Why do you reload?

Why do you reload?

  • To save money!

    Votes: 49 58.3%

  • Precision/match grade ammo.

    Votes: 35 41.7%

  • To make budget components shoot better

    Votes: 16 19.0%

  • I load uncommon loads for my cartridge

    Votes: 19 22.6%

  • I load for uncommon, obsolete, or wildcat cartridges

    Votes: 30 35.7%

  • Other, please note below.

    Votes: 16 19.0%
  • Total voters
    84
  • Poll closed .
I started back in the mid eighties or so because I’d just gotten my first S&W model 57 no dash, even back then that ammo was expensive.
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I could have written that ^^, except my gun was a Colt Python. (M57's are totally cool though. I respect 41Mag folks.)

I think most people start handloading to save money. But I bet the only ones who continue to handload are those who get much much more out of it. And I mean all the things I'm sure were already mentioned (I didn't read all the posts).

It seems to always come down to this though: If handloading is something you enjoy doing, you will continue to do it and it will become a hobby and craft in and of itself to you. If it isn't, you won't. Lots of garages have loading equipment stuffed in the corner somewhere collecting dust because someone wanted to start reloading to save money, but didn't enjoy doing it.
 
It's my hobby ... I don't like golf .
I enjoy casting my own bullets and loading my cast bullets in my own ammo .
When times get hard and ammo hard to get , I don't have to rely on "store bought" ammo . I started reloading and casting bullets in 1967 ... always enjoyed it .
In 2012 I started stocking up on powder , primers , empty cases , wheel weights , bullet moulds and everything needed to "Roll My Own" .
Plan ahead - Be prepared - I'm Ready !
Gary
 
My dad always reloaded. We would alway work up the most accurate load for each specific gun. Never bought any ammo until much later in life. Now I have way more than I should.I still load for each gun that I own.
 
Two additional reasons:

Something to do in the winter when it is too cold, wet, snowy or whatever to go shooting.

Because I enjoy it.
 
Because I am dumb and keep buying things that have no commercial ammo available, require case forming, and often require bullet casting.
Also because I am dumb and turn stupid ideas for wildcats into reality, in turn requiring loading said wildcats.
Also because I am dumb and keep buying old shotguns that need 2" to 2.5" shells and low pressure, but I can't bring myself to order RST shells at $25-65 / box.


But I am also just not going to pay $2 per trigger pull for common ammo, let alone the $3-4 that some popular rifle cartridges are going for now.
 
I'm probably one of the few people here that hated reloading. I started it to save money and be able to roll my own in a SHTF scenario if one ever came about. Learned pretty quick that my mentality just wasn't set for long boring times behind the press pulling the handle. Because of that my mind would drift, which isn't good when doing something that needs that much precision in order to be safe. After a while I would hate doing it so I sold the whole setup and never looked back.
 
Ammo for everything I own is commercially available, even the semi-odd balls I have. But, reloading lets me shoot them (and my common stuff) much cheaper.
 
Started reloading back in the 60's at 12 years old, in the back of a gun shop. I was reloading 38 Special practice loads for the police department. My payment was a monthly trip to the range where I could shoot as much as I wanted, WWII surplus guns. Colt 1911 .45 acp, SW MP10? .38 Special, 1903 Springfield, M1 Carbine, M1 Grand, Thomson Sub-Machine gun (full auto) .45 acp and M2 Carbine (full auto). Since then I would rather reload than buy factory ammo. Buy a gun with a different caliber, just buy dies and brass and start reloading.
 
Most people abandon reloading with in a year.
Others that continue do so mostly as a hobby.
I've been at this for 27 years but I look at it as drudgery. The fun of it is long gone.
The reason I reload is because I have to. Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to shoot at the volumes I'm accustom to.
Truth is, I should be at the bench instead of posting here.
 
I started out because had a rifle that wouldn't shoot factory ammo worth a damn. Secondary was to save money. Now it is more for the enjoyment, relaxation about it and the extra special feeling I get knowing that the deer I take had more put into it than the usual. Just like archers who build their own hunting arrows.
 
Most people abandon reloading with in a year.
Others that continue do so mostly as a hobby.
I've been at this for 27 years but I look at it as drudgery. The fun of it is long gone.
The reason I reload is because I have to. Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to shoot at the volumes I'm accustom to.
Truth is, I should be at the bench instead of posting here.
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Same for me; I love shooting my revolvers but finding 38Spl, let alone using 158gr bullets is impossible and whatever is available costs more than 45ACP
 
I chose "other" because there was no "All of the Above" option.

I literally reload for all of the above reasons plus more.

In addition to all of the above I reload for ...

1 - Enjoyment, Hobby
2 - Self sufficiency in times of need
3 - Emergency Preparedness (maintaining stock and the ability to do so.)
4 - Maximizing brass usage
5 - Employing mine own cast boolits
6 - Achieving superior results compared to factory loads and the satisfaction that allows.
7 - It's peaceful and somewhat cathartic and it affords-me my me-time away from the wifey and day-to-day chatter. People leave me alone in my man cave.
8 - And finally, in addition to the OP's options plus mine own added above ... I handload/reload to exercise my old brain. I am constantly reading on the subject, constantly taking notes, constantly adding to my caliber journals, constantly adding to my library, constantly referencing online sources and forums for input and learning new things from others ... constantly striving for perfection.

There are times when I'll finish matchmaking a batch for one of my precision rifles or my competition pistols and I'll examine each round, while wearing nitrite gloves so as not to leave even a smudge on them, and I'll look on them like a jeweler might a precision stone or a hand crafted diamond ring ... with much pride at my work. And then, once those rounds do what I built them to-do on the range ... there is a real feeling of accomplishment. I take hreat pride in all of that. It gives me purpose.

So many things as a young man led me to a fascination with reloading.

1 - watching and learning from my Grandfather in the 50s and 60s. Doing it with a wooden dowel, a 20 penny nail and an icepick and Lee Loader set.

2 - seeing that ammo maker in Man With the Golden Gun (James Bond).

3 - much later, many years later ... the guy who reloaded for Tom Selleck's rifle in Quigley Down Under. (I was already a 45-70 guy but that took me over the top.)

... and so on and so forth.

Edited: Grammar and Spelling caused by big thumbs.
 
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I started out with a rifle in an oddball caliber and the ammo has always been very expensive. So I start reloading to save money but kept with it because my reloads were always more accurate. Now I reload for about 20 different rounds...

Tony
 
At first you may not save money with initial set-up, but my main reason was to fine tune ammo for specific firearms. Secondly was to acquire a skill set like our forefathers did in case something I did not see happening happened. It's like working on your car you change spark plugs yourself because you can.
 
I've spent way more money on reloading stuff compared to the same amount I would have spent on factory ammo.

My thing was 45 LC. I always wanted a SA in 45 but ammo was hard to find or it was cowboy action. I retired in 16 and needed another hobby (like another hole in my head)

I haven't bought the SA 45 yet but I did get a model 92 in 45.

I did luck out and buy a lot of components before this newer shortage so I'm set for awhile.

RifleTom and another fellow shooter got me started and helped along the way.
 
load em up

I find reloading extremely relaxing and peaceful.
Keeping detailed records and performance is very interesting and gratifying.

Pairing a particular load to a particular weapon is my ultimate goal.

For example my Remington 600 .222 Remington routinely hits thumbtacks at 100 yards.
 
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