The first animal you killed with a reload

Probably a duck, with a AA reload done on my Dad's MEC 600 Jr. , but like Armored Farmer, it was so long ago, I can't recall which one. I got my first Canada goose with a reload trap load, range: 2-3 yards. I got my first deer with a 150 Partition I worked IMR3031 loads up in my 742. I worked up moose loads for my Ruger 77 .300 WIn. Mag. and my Redhawk, but my Dad got the moose on that license.
I still load Trap loads on that old MEC, and rifle and pistol ammo on the RCBS Jr. 3 I learned on.

Ground hogs, nope. Now I read somebody mention shot guns, it has to be pigeons. Yep GOT to be pigeons.

Snake, for me. As long as you don’t count pumping an air rifle.

A nice 4X4 mule buck.

.45-70 H&R Trapdoor carbine. Lyman 457193, 405 grain cast from wheelweights. 28.0 grains H4198, ~1300 FPS. Range75 yards. DRT!

Sure tasted good!

I started in the early 80's with 20 and 12 ga shotgun shells do it could be anything pheasants, grouse, turkey or squirrel. But the one I rememberost was my second season hunting whitetails. M88 Winchester 150 gr Speer spritzer over 47 gr imr 4064 at 40 yds near sunset following 3 of my hunting party talking loudly. He ran 30 yds double lung shot. That year there were 4 bucks running around with antlers broken off on one side. Mine had both been broken off. The longest measured 2.75 in. 3 in was legal for buck tag. It went on my, at the time girlfriends fathers tag.

With reloads:

Shotgun: Dove 20GA
Rifle: Wooodchuck .222REM

I was for a short period of time the envy of all my woodchuck hunting pals due to my used Rem 700 ADL .222Rem and my brand new Rockchucker reloading set-up. Everybody else was still using .22LRs and .22Mags. After that 1st season with the .222 the woodchuck caliber wars began...

Twas in 1962, a 6 point hill country buck that dressed at 125 lbs. I was shooting my grandpa's .257 Roberts Remington M722 short action, a 117 grain Sierra plain based bullet over IMR 4350. I learned handloading from my grandpa and uncle. I don't use that rifle a lot anymore, but when I do, I shoot a 100 grain Sierra over H4831. It's a better load and 1/2 MOA accurate. I've not shot anything with it since 2012. I purposely took it hunting and shot an 8 pt that year as it was the 50th anniversary of that first deer. I have a .308 I like, but that .257 goes NOwhere.

With a reload - it would be a nice mule deer

First deer with a reload, was my second. It was a 40yd shot across a food plot in east Alabama.
The load was a 150gr Winchester PowerPoint PtSpt in a Winchester range pick up case. 52.0gr of IMR4064 fired by a CCI LRP.
At the shot, a geyser of blood erupted from the impact of a heart shot, and the deer fell down scrambling at the shot. Before I could work the bolt, he’d disappeared into the bushes. Found him about 25yds from where I’d shot him.

First game animal was a grey squirrel with a 20ga shell I’d loaded. I got a Lee loader (whack-a-mole style) for my 14th birthday. I used some cash I was given, along with earnings from cutting grass to by 1-lb of Unique powder, primers, shot, and wads.
Load was 16.0gr of Unique, a Federal 2-3/4” Hull, CCI primer, Remington SP20 wad, 1oz of #6 Lawrence shot. Still a favorite load, only I substitute 17.5gr of LongShot.

I shot my first squirrel with a 20 ga reload, my uncle loaded with a lee loader(whack a-amole style). I am fairly sure he used Alcan powder #7?? and some card wads. and the old #57 rem primers and 7.5shot.I shot many rabbits, doves, snipe squirrels and my first duck( a green-winged teal) with those reloads. I used a Fox Sterlingworth SXS. I was about 8 when I shot the squirrel and used that gun until I got a summer job and bought a used Win Model 12 -12 ga full choke for $85 in about 1966 when I was 15!! still have both those guns.

Bull

Pretty sure it was a West Texas jackrabbit that went head over heels in response to a .38 Special DEWC fired from my first handgun, a Ruger Blackhawk convertible.

That would have to be a woodchuck with a 22-250. That's the first cartridge I started reloading 30 years ago and back then I did a lot of chuck hunting every summer. Got my load book out and load # 1 was a Hornady 53 gr. H.P. match fueled by 31.5 gr. of IMR-4895. When I started reloading I made up several other loads at the same time and don't recall which one scored first on a woodchuck.

Rack in 2002 or 2004 the power had been out for 3 days, which lasted for 10 days, the snow was 2 feet deep & solid, the moon
was as bright as daylight with the snow looking more bright blue than white. My wife & myself were gassing up the generator
& a real big red fox scooted thru the front yard toward our back field without a sound of course, like he was levitating along.
Wife said there goes that rabbit killer, that's all I needed to motivate me since nothing & I mean nothing else was going
on.
I went to the back window, raised it quickly & had my CZ 22 Hornet up & ready, 125 yards at a dead run---- no come to think of it
he was stopped when I squeaked at him.
Popped him easily & the crazy thing was, the snow was so hard he slid from where I shot him more than 80 yards on a slight slope,
all the way down to our lower back road which was a real trudge just to get down there & back, he was a big RED & I got him mounted
just to remember the event & how we held up, all those days.
Oh yea, 55 grain Sierra HP, still my favorite load for fox. Been a lot more bit that bullet since then but that was my very first reload kill.
At least during this long run, my first reloading run was in the 1970's & I can't remember which was what from back then.
He is the one on the left in pic.

As a young man, I spent a year living out of a backpack, hitching to new areas and finding a job to keep me in beans and such. I was in one place long enough to get a driver's license and a hunting licence also. My first blacktail buck fell to a hand loaded round from my Win. 94 that traveled with me in a fringed buckskin case lashed to my pack. My pack was really heavy, considering that there was a Blackhawk in .30 Carbine, with powder, bullets and Lee Loaders to serve both weapons.

Things are really different now. I wouldn't think of hitching to the corner gas station now...

My first animal killed with a reload at 28 yrs old. It was my first whitetail deer. I used a rifle I purchased and handloaded for myself. It was a mature doe at ~85 yards facing right at me. She took a 130 grain Nosler Accubond at 3019fps right in the chest. Bullet did not exit but I'm positive didn't blow apart either.

That was my first but not my last, in fact I have yet to shoot a medium/large game animal with a factory loaded round.

Started reloading when I was 12. Couldn't hunt deer until 14. Dad and a couple of uncles used my reloads the first year I loaded. My first deer wasn't even with one of my loads, but, was a factory 32 special. My first with my loads was a spike at 15. In the following 43 years I have not shot a deer with factory ammo. My wife started hunting when we got married 33 years ago. She never fired a factory bottleneck cartridge in her life until she purchased her 6.5 CM last year. The price you can get some of the ammo it makes sense to shoot factory just for the brass!
It is a feeling of accomplishment to make your own. However, if I needed to use factory ammo, sure wouldn't feel bad about it. Don't look down on those that aren't reloaders either. For us it was economic necessity at one time if we wanted to shoot much. Now it is just a hobby that I am proud to be fairly accomplished at.

I knew that I have shot game with reloads........................but boy, did it take along time to remember the first!
Do not recall how long ago it was, maybe 20 years or so. A forkhorn whitetail was dropped with a 357 Herrett after instructions, " You better bring home some venison!" (don't recall the load) shot outta a 14 inch Contender less than ten yards away. Couldn't believe the buck did not see me. He must of had something else on his mind!.
Tasted mighty fine!

gspn said:

You took the time to learn how to reload. You purchased the appropriate tools, bought the components, researched loads for your intended purpose, tested various combinations, then chose the optimal load. You crafted that ammo with your mind and your hands, you took it to the field...what did you do with it?

Tell us about the first animal that fell to one of your reloads. How did it make you feel? Was it any different than when you killed with factory ammo? It doesn't have to be the very first kill, any story about a reload will be entertaining and/or enlightening.

I know mine was. Heck, the first time I shot a reload at a target it was a cool feeling. Since that first round was loaded years ago, I've spent countless hours in the books reading everything I could get my hands on. I've killed dove, pheasant, chukar, whitetail, mule deer, elk and more with reloads. All carefully researched, assembled, tested, and put to work in the field. It definitely gives me a greater sense of satisfaction, and my knowledge base has grown tremendously through the process.

What say you? Tell us a story.

Click to expand...

Other than RF or breech loading shotgun, this would have to have been the first one taken with a handload in/a 98 Mauser in 7.62 NATO. Only factory I've ever bought has been for comparison during load development and fired on the range. Been reloading/hunting w/reloads for 67 years; I believe this to be the first but not sure.......it's been a long time.........

.........and a lot of years.......



Which brings us back to where we started.........with a 7.62 NATO in Savage scout.

Lord willing it will not be the last.

Regards,
hps

Waited all week to post this. Have hunted rabbits and squirrels with .22lr and pellet guns but this past weekend went on my first larger game hunt.

Took my first hog with a reloaded .458SOCOM. 325gr Hornady XTP pushing near 1,800fps. About a 20 yard shot as he exited a cluster of Palmettos. Right behind left shoulder at about 20degrees. Bullet ended up in the rump. If you look up DRT this load is the definition.

Very pleased with my first "big" game hunt. Was in SW FL just off the Kissimee River.

With any reload: my first dove with a light 20 ga loaded by my grandfather in an Ithaca 37.
With my own load: also a dove with a more stout 1 oz 20 ga load.
Rifle loads: whenever I can find a place to hunt deer or hogs around here

The theme is I think I like hunting doves with a 20 ga.

Mine was a mature doe at 55 yards using an AR-15 chambered in 6.8 SPC, shooting a 120 grain SST that duplicated Hornady factory velocity (2460 fps, but was more consistent) through a nice, new titanium suppressor. I can shoot consistently 5-shot groups at about a 1.25" at 100 yards, so it's plenty accurate for deer.

Me and some buddies were camping the night before and I wanted to shoot a deer to learn how to field dress it. That night, I did something stupid and grabbed a log already in the campfire underneath where I couldn't see the coals and got a second degree burn on my right trigger finger. Yep, I'm right handed, so I really messed up. The next morning, I went to where I remember an old tree stand, look up in the tree and see....nothing. It had been a while since I had been on my buddies' land, so I scratched my head and thought where might be the best place to sit on the ground and wait. And, that's what I did. I was overlooking a small hollow and noticed movement to my right side. Sure enough, here comes a dominant doe about 60 yards to my right. I shoulder the rifle, scope her and place my left index finger on the 2-stage trigger. I take up the first stage, steady the crosshairs right on the white patch on her throat as she looks right at me and squeeze the other 1.5 pounds of the trigger to set it off. She dropped in her tracks. The hole that blew out of the back of her neck was sizable. I thought, "yep, that'll work".

My first handload kill was a male wood duck. Back when we could still use lead shot I used my 12 ga trap loads of 1 1/8 oz of 7.5 shot on close in small ducks in the swamps.

My first big game was a 6 point whitetail with a 280 Remington loaded with 140 gr Nosler balistic tips. Over 50 deer later it's still my favorite load.

I just realized not only did I make the ammo, but I built the gun from scratch as well. Cool.

Most definitely a dove. With a rifle, a whitetail 8pt with my 7mm mag.

My first reload kill was with my 45 Colt. I had stopped buying jacketed bullets and switched to casting my own. I decided I wanted try taking a deer with my pistol so I carried my 30-06 slung over the shoulder while I was walking through the brush to get to my sitting spot. Sure enough a young buck jumped out in front of me at about 30 yards. I shot, very sure of my aim and he just ran off. I went to look and see if there was any blood around where he had stopped before I shot. I couldn't find any! I kept circling this red bush because it was what I remembered in the background when he jumped away. Eventually I looked at the bush and it was red from blood! He'd been standing on a creek bank with a trail that went off to the left and when he wasn't laying there I got tunnel vision looking for him. It turned out he'd basically been DRT, he jumped off the ledge (only a 2-3 foot drop) and hit the ground dead. He wasn't where it looked like he'd run so at first look I thought he had gotten away unharmed. After the performance of my hand cast loads on that deer, I was sold. It's so much more rewarding when you get to put in all the extra planning and work and see it pay off vs buying factory ammo.