Who taught you to handload?

[LoonWulf]

Family friend showed me how to load 20rnds of 30-06, and my folks bought me a decent reloading kit (rcbs rockchucker) back in highschool. I read the spear manual that came with the kit and went from there.

 

[Hooda Thunkit]

He taught me how to work up a load with a mystery propellant that was safe

Working up a safe load with a mystery propellant is almost a lost art. Good for him to pass it on. It is the definition of hand-loading, and could be the pinnacle of the skill.

A warning - talk about doing that around here, and the Nancys start coming out of the woodwork. Very few reloaders here have the necessary experience, not to mention the desire, so they resort to shrill denunciations.

 

[FROGO207]

Working up a safe load with a mystery propellant is almost a lost art. Good for him to pass it on. It is the definition of hand-loading, and could be the pinnacle of the skill.

A warning - talk about doing that around here, and the Nancys start coming out of the woodwork. Very few reloaders here have the necessary experience, not to mention the desire, so they resort to shrill denunciations.

The first thing is to own and know how to use a brass range rod to remove the inevitable squib rounds you will make until things start to exit the barrel. Then to recognize an accuracy node you can safely work with.

I do NOT recommend this being attempted by a novice teloader due to them lacking the experience of being able to know from experience when things are going sideways and to stop before you are hurt or things are destroyed. You have to start by making good ammo with good data so you can experience the changes in a safe manner first. Kind of like knowing when the feel of a primer being inserted is "good". Something that has to be experienced to understand.
Sorry about the thread drift!

 

[Pottimus]

a friend taught me the Lyman 45 manual was your new friend. seems like .280 Remington was a half-dollar a shot new. Calling it 7MM Express didn't make new shells any cheaper. I thought the only way to get brass was to shoot a new box. My reloading store was Gibson's Discount Center.

 

[bluetopper]

I learned to reload through the book "The ABC's Reloading" and through the years of reading insightful posts about reloading on this wonderful forum by late members rcmodel and OldFuff. They posted a wealth of knowledge here you can't buy at any price.

 

[Gone Hiking]

Self-taught with the Lyman manual and the internet using a Dillon 550.

 

[Skgreen]

Self-taught using the Web. The manuals I have are used for load data only. Never have read the stuff up front,,,

 

[J-Bar]

Two friends; one was a BATF agent. the other was a US Marshal.

Not all of them are anti-gun!

 

[murray brook]

I taught myself reading many reloading manuals as well as Shooting times and other publications. Those were the preinternet days.

 

[Poper]

I’m curious: Who taught you to handload?

Well, I taught myself to load shot shells in the mid-to-late '70s. I had started hunting ducks and geese with a H&R 10 gauge. The price of store-bought ammo for that sucker was going to put me in the poor house mighty quick!
Then some 15 years or so later, my best friend, whom was afflicted with MS and died of it in 2006, talked me into learning the techniques and everything else related to metallic cartridges.
Russ was probably the most knowledgeable person I have ever met where firearms and ammunition is concerned. He was really a treasure, and though he has been gone 17 years this last July 3rd, I still miss the guy.

 

[tightgroup tiger]

Between my Dad and Lyman's 44th and 45th editions.
Grew up on a farm and we all learn how to do our own work, including loading our own ammo if we wanted to shoot our guns.
Dad wouldn't buy any factory loads. I scoured the 44th and 45th edition of Lyman's manual's and between Dad and my uncles, I made it through with out any problems.
1970 was when I started on rifle loads, then went to handguns in 1979 with my first revolver, a 44-40 six gun import. That was hard to load for.

We had a Lyman Jr turret press that came with Dad's Model 70 he bought used from one of my uncles, and a Redding cheap aluminum C-press Dad bought somewhere in the Late 60's.
It did last very long. I replaced it with a Rock Chucker ll and I'm still using it today.

 

[.308 Norma]

Dad gave me a few pointers (and his old RCBS scale) when I started handloading in the mid-late ‘70s. However, we lived 300 miles apart and “long-distance rates” for phone calls were real things back then. Consequently, I mostly taught myself through reading books on handloading.
I did have one buddy at work who did a lot of handloading for his .44 Mag revolvers. He helped me out a lot. And seeing as how Dad had only loaded bottle-necked rifle cartridges, I was able to return the favor Dad had done me by giving him some “pointers” (like how to recognize a good roll crimp) when he started loading .357 and .44 Mag ammo later on.

 

[Big Wes]

Taught myself how to reload. Back in 1990 I bought my first press, a Dillon 550B with all the stuff needed to reload with, scale, Lyman 48th edition book, etc, etc. Finally bought a Mec metalic single stage press last year, Very nice press smoooooth as silk. In all the years of reloading, I've only accomplished to blow up one pistol, a Glock 30 around 20 years ago. (it did put the fear of God in me) to say the least! Not a pleasant experience! Glock sold me a new gun for $350.00 sent directly to my front door, surprisingly Glock said I could get any gun they made for the same price, I went with the GL 30 since I had spare mags & holsters for it.

So my advice is check, check, and check again, everything at least twice.

 

[mavracer]

I voted dad, but dad was pretty basic and I learned a lot on my own.

 

[Megawatt maker]

My Granddad. Ww2 vet, came home, became an accountant and a gunsmith. He taught me lots. My parents were antigun (at the time..later years that changed), so Granddad took me under his wing, taught me how to handle firearms, how to shoot, how to work on, and how to reload.
I lived with him every summer all through elementary school through my Junior year in high school (by which time I found out girls and partying were more fun), and we fixed, worked on, and built many many a rifle and pistol. He had very early Lee reloading gear..old first run Pro 1000, single stage press, mechanical scales..etc. taught me the basics, and more importantly PATIENCE when dealing with that dang pro-1000!

One of biggest regrets in my life. The time came for him to sell his farm, go into assisted living. He offered me all his lathes, mills, tools, bluing tanks (and stocks of no longer avaliable chemicals)..everything need to build a rifle from scratch. At the time, I was just married, broke, had no room to put everything (my dumb azz should have rented a storage unit to keep till I did have room)..so I told him let it go to auction..turn it into cash.

Dumb dumb move on my part. It all got dimes to the dollar at auction. Few people even knew what the stuff was for. Dang shame!

But anyway...I miss my Granddad. Truly, they were the greatest generation!

 

[stonebuster]

Encouragement/advice from a friend who reloaded, reading forums like this and books is how I got started. Still learning.

 

[doubleh]

I taught myself with books in the early '70's. I had a good friend that was half owner of the local sporting goods store and he advised me on what equipment I needed and gave me a few tips along the way. Now he has been gone for three years and I still miss him and our gab sessions.

 

[Howa 9700]

I learned to load for shotguns together with my father, who I now see as somewhat of a contradiction. Was one of the best shots with shotgun or rifle I ever knew, yet rarely if ever shot a target for practice. Encouraged me to do so as that was what was going to make me a better shot, and with shotguns I did get pretty good. But he could make it rain ducks and geese. But as for his lack of interest in target shooting, what was odd was that only in recent years did I find out my grandfather.....his father......was a competitive trap shooter of some renown. Never knew my grandfather as he had died of a heart attack before I was born. What I see as ironic now is when I was about 15, I won a turkey at a trap turkey shoot using one of my grandfather's old shotguns. And not his trap gun either.

Having good success with shotgun stuff, my dad briefly dabbled with loading for rifles (which he brought me in on to observe), but he found that much more difficult (and dangerous), so quickly abandoned that plan. The experience that soured him on it for good was getting a case stuck in the sizing die. From then on, hunting rifles relied on factory ammo.

Only in recent years have I resumed loading for metalica, having carried around the remnants of his equipment and stash all these years. Already knew the basics found in manuals, but have found the Internet sources (including THR) invaluable to fine tune the process. Knowing what I know now, I understand why he ran into problems loading for rifles. He was lucky to live thru it.

 

[Tallinar]

Poll closing tomorrow. Thanks for everyone who replied. I enjoyed reading all these stories.

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

Poll closing tomorrow. Thanks for everyone who replied. I enjoyed reading all these stories.

Wow! So few of us were taught by relatives passing on knowledge. I fear for our culture and what will be lost when all we have left are memories that there were once things called families.

 

[Charlie98]

My brother showed me the basics of it, and let me at it. I quickly dove in and took over the bench, adding a shotshell press, and finally my ProJector. Oddly enough, my brother gave up on handloading some years ago, and gave me everything... with the caveat that if he needed something I would provide it (think .41MAG, .45 Colt.) Since then, he has retired and, inevitably, decided he wanted to get back into handloading, again. So I boxed up what I could, found him some components... and coming full circle... set HIM up to reload. I'll probably have to set down with him at one point and go through the motions... just like he did with me back in the late '80's.

 

[CQB45ACP]

Wow! So few of us were taught by relatives passing on knowledge. I fear for our culture and what will be lost when all we have left are memories that there were once things called families.

You’re being too gloomy about it. Society will benefit if most contemporary families don’t pass on anything at all including offspring.

 

[Charlie98]

AL Gore hadn't invented the internet.

Back in The Day, you had to fight for your knowledge! If you wanted it... you had to go crack those books! Or, for those who were literature challenged, you learned the hard way.

So few of us were taught by relatives passing on knowledge.

Looking at the poll results, I was surprised at the large margin of 'I taught myself.' Even if you lump all of the 'people' choices together, it still doesn't reach the 'myself' level. Very interesting...

 

[theotherwaldo]

Dad couldn't teach me.
In fact, he couldn't legally touch a gun or any ammo.
Not that he let any law stand in the way of him doing something that he wanted to do.
-And none of my other relatives that owned or used guns would ever consider using anything other than store-bought ammo... .

 

[Otto]

Bill Clinton. He didn’t actually teach me but he certainly provided the motivation to learn.