What cartridge made you take the plunge into reloading?

[Kosh75287]

ALL of them!

The first cartridge that got me into it was .45 ACP. But I reload for everything I own, except shotguns. Care and feeding of a Ruger .357 was next. I also have a Ruger Redhawk in .45 Colt that I load to the "quite hot" level, which will do everything the vaunted .44 Mag will do. I also have an M1 Garand that won't shoot just any factory .30-06 round on the store shelf, so THAT'S been something of an adventure. Learning to make 8x57 Mauser brass from .30-06 has been my latest challenge. I'll need a sturdier press to go much further.

BTW, if anyone has "pet loads" that they'd like to share for any of the above, I would welcome their input. Just because I get satisfactory results (usually) with what I've put together doesn't mean I'm averse to their being improved upon.

 

[Fragman]

38/357 for me.

 

[HKShooter65]

Today.
Spent an afternoon today at a friend's house manning a powder trickler and funnel for my new .338 Lapua.

The 100 rounds we did with 3 powders and about 6 different powder charges and 2 bullet weights cost about $6 each. ($600 ouch).
Off to shoot with paper and the chono next Friday!!!
My buddy is a 1-hole bench-rest sort of guy!!

Now that the brass and dies and paraphernalia is bought the next 100 will be closer to $1 each.
I'll favor accuracy and consistency over high velocity any day.
Anybody know how many re-loads the Lapua-brand brass is good for???

80 rounds out of a pound! Hungry monster.


HKS

 

[Dawico]

Today.
Spent an afternoon today at a friend's house manning a powder trickler and funnel for my new .338 Lapua.

The 100 rounds we did with 3 powders and about 6 different powder charges and 2 bullet weights cost about $6 each. ($600 ouch).
Off to shoot with paper and the chono next Friday!!!
My buddy is a 1-hole bench-rest sort of guy!!

Now that the brass and dies and paraphernalia is bought the next 100 will be closer to $1 each.
I'll favor accuracy and consistency over high velocity any day.
Anybody know how many re-loads the Lapua-brand brass is good for???

80 rounds out of a pound! Hungry monster.


HKS

I have 4 loading out of mine so far. When the rest are empty I am going to anneal them and keep going. My load isn't too hot but very accurate. I fully expect 10 loadings.

 

[ElevenBravo]

300 WSM, but my first batch I ever handloaded was .45ACP.

 

[Jack Ryan]

45ACP

Now I reload for everything I own and pour my own bullets for every handgun cal I own.

 

[Longhorn1986]

I haven't started yet, but my new .45 Colt has me seriously considering it.

 

[Gramps]

9mm of course. First to stock up and now tailored for the shooting sports.

 

[slowpoke]

S&W500. Factory ammo was just to expensive.

 

[Slapps74]

10mm and 300 BO. Then I started shooting a lot (1500-2000 rounds a month between the wife and I) and it was a no brainier.

 

[TXAARON]

300 win mag was my first. Since then it has been 270, 22-250, 220 Swift, 223, 6mm-284 (that was a fun one to figure out), 7mm/08, 25/06, 300 BO, and probably some more I am forgetting. I agree with the therapeutic aspect. That and fine tuning a specific round to a specific powder.

 

[RevolverBuff]

started reloading for 38 Special then 9mm to supply my ammo needs for local steel matches... when I started IHMSA then I branched out to low velocity 22 Hornet loads as well as 7mm TCU and 7mm Remington BR.

really need to get on the ball and put together the garage reloading benches and get back in action... everything is still in boxes or disassembled after relocating for work back in April...

 

[A & P]

9mm so far just for volume and experimentation. Have dies for 308, 300bo, 45, 223, 6.5CM but can't seem to make the time. Finally finished off 3000 berry bullets (1000 each of 3 different weights). Going to keep the Hornady LNL AP set up for pistol and now have the new Iron Press set up for precision rifle. Did the barrel break in for the Savage 308 10BA LE and now need to develop a load. Shoots .75 MOA with my friend's (and good customers) loads for his Howa...not developed for my rifle. So it shows a lot of promise. Also have a Stealth 6.5CM next in line after the 308. Loving my Sig 1911 so might make some 45s to shoot a little cheaper, esp if I use it to shoot major or single stack if I can ever find time for competition.

Sad, have 90,000 berry's bullets and about 100 skus of powder in stock, have the presses in my office, and still can't seem to make the time to reload. Have to spend my one off day per week (Sunday) sneaking back to the office to load anything.

 

[Dawico]

9mm so far just for volume and experimentation. Have dies for 308, 300bo, 45, 223, 6.5CM but can't seem to make the time. Finally finished off 3000 berry bullets (1000 each of 3 different weights). Going to keep the Hornady LNL AP set up for pistol and now have the new Iron Press set up for precision rifle. Did the barrel break in for the Savage 308 10BA LE and now need to develop a load. Shoots .75 MOA with my friend's (and good customers) loads for his Howa...not developed for my rifle. So it shows a lot of promise. Also have a Stealth 6.5CM next in line after the 308. Loving my Sig 1911 so might make some 45s to shoot a little cheaper, esp if I use it to shoot major or single stack if I can ever find time for competition.

Sad, have 90,000 berry's bullets and about 100 skus of powder in stock, have the presses in my office, and still can't seem to make the time to reload. Have to spend my one off day per week (Sunday) sneaking back to the office to load anything.

Your 308 will do better than that when you get a load dialed in.

Or save the effort and jump right into that Stealth. I shot mine yesterday and it has me thoroughly impressed so far.

 

[A & P]

Other than the fact that I want to work up that 308 first, my other hesitation on the Stealth is that then I have to put a hat on it. Although, I think it'd be a good excuse to buy in to a good glass line. Steiner and Vortex are both $5000 initial orders to be a dealer. What better excuse to buy nice stuff than to say "but I had to in order to carry the line". So far, we just carry (order) what is non-exclusive like Burris and Leupold. I really like the Steiner stuff but Vortex has a wider range of product, excellent marketing, and probably better name recognition overall. Not to take anything away from Steiner quality or service, but I'm in the "selling" business and more people come in asking for Vortex.

Also had a Stealth in 338LM on the wall that was going to get adopted but (luckily) a customer snatched it up. Saved me from myself.

 

[deemus]

Other than the fact that I want to work up that 308 first, my other hesitation on the Stealth is that then I have to put a hat on it. Although, I think it'd be a good excuse to buy in to a good glass line. Steiner and Vortex are both $5000 initial orders to be a dealer. What better excuse to buy nice stuff than to say "but I had to in order to carry the line". So far, we just carry (order) what is non-exclusive like Burris and Leupold. I really like the Steiner stuff but Vortex has a wider range of product, excellent marketing, and probably better name recognition overall. Not to take anything away from Steiner quality or service, but I'm in the "selling" business and more people come in asking for Vortex.

Also had a Stealth in 338LM on the wall that was going to get adopted but (luckily) a customer snatched it up. Saved me from myself.

I was recently in the market for a scope. I looked at quite a few, and had seen a few Vortex scopes for sale recently, so I picked up a couple. My eyes are not the best, but the two Vortex I looked through seemed to have inferior glass to the Nikon and Leopolds I looked at.

I had heard a similar comment about them, but when I looked at the price I thought it must have been an anomaly. But sure enough, the two I looked through just didn't impress. The glass just didn't seem as clear as the others. I played with the adjustments, but it didn't seem to help.

Have you noticed this on the stock you received? What scopes are comparable to Vortex?

 

[A & P]

I was recently in the market for a scope. I looked at quite a few, and had seen a few Vortex scopes for sale recently, so I picked up a couple. My eyes are not the best, but the two Vortex I looked through seemed to have inferior glass to the Nikon and Leopolds I looked at.

I had heard a similar comment about them, but when I looked at the price I thought it must have been an anomaly. But sure enough, the two I looked through just didn't impress. The glass just didn't seem as clear as the others. I played with the adjustments, but it didn't seem to help.

Have you noticed this on the stock you received? What scopes are comparable to Vortex?

From what I can tell, Vortex has a very wide range of scopes trying to cover the whole market. If you're using a crossfire, it might be inferior to a nikon (maybe). But the Razor HD Gen 2 is generally thought of as one of the best out there bar none (on par with S&B maybe even). Granted, for $3500 or whatever, it better be. Leupold has even wider range from the VX-1 up to the Mark 8 and prices from $200 to $4000+. Steiners are all expensive pretty much, but all have superior glass. Burris is kind of like "baby steiner". Good stuff, just not on par with Steiner.

But as a retailer, I also need to have what sells. Maybe Vortex markets better. However, you can't just buy ANY Vortex and expect it to be the Razor HD Gen2.

I think in the scope world, it's very much "you get what you pay for."

 

[Stumpnav]

38 Sp for me. It was the only pistol I owned and factory ammo was too much expensive for a college student.

 

[Swarf]

Not one cartridge in particular. Got into reloading so I can make reduced power loads for my son to step up from .223 and .22LR and try my hunting rifles. Worked out great and has opened up a whole new realm of possibilities. I could kick myself for not getting into it sooner.

 

[deemus]

From what I can tell, Vortex has a very wide range of scopes trying to cover the whole market. If you're using a crossfire, it might be inferior to a nikon (maybe). But the Razor HD Gen 2 is generally thought of as one of the best out there bar none (on par with S&B maybe even). Granted, for $3500 or whatever, it better be. Leupold has even wider range from the VX-1 up to the Mark 8 and prices from $200 to $4000+. Steiners are all expensive pretty much, but all have superior glass. Burris is kind of like "baby steiner". Good stuff, just not on par with Steiner.

But as a retailer, I also need to have what sells. Maybe Vortex markets better. However, you can't just buy ANY Vortex and expect it to be the Razor HD Gen2.

I think in the scope world, it's very much "you get what you pay for."

I've always held the same opinion. What concerned me was the Vortex was $250, and the Nikon I ended up buying was $170 with better glass. Not ragging on your line, just curious if you had heard similar comments elsewhere.