I started in the early 70's. Fortunately I had several friends who were experience reloaders. It was a mix of reason. I was trying to shoot about 500 rds of 38 spl. a month it made it more affordable. I had some rifles I wanted better than commercial accuracy. Normally as previous said accuracy on a hand load was about 1/2 the size of the group from commercial. I had tons of 30.06 brass given to me. I converted some to, 270, 308 and 8 mm.

About two years ago, my daughter has started reloading with me. She has help to load 12 gauge black powder shot gun, 38 super, 30 carbine, 8 MM, about 1,000 + 9mm, 45 Colt, 45 ACP and maybe one or two more.

Big cost saving is on specialty loads. Reduced velocity, lesspopular loads, special loads, high accuracy loads specifically made for one rifle only, and no longer commercially available loads, such as 30 Herret, 6.5 Sauer, and 256 Win Mag.

As mention some rounds are very popular and very inexpesive almost the same as in reloading your own. Only criteria I have for plinking loads, is that it does not harm the firearm, works with relative accuaracy and is cheap.

I think reloading adds a greater deminsion to the understanding of shooting.

We started reloading to compensate for wallet thickness reduction due to the wife and I going to the range... oh, about 5 times a week. .45 primarily.

Looking at getting a single stage and doing some serious tuning whenever I find the time to tinker with my 7 mag... and will do the same when I purchase something in .338 Lapua...

First step in any reloading: 8 years old, decapping/sizing shells for my uncle. Boy was that fun :)

Hello,

I guess that I'm in the minority as I started reloading just for the sheer fascination of making my own ammo. I'm 45 and didn't get my first gun until I was 30, although my father owns a bunch, he never shot them. We have an acre in LA with a creek in the back, so pellet guns were commonplace, but no shooting or hunting.


I bought a G22 in 92, a ChicCom AK, then an SP1 16" and discovered the hobby. For me, it's a relaxing endeavor and not a chore. I enjoy fiddling with things, but I'm not anal about it. I don't turn my necks and I don't weigh out each tip and case, but I do chrono and document my sessions and this is the pleasure for me. I've since moved to AWs and now I'm into a precision bolt gun phase and this is where the hobby comes to fruition for me. Always room for improvement and experimentation.

Take care, Chris

I've been reloading for almost 30 years. I'm a Class III holder and I can burn through a TON of ammo on the weekends!:D

Reason to Reload
 

Started in early '80s when I took up metallic silhouette shooting while stationed at Yuma. using a T/C Contender in 30-30. Rifle loads were way too hot for me so I developed my own loading data for the pistol. Worked a lot better than I could shoot.

I am now starting again for other reasons of the day.