Wasn't any internet when some of us started
Passing on reloading skills
- Thread starter C-130 Dude
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memtb
Well-Known Member
No cable and no cell phone, how about a party line lol.
dmj
Well-Known Member
No internet, no television, no phone, no girl friend. Know wonder I learned to reload. You would think that I'd be better at it????
tony d willIiams
Well-Known Member
I saved brass from way back when, even before I was married, 44 and some years ago. My sweet wife asked why I saved all the brass. I told her one day I would reload. But I kept purchasing new ammunition.
We had children, I became an engineer, changed places of employment, more hours, more days, spare time used with our children and each other. Well over a decade or two without picking up a gun.
Then I got my 338LM and started shooting again. Lucky to hit paper at 1/4 mile. Scope was set correctly as I set and tested in a vice, strapped to a table with partially buried legs with sandbags on top.
Anal, yes, an engineer, yes, detail oriented, yes. Wanting to know why there is a problem before it appears, yes.
Rounds @ $6.00+ each, my skills were very bad. So I began to reload to make my practicing affordable.
First reloads, ±8 inches, wow! Collecting data, powder burn rates, rotations per inch, and everything else I could get my hands on.
Within a couple hundred rounds I was always inside a quarter, (25 cent piece) at a 1/4 mile.
I have a couple friends that reload. One is happy to have inexpensive ammo, and does not want to be a sharpshooter, just loves to plink. The other gets reload recipes from the World Wide Web. He knows they are good as the people that post them are "well known". I ask what the recipes are, he won't say. I asked if we could help each other and learn from each other, nope, he knows what he is doing, and I am too detail oriented. I won't shoot his reloads. I am too anal, and I have seen what "hot" loads can, and will do.
I have another friend, engineer in a different field than the ones I worked in. He wants me to help him. Start at the beginning, and explain everything. YAY!
We hope to get started soon.
He loves my reloads, and my guns. He is saving so he may purchase the same guns, and adjust the triggers and scopes the same as I have. He is getting the hang of knowing the rifle is perpendicular to the ground by watching the reticles. And learning to control his breathing and heartbeat, and to ensure every shot is the same as the previous and the following shots.
My son is a good shot, and we exchange data and knowledge we have gained. He has introduced me to a pistol powder that has greatly improved my shooting. He also asks why my rifle became more accurate. Good to know my efforts are noticeable.
I have no idea why more people do not reload. The inherent increase in accuracy, and knowing that when you squeeze the trigger, the bullet will hit exactly where you want it to. And the great decrease in price. The brass is a one-time expense, as is the reloading equipment. The price reduction is 25 ~ 10% of the price of a store bought round.
I suggest you also buy a couple of the reloading manuals and read the first sections that teach all the concepts and basics of the process.
I say something like this to people all the time. When someone says they don't have the time to reload, I ask them if they spend any time watching TV. Most of the time they have the time, they just spend it doing other stuff. I have more time than what I allot to reload and shoot, but I still do it. Likewise, there is an initial investment portion to it, and that can be a little steep. Luckily for me I was given a reloading kit for Christmas one year, so my initial investment was minimal. Since then I've spent quite a bit getting things that I wanted to make the process easier. My kids are going to be spoiled if they ever want to get their own setups and I imagine it would be difficult for them to invest in the amount of stuff that I've gathered over the years to make the process the way I want it.
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del2les
Well-Known Member
To many, handloading is like gardening, why take the time and effort to produce a superior product when they can just go to a store and buy what they want?
Instant gratification generation
Instant gratification generation
del2les
Well-Known Member
Ha! I remember our first TV. It was a second hand 19" B&W with roller stand and cost $20. We purchased it in 1969 to watch the Apollo launch and moon landing. We also purchased a used 50' pole mounted antenna to receive 3 channels in the countrySome of us started before television!memtb
I wouldn't lump the whole generation into that category.
victor3ranger
Well-Known Member
You were lucky, on a good day we got 2 channels the rest of the time was 1.
We didn't have traditional A/C until I was 12, before that we had a swamp cooler
My dad made the antenna out of 2x4 and coat hangers. Worked great as long as you cut the wire to the correct length.
