A friend just offered me this deal...

Do you really think you're going to have the time/energy/desire to go shooting a couple times a week after your child is born? Do you think your wife will go along with you going to shoot a couple times a week?

:confused:
 
FWIW, I reload alone, jes me and George Jones. Reloading, for me, has always been a quiet time, R&R for me. No conversation, no explanations, jes me and my press...
 
I have a good friend I have known since Elementry School. We hunt, fish, and shoot together fairly often. What we did was I purchased a Hornady LnL press. He bought the other required equipment (scales, shell plates, dies, bullet feeder, etc). We share the press and equipment but buy our own consumables (powder, brass, bullets, etc). This way neither of us feel like we owe each other anything. If for some reason we have a falling out, I keep what's mine and he keeps what's his.
 
Go with Gearhead. New baby will definitely cut into shooting time and money. To a point you will not be happy, much less this other guy.
 
Jeffm004 said:
Go with Gearhead. New baby will definitely cut into shooting time and money. To a point you will not be happy, much less this other guy.
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That's definitely true. I have a 2 y/o and my buddy has twins that are 3 y/o. We don't shoot as much as we used to but I bought the progessive to be able to bulk reload (1,000 at a time) with the thinking that we can spend a little less time reloading and more time shooting or being with family.

If your friend isn't someone who is up to reloading his own rounds I would decline the offer.
 
Not to disagree with everyone else, but me, my best buddy and one of his friends split the cost of a Dillon RL 550-B about 20 years ago (maybe 25, time flies), and I bought most of the accessories, additional toolheads, dies, etc. I am the only one who learned to set it up and operate it. I had it at my house for the first decade or so, and it now resides at my buddy's barber shop along with his shotgun loaders. I have loaded a couple thousand 9 mm's for our mutual friend, and a few hundred .357 Magnums for my barber buddy. I even have a key to his shop, so I can use it whenever I want, but most of the time I just use my single stage rock chucker here at home. I shoot more rifle now and spend more time loading those than the pistol rounds that the Dillon excels at. But we have never had a problem sharing it. And if they ever asked, I would just buy them out since our original investment wás less than $600 and I would still load them some ammo if they asked. (Or just give them some of my factory stash)
So it can work out, if your friends are as reasonable as you are and you are fair with each other.
 
Frankenmauser pretty much nailed it.
I reload with a group of guys so we buy components in bulk but everyone reloads their own ammo.
Just last week my buddy shot a reloaded 45 acp round in his Ruger and the brass blew out at the case head.
Looking at the brass it must have been shot from a Glock and he did not notice it when doing his case prep.
Long story short he was lucky the only thing that got destroyed was the grips and the mag.
Reloading for someone else can be very risky.
 
Watch "The People's Court" every day for one week, and then make a list of what could go wrong with this deal.
 
Not to put too fine a point on things...

I think you are way out on the price of things,
And I can point out a couple of ways that might make things go easier.

1. If you are handy, you might want to check out case feeders, or even bullet feeders on YouTube
Case feeders in particular are easy to build from a 5 gallon bucket and a $10 motor off eBay.
Saves you over $250 from Dillon.

2. Switching dies and shell plates in a Dillon takes very little time.
Messing with the large to small primer can be a REAL pain in the butt.
Not just switching the hardware, but getting the primer ram tuned so it installs your particular choice in primers in your particular cases correctly.

Not all primers & cases are created equal..

I can pretty much guarantee you will be looking for small primer .45 cases, or holding off on loading .45s until you have a bunch to make that conversion worth while.

3. Dillon XL650 has come down, about $600 with shipping including a set of dies.
Watch eBay for caliber changes and upgrades to make conversions to other calibers a little cheaper.

4. I reload for a shooting club/group,
To lay off liability, EVERYONE sits in front of the machine and pulls the handle.
Everyone has signed disclaimers, and we have all been friends for 30 years,
And I'm still not totally comfortable,
As someone else mentioned, in the case the worst happens, parents, spouse, siblings and children can sue you into oblivion, even with signed disclaimers and shared liability...
You will probably win the law suit, but you will spend $250,000 doing it...
If you don't have signed disclaimers and shared liability, you don't have a chance.
 
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If you and your friend have a bitter disagreement in the future, you could find yourself getting a call from an ATF agent. Then things start to spiral out of control.

If he/you can't afford the equipment, then don't reload.

Nothing good can come out of the arrangement you've contemplated.
 
I had a somewhat similar situation when I started shooting reloads. My brother in law had the press and the space. I offered to buy him the dies and components if he'd load em up for me. Ended up with me buying my own components and him giving me access to the bench pretty much whenever. As a newbie here, my advice may be useless but, I wouldn't do it. If possible, teach him how to do it for himself, teach a man to fish, as they say. I know for me it was a great arrangement, good solid bonding time and also a very therapeutic hobby I found out. I'm glad he turned me down initially.
Also, the legal ramifications are not worth the risk. If, for whatever reason, y'all have a falling out......he's pretty much got you by the short and curlys.
 
I agree with post #5 from FrankenMauser.

I have people ask me all the time to reload ammo for them, I always tell them no for two reasons, I don't have time and I'm not licensed to do so.

I do tell them that if they buy their own equipment I'll gladly take time to help them set-up their equipment and guide them in reloading their own ammo.

Best Regards
Bob Hunter
 
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