Still use the press, powder measure and scale from the kit.

Manuals and me.

The Speer Reloading manual showed me.

pseshooter300,

T answer your posted question, I read books and applied the info.

After reading only a couple posts I decided to give some advise. Remember the number one priority is not safety, it is having fun safely.

1. Never have more than one kind of powder on the reloading bench.

2. Never have more than one kind and weight of bullet on the reloading bench.

3. Never have more than one kind of primer on the reloading bench.

4. Before you put the powder away re-read the label to make sure it is what you thought you were loading.

5. Before you leave the reloading area check the scale to make sure it was set where you thought it was set.

6. Don't forget to buy a bullet puller before you start loading.

7. There is a lot of air in a new container of powder. Don't consolidate powders to save space. If there is a fire the space allows for burning instead of exploding.

I started out with a reloading setup my Dad/Uncle bought, but hardly ever used, back in 1970 or so. Read/re-read the Lyman manual that came with the set, and managed to load a bunch of 30-30's that actually went off, and the game was on. It's a bug that doesn't seem to ever go away.
In many ways, the ready availability of information (and mis-information) on the 'net nowadays has hurt as much as helped. Figuring things out on your own is a great learning experience, IMO.



That's super advice. If I might add one more, if at all possible, use a second scale to double-check the first one.

What do you all think of this kit
http://www.cabelas.com/product/RCBS-Rock-Chucker-Supreme-Deluxe-Reloading-Kit/740928.uts?Ntk=AllProducts&searchPath=%2Fcatalog%2Fsearch.cmd%3Fform_state%3DsearchForm%26N%3D0%26fsch%3Dtrue%26Ntk%3DAllProducts%26Ntt%3Drcbs%2Bsupreme%26x%3D0%26y%3D0%26WTz_l%3DHeader%253BSearch-All%2BProducts&Ntt=rcbs+supreme&WTz_l=Header%3BSearch-All+Products

I learned by myself, no one to show me.

But once I did learn I passed on my knowledge to a couple of kids named Parker Ackerly and Roy Weather-something, been a while so I may be misremembering those names.

Those guys were obsessed with velocity. Parker had this .30-30 and wanted to get 2700 fps out of it so I told him maybe if he fired it in a .300 Savage chamber he might get it. It was a joke but I think he actually went down that road, lost touch with him soon after.

That Roy guy kept asking me "how come you can't load to 75,000 psi?" I stayed away from him, he didn't have no future ahead of 'im...

My dad taught me how to set up dies, resize, set up the scale, weigh and trickle charges, seat bullets, etc. Anything I learned about safety was from reading manuals until I got a loaddata.com account 8-9 years ago, and reading articles on specific reloading topics by fellas such as John Barsness, Richard Mann, Brian Pearce, John Haviland, Michael Fairbanks,etc. I've also had subscriptions to and read a TON of gun rags and articles about shooting and reloading from Craig Boddington, Layne Simpson, Wayne Van Zwoll, Bryce Towsley, and the other men I already mentioned above. So I guess my dad and gun writers taught me how to reload, actually. I would suggest to anyone starting out to get a loaddata.com account, it's only $30/year, you get tons of load data, and you can read all the articles about reloading which is a big help.

I was 13 at the time and learned by reading manuals.

Father-in-law. I'd rather not learn from paper, but some can. If you could watch a video and then build your first cabinet/dogsled/drill press/whatever, go for it. Be safe!

A friend of mines father while we where in our mid teens. My friend and I where on a shooting team and we blew through a ton of .308's in a weekends work....

From there it jus became an obsession for me.

I fall into the self taught crowd also... just wonder how many would admit to all the mistakes they made on the path to getting to what they know now...

I am just getting into shooting rifles for fun and accuracy. Before I would just go buy a box of ammo, sight my rifle in at 100, and MOD was good enough. Now I am starting the process to build 2 custom rifles thanks to slg888. So reloading will be required. Fortunately he is teaching me the ropes, and making sure I don't blow myself up. I am glad I have him to teach me about custom rifles and reloading. I never thought I would be interested in it since I love archery and bow hunting. We just loaded up a few different loads for my 243 to see what it likes, and now I can't wait to go shoot it.

I was self taught and admit to making a bunch of mistakes. Stuff lots of folks probably still do, and do not realize it is a mistake. Quite a few years ago I became friends with a guy who really really knows his chit about rifle accuracy. I learned more from him than any other source.

I read all of the loading manuals i could get my hands on.

Then read everything that had something about the calibers i was shooting at the time.
I still get a new book about every 3 years or so,the Hodgon's i get every year,they have some good stories in it.

Even after all this time i still learn something new.

Learned as I went, and still learning as I am going.

I had reloaded shotshell since a kid. My dad had an old herters press and scales that someone had stored in his barn. Been there forever and he couldn't even remember who put it there.

Mid 90s I decided to reload for my 06, cleaned up that old press. bought some dies, H4350 and the Lee book with a few accessories.

I admit being concerned pulling the trigger initially.

Kent

My brother, a former boss in the Army and a few fellow hunters that were also in the Army with me. I learned something from them all but they all stressed safety.

Pre-amble in the old Speer #8 manual, with some tips from an old German neighbour who used to shoot Olympic level matches. I sure don't come close to that. But he had some good tips for both shooting AND reloading.