Why do you reload?

[rjohns94]

I reload the .357 for my revolvers, derringer, and lever. Most of my reloading is in the customization for my .54 Brad Emig Virginia rifle, my Brown Bess ( paper cartridges) and shot), and my .45 Shiloh saddle ring carbine (paper cartridges). The fabrication of each round is cathardic and rewarding in a primal way. I pour lead for my black powder rifles. Its almost spiritual to take game with ammo created by myself. Blessings

[Hobie]

I hate reloading, but it saves money. That's why 90% of what I shoot is rimfire. I only shoot handguns about 3-4 times a year, so I do reload 357 and 44mag. I reload just enough 32-20's and 30-30's (40-50ea), for my monthly silhouette matches.

I NEVER CEASE BUT TO BE AMAZED WHEN I READ A FELLOW SHOOTER HATES TO HANDLOAD HIS OWN AMMUNITION. IT FLABBERGASTS ME DANG NEAR SPEECHLESS. I CANNOT IMAGINE SUCH A FEELING FOR SOMETHING THAT IS AT LEAST AN INCH THICK LAYER OF FROSTING ON THE CAKE CALLED SHOOTING.
WOW !!!
TO ME THE HANDLOADING OF MY CENTERFIRE CARTRIDGES IS AT LEAST AS MUCH FUN AS SHOOTING THEM. AT LEAST !!! SOMETIMES MORE WHEN IT ALL COMES TOGETHER AND CAREFULLY CRAFTED CARTRIDGES MATCHED TO A FIREARM'S LIKES AND DISLIKES PUTS 'EM ALL IN ONE HOLE. BEST OF ALL IS WHEN IT NEVER CEASES DOING THAT AS YOU HAVE FOUND THE HOLY GRAIL OF SHOOTING AND HANDLOADING FOR THAT GUN.

That's it right there!

[fordwannabe]

I may be the oddball here but I have never saved a penny reloading....but I have shot a bunch more than I would have if I didn't reload. Reloading helps me to shoot a couple of guns I can't just go to ----mart and pick up a box of factory(should have seen my wifes face when I told here the gun I just paid $1200 for they don't make ammo for anymore) ammo for too. But I sure haven't SAVED any money. Tom

[2571]

So, 2571, why do you reload? To get back on topic.[/quote]

To save money of course, but, to give me something to do in the evening so I don't snack in front of the TV. Those trips to the refigerator are a killer at my age & with my lessening amount of physical actaivity during the day. :>)

[2571]

Withdrawn through editing. Sorry, double post. Gettin REAL old, I guess.

[Idiot]

I've been reloading for 35 years. But if I had the money to buy ammo to support my shooting habit I'd quit reloading and never look back. I reload to shoot; not to relax, not for recreation, not to fit in, not for mental stimulation or some need to create, not to find some real or perceived load perfection - I reload to shoot. If I didn't shoot so much, I wouldn't reload.

I have taken various game over the years with both factory ammo and handloads, and guess what, they both work just fine. I get close, I put the bullet in the right place, and I'm eating fresh meat that night. Can I load full tilt loads that push the envelope and eck out another ten paces of range? Sure I can, but so can Buffalo Bore and Cor-Bon. I used their ammo and mine to gain the advantage, real or perceived, but prefer getting ten paces closer.

I send a lot of ammo down range using my guns that are chambered for common cartridges. I can't afford to do so unless I reload. I also shoot guns that don't use common cartridges, my 348 Winchester for instance, wherefore ammo is loaded by the factory only once in a while, and then marked up to ridiculous prices. The same goes for my Weatherbys. Why pay $110 for a box of 340 Weatherby Magnum when it can be reloaded for $20. Money, or lack thereof, for the most part is why I reload.

There are some guns in my collection that I don't reload for and don't ever intend to reload for. Why? because ammo for them is cheap and readily available. Money, or lack thereof, for the most part is why I reload.

I work, work, and work, and have little time. If I didn't have to reload and could buy all my ammo I would. Time, or lack thereof, is one reason I buy ammo.

And finally, I grew up subsistence hunting and guns were merely tools, like a good axe, but ammo was precious. Two boxes of centefire ammo and a half dozen boxes of rimfires ensured there was meat on the table all year long. I like the look, the weight, and the feel of a new full box of factory ammo. I even like the smell of the cardboard box as I crack it open for the first time. I still retain the full sense of satisfaction at the purchase of box of ammo, and know within that box is sustenance. Where and when I grew up, guns were traded like girlfriends, but a box of ammo was something of real value. I've never gotten over it. I like factory ammo.

During the past year ammo was short, but so was reloading components. I still shot. I went through boxes of ammo and reloaded thousands of rounds of cartridges I load for. I will do the same next year.

I don't like ammo shortages or component shortages. It makes me spend more money to shoot and takes a lot more time to find. Did I mention money and time are in short supply around here.

Fire away and fall back!

P.S. Now don't get me wrong. If I must reload to save money, I might just as well do it right. That means matching the ammo to the gun and the right bullet to the game.

[Rusty]

Nobody loads cast bullets the way I want 'em loaded.

[Ysabel Kid]

Started reloading when I was 16 or 17, just so I could afford to shoot. Reload now mostly because I enjoy it, enjoy saving money, enjoy working up specific loads, and have some guns that fire ammunition I have no choice but to roll my own for.

[El Chivo]

I started 'reloading to shoot more' but now I'm 'shooting to reload more'!!

I want to see the paraphrase of that hunting quote:

"I don't reload to shoot - I shoot to have reloaded . . ."




What started out as a way to save money has become a great hobby that happens to have saved me almost $21,000 in 7 years of shooting my reloads.

Does that include the cost of all those pretzels?

[rimrock]

certainly I've found reloading more enjoyable than tv on many nights, I shoot more than I would with factory ammo, I learn more about guns, and it gives me a little piece of mind to know I have "enough" (barely) for the dire situations I now more than ever believe will happen in this country in my life time.

[COSteve]

I started 'reloading to shoot more' but now I'm 'shooting to reload more'!!

I want to see the paraphrase of that hunting quote:

"I don't reload to shoot - I shoot to have reloaded . . ."




What started out as a way to save money has become a great hobby that happens to have saved me almost $21,000 in 7 years of shooting my reloads.

Does that include the cost of all those pretzels?

Actually, the pretzel kegs were collecting dust before I started reloading as I'd buy the big pretzels for staff meetings at work. It seemed that once I started providing snacks, meeting attendance was up.

[JReed]

I reload because I am to lazy to go to the store to buy ammo when I can order the components from the comfort of my couch. Plus no one makes my reloads but me.

[Dave]

When I started loading it was to have ammo. Mainly economics. I could have a lot more ammo if I loaded. Later I loaded for accuracy and enjoyed loading as a pass time. Now I load to have ammo but not because I need mass quantities of ammo like I used to shoot up. As long as I have my components I can load up 10 rounds to go hunting without worrying about finding the shelves empty at a store before my trip. Loading is part of the complete experience of being a gun nut.

[piller]

I started handloading to get a little more performance out of a .45 Colt caliber Ruger Blackhawk. I found that I really liked coming up with loads which were more accurate than anything I could buy. It is a lot of fun to see success, and a lot of fun to get to practice until you reach success. Like Terry said, it is the icing on the cake.

[N40W111]

I reload strictly .38 Special and a few .357 mag. I got into reloading because I got into CCW and .38 snubbies...now I shoot snubs and mostly a Rossi M92 16" stainless .357 levergun among a few other great rifles. I reload because our world makes me nervous and I want the capability to create ammo if and when the bad times come...which is coming soon in my opinion by way of these 9th century jihadist loonies and their religious brothers/ALLIES in the White House and "justice" department. You asked...I was honest, don't rag.

I probably shoot around 250 rounds per month and my little Rossi levergun eats .38 special 158 gr. LSWC's like crazy! Shooting AND reloading has become my all-time favorite hobby. I figure I am going to enjoy it because there are forces at work in this country to take away this constitutional right with more and more "lawyering" from big city left-wing pee-the-bed school ninnies who have never held a great rifle in their arms and looked out across a vast Rocky Mountain landscape like me and my ancestors before me have done. It is just outside my back door...
I recently sat in the living room of a Wyoming rancher's ranch house with his three grown sons as he showed me his prize .32 Special Winchester levergun that was passed down to him from his father. He had a collection of leverguns that would make most people cry with envy. He and his sons laughed out loud when I said that he'll probably have to turn them in to the Obama/Holder/Kagan police force that comes to collect them. He said, "Let 'em try..."
You asked...I was honest, don't rag.
VIVA LA RELOADING!!!!

[COSteve]

Let's talk practical numbers here for a minute. I have a high end reloading setup that cost me about $1,900+ over the years. It's an XL 650 w/casefeeder, a Dillon trimmer and swage to process my AR brass, and separate Deluxe Quick Change Assys for each caliber I reload, plus a whole lot of other tools and equipment. I reload 7 different calibers 30carb, 38spl, 357mag, 40s&w, 45acp, 10mm, and .223/5.56 with various charge weights and bullet choices. In the last 9 years, I've reloaded slightly under 130,000rds of all calibers, the first 70,000 on a Dillon 550B.

Last year I get the urge for a centerfire levergun and so I ended up with my two Rossis and a nice Uberti SAA to go along with them, all in 38/357mag. Now that I have them, I love shooting them but I need to feed them because they are so much fun. Therefore, I like to shoot them a lot. So far, I've shot just over 4,000rds through the three of them in less than a year. I shoot hot 38spl+Ps in the leverguns mostly but I also have run about 600rd of 357mag through them. My SAA has seen both the levergun loads but I like a cowboy load for it as it's more fun to shoot with a softer recoil.

If I went out today and bought the cheapest 38spl ammo I could find on the net, it would cost me $17.00 per 50 rd box for simple 158grn lead round nose bullets (note: they are not suitable for leverguns with tubular magazines). So 4K rounds of cheap 38spl would cost me $1,360 + shipping. I bought my components last year (yes, during the shortage) and use 158grn Zero Jacketed SP bullets instead of lead (their flat tip makes them a great choice for a levergun), some Wolf SRM primers, and a keg or two of H110. The 38spl cases I got for free by trading some of my excess stock of 45acp cases. The cost per round of my components is still only 11.1¢/round which equals only $5.55 per 50 rd box. That means those same 80 boxes of my reloads (4,000rd) only cost me only $444.00 or I saved $916.00 and produced better, higher quality ammo.

What could I buy with the $916 I saved? Well, if I'd made that first batch on a friend's setup and I decided I wanted my own reloading setup to make those 38spl and 357mags, I could buy a Dillon 550B (the most popular reloader in the world) and a great set of Lee Deluxe Carbide Pistol dies in 38/357 and a tumbler to clean my brass as well as all of the components (bullets, primers, and powder [trade for brass]) necessary to make 4,000rds of my reloads on my Dillon. That means that I could buy the majority of the reloading equipment I needed to reload 38spl/357mag (over budget would be small items like scale, case gauge, and calipers) and the materials to make the ammo for just the cost of cheap commercial 38spl ammo.

In truth, I started reloading to save money but now I reload because it's a fun hobby that allows me to make exactly what I want, high quality, extremely accurate ammo tuned to my specific needs and firearms (most of which isn't available commercially) for a price that is considerably lower than the cheap 'bargain' brand ammo. Most of my reloads cost me 1/3 or less that the cost commercial 'cheap' ammo prices and my 55grn AR reloads cost me only 1/5 the going rate for that ammo, if you can find it.

[Griff]

I started reloading when I bought my first gun. My B-I-L told my wife it was the most economical way to be able to shoot. The accountant that she is... she proved it it was cheaper... and just like auto tools... I have carte blanche!!!

He was wrong. It was much cheaper to shoot when I was on the Navy Team and with the SO!!! All that free ammo... Why, of why did I quit?

As I learned more, I like the control over the final product, and the infinite variety I can have... And while it may be a little overkill... I recently counted up that I have about 3,000 rounds for each of my .30-30s... slightly less for each of the other guns in the safe... except for my .45 Colts... I'm down to only a few hundred... and not a BP round among 'em!!! That'll have to rectified shortly. That and the .40-90SBN is only an "assemble as needed" deal!

[Chas.]

Economics. I shoot more 45-70 than anything else and if you price a box of factory, it's expensive.

[rimrock]

I started reloading because there wasn't any factory ammo in .444 readily available close to home. Once, I bought the basic stuff, it was less expensive to add .45C and .40S&W. Some savings entered the picture, but like Murdock I didn't run out of ammo during the recent shortage. I can gather up a few things along with my bug out bag, and be gone in less than 1 hour when bad times come about. Once bad times come into play, I can share (trade) some .40S&W with other shooters if the need arises. Less likely to need to have other shooters using .45C or .444 in bad times, but also less likely for those 2 guns to be taken. Since wheel weights are getting harder to find, I'm not so sure that economics will continue to justify reloading, but the other reasons will keep me reloading as long as I'm able. I'm just doing my part for national security by keeping the Chinese from buying at least some metal.

rimrock

[model55]

I'm cheap,the wife cannot bug me when I'm reloading and I too like the odd ball calibers.41 mag,.264 mag.......Also old stuff like 25-35,22 hornet and so on

[samb]

I began reloading at 15 when I bought a 7mm Rem Mag. Resumed reloading many years later when I bought my first pistol, a SAA 45LC clone. I find it relaxing, cost effective and just plain fun. My single biggest challenge is keeping my baby brother out of my reloading supplies, he is 20 years younger and has become a keen reloader in the last couple years, and a wicked shot. He phones me up every week just to talk reloading and shooting. Came over last week to scrounge a pound of powder, working a load up for one of our other six brother's 30-06.

I'm sure I shoot more because I reload, and just heading out of the city to put some rounds down range soothes the soul.

[El Chivo]

I can't say it's to save money; I stopped in at the reloading store today to see if they had any primers in stock; they did, so I made an unplanned expenditure.

And I've done a lot of extra shooting just to test loads that have also cost me a lot.

But it's worth it to get ammo tailored to your gun and the situation. I remember shooting factory loads at silhouette chickens and knocking them silly. I now have a light "chicken" load that taps them over just as you please. I don't really like recoil and I have moderate or light loads for most of my shooting. Plus they are the accuracy loads as well.

But I admit I don't really enjoy it, it's just something I have to do to get what I want. I also do photography, and I've never enjoyed processing film, although I've done plenty of it.

[TedH]

I reload mostly to save money, or more accurately, be able to shoot more for the money I spend. 90% of my shooting is also done with my own cast bullets, so the only thing I pay for is powder and primers. I get the most enjoyment from experimenting with different handloads in a new gun. Once I find a keeper, that gun seldom gets the range time anymore.

[Jason_W]

I do it more to craft custom ammo than save money. Ironically, I shoot less centerfire now that I reload. It's too easy to burn off a week of work in one afternoon at the range.

[Catshooter]

Are you kidding me !?! There are factories that make ammo?

Nah, I ani't falling for that one. Pull the other leg, it has bells on.

I too read Elmer & Skeeter forty or so years ago and have followed the true path since.


Cat

[rjohns94]

I reload to shoot more in the modern guns I reload for. I only "reload" .357 and getting into .45 colt.

Where my passion lies is making round balls for my front stuffers in a camp over the fire. Perhaps reforming the rounds that took a deer that day. I like making those lead round balls, and being able to take game with the ammo I create. The blackpowder flintlock, both smoothbore and rifle, bring out the reloader in me. In addition, the loading for my paradox rifle, though ammo is still available, is becoming a necessity due to them selling for $35/10 shots.

I'm not set up for reloading bottle neck rounds, but will have to get that way with the 30-30. It would be a cost thing there too because I get plenty of accuracy out of factory ammo and don't shoot my long guns enough to get ready for the two week hunting season. If I was into any of the other shooting sports, I would definately reload more.

I shoot my pellet pistol and rifles in 10meter Olympic style shooting nearly every day. I use that soft lead when recovered to make the .530 round balls in my Racine ball mold when I get enough saved. I dump the pellet trap into a tin can and then melt a ladle at a time when I'm off hunting in the fall.

I also reload me BP shot shells for the paradox.

[Markbo]

I was just going to say something flippant, but there are real reasons. My ex wife loved to spend money. But she didn't like ME spending money so after I made her my ex and got started late in life - at around 43 years of age. She found her a rich guy to marry and I found happiness.

I thought it was going to save me money. It has not saved me one red cent. But I do get to shoot a heckuva lot more for the same money spent. Money in has gone up and down dramatically for me over the last 5 or 6 years and I have been able to shoot throughout the tough times because I reload.

I might not have been able to do that otherwise. Now I reload for several other reasons:
1. I need one more dad-gum hobby that I don't have time to partake in (there... there's the flippant joke)
2. I find it enjoyable. Very theraputic about doing something that requires a lot of measuring, thinking and experimenting. I am a tinkerer at heart and this is a tinkerers paradise.
3. Tailoring ammo to a gun is very rewarding to me. Taking a gun that shoots 1"+ with factory ammo and tinkering with loads to find one that will shoot honest 1/2" groups just makes me very happy.
4. Exactly the same with revolvers & pistols, just with shorter distances and larger groups. My eyesight ain't what it used to be. AND I can make darned effective handgun hunting ammo what until the last few years has been very hit and miss as far as effectiveness goes.
5. Along those lines is the learning. I have said all my life if I could get paid to go to school that is what I would do for a living. I just enjoy learning and reloading has allowed me to learn more about not only ammunition but all the guns that shoot it than a whole lot of years of shooting factory ammo. Now I truly understand how someone can say "I've been reloading for 50 years and don't know much yet!". I understand.
6. Cost - notice this is the last of many reasons. I can make ammo for oddball stuff that I love to shoot that is either hard to find or prohibitively expensive. I can also pump out 100's upon 100's of rounds of pistol practice ammo that is more consistent, more accurate and cheaper than anything I can buy.

That has allowed me to just about completely abandon any pistol cartridges smaller than .40 S&W. I only have one 9mm left and it is a pocket gun so I don't shoot many rounds. Just enough to keep my hand in it. But I also don't have to shoot 9mm much anymore. I think of it as puny and ineffective for it's intent, thus the .40 and moreso .45ACP is made by the bucket full.

Now don't think I don't like any smaller cartridges. I make a LOT of .32 H&R and .38/357 ammo too. I have become a huge fan of the H&R round. I just don't care for 9mm any more. Now revolvers... that is a whole 'nother subject. I have a lot of different calibers and multiple guns that I can tailor ammo to... the enjoyment never ends!

And just when I think I have enough.... I have collected about 200lbs of lead and once I double that will probably start casting. Uh-oh... another hobby I won't have enough time for!

[brno602]

I do as it's way cheaper! plus I shoot odd ball cal's.you can't buy good 7x57 ammo unless you find some German made stuff,I can't walk into any gun Store and ask for a box of .33 win shells or 8x68.
And if you cast a few bullets it get's even cheaper!
I have been reloading a very long time my big brother used me as slave labour when I was 8, I polished brass and sized cases pre tumbler day's for him I would do 100 rounds of 22/250 a day Clean with fine steel wool and size get this with a Lee loader! All he had to do was put the primer in and powder, bullet. When I got older I did the full reloads then when I turned 13 and bought my first real Rifle. So only had time to reload for myself
Now I have dies for cal's I don't even own! I load for friends that I talk into buying the odd ball guns or a few ranchers who's land I hunt on that have the likes of a 25/20 or 40/72 or 45/75 just hanging there as they cant find or afford the ammo.
Remember the day's when a kid could go buy ammo or component's.?

I should get into shot shell reloading I have a 12ga press and dies, something I have never done as the cheap ammo Canadian tire sells has met my needs.

[Molasses]

In my case:
It started out as being for economics.

Then for accuracy and to use premium bullets that weren't loaded by the factories.

Then specialty loads (low velocity plinker/small game getters, shot loads, that kind of thing).

Went through quite awhile where it was a matter of cranking out a mess of cowboy loads every week. Firing up the plumbers' furnace to melt some 5 gallon buckets of wheelweights for ingots a couple times a year and casting usually involved rotating through 3 moulds at a time for max production whenever the stockpile got low.

Well, I burned out on cowboy shooting some time back and only go to one or two shoots a year to be with friends. Then there's the whole business of buying factory seconds from work; I can't even get the components for some loads for the money, especially when it involves premium bullets. Which is maybe a good thing, because after making ammo for 12 hours a day on my work days, making it at home has pretty much lost its' luster unless I can overcome my lack of interest in the task with interest in the shooting.

So the main reason I roll my own nowadays is to feed oddball guns that ammo is no longer made for or isn't loaded by the company I work at. For example, right now I'm slowly working my way through trimming a mess of .38 Super brass down to 9mm Browning Long length (doing about a half dozen at a time and then giving my arm a rest) and I've got a bunch of .350 Remington Mag brass ready-to-load and waiting to get filled. Need to do batches of .30 Remington, .401 WSL and both cast and warm (Marlin/modern '86 load) jacketed .45-70 again soon, too. Then there's a whole raft of wildcat stuff for the Contender that needs putting together. Those sort of things are pretty much it for why I reload these days.

[COSteve]

So Molasses, it sounds like the real reason you load is to earn a paycheck!! The stuff at home is just for fun.

[Molasses]

So Molasses, it sounds like the real reason you load is to earn a paycheck!! The stuff at home is just for fun.

Wasn't thinking of it that way when I posted! But that is an apt way of expressing it.

[big bear]

348 Winchester @ $60.00 to 70.00 per 20, is reason enough in itself to reload.

PRECISELY!!! It feels so good when I look at a 50 round box of fresh 348 reloads and figure out how much money I have saved, then multiply that by the number of boxes of reloaded 348 ammo I have then figure it is only right to invest that money I saved in.....hmmmmm, another lever action rifle Seems logical enough to me, my wife is sure I crazy though, possibly the result of toxic fumes from the gun room.

[Old Ironsights]

Because I can cast & load 180+gr Buffalo Bore Equivelent Loads for my .357 for around 1/10 of the cost...

Because I can make .308 Accelerators since Remington bowed to Anti Pressure and stopped selling them...

Because there are only two manufactures of 9.3x72R loaded ammo, and I'm the 3rd...

[Old Time Hunter]

Ok, people reload their own ammo, some even cast their own bullets but does anyone make their own blackpowder or whitepowder?

Not since my LEO Grandfather passed away and somebody told me it was illegal to mix Potassium Nitrate, Charcoal, and Sulfer in increments of 75%, 15%, and 10%....

Now I have to use dehydrated ground potash (lots of pee when formulating), ground Ash char, and dried animal salve(yellow stuff) and mix 'em in percentages of 75%, 15%, and 10%.

As far as why I reload? because Wally World doesn't carry 43 Mauser, .444 Marlin, 7.62X54R, 8X56R, .303, 7.7 Arisaka, .348 Win, 43 Egyptian, 9.5 Turkish, .405 Win, .356 Win, .307 Win, 8X57 w/.318 and .3125" bullets...geez, I could go on and on...and still not get to my Beaumont