Why do you reload??

[rtwills]

I am fairly new to reloading. I have been learning this for just over a year now , and some of the posts on here make me wonder....Why Do You Reload??

Why do so many people want to turn out 2000 rounds in an hour,or buy thousands of dollars of equipment and haven't even read a book on reloading and so on .

May be I am all f***ed up but I thought it was all about accuracy and precision ,whats wrong with researching your intended supplies,properly clean your cases and primer pockets, properly inspect and trim cases, check head spacing, weigh every charge to the nearest 1/10th of a grain, then double check every load in the block to make sure 1 didn't get missed or doubled up, Measure coals, inspect every finished round for blemishes that you may have missed on the first inspection and test fire worked up loads and chrono them, and record the results for future reference?

By no means do I think I am an expert or even mediocre, I am learning more every day, but when did the reloading hobby become a racing game? If reloading is something people want to rush through, isn't it cheaper and safer to just go to the store and buy the ammo??

[DoxaPar]

That's pretty insightful and something that hit me recently - I cannot shoot as much as I reload.

This reality has pretty much killed any desire I have to go quickly. I got into it for the "hobby" aspect of it but it hasn't turned out to be a very great hobby because I just don't really need more ammo at the moment. Anything more I make will just sit on my shelves for months (which isn't a bad thing but I'm not exactly stockpiling stuff either).

[crbutler]

For me, handgun is about cost and availability.

Not too many USPSA major open gun loads, and the ones that are there are a mite too expensive to shoot in the quantity required.

Shotgun-

I can make exactly what I want- high velocity, OK; heavy loads, OK, Nontox alternative loads, yep, I have a bismuth load that exactly duplicates my grandfathers old lead duck load. I don't shoot steel much anymore, thank god. I will admit a lot of my target loading is my cheap Norwegian/german heritage- I can't stand to throw away even cheap hulls.

Rifle-

I can make what I want for hunting.

-My elephant load is 2250 FPS with the exact bullet I want in my gun and regulates perfectly.

-The .416 load makes ideal specs in my rifle and shoots well while using a so called premium bullet.

-My deer load is 3/4 MOA in that rifle, and will drop a deer as far as I can see him well enough to ID him, and is good for less than optimal shot angles.

I can do volume loading with the desired performance parameters for competitions (3 gun is volume, silhouette is accuracy with power, and I can get all anal about paper shooting loads with brass prep, etc.)

I enjoy reloading, but frankly, I would rather be shooting than messing around behind a reloading bench.

[FJ540]

I like the tinkering side of things, which is ironic that I have very little patience for my progressive being temperamental. So I can make hot ammo, and I can make powder puff ammo, and I can put bullets that don't really belong in the gun I'm shooting them out of if I'm so inclined (like .30-30 bullets in a 300BLK, or .30 cal cast instead - neither would ever come out of a factory). That I can match the ammo to the gun is another benefit, but I enjoy the process of experimenting more than I enjoy finding that perfect combination.

I find it relaxing. Even cranking out a few hundred rounds in a couple hours, I'm in my happy place and just listen to tunes and focus on pumping out good ammo. It's rewarding and reassuring to look at an ammo can which was nearly empty and see it filling up. That's future range time guaranteed in that bucket. I'm not casing 5 different walmarts hoping they got a shipment, I'm out back in my shop where I like to be.

I also like that I'm at .12 a round for 9mm - that makes shooting a whole bunch more affordable, even though the break even point was based off rifle loads. It takes a lot of pistol ammo to absorb the start up costs of a fast progressive.

Availability is the last reason. I've said it numerous times, you can make ammo from parts if you can find the components. You can't always buy the ammo complete. 300BLK guys have been dealing with this for the entire year. It's a popular round, but not a staple, so it's not a high priority for the manufacturers when people can't buy .223 or .308. I've had no issue shooting as much as I want to, I just need to make more when I run out. Some guys are thrilled to be finding 300BLK for 1.10 a round - I find that unthinkable, as my premium loads are half that.

[Scratch]

For me, I enjoy all aspects of firearms. Searching for rare ones, cleaning them, collecting them, admiring them, shooting them, learning to shoot them better and more accurately, reloading for them.

Plus it made sense to me that I could shoot more if I didn't have to worry about finding ammo.

..that's about it.

[Erud]

I reload because I shoot a lot, and I haven't been able to talk my wife into loading my ammo for me yet....

[rugersol]

I reload because I shoot a lot, and I haven't been able to talk my wife into loading my ammo for me yet....

+∞³



OP, sounds like ya've bought 100% into the "slow n steady" approach! ... nothin wrong with that!

... also nothin wrong with crankin out thousands of pistol loads on vastly superior equipment!

Some folks like to shoot 20rd of bullseye, and call it a day! ... some don't!

... probly same reason some folks drive a Prius, and others drive a Corvette ... different strokes! (that's actually a 3-way pun, kids! )

[Dakotared]

I shoot over a 1000 rounds of pistol a month, so if I did not reload I would not be able to afford to shoot that much. I also cast my own bullets so I have the cost of 9mm down to less then $4 a box., 10mm just a hair over $4 a box and .45 for about $4.50 a box. Yes it take time but that I got, money for shooting is what I have to stretch. I would rather be making ammo then watching TV once the wife and kids go to bed.

[LarryFlew]

because I can

[smurfman]

I started out reloading shotshells for bulk as I was going through over 15,000 rounds of reloads a year by myself. When my girlfriend and her son joined me, that number went up another 10,000 rounds. From that I got into loading all my shotshells and now I seldom buy anything other than steel loads.

I got into metallics through handguns as I was shooting a lot and quantity was much n=more important than quality. As long as it went "bang" when the trigger was pulled and had similar performance as factory loads I could care less. I am still that way with most of my handgun loads as that is all the more that is needed for my purposes. Cleaning and evening primer pockets, weighing out powder charges, and all the other rigamaroll some claim is needed only takes away from my free time. I can see the purpose but for me, it is merely gilding the lily and not needed for my use.

The same can be said for much of my rifle reloading. I pretty much load as is with more than acceptable results for me. Maybe if I were shooting serious benchrest or other type competition I would do differently but my most commonly used hunting loads will do MOA or better out as far as I want to shoot (not saying I am that good of a shot but others using the gun and load have done so repeatedly). Other rifle loads are for long obsolete cartridges and I am not overly interested in absolute accuracy with them as even, when new, 4.5" at 100 yards was considered excellent and time has not helped any with accuracy. If I can get that at 100 yards I would frame the target but so far that frame is still empty.

As mentioned, reloading has several levels of obsession and none are right or wrong. Some can be at a different level for different purposes depending on what their ultimate purpose is. If I were serious for competition then I might be a bit more anal on what I did with my reloads but I lean more towards plinking and for that cost and ease of production are much more important to me.

[Jack's My dog]

I started reloading because I wanted to shoot more. I found out that the act of reloading itself was quite relaxing. The focus required, blocks out all the other work and daily crap. I swung a hammer for 8 years, then got a new job that did not have the satisfaction of actually making or building something "real". Reloading gives me that. Some day I want to eat a deer, that I cooked, that I butchered, that I shot with a bullet I built. So the reloading lets me have a little bit of a feeling of self reliance.

[dleong]

I reload primarily to save money (or at least be able to shoot more for a given budget, vis-a-vis purchasing commercial ammo), and to be able to customize a round to shoot optimally in a gun. The process of experimentally working up a load for a particular firearm can be eminently satisfying when you finally achieve that "magic" recipe that realizes the gun's full accuracy potential.

[Seismic Sam]

In 1972 there was NO cheap ammo, no bulk ammo, no internet, no mail order. You could get Winchester or Remington in 9mm for $8 a box back in 1972 dollars!! I remember lucking into some cheap $2 a box Canadian WWII ammo (1943 headstamp) and loaded those cases for decades. No ranges to pick brass from, either. At least that I knew about. Loaded thousands of rounds of 9mm with a Lee Whack-a Mole kit, then got a Lyman Spart-T press when I moved into 45 ACP.

It's been so long that factory ammo is an alien concept, and I do have a .338 Remington Ultramag that demands benchrest dies and fine tuning. Sibce then my penchant for exotic calibers has required me to load because there was little or no factory ammo. In order:

44 Automag - Had to make your own cases from 308 Norma brass
256 Winchester Magnum - now obsolete, then impossible to find
45 Super - nearly impossible to find
10mm - expensive, and REALLY expensive for full power loads
50AE - hideously expensive, and hard to find
440 Corbon magnum - you had to form your own cases from 50AE brass, and most of you have never even heard of it
357 Sig - Factory is expensive
500 Smith - SUPER EXPENSIVE!! $2.50 per round!!
41 Action Express - Brass is $1 each unless you got lucky like I did, ammo has been unavailable for a decade
50GI - You order from Alex, or load your own. Not sold from any other source.
9x23 Winchester - 52,000 PSI version of a 38 Super made from .223 brass
.223 and .308, which are NOW super expensive/unavailable

And it's an enjoyable hobby, and to some degree it gives you some security from Sandy Hook maniacs who should have been strangled at birth.

[20mm]

I reload because factory ammo just isn't hot enough.

[Rip Van Winkle]

Gee, some of you guys are old! I didn't get started reloading until the early 80's.

I started with Shotshells thinking I'd save money. Learned quickly the only way to save money was to load higher quality target and hunting rounds.

Started loading metallic cartridges when I bought a Marlin 1895 rifle (45-70) and realized all you could buy were anemic factory loadings meant for the 1873 Springfield Trapdoor.

I began a quest for more precision in the mid 90's when I started shooting NRA Highpower, first with a M1 Garand and later an AR15.

A few years ago I realized I've come full circle and I've stopped trying to reinvent the wheel. I know what works and stick with it.

Why do I reload? Because I can make quality ammo as good or better than the factory at a fraction of the cost.