[Fred]

I load for multiple pistol and rifle calibers to save some money, but also for the enjoyment. I know some folks view their time spent reloading as a necessary evil before shooting, but I like reloading almost as much as shooting. It's kind of like therapy for me. I can immerse myself in the process, and forget about most of the everyday problems and pressures while I'm working at the reloading bench. How about you?

 

[Art Eatman]

Ever lose track of time and wind up with about five years' worth of ammo for sumpn? As in, a coupla thousand rounds of .45ACP and then go to messin' with 9mm?

I'm still shooting .243 stuff I loaded in 1968.

Art

 

[Fred]

Hey, Art,

didn't I just "see" you up in the Nature Photography forum? Seriously, it sounds like you zone out like I do when at the reloading bench. It's a great hobby, isn't it?

 

[1badmagnum]

I keep running out of bullets!
8 pounds of powder will last a month or so.
cases last quite a while.
primers are cheap,but those bullet prices are killing me.
by far the most expensive part of this hobby,spent more on bullets than guns.

 

[Sisco]

Reloading is a vicious circle.
Reload, shoot, clean guns.
Reload, shoot, clean guns.
Wait for payday to buy more supplies,
Reload, shoot, clean guns!
I load for 9mm, 38 spcl & 357mag, 45acp, 41mag, 30 carbine, 22 hornet, 25.06 & .270. Enjoy reloading almost as much as I do shooting, find it relaxing to set down at the bench and roll my own.

 

[Jbar4Ranch]

RIFLES
.50 BMG (28-30 rounds per pound of powder!)
.338 Winmag
.338-06 (A very under-rated cartridge)
.300 Weatherby
.30-06
.308
.30-30 (TC Contender also)
7.62x39
.270
.243
.220 Swift
.22-250
.223
.222 (TC Contender also)

HANDGUNS
.480 Ruger (All the big-bore boom you'll ever need)
.475 Linebaugh (OUCH! Why does this even exist?)
.45 Colt
.45 ACP
.44 mag
.44 special
.41 mag (Another very under-rated caliber)
.35 Remington (Contender)
.357
.38
.32 H&R mag
.32 ACP
.30 Carbine (Ruger Blackhawk)
.30 Herrett (Contender)
.30 Luger
9mm
.256 Winmag (Contender)

BLACK POWDER
.58
.54
.457 (Ruger Old Army, the only .457 caliber that I'm aware of)
.45
.44
.36

And more bullet moulds than I can remember right off... maybe 35 or so. I get just as much satisfaction from reloading and casting as I do shooting. Nothing like dropping a big ol' bull elk with a handload topped with a cast bullet or patched ball that you made yourself... except maybe doing it with a hand-made longbow, a hand carved-cured-straightened-fletched shaft, and a hand-knapped arrowhead.

(edit) Ya know, I managed to forget...
SHOTGUNS
12g (Lee Load-All. If you have nothing at all, this is better... barely)
.410 (MEC)

 

[Fred]

Holy smokes, Jbar,

it might have been simpler for you to just list what you DON'T reload for! :lol:

Seriously, thanks for sharing, and it's good to see you here as well as on GT.

 

[Jbar4Ranch]

Thanks, Fred.

Just for the halibut, I just counted moulds and came up with 31... Do I win?

 

[Fred]

31 moulds sure wins in my book

anyone out there want to challenge Jbar for first place?

 

[Munenn]

Challenge? Not a chance

I'm an accuracy/rifle nut, so my reloads are done on a single stage Forster Co-Ax press. Trimming brass and neck turning seems to be endless, but worth it for the thrill of tiny groups. This is what I load for so far, for rifle

.223, 25-'06, 7.62x39, 7.5 Swiss, .308, 30-'06, 300 H&H Mag, 7.62x54 Russian, 8mm Mauser, .338 Lapua Mag, and 45-70
Soon hopefully I'll be adding a .222 Rem and a 6.5- probably 6.5-284.

In handguns I only have a few- my pistolero days are pretty much over if they ever were here to begin with, and I tend to collect in calibers I already have, anyway.

9mm, 10mm, 44 Mag

That's it. When I get tired of reloading, I a shoot black powder handgun or a rifle in .22

 

[Pooter shooter]

Well guys I'm one of those K.I.S.S. types tha generaly load for one gun to find that perfect cast, powder, primer, & brass combination. Besides I'm gun poor most the time anyway. My 480 Ruger is all the gun I need untill the next one. :wink:
Bob

 

[Jbar4Ranch]

The .480... YESSSS! Using a 400 grain Lee cast bullet and Hodgdon's Li'l Gun, this caliber can be easily pushed to .475 Linebaugh levels in the SRH. The SRH will handle standard pressure .475 loads, but is marginal for the proof loads, which is the biggest reason why it isn't chambered for .475. (the cylinder is long enough, barely) The Lee bullet has 2 crimp grooves and, when seated out to the lower one, the cartridge has the same case capacity as the .475. Li'l Gun has a lower pressure curve than comparable powders and is quite safe to load *well past* recommended maximums for the .480 when using the Lee bullet and lower crimp groove. Hopefully, after nearly 2 years, I'll be getting back to this project soon and will have more precise test data to report later this year.

Disclaimer: At this point, I am certainly not recommending that anyone else load their .480's past established, published maximum loads. You're on your own if you do. :shock:

 

[IceCreamSoldier]

Im reloading these days... finally got over the fear of blowing myself up...used to think it was alchemy.
Im using a single stage RCBS Rock Chucker that used to be my father inlaws and am now only reloading for my .44mag, .45acp and .45 colt. Ive done about 1800 rounds in the last 7 weeks and shot half of them so far with no mishaps, other than a empty wallet, ...whew thats alot of cranking.

 

[Jbar4Ranch]

A Rock Chucker is mandatory equipment on any reloaders bench. It's all I used for about a quarter century. I bought a Dillon 550 just before this fun & entertaining probation gig started so haven't had much time to play around with it yet.

 

[Pheonix]

Yep.

.308 for now but I do see 10mm in the future.

 

[Walosi]

I've loaded an assortment over the years (nuttin like jbars ) and now that I can't navigate rough ground I've settled down to .357, .44 Spec., and .45 Colt for my carry guns. I made two forays into the realm of the .219 Improved Zipper as my most exotic cartridge, once in 1958 with an Enfield action, unturned bull-barreled monstrosity mounted in a stock that looked like it had been cut from a railroad tie with a dull draw knife. It shot one-hole groups. The second was a Winchester Hi-Wall, built and stocked by Archie Stahl and his son. Absolutely beautiful, but not long enough in my possession. It would, in Archies' words "Kill a terrible groundhog, way way out there".

Shooting enables reloading, and the combination is a therapy which protects reason, caution and sanity. It hasn't kept me out of the hands of the chest cutters, but I do believe it has extended my time.

 

[bdhawk]

i've been rollin' my own since '72. love it. almost secondary to shooting, believe it or not. i load for:
.380 acp
9MM
.38 spl
.357 mag
.357 sig
.40 s&w
10MM
.44 mag
.45 acp
.223 rem
i cast most of my bullets, but i am buying more and more of the plated ones.

here is a pic of my humble 'loading bench.

[IMG=left][/IMG]

 

[Fred]

Nice setup, bdhawk

thanks for sharing.

 

[RiverratMike]

Back to reloading

I have reloaded on and off for about 35 years with a 7 year break when I shot nothing but muzzle loaders and a few other breaks for lesser reasons. Now I am retired and can take some real time with the details. There have been a few surprise new developments though. I have a .444 Marlin and tried the Leverlution (sp?) rounds and decided I don't want to shoot anything else. Trouble is, Hornady said, on their website, they aren't going to sell bullets for reloading "for some time". So now I have some idle dies and brass. I really got hooked on Barnes bullets for my 30-06 and similar rounds but watch out. A lot of the bullets they put in production were superseded and are no longer available. So I bought a few hundred older ones, worked up a load only to find out I couldn't get any more. Oops. Another caution is not to buy any carbide dies. They will ruin you for anything else.

 

[AStahl]

Archie Stahl you say Walosi? Haven't heard that name in a long time. He taught me too how to reload. Once you get started, you cant stop. Learned doing 348 winchester and doing 357 Herrett from him. It was in his shop I learned the saying "things go a lot quicker when you don't do it right" and seeing the Smith and Wesson Model 29 he had in the shop with an exploded cylinder, bent frame, and bulged barrel from where a bad reload was put through it. You remember that kind of stuff the rest of your life.