# How did you get started?



## Dr.K (Feb 13, 2007)

I always wanted to get into it. I got my grandfather to show me how to do it when I was a kid. We loaded up 2 30-06's, and he let me shoot them. His shop burned and bye bye equipment. Some years later my Stepfather gave me a box full of reloading equipment :

Lyman turrent press
case trimmer with accessories
little dandy powder dispenser
powder scale
assortment of dies, shellholders, etc...
reloading manual

I went to the local sporting good store, and spent about $100 for powder, primers, .50AE dies, read the manual and presto. I became a reloader. I built a bench, got some .45acp dies for x-mas. Been doing it for a couple of years now. I find it very relaxing to sit in my shop for hours and tinker with different loads. It's almost as fun as blasting them away!


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## Baldy (Jun 21, 2006)

Well when I was younger I went over the hill to dirty diapers and time payments. I was an over the road truck driver and I just couldn't find any free time. Speed ahead about 30yrs along with back to back heartattacks and burned up lungs I needed something to tinker with. Well that was something I always wanted todo. I am mostly self taught with a lot of help from some good people like 2400. I been at it a year and love it.


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## RustyFN (Dec 27, 2006)

I never got into shooting until the kids were grown and out of the house. Somebody I work with was talking about guns and we started talking, then went shooting and here I am hooked. I started reading forums and ended up in the reloading section reading. As soon as I read where I could make better ammo cheaper I knew it was for me. Besides I like to tinker and stay busy. I asked a lot of questions on the forums and ended up with a Lee Classic Turret Press. There is nothing as relaxing as sitting there reloading except maybe fishing. I soon found out that you don't save money by reloading but you can shoot a lot more for the same price.
Rusty


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## Bob Wright (May 10, 2006)

*My first reloads.......*

I got into reloading with a .45 Colt New Service, after a fashion. My mother wouldn't allow live ammo in the house, so I cooked up some wax bullet loads. I deprimed the fired cases using a nail and block of wood with my Dad's claw hammer. Reprimed with a wooden dowell. Then pressed the mouth of the case into a block of Esso canning wax. THEN I learned the flash hole needed to be drilled out.

One of my girl friends in high school gave me a Lyman 310 tool outfit for my first real reloads. I used the 310 for a long time, then got one of those old Lee Loaders that you had to use with a machinist's hammer. That got old quick and finally got a RCBS press. For awhile I used adapters to use the little Lyman 310 dies, and gradually got RCBS carbide dies.

I really got into experimenting with powder/bullet combinations in the 70s and bought a chronograph to check my results.

I've been a reloader about fifty years now.

Bob Wright


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## hberttmank (May 5, 2006)

I started out with a Lee loader thirty years ago. Pounding cases in and out of a die with a plastic mallet, filling the cases with a powder scoop, is definitely doing it the hard way. But I was saving money, I could reload 100 rounds for what 20 factory would cost. When my first wife bought me an RCBS Junior for my birthday, it was the coolest present I'd ever got.


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## JJB (Dec 27, 2006)

got started reloading by helping my good friend reload and alittle at a time he taught me how it was done..... that's the best way to learn.... from an experienced reloader who is patiant enough and willing to teach a guy.... been reloading for over thirty years now and i still like the spend time at the bench.......


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## P97 (May 8, 2006)

hberttmank said:


> I started out with a Lee loader thirty years ago. Pounding cases in and out of a die with a plastic mallet, filling the cases with a powder scoop, is definitely doing it the hard way. But I was saving money, I could reload 100 rounds for what 20 factory would cost. When my first wife bought me an RCBS Junior for my birthday, it was the coolest present I'd ever got.


I started loading the same way. Would get down in the floor and reload and let my kids help me do things like deprime, clean the primer pockets, and seat the bullets. They still talk about it and want me to get my stuff out and let my Grandsons see how we used to do it. I still do all my reloading, but now use a Lee turret Press.


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## Mike Barham (Mar 30, 2006)

I started shooting IPSC in the late 1980's and couldn't afford enough factory ammo to shoot the vast amounts required for that sport. I took up reloading (as opposed to handloading) simply in the interests of economy. My home was littered with spent .45 cases, 231, primers, and 200 GR. SWCs.

Nowadays, my proportion of money to free time has changed, and I don't shoot as much as I did when I competed. Back then, I'd easily shoot 500 rounds in a range session, and often more. Now I shoot about 200. I just buy WWB for practice and the occasional pistol class. I sold my Dillon press after it sat unused for most of a decade.


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