Re-loading Basics---who taught you?

Bloodhound

Bloodhound

New member
With all the new reloaders and the questions, I was waxing nostalgic about who taught me, so A) I didn't have a lot of questions and B) I didn't have to ask on an open forum....

I was blessed to have a guy who had been loading for 30 years get me started...with equipment and process and well the basics...I have been safely reloading for almost 25 years.

The other day I was trimming some brass, and I thought about Don...he didn't trim cases...if they got long he threw them in the club brass barrel...He had some other safety habits that were over the top...but I'm not complaining...he taught me to be safe too...he made me pull 50 bullets because I didn't use the overhead lamp to check each case after putting the powder in them from the powder measure. You had to "eyeball" each case under the light...I forgot and spend the rest of the evening pulling bullets....all the cases had powder....but that way I was sure they all had powder....

For all you new reloaders...when you ask a question and someone bust your chops...take it in good nature, suck it up and then learn...we know your just trying to figure it out...you should know that someone busted our chops 25 years ago when we asked the same question, and we have been waiting a long time to get even
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I had expert teachers - Dean Grenell, Skeeter Skelton, Elmer Keith, Jack O'Connor, etc. I learned how to reload by reading, something that a lot of folks don't seem to know how to do these days - or choose not to, at any rate. This was in the B.C. days - before computers.

Of course, I still had to experience my personal learning curve, but reading magazine articles and books gave me a very good start.
 
Started when I was 10 or 12 years old and was taught by my dad and uncle. We reloaded everything pistol,rifle and shotgun. If I wanted to shoot trap on fridays then after school I had to reload. If I wanted to shoot PD's I had to reload. It started out slow and with in a few weeks it was my job to reload. I was taught by to of the best teachers that I know and I still follow the rules set forth by them. Back in BC we did alot of reading of reloading manuals also.
 
I was taught by the instructions that came with the original LEE loader I bought for my self when I was 14. That was over 40 years ago. Taught my dad to reload 20 years later.
 
Just starting. Lots of good info here that has helped me alot. Im reading lyman 49th and have a buddy that has been doing it a long time.
 
Self taught. I read all the magazine articles and loading manuals I could get my hands on. I played safety first and made few blunders. The blunders I made were not of a dangerous nature.

As a side note, I have taught several new reloaders the basics.
 
I read the Lyman book and because at that time I lived in close proximity to a young company called Sinclair International, I made nearly weekly visits to their showroom. There you could just hang out near the counter and hear more than you could remember.
 
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Pretty much self taught here too. I did lots of research and burned lots of powder. There wasn't Internet forums to hold my hand either.

I guess that's what kinda [beeep] me off the most. Everything a person needs to know to get started is all in the front of every loading manual printed but yet some choose to shortcut and ask the obvious on a forum such as this. Basic questions that can be answered by reading a loading manual tells me a lot about a persons attitude towards handloading and you can tell if some have ever cracked open a book too!

Asking for loads and people that give them is one of my biggest pet peeves, do your own friggin homework! The person asking is attempting to shortcut the process with someone else's information (dangerous?) The person giving the information is just feeding the problem. All it does is promote laziness and the person looking for a load learns nothing about the process of finding it for themselves. I'm willing to help in any way I can but you will never see me giving out a free lunch.

I've learned less from the Internet than I have from reading loading manuals and other sources of printed information coupled with quality time on the trigger. I can be done without the internet.
 
My introduction to reloading was when I earned a place on the local police pistol team...We reloaded our practice and match ammo on a worn out progressive set up and after much frustration, I wound up buying myself a RCBS Rock Chucker single stage, just so I could match my rounds to my firearm and get some consistency that I could count on...

Fortunately, the other guys were great about walking me through the basics and we already had some basic load information available...

Thirty years later, when I started reloading bottle necked rifle cartridges, I found it was a whole different ball game and, fortunately, I had a friend that could mentor me on the differences...He had a couple of current manuals that he loaned me until I could get my own...
 
Originally Posted By: Terry N.I had expert teachers - Dean Grenell, Skeeter Skelton, Elmer Keith, Jack O'Connor, etc. I learned how to reload by reading, something that a lot of folks don't seem to know how to do these days - or choose not to, at any rate. This was in the B.C. days - before computers.

Of course, I still had to experience my personal learning curve, but reading magazine articles and books gave me a very good start.
I'm with you on this. I'm the only one of my large family that does any reloading. No personal instruction at any time. Not claiming to be an expert at all. Just plugging my experience.
 
I had a buddy who has 20 years experience in reloading. One day, I asked him abour reloading. He told me to buy up the goodies for me to reload some 9mm. I bought the materials and he walked me through the pistol reloading for 9mm on a progressive press.

I went out and bought my Lee breech lock & started on my own. I just made sure to keep an eye on the key items such as pressure, min/max loads, optimal c.o.a.l. and I was on my way.

I crushed about 30 cases when I started my rifle loads last year. Other than that, I am now reloading for my .223, 6.8spc, .308, and my .40s&w.

Reloading is the only way to go in my eyes.
 
I'm self taught. I started with a Lee shotgun loading set, the one you used a hammer with, in the late '60s. From there I went into centerfire rifle and then pistol. I bought manuals and read them. ALL the information I use for reloading still comes from either manuals or a manufacturer's website. Those sources I trust to give safe information.
 
My father in law helped me get started , years ago , but I have done lots of reading on my own and asked those silly questions , and am still always reading more up to date material , talk to others on fourms , and now 2 years after my father in law had a stroke I'm teaching him , stoke was hard on him he has it figured out but , measueing powder and seating bullets is hard for him the number mess with him but he taught me so I'll help him
 
Originally Posted By: Bloodhoundhe made me pull 50 bullets because I didn't use the overhead lamp to check each case after putting the powder in them from the powder measure.

I used to run a progressive press, but these days I run a turret press and hand feed powder into each case (Lee Auto Disk powder measure and a funnel, someday I'll graduate to a powder feeding die).

When I was running the progressive, I simply weighed all of my cartridges after loading before they went in the box. I almost always weigh and sort my bullets and brass, so even with handgun cartridges that are only getting 4grns of powder, I can tell the difference between a charged case and empty one.

When I'm running the turret and spoon feeding powder, like your method, I visually inspect the cases before they get racked up to come to the press for a bullet, BUT, I still weigh every cartridge before it goes in the box.

Definitely would have weighed my cartridges before I pulled them all just to make sure they had powder in them.
 
Originally Posted By: arrowheadI'm self taught. I started with a Lee shotgun loading set, the one you used a hammer with, in the late '60s. From there I went into centerfire rifle and then pistol. I bought manuals and read them. ALL the information I use for reloading still comes from either manuals or a manufacturer's website. Those sources I trust to give safe information. That pretty much exactly describes my entrance into reloading. Lee shotgun die because loaded ammo was too expensive to waste on pigeons! I also read all the gun mags, Keith, O'Conner etc. Then started collaborating with other reloaders. Now I'm the one others come to.
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So, to the question at hand:

I learned from reloading manuals and books and from a few local reloaders. I did everything basically as hard as you could make it when I first started out.

Then when I started competitive benchrest, I picked up a lot of new tricks to improve the precision of my ammo and the life of my brass from other shooters.

And of course, some time in the late 1990's or early 2000's I found that the internet is a great place to learn, as well as a great place to hear a lot of BS that will just waste your time at the bench.
 


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