What Got Everbody Started Reloading ?

Accuracy/elr. Built a 28 Nosler up and obviously wasn't happy with the cost and performance of store bought ammo. Also, things got wonky at 1200+.

Immediate benefits in all categories for me (accuracy, distance, cost per round, better bullets).

Also love that I am the bottleneck to more ammo instead of what is available in the store.
 
I got invited to my first PRS match years ago and had to load 260 REM for the gun I was borrowing. At the time, 6.5 CM wasn't a twinkle in anyone's eye and factory 260 ammo was trash. So the guy who loaned me literally everything I needed for that event loaned me time on his reloading equipment and coached me up. Then he left me alone for a few hours while I loaded 200 rounds using a chargemaster and a single stage RCBS. I probably had the second best night of sleep of my life that night. The best night was the first time I used a wood lathe. Go figure.

I held off for a long time on getting into it myself because I knew i wasn't going to save any money except in isolated circumstances. Then I got into silencers. And suddenly my shooting world opened up. And so I got into reloading. Because whats the fun of having quiet guns if you can't tune the thing spitting out the end?

Ultimately, there's a few things that keep me pulling the handle:

1.) I love the process from end to end. I love crafting something. I like building ammo that can't be bought. Or building ammo that's better than what comes in a 20 round box. There's a lot of pride of ownership there. Spending a few hours prepping and loading is almost as good as sitting in the comfy chair across from my therapist. Sometimes it's less expensive too!

2.) I ended up shooting a lot more once I started reloading and that made me a better shooter. I got into weird chamberings and learned a ton about internal and external ballistics. I became a lot more knowledgeable about my own guns and started to think a lot more about my hunting and shooting practice. I still can't describe the feeling the first time i shot a deer with a round I rolled my own. It really reconnected me to the whole process.

3.) I'm never not learning something new. It's a hobby that you won't ever know everything about. There's always a lesson.

Now, the only ammo I buy is 22LR and pistol rounds. Once my kids are older and brass prep can be a fun family activity, I'll probably get a Dillon and get into pistol reloading.
 
It started with cost savings and availability for handgun loads when a friend who reloaded said he would teach me. I was reluctant to load for rifles at first, but when I wanted to learn how to shoot at longer ranges, the same friend started teaching me about premium bullets and here I am, shooting confidently at 400 yds which is the maximum distance I can expect to hunt at on my property. I am setting up now for 600 and 800 yd shots, but that puts my portable benchrest out at a road, so I won't be hunting from those distances.
 
I started because $6.00/round and my love for shooting were slowing me down. My first batch of reloads took me from hitting paper at 1/4 mile to ± 5 inches, then to 1/4 mile shots with holes inside the diameter of a quarter. Then I began to reload for every gun I have.
338 LM $1.50/round, 308, 30-30, 45 ACP, 9 mm all lower price to shoot and my accuracy has greatly improved. I can no longer blame the manufacturer, it is all me. And the lower price is quite the incentive to practice more.
 
Well beginning 47 years ago, my granddad got me started and we worked up great, cheap loads for his 22-250 and my .300 Wby Mag. I had bought a beautiful Mark V from a Doctor who decided after one hunt with it he didn't really care for the rifle or hunting. He sold it to me for $250.00 cash in 1972. Lucky me, but I literally couldn't afford ammo. Then I saw how much more accurate "Nell" was with reloads compared to spendy ammo and was really hooked-imagine that as your first rifle. BTW, I still have that rig, took her to Africa last May but with 7 generation re-loads featuring Barnes TTSX bullets. That start grew into a great infatuation with all nerdy things about reloading, ballistics, accuracy, and newfangled stuff. Now I have two gun safes full of firearms, far superior in accuracy and technology and we have factory ammo that is off the charts accurate...but I still love tweaking and fiddling with loads, new fangled bullets and components all the while trying new stuff, neck tension, seating depth, Satterlee ladder tests , High BC bullets and long range loads for gongs and hunting. I've never seen something new that I didn't like. I have a re-loading room that is really nice and purpose built by a great finish carpenter buddy, 7'X11' and its now too small--who'dve thunk it. So actually I reload because I'm addicted to it:)!
 
I got started reloading out of necessity about 6 years ago. I had an upcoming elk hunt and the factory ammo my rifle loved was unavailable. I was hoarding the box and a half that I had, it I really needed to practice shooting at 300 yards. So, I looked into reloading. Did a lot of research, bought a press and the other items to get me started, found this website, and the rest is history. Little did I know that I'd be going down a rabbit hole in search of the perfect load. It's lead to me buying more rifles, too.
 
As I was getting intersted more and more in shooting outside of hunting, a friend offered to load some bullets for a couple of my rifles. I realized that the accuracy and consistency of hand loads added a whole lot more satisfaction to the shooting. So I made the jump to reloading myself, which added a whole other dimension to it all. Been at it about seven years. Great hobby as you never really run out of things to learn or room for improvement.
 
freddiej said:
Wow, I just reloaded because it was the only way I could shoot, hunt, practice, compete, and have money to put in my tank to get around. so it was definitely money savings. then it was tuning loads to my comp gun, then I caught the hunting bug with a caliber not stocked at the local gun store, then it was ****** ammo when I could find it. then of all things I went to a range at Ione, CA and caught the 1,000 bug.. has any other person read the saying on the back of Hodgdon's powder? "if you hit your target, you will smile all day; if you miss you will be hooked for life." well, I missed a lot early on.. so I was hooked for life.
Click to expand...
Lone Pine, Ca. ? Loved Lone Pine . Big Pine . Indepence and Bishop. I would of moved to Bishop but was still Ca.. Back to Wy.. Happy again .
I've learned a lot from people on this site over the years.
 
I met Randy Brooks/Barnes Bullets over 30 years ago through a friend In American Fork. We toured his facility, then he asked if I reloaded, I told him no, I'm just a hunter.
he asked what I hunted with and gave me 100 bullets in each caliber.

I bought a RCBS Rock chucker and the necessary equipment and never looked back.
On the downside, 2 of my relatives started buying the same calibers I was reloading.
 
dougduey said:
I got started reloading out of necessity about 6 years ago. I had an upcoming elk hunt and the factory ammo my rifle loved was unavailable. I was hoarding the box and a half that I had, it I really needed to practice shooting at 300 yards. So, I looked into reloading. Did a lot of research, bought a press and the other items to get me started, found this website, and the rest is history. Little did I know that I'd be going down a rabbit hole in search of the perfect load. It's lead to me buying more rifles, too.
[/QUOTE
It's an addiction isn't it!!
Click to expand...
 
I had an uncle that reloaded (my father passed away when I was 10). Loved to hunt and didn't make much on my paper route, so I bought a Lee Loader and started loading 12 Ga shells. That was mid 60s .

When I was in Jr High all I had was a 22 rifle ans didn't have the range I wanted for fox hunting and in those days fox were worth big money (100.00) each. So I shot enough fox to get a .243. Wanted to use FMJ bullets to reduce pelt damage so I had to reload. From there it has been a half century snowball effect.

Have read this site for a long time and never posted, but this one was too much to resist.
 
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