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Enigma

Hunter
Joined
Apr 17, 2002
Messages
2,511
Location
Houston metro area, TX
Looking over the responses ... where are the 'new' young reloaders (say less than 10 years)? I wonder. See, in my R/C Plane club, most of the guys are over 50, and most are pushing over 70. No one under 30.... So it makes me wonder if we have a trend here.... Speaking for myself, none of my 3 boys reload or even shoot much anymore.

That's one of my concerns, also. I don't know many other people who reload personally, and nobody who does is under 40, at the youngest. Bullet casting seems to be a hobby for old men and women, also.
 

NikA

Buckeye
Joined
Nov 2, 2014
Messages
1,810
Location
Yrisarri, NM- high in the Manzanos
That's one of my concerns, also. I don't know many other people who reload personally, and nobody who does is under 40, at the youngest. Bullet casting seems to be a hobby for old men and women, also.
I am a good bit under 40 and started reloading around 10 years ago and casting bullets around 6-7 years ago. That said, I have young children and therefore rarely take on any but the simplest reloading tasks these days, so I doubt I'd count this as '10 years experience.'

The tools haven't gone anywhere (in fact, I'd say I have more than ever), but the time isn't there to even shoot what I have loaded.
 
Joined
Dec 25, 2007
Messages
9,933
Location
missouri
Since the great Y2K reset, it seems that fewer shooters are getting into reloading. Some of this may related to time crunch and some to the urbanization factor. It's more difficult to engage in technical handloading if you can only do testing by driving ?? miles to a very tightly restricted shooting range. Too many other distractions. High pay and low priced ammo. Heck, I didn't do much loading when I could buy good factory ammo for pennies per round(but I did keep buying and storing components).
I can't even get my Son into handloading mostly because he can't take the time to slow down and focus on single minded projects like reloading. This isn't something one can do in 4 minute snatches between phone calls.
 

Newtire

Bearcat
Joined
Aug 23, 2022
Messages
27
Location
Idaho
Hey New, it sure surprised me all these long time re-loaders here. It's neat to hear most are still doing it to. Your dad sounds like a neat guy, very cool he didn't angry with you.
He wouldn't let me have a bb gun even like the other kids until one day he said, "How'd you like a .22 pellet rifle?" When I said yes (of course), he said, "well then save up your money!" I mowed lawns until I finally had enough to send off to Finnysports for a Crosman 140. Then at age 14, he turned me loose with his M12 12 ga. Dad was a man of principle. It wasn't until much later that I realized how much he cared about us. It helped me to persevere thru some hard times later on in life.
 

loaded round

Hunter
Joined
Aug 3, 2003
Messages
2,257
Location
Valley Forge, Pa
Started reloading on the old Lyman TruLine Jr press right after I got out of the army in 1963. Progressed to a Lyman All American turret press and from there to Dillon Precision. Currently own 2 Dillon 550C 's, a XL750, a SL900 and several single stage RCBS presses.. At last count I can reload 23 different calibers plus 12 ga shotgun shells. I don't own 23 different firearms, just dies I picked up over the years or friends have given me.
 

john guedry

Single-Sixer
Joined
Aug 19, 2008
Messages
373
Location
La.
I feel like a complete "rookie" at about 28 years. My dad didn't hunt, and I think was afraid of guns. After I was "grown and gone". I lucked into a s&w model 15. By this time was married and started to raise a family. It dawned on me if I was going to shoot this thing on other than "special ocassions". I needed to cut costs. No one I knew had any idea on how to get started. I found a copy of the ABC's of reloading and got the ball rolling.
 

buckaroo

Banned
Joined
Oct 8, 2022
Messages
360
Location
U.S.A.
It wasn't until much later that I realized how much he cared about us. It helped me to persevere thru some hard times later on in life.

That's called 'maturity'. One of the great attractions for me to this forum is to see the good upbringings so many had here.
I don't want to feel sorry for myself, I have to fight against it. None of my people were worth a sht from my mother on down.

I got into this game much later in life then most here because I was raised in a big city and never exposed to it and only got involved in it because I became very vulnerable, I'm crippled up now from a long ago incident that came home to roost as they say.

Cherish those memories.
 
Joined
Jan 15, 2007
Messages
2,418
Location
The Sticks---N.W. Orygun
Started in HS back in the late 70's. The HS had a 50' indoor range and the good old US Government paid for our ammo and supplied rifles and all the target shooting gear. After 3 weeks of daily 22 shooting we did a field trip to the trap range. Some of the chosen kids got to load ammo for the trap shooting. I quickly progressed to an RCBS Rock Chucker because there was no way I could afford to feed a Redhawk on busboy wages. As the collection grew so did the need for more and more ammo. Along the way I have guided 4 or 5 into loading, including my son and a couple of his friends. We now run a pair of 550's---one for small primers and one for large primers. Guess you could call it 42-44 years, but I also took about 5 years off from loading when life got busy and priorities changed temporarily.
 

jims

Bearcat
Joined
Dec 9, 2015
Messages
70
I am 74, have been reloading centerfire and shotgun for over 60 years. In fact my first centerfire rifle was a wildcat then so I had to reload. Still have that rifle.
 

cholgeirson

Bearcat
Joined
Oct 23, 2022
Messages
8
Location
Colorado
December will be 29 years, I know this because the first year we where married my wife bought me a Dillon 550 for Christmas. I'm blessed to still have the wife and the press! Having it allowed me to shoot alot more and teach my children to shoot. 26 calibers and counting.
 

friendly

Bearcat
Joined
May 17, 2022
Messages
20
Location
US
Started in 1970, but haven't done any in the last 5-6 years, so 52 years minus 6, = 46. About 18-20 calibers total over the years.
 

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