The UK's Finest Independent Forum for Shooters and Gun Owners. Est 2010.

I can remember in my early days spending a shed load of money on kit that slowly got binned as I moved through the learning curve. Initially I re loaded for hand guns re loading was basic. 9mm. 38/357. 44. 45. That was about it with mainly cast bullets. Most of my learning came from books. Then the Government of the day stole my handguns so I had to learn a new skill full bore rifle reloading. I wasted another load of money on kit and stuff but by this time I had discovered the internet so that helped. Some of the guys I have met along the way added to my knowledge base some of them scared me to death with there recipes.
I class my self these days as a safe re loader but still willing to learn.
I often see people asking for help. Questions like what press should I buy what do I need to get started. But that's not what this thread is about.
How did you get started.
I am mentoring a new shooter I introduced him as a new shooter probationer to my main shooting club.
Last year was about teaching him to shoot introducing him to fellow club members and getting him familiar with all the different types of firearms and calibres. Once I had established that he was actually going to go the distance and it was not just a fad I sat him down and discussed different bullet weights powders etc.
We have a reloading set up in a locked office at work and over the winter months his task is to learn how to reload for any calibre that he wants to shoot this season. I have insisted that he purchases all the equipment needed the dies the bullets primers and powders and that he re loads enough ammunition to get him through at least the start of this years shooting. All this is over seen by my self and obviously he can only re load up to the amounts I am allowed to poses on my certificate and at the end of the day everything goes home with me.
He is doing OK.

So how did you learn how to reload.

LEE LOADER in .30-M1 Carbine
Plastic THOR hammer
&
all the used brass that came with the M1 Carbine

Read the included instruction leaflet a few times.
Went out & bought the Nobel powder listed on the instructions.

Sat on the garage floor & had at it with the hammer.

Still got the brass, Lee Loader, Thor hammer & a part tin of Nobel.

Back then it WAS about saving money as it was the only reloading I did....as I couldn't drive & nowhere within 100 miles had M1 Carbine ammunition.

Youtube - lee loader - lee classic press.

I started because at the time no one had any ready made .303 in stock.

My first gun was a S&W 686 and I bought a Lee single stage press, set of dies , cases etc. and learned to do it from the leaflet in with the dies. Graduated to .44-40 (ASM revolvers and Uberti rifle), .45 ACP (S&W 745), 9mm (CZ 75) and .303 (N0. 4 Enfield) using the same press. 28 years later I still load for .44-40 and .303 as well as .32-20, .38-40 and .45-70 I'm still using that very same single stage press along with another identical model.

Redcat

Bought a second hand Dillon XL 650, read some reloading manuals & got on with it.

Got started as a young lad in the '60s watching and helping an old keeper load .303" and 7x57 rounds on a Lyman 310 tool in a hill bothy by the light of a paraffin lamp and an open peat fire whilst he sucked on his pipe, health & safety was personal thing in those days.

That got me hooked and I eventually got enough 310 bits together to load my own 303s, widening my bothy knowledge by reading what I could. Lyman, Hatcher, Sharpe, and Naramore were found and "borrowed" from the lodge library another keeper had a mould and that got me casting.

Besides the keepers I got all my knowledge from reading books, never really was a classroom person.

Like most things in life I like learning to be a solitary experience.

S&W 29 44 mag revolver, a very nice chap at my first club taught me using the ubiquitous Lee Loader, then added a Beretta 92S 9mm.

No idea how many rounds I loaded "by hand", probably at least a couple of thousand until I bought a Lee single stage press.

dromia wrote:Got started as a young lad in the '60s watching and helping an old keeper load .303" and 7x57 rounds on a Lyman 310 tool in a hill bothy by the light of a paraffin lamp and an open peat fire whilst he sucked on his pipe, health & safety was personal thing in those days.

Besides the keepers I got all my knowledge from reading books, never really was a classroom person.

Like most things in life I like learning to be a solitary experience.

That explains your reloading set-up!
Wasn't sure if the bottle of paraffin was there for you to wet ya whistle...

ETA: Always thought the 303 was developed in the late 1880's, not the 60's

First Full Bore Gun was Star PD 45 ACP. Bought Lee Loader and Lee Mold. Lee Loader was a bit slow but having my own workshop at IBM I could reload at work.

Chose 45 ACP as the US Navy used our Range and ammo was free if you turned up when they were there.

My club ran a couple sessions for those of us wanting to learn. In those days we still pistols. We were shown single stage presses and advised to use a Lee turret press as a single stage and remove the indexing bar. Prime with the Lee hand primer and as loading trays hold 50 cases so do each operation in batches of 50.
Bought a the Lee turret kit and autodisc dispenser back in the '80's and it's still used to load .357 for the Marlin.