I started reloading in early 1950s when it was still considered a hazardous hobby. We did not have printed loading data or any real books on the subject. I bought several hundred pounds of the 4895 that Hodgdon was selling in the brown paper bags at the time for about .10 cents per pound it seems cheap but I was making .8 cents an hour pushing shopping carts at the time.
Since then I have owned two reloading shops making custom reloads for people in the 1960s and 1970s when the liability was not too much issue. I won a lot of bench rest matches. that was my advertising. Kept all my customers and load info on 3x5 cards.
Before we reloaded we would sweep the area then with a little dish soap hose the floor down, the dish soap would reduce static electricity on the floor area. Then with a large pan each of the reloading equipment would be washed in dish soap as well to remove static. every thing was steel and pot metal and would collect static. it was not for fear of a boom but a problem to keep dishes and scales steady. Some plastics do the same today.
we would load all lots on one day to keep humidity and loading temperature the same. we did not know how it would affect the load. Smoking was a no. I didn't like it, and never tried it!
We would make a lot of our own reamers for the dies. Many reloaders would request the reamer that the barrel maker would use for chambering for making reloading dies. Thing have changed a lot since then. Then a neighbor came over and asked for help. In his reloading room he had a TV with a football game on the TV several times I would ask a question and he was watching the TV then after a minute he would say "what" I found his distraction annoying. I left
after 15 minutes he realized I was gone. I told him that the only way I would help him if he got rid of the TV, Radio, Dog, from the reloading room first. He didn't come back for a while, till... one day he said he blew his rifle up!
