I reload for 2 reasons:
1) It saves me time and money going to gun stores and trying to find acceptable loads.
2) I enjoy it, I like doing things for myself.

My wife thinks reload to get away from her.



Sent from my HD1905 using Tapatalk

Because you have to have something to do in Wisconsin when its too cold to shoot.

Steve

The loads I like are either very expensive or unobtainable

I started to save money, have kept it up from habit and wanting loads not available.
I started out shooting pistols, 44 magnum when no one had even seen one, and
the savings on ammo was huge. Then I went to rifles, savings again huge, and
you really want something different than what is on the store shelves.

Finally got to shotguns, and loading saved a lot of money.
You probably still can save a little, but you have to buy right,
and load right to do it.

If Walmart was well stocked I would be shooting all factory stuff.
but it ain't and I would be almost out of ammo if I did not have
6 months of components laying around just waiting to be ran
through the MEC.

I reload for several reasons. I like to reload. I can taylor my ammo for my individual rifles and handguns. I can reload ammo that I can't buy in a store. I like to reload. I can reload ammo when the store is out of ammo. I can reload ammo instead of watching the stupid stuff that passes for tv shows nowadays. I like to reload ammo. I can reload ammo when I want to be by myself. I can reload in the winter when I am not out on my snowmobile. Did I mention that I like to reload?

I’m beginning to believe I’m not the only one who likes the process of reloading . . for multiple reasons ;-)

Mainly to save a bunch of money on .410 and 28ga over factory loads.

But I might also load some 20ga and light 12ga loads if this shortage goes on.

It's fun, I have full control over what goes through my guns, it's fun, I always have ammo and it's fun.

tp

I started reloading to save on 28 and 410. Then I was given a 20 gauge press by a friend that no longer shoots, and so I started on those. When the ammo hoarding began this year, I looked around for 12 gauge equipment, and once again an elderly, retired guy at my club gave me his old MEC Grabber that I tuned up and got running right. I was fortunate enough to score more than a year's worth of components in our last club buy and from private sales, prior to the shortage. As to my reasons for reloading, I still load 28 and 410 for the cost savings. I reload 20 and 12 because I have components and time and I like the sound of shot rolling around on my shop floor.

I reload for multiple reasons:
It's fun to produce something successfully
Therapy, I can escape to the reloading room and veg out
Cost savings (other than 12ga) I can make it cheaper than buy it
Quality,my rifle loads are not only cheaper but better quality than I can buy

WOW! Where to start.

I've been reloading since the late 1960s. Originally, it was to save money - lots of it because components were very cheap and I could load my 20 GA hunting loads for less than $1 per box when store bought were costing $4 or more. The loader at the time was a Lee Load-All I bought new for under $30. Got into Trap in the early 1970s and moved on to single stage MECs in 20 & 12. I then bought a Texan progressive loader in 12 GA to crank out more Trap loads. Back then, a case of wads from Herters was delivered for about $12 and shot was $5 per bag or less. Powder was $1 to $2 a pound.

Got into Skeet in the mid 1980s and bought 4 MEC progressive loaders. My bride started shooting Skeet in the early 1990s and I bought my Spolar with 4 gauge sets in 1995 to keep up with the demand of 15 to 18 Tournaments a year and practice 1 to 2 times a week. Was still able to load a box of 12 gauge for under $2 a box.

Now, its just a hobby and the loader has more than paid for itself. As others have stated, it is very relaxing to crank 'em out by the hundreds. And the savings in the 28 & 410 is still very substantial. Shooting venues provid tons of once fired Federal hulls that I load one and done for Sporting Clays and occasional Trap games. We shoot 20 GA for Skeet 12, Dbls, & 20 events. I probably have 4 or 5 thousand once fired STS/AA 20 GA hulls which get loaded 10 times and then shucked, so not in any danger of running out any time soon. Also have at least 2000 each in 28 & 410, so good there as well.

I buy components in bulk - wads by the case, primers 4 or 5 cases (5000 each), shot by the ton (80 bags), and powder in bulk (two 8 pounders at a time or 48 pounds of Vectan when hazmat & shipping are reduced or free). I probably have around 5000 or more loaded rounds of shotgun ammo in hunting and target loads just waiting to go "BANG!"

Life is good.

I no longer question why.

I'm an old retired Shop teacher and always have done things with my own two hands. Started to get back into trap shooting this year and ammo was already hard to find in my area. I cleaned out my local bass pro when I bought three cases of Remington STS. That was back in July and they still haven't restocked the STS. So I thought reloading sounded interesting, knew I couldn't save a lot of money but at least I would have shells to shoot. Got a deal on a MEC reloader and had already found this group. Found out, as many have said, reloading is a relaxing and fun hobby in and of itself. Now even components have been near impossible to find in the last three months. But I have a supply already loaded that will do me for at least the first half of the 2021 shooting season. As dubob said, Life is Good.

I started reloading shot shells in the late 50's on a friend of mine's father's MEC 250 because I couldn't afford to buy much new ammunition and wished to shoot as much as I could, using hand throwers for clay targets mostly at that time. My cost in those days was 53¢/box for 9/8 oz. 12 ga. loads in Winchester paper hulls and mostly Alcan, Federal and Ljutic components. Red Dot was bought in paper sacks, usually 4#'s at a time from a bulk supply & was around $1.25/#. Most canister powder was $1.49/# at that time. I don't recall what we were paying for shot, but later in the late 60's I was paying $11.00/100#'s, getting a $1.00 discount for buying it four bags at a time. As I became more affluent, I began buying in quantities anytime there was a 'deal' available on components and have been doing so ever since. Today, I can still load a box of 1 oz. 12 ga. target loads for under $4. When my present supply of shot runs out and I find myself having to pay today's prevailing wholesale prices for powder & primers, my cost will increase significantly, but I'll keep on reloading for the other reasons already mentioned by others and the savings in small bores and 16's is considerable. My equipment cost is fully amortized at this late date and I have gone back to my now old 6 & 7 series single stage MEC's and let the progressives sit idle. I'm under no duress as I was in my working days, so no need for returning home on a Friday night flight & loading a couple of flats to shoot in some tournament over the weekend. Don't even know where I got the energy to do that sort of stuff, but there was a time that it was fairly routine during the warmer months and hunting birds many weekends, starting in Sept. Still shoot large quantities of clay targets, but not many tournaments and hunt birds and that's done w/reloads, for the most part. For some games, like helice or FITASC, you must use factory new ammunition & reloads are disallowed. That may also hold true for the ATA Grand American Championships. FWIW, NSSA Skeet Championships allow reloads as does NSCA, but not that many competitors use them for them for that, preferring to buy new, saving the hulls and reloading or selling them afterwards or in many cases these days, just buying new & discarding the spent hulls w/o a thought. Interesting thread. Thanks for starting it. Its been done before, but always makes for good reading when asked.

idle hands are a sin.
pulling the charging handle occupies time.
makes time go by easier.
now that im old....I want it all to slow down!

I shoot so that I have a reason to reload.

Me too

Last time I checked a shrink was a out $150 @ hour! Just think of how much money I save! I load 5 gauges of shotgun, at least 15 different handgun chamberings, and at last count over 25 center fire rifle chamberings. I have a few wildcat chamberings and form brass many times just because I can and have an excess of parent stock. I cast, I think it’s 10, different handgun bullets.
Why do I do this? Same reason some folks eat out a lot, go to a lot of movies, hang out in bars, and smoke. They enjoy it! Besides that, just think of the money I’m screwing my shrink out of!

BP

Twice I almost ran out of ammunition due to not being able to reload... once in Laos and another in VNam..... Never going to happen again. Local stores have next to ZERO right now.
Real question is "Why doesn't everyone reload?" ...... next 4 years I suspect that question will be ask a lot.... Larry