Reloading projects for retirement - Happy 4th of July (Independence from work?)

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Congratulations once again on breaking the tie to forced labor.

One of the greatest realizations that I've made since my forced retirement 4 years ago is General and Over-all health. In the 4 years I've been out I have undergone 2 major surgeries and in the process of fighting for the use of both legs.

Some of this has really cut down on my activities including shooting and reloading. I right now have 5 45acp loads sitting on the bench that still need to be tested. They have been there for over 6 months already.
 
Thank you all for retirement congratulations and congrats to those also retiring/retired.

And no, I don't see retirement as "end of working" as at 53, I see it as a transition to doing things more meaningful.
 
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I would like to make this offer to THR H&R members in general as my continued "Pay It Forward" or "Giving Back" - If there's something you've been wanting or curious to do/test but due to lack of time or resources, you have not been able to do so. Well, post it on this thread and I will see if I can get them done. I will make a prioritized list from most beneficial to least beneficial.

Perhaps, this will allow other THR members to vicariously enjoy my retirement together. :D
 
I've been "free" for 8 years and I spent the first few years fixing up the house and doing whatever I wanted whenever I wanted. Then my Daughter got married and I got my first Grandson. Then my Son met a girl with a little boy and added a new Granddaughter to the mix. So now I have 3 Grandkids. My wife is still working so I'm now the Great Papa, proprietor of Papa's part time daycare. It's exhausting but I love it.
 
Congratulations on your retiring BDS, I think you forgot to mention the two StarCraft fishing boats your restoring. That would be one of my priorities over what anyone else wanted done.
Anyone make a stainless steel loading press? Put one on the boat for when the fish aren't biting. Sounds like a win-win to me.
Anyways, Good luck with all your free time. :rofl:
 
Congratulations BDS! I'm about 18 months behind you.
My plans include exercising the new (to me) travel trailer to visit many National and State parks and Battle sites.
I hope to meet a lot of the people from this forum along the way, as well as people from my other addictions like beekeeping.

A few craft breweries are on my list, too..
 
Congrats. I have a friend who retired about 2 years ago, and he's busier than ever. Unfortunately, he lives several states away, so rarely see him anymore. When I asked him about reloading, he said he doesn't have time for that anymore. But he bought a nice chunk of land not far from home so he could go shooting more than a couple times a week. Go figure. When he lived in the area, we went to the range all the time, and a few hundred rounds was "nothing serious - just plinking"
 
Retired at 53? With current medical technology, you have another 35 years ahead of you. So tell the others you will eventually get to their projects (except for the wife). Don't forget you need to have some fun and spoil the grandkids.
 
Sad to say from a shooting point of view, I've been busy with non-shooting projects of late. I have a couple months coming up that are free so maybe I can get back to some shooting activities.

Retirement is great but very busy.
 
I retired at the end of last year. Looking back, I struggled making the decision on whether to retire or not and now I don't know why. I stay busy and I'm not bored but I have come the enjoy a short nap after lunch. The toughest thing about being retired is keeping up with the date and the day of the week.
 
bds congratulations on your retirement, I hope you find more time than I have, I retired at age 55 when they were going to change our retirement package and lower my monthly income 300$, if I was still there 5yrs later I would have caught up, medical insurance went from zero to 1600 a month, I have found everytime something goes wrong my phone is the first to ring and pawpaw daycare is always open.
The only rifles I have been able to work with is my 30-06s and haven't even looked at my handguns except to practice with ones I carry
 
Retired at 53? With current medical technology, you have another 35 years ahead of you. So tell the others you will eventually get to their projects (except for the wife). Don't forget you need to have some fun and spoil the grandkids.

What's the world coming too......retiring in your 50's! You guys are gonna leave this country in the hands of young liberals? Heaven help us! ;)

I'm just jealous.....at 69 1/2, I'm designing another house for a rich man.....only 6000 sq. ft........by the time I get it built will be 71, probably.....would really like to retire.......just haven't learned the magic words yet, "just say no".
 
You need to come up with a shotshell reloader that will pump 'em out faster than a Spolar, at the cost of a MEC 600! ;):thumbup:

I would like to make this offer to THR H&R members in general as my continued "Pay It Forward" or "Giving Back" - If there's something you've been wanting or curious to do/test but due to lack of time or resources, you have not been able to do so. Well, post it on this thread and I will see if I can get them done. I will make a prioritized list from most beneficial to least beneficial.

Perhaps, this will allow other THR members to vicariously enjoy my retirement together. :D

If you are serious about this, do you have the capability of Chrono and pressure testing shot loads? I shoot Trap, and I'd love to chrono/pressure test my handicap loads. They are loaded using factory data, but I'd love to know the particulars.

Seriously, congrats on retiring, and I look forward to your data-heavy posts.
 
When I retired they asked me how long it took me to get used to being retired and I said about 5 minutes. I worked for the same company for 30 years to the day, and the 9th of June this year I had been retired for exactly 20 years. For the 30 years I worked for someone else I always got out of bed before 6 am. For the past 20 years I wake up naturally before 6 am and those early morning hours are the best and I always enjoy getting up early. I get the most out of every day and I always look forward to getting up tomorrow. My philosophy is that being active will keep me healthy, happier and alive longer. Life is good so take advantage of every waking moment. Best wishes for your retirement.
 
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I retired at 53, from a hospital bed. Now I have a pacer that keeps me alive. But it beats the alternative.

That's the unfortunate way.....I feel for you, certainly a cross to bare. I had a heart attack, then stents, then a double bypass......the bypass finally did the trick........so I went back to work. Yes, I feel fortunate. But I'm getting tired.....and jealous of those who can retire and actually enjoy some years after in good health. Beats some of us who retire only after we are worn out.

As for dying, I'm OK with that....my faith in what's coming actually makes me look forward to it..........but it's a scary process. My mother said it well when she told me, "I don't fear dying......but getting there is another thing." That....I agree with.:)
 
My first unexpected retirement reloading project and range trip PIF.

Day after 4th of July, the elderly couple I am teaching defensive point shooting to (Defensive point shooting training is always done as PIF) called and said he had ordered 1000 rounds of 9mm from LAX Ammunition for his son and wife living out of town for 4th of July visit. Ammunition was ordered 3 weeks prior but had not been delivered yet but he did pick up two Glock 19s he had ordered for him and his wife after enjoy shooting my Glock 22/23 with 40-9 conversion barrels (both in their 60s after the second point shooting training session, they were putting all their fast point shooting double taps (Not using sights) into 1/4 sheet copy paper targets at 5-7 yards). Quickly reading between the lines, I offered to load up 9mm rounds, offered to provide point shooting training to his son and wife and asked what other firearms they were shooting (Son hoped to zero his scoped .30-06 that belonged to his grandfather and shoot his Bulgarian AK bought many years ago for the first time).

I quickly sorted RMR pulled mixed 9mm bullets using Frankford Arsenal DS-750 digital scale and set aside 1000 115 gr plated RN bullets. Using 4.2 gr of Promo, 800 rounds were loaded on Auto Breech Lock Pro to 1.125"-1.130" OAL in a few hours (Since I shoot so much more 9mm now, I may set up the Dillon 650 with case feeder for 9mm and load 45ACP on Dillon 550 or Auto Breech Lock Pro) to add to about 200 I already had in an ammo can. This is the beauty of reloading as you are independent from dependence on retail supply of ammunition.

I also pulled .223 factory (Remington/Black Hills blue box 55 gr FMJ), 7.62x39 factory (Tulammo steel cased FMJ/Greek SP) and 22LR (Walmart Federal 36 gr CP HP and Winchester 40 gr CP RN) ammo cans for the range trip. I also called my son (whose birthday was on 5th of July) to join us who gladly agreed. :)

Early next morning, we met and drove to a shooting area in the hills of Oregon. Before we started point shooting training, we decided to zero the Marlin bolt action .30-06 first. We set up cardboard targets at 100 yards and set the Redfield 3-9x40mm scope to 9 power. After initial fouling shots, not happy with holes on target/response to scope adjustments, I tightened the scope mount screws (Son claimed he tightened the screws with Locktite but confirmed they were loose). With scope mount screws tight and barrel cooled, around 1 MOA 5 shot group slightly larger than a quarter was produced using Remington Core-Lokt and we called it good enough for elk hunting.

Next came Bulgarian AK that immediately displayed failure to feed from my PIF new East German 90s era ribbed AK magazines (They have been 100% reliable in all different AKs). After rounding/smoothing the feed ramp and cleaning/oiling the AK, when it fed reliably if we held the magazine back, we deemed the feeding issue to faulty mag catch that was slightly too short. Son thought about fabricating a new mag catch but since he could weld, I suggested he fill the pin hole and drill a new hole slightly further away from the end of mag catch, which he agreed.

After 6 hours of point shooting training and shooting up the various paper targets and bouncing ground targets with Glocks, ARs, AK, GSG 1911 22LR and ARs with CMMG 22LR conversion kits, son and his wife were producing fast point shooting double tap holes on 1/2 sheet of copy paper targets. Everyone enjoyed the range trip and the elderly couple were very happy that their son/wife got to learn how to point shoot. We ended the range trip with a nice lunch together.

Today, elderly couple's husband, his friend and I went on a 9 hour deep sea fishing trip on his boat. While we didn't catch any halibut (He caught a 40 lb halibut last week), we got plenty of rock cod and ocean trout. Ocean was particularly calm with occasional light drizzle which cleared later in the morning. Can't wait to finish my 18' and 21' fishing boats. Not a bad start of my retirement reloading life. :thumbup::D (Picture below shows unusually calm smooth water that was surreal and serene)

Tomorrow, I will ship out Pro 1000 reloading package PIF to ohihunter2014 and his brother who have been patiently waiting through my impromptu/unexpected retirement "celebrations" and resume my wife's long list of "retirement projects". :oops::p

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This retirement project isn't related to reloading but shooting related that may benefit most THR members/guests so I figured I mention it here.

When 22LR price fell below $15/500, I started a new thread in General Gun Discussions category of 22LR for sale less than $15 - $20/500 shipped - https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...15-20-500-shipped.853059/page-2#post-11173609

I usually update the listing as I drink my morning coffee with wife. When was the last time you seen lead/copper plated 22LR for less than $15/500 shipped? :eek::D

Happy Days for sure! :thumbup::thumbup::thumbup: And now's the time to stock up.

To cut shooting cost for retirement, I got CMMG 22LR conversion kits for my ARs and GSG 1911 22LR pistol for point shooting training, shooting drills and fun plinking.

Here are some recent listing posts:

(6/15/19)
(6/28/19)
(7/7/19) Until midnight 7/7/19, Natchez is offering free shipping on Thunderbolt with FS190706 discount code.
 
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Reloading PIF package sent to ohihunter2014.

It's one of my Pro 1000 used to load various THR myth busting test rounds along with new Lee 40S&W dies, #19 and #4 shell plates (to load .223), Lee hand primer, RCBS lube pad, 40S&W brass as packing of void and a birthday present. :)

For those curious, I packed a new primer attachment. ;) With hand primer as a backup. :D

Happy Birthday!
 
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Reloading PIF package sent to ohihunter2014.

It's one of my Pro 1000 used to load various THR myth busting test rounds along with new Lee 40S&W dies, #19 and #4 shell plates (to load .223), Lee hand primer, RCBS lube pad, 40S&W brass as packing of void and a birthday present. :)

For those curious, I packed a new primer attachment. ;) With hand primer as a backup. :D

Happy Birthday!
Thanks BDS! This means a lot to us.
 
Perhaps these will shed some light for your reloading application or dark corner of reloading room/gun safe:
 
bds that is such a super gift I salute you in your generosity.

ohihunter take you time and learn that press and then enjoy it. I enjoy mine to no end. Two biggest words of advice I can give about that press are these. Secure that press to a bench that will not move or flex and keep the primer chute and press in general clear of spilled powder and the primer feed will work as intended.
 
bds that is such a super gift I salute you in your generosity.

ohihunter take you time and learn that press and then enjoy it. I enjoy mine to no end. Two biggest words of advice I can give about that press are these. Secure that press to a bench that will not move or flex and keep the primer chute and press in general clear of spilled powder and the primer feed will work as intended.
BDS suggested I hand prime. I like using the Lee Factory Crimp die cause I used mixed brass, so I figured size/deprime and then prime by hand. I have to say BDS is an amazing and selfless person. It started with a simple shooting question and reloading 40cal to cases and then a press for my brother and I to use. We never really had a good relationship growing up and now we are trying to fix it by reloading and shooting together. This PIF will help with this.
 
ohihunter I fully understand. I have been using my Pro1000 for quite a while and priming on it so the routine is well ingrained. Then I got my 45acp and was having all sorts of problems with seating/chambering and it was finally suggested I try the Lee carbide FCD, which I did and the die worked. So at first I had the die in my single stage press and then tried it in the Pro1000 with the powder measure in the 1st station, seating in 2 and the crimp in 3. That worked well enough but still felt awkward. I eventually bought an Auto Breech Lock Pro for the 4th station to use with the 45acp and the FCD.
 
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