Mentors in Reloading: Who Guided You?

I think I got my first Lee reloading kit at about 16 as a present. It came with the current Speer and Hornady manuals. Nobody in my immediate family reloaded. I read a lot and tried stuff.

I started about 4 years ago at the height of the “great shortage.”

Like others, I had considered and studied for years but had no physical mentor. Lyman 49 & Lee 2nd edition were my go to references.
I had two ready references where I could post a question and get reliable answers as I got started: bersachat.com and thehighroad.org. Both forums had regulars who were skilled in reloading AND who enjoying sharing their expertise. Two names come to mind: RC on bersachat and rcmodel here on THR. I feel like I got pretty good advice from both!
I try to return the favor to others as I can.

Messrs. Lee, Hornady, Speer and gavintoobe, with some help from this and another forum. And Lady Luck.

About forty years ago, my Dad got me started reloading.

all the great members on this website.

Started reloading in 1975 using a lee classic loader. Self taught. Lots of manual reading. Trial & error luckily not too much error. Long before internet.

kcofohio asked:
Who helped you start on your journey?

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Nobody.

I got into reloading in the mid-1970's as a teenager because I had a Universal 30 Carbine and could not buy ammunition for it (30 Carbine was considered a pistol cartridge and you had to be 21). My father would buy ammunition for me, but limited me to one box of 20 cartridges per week because he didn't want me to spend all of my money shooting. Minimum wage at the time was $3.35 per hour and that's what I was making as the weekend guy at the local radio station.

Reloading was the only way to shoot more, but my father disapproved because when he had been a teenager one his friends who was a handloader that engaged in very unsafe practices and he was afraid I would blow myself up.

Still, the lure of more shooting was greater than the fear of being maimed, so I got an original Lee Loader. Paid $6.97 (still have the box with the price sticker on it), a box of bullets, a box of primers and a pound of Winchester 630 powder and set to work. I set up in my grandmother's garage and followed the instructions in the Lee Loader to the letter. That was the only instruction I had.

In time, a friend joined me in reloading, but like me, he was a novice and we plodded forward. In 1978, I had saved up enough to buy an RCBS Reloader Special press, a set of dies and a scale (balance for you purists) and I began to learn how to use it. I had no powder measure and so weighed out everything on the scale one load at a time. My friend and I worked out everything by trial and error.

By 1979, when I got a Mini-14, I had enough confidence in my abilities as a reloader to buy a single box of factory ammunition to make sure the rifle worked properly and thereafter to shoot only ammunition I crafted. It was also about this time my father developed enough confidence in my reloads to start using them. In fact, for the last 38 years he has shot nothing else. Once he dropped his objection to reloading, he helped me develop a rigorous system of procedures for reloading, a system for tracking components and loaded ammunition and a system for continuously reviewing the result of my shooting in order to do routine process evaluations and quality assurance tests.

Self taught with assistance from Mr. Lyman back in the early 80's. Had a Lyman press, dies, and scale with a good gun shop that stocked components. Since then equipment has changed and most all the manuals added. No reason you can't teach yourself how to reload but having a mentor would be an added asset. What made me want to reload was a brother-in-law that had a Lee Loader that he "hammered" and dipped powder for his .243. Never thought about reloading my own ammo until seeing him making his own.

My girlfriends dad (now my father in law) set me up with a friend of his that was an avid reloader. He showed me the ropes for a saturday afternoon but after that I was on my own. I read a reloading book at a public library but I didn't buy a reloading book till much later. I often referenced the internet for tips and tricks and also followed the advice of a local reloading store where I lived at the time.

I got my start from info on my Lee Loader instruction sheet.

mdi said:

I got my start from info on my Lee Loader instruction sheet.

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Me also, the Whack a mole instruction sheet told you what bullet, powder that worked with the included scoop. That was in the mid 70's. Life was so much easier than.

I got my start in 1963 by buying a used Hollywood Senior press and .30-06 dies from one of my college professors. I had a new to me M-1 Garand that I needed to learn to feed, so I taught myself how to load ammunition from reading. That's pretty much how it's been for me ever since, and now I load 32 different calibers. I also still have the Hollywood Senior, plus several other presses and assorted gear.

I did start reloading shotgun shells with a Lee manual set, and that has morphed into a MEC 9000GN, with an electric motor for loading 12 gauge.

Hope this helps.

Fred

I bought my first press (RCBS Rockchucker kit) from a LGS that caters to reloaders. The owner and some of the staff were able to answer questions and give advice when I stopped in for supplies.

Sam1911 said:

I think I got my first Lee reloading kit at about 16 as a present. It came with the current Speer and Hornady manuals. Nobody in my immediate family reloaded. I read a lot and tried stuff.

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This ... 1968 ... 16 years old with a 7.92x57 "Whack-a-Mole" Lee Loader (followed by a .38/,357) ... but my dad (also with zero hand-/re-loading experience) actually started the ball rolling. We learned a lot together and had a great time doing it

A brand new RCBS Jr. setup, and stacks of books.

Mostly self taught, but with guidance from a guy named Dave Manley who owned the gun shop in Brookville, Pa. It’s a 4 hour trip so advice was sporadic at best.

The good folks here at THR

Started reloading when I returned from Vietnam in 1972. I had developed an interest in accurate rifles and making ammunition for them. Books with pictures were my only mentors as I had nobody into reloading to help. Trips to the range began getting new friends and help. I think my first book was a Lyman manual.

Ron

I started reloading only a couple months ago. Members of THR have been very helpful and answered all of my questions on the subject. So, thanks to all those who've shared their knowledge and experience!

I got into it by myself. Started lurking in a website that has since closed down. But the members there, just as here, were very helpful and offered guidance but also made me work to do it right. So loaded up on three books, lee, hornady, and Lyman and started studying. Found external resources, powder manufacturers websites and other info. It's a never ending lesson in the art of pressing your own or obsession, however you wish to look at it.

No one helped me get started.

I started loading shotgun shells using the Lee wack-a-mole using paper/cork wading when I was 12, mid 1960's. I didn't pick up handguns and rifle till the mid 70's. Just did not like the accuracy I was getting from factory ammo. Had no one to help me along so it was alot of reading and trial and error. Luckily I had very few errors that were dangerous, most all cosmetic ( hyd dents). Back then the only lube was the RCBS Lube that was the consistency of heavy grease in the winter. Stated on a RCBS Jr press ,which I passed on to a neighbor that I tutored in 2004 along with some spare dies to get him started with 380 and 38's. I now load for 10 calibers.

I started about 1967 with some equipment I inherited from a great uncle. Bought a Lyman's 44th and went from there. Here is a post where I shared some pictures of that equipment.

https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...he-day-belding-and-mull-picture-heavy.773834/

I knew a couple of kids in high school that reloaded too. Not sure their advice was the best but we never blew anything up.

I started reloading in the late 80's. Long before the internet, and the guys at the LGS were, to put it charitably, reticent with information. Realistically, they had no time for a long haired, bearded (think ZZ Top), tattooed Harley rider.

Screw 'em.

I could read, and figured it out myself. I made it a point to mail order supplies, with the exception of powder and primers. I spent as little money as I could at that LGS, which is no longer extant.

Back then, info was more difficult to find. The internet has changed everything.

I started researching reloading several years ago. I talked to people, read all I could and watched videos. A few years ago I started buying my gear and then loaded my first rounds. Since then, I've really enjoyed it and worked to learn all I can.

So no formal mentors. But manuals, websites, videos and forums provided a lot of great info.