In my case it started about 50 years ago when i was in high school. A couple of buddies had centerfire rifles (probably k98's) but i didn't have the money for a decent one, so i ended up with an old 7.7 jap arockosocko. Didn't really have the case for anything fancy like a press so i'd take a fired case, knock the old primer out with a pin punch, neck size the case by turning it by hand in a vise, while slowly squeezing the vise shut. Seat the primer in the vise, measure out the powder with dipper, and seat the bullet in the vise again. Hey - don't laugh to hard it worked. That old jap got me going onto a lifetimes enjoyment. After i saved up enough money to finally get an old 1917 eddystone enfield and a herters press, i still kept the arockosocko around for a bit. Ended up sawing the stock off at the grip and the barrel about a foot long, (yeah it was illegal, but) then we'd load up our special shotshells for it. Went something like 5 grains of bullseye, a toilet paper wad, and then a handfull of lead shot, or old primers, or even pea rock. THen it was out at night to go blast a crat in the ditch. believe it or not the thing was pretty deadly on a crat even a long distances like 15 feet. Kinda miss that old jap.

I started because back then, there were no decent factory loads that would give me the accuracy. Cost was another thing but not the primary reason.
Even good factory loads can change drastically from lot to lot and shooting up a box or two just to get re-adjusted never appealed to me.
Shotgun shells were dirt cheap to reload, not much difference today with the cost of shot and powder. Some shot shells are cheaper then I can make them for.
Casting boolits for handguns lets me shoot all I want because there is a huge savings.

In France reloading is the only way to be able to shoot a lot of handgun ammo. In theory you are restricted to buying 1000 rounds of factory ammo per year per handgun. You can reload as much as you want however. Besides, the price of factory ammo here is a real motivator to reloading. So, I started reloading.

I got started when I bought a heavy barreled .22-250 and wanted to see how "good" it would shoot, plus I wanted to shoot more for same amount of money. I bought out a guy who was getting out of the reloading business in 1973--lock, stock, and barrel. I ended up with lots of components, dies, etc. and eventually traded/sold what I didn't need. Then, I got too busy and sold it all!!! Then, in 1994 when I left a job, my employees bought me a complete RCBS reloading kit as a farewell gift. Been going gangbusters since then.

Started reloading shotshells isn 1964 with a Texan DPII loader. Started loading centerfire in 1969 for the purpose of better ammo (accuracy). Today with over 30 sets of dies and thousands of dollars of bullets (50+ boxes of old Noslers) enough brass to sink a boat and two of each type tools (press, scales, measures, etc.) seems only natural to keep on going in the direction I started.

Started with a tru line jr.1971 I think and still have it.
Loading and casting 38 bullets.

Back in the 50s I bought a G-43 for $25.00. Ammunition was hard to come by and expensive. Got myself a Hollywood senior press a redding powder dispenser, a Redding scale, a set of Lachmiller dies, some 4895,primers, a lot of 30-06 military cases , some bullets a Speer #1 manual and a lot of riflenman magazines..... That was the start. roger

in late 60's was reading skelton, grennel, keith so bought a ruger blackhawk .357, a big mistake should have bought a .44 mag, a lyman spartan press, lyman scale, lyman dies, loaded 38 spl. loads for practice. found i enjoyed reloading more than shooting.

I began in 1964 with a Lee Loader in .284 Winchester. I worked the Summer of 1964 in Yellowstone National Park to earn money for school clothes. Instead, I bought a brand new, Model 88 Winchester in .284 Winchester. The folks were pissed, but I was allowed to keep the rifle. I bought the rifle at the Post Exchange at Minot Air Force Base. My dad was in the Air Force. The exchange also carried reloading equipment. I bought two boxes of brass, some IMR 4350, primers, Sierra 120 grain bullets and the Lee Loader. I reloaded to save money and was getting my information off the little Lee sheet and from Outdoor Life Magazine.

I started at 14 in 1964 with a Lee loader for my 20ga rabbit killer. Boy mom sure got mad when she had to vaccum up spilled shot.

Then moved on to a Lee for the 6.5Jap I sort of sporterized. Used that darn thing for several years until I got out of college. Then built my first 280 and got an RCBS JR. Surplus 4831 was $1/lb.

A good friend of my father's died after a long battle with leukemia. He left all his reloading equipment to his brother, who had no interest in it, so he gave all of it to me. Press, powder thrower, trimmer, tumbler, dies, powder, bullets, etc., the whole nine yards. The guy who originally owned this stuff was a firearms instuctor for the FBI, so you can just imagine his setup. To say that I lucked into my equipment would be an understatement. Good thing too, because at the time I was poor as a church mouse and would not have been able to afford the equipment for a while.

my father and brother in laws talked me into buying a yugo m98 from big 5. 8x57 ammo was $15 then for 20 rounds. they were slow for fact. loads so my brother in law got me to reload with him. 2 months later and no more ammo, i went on line to midway and the rest is history. had the bug ever since. Dave

In the mid 80's (at age 20 something) I picked up a Ruger 7mag that would not shoot for $#!? so I started aquirring(sp) reloading "stuff."
Had to pretty much learn from books.
Since then I have taught a few the fine art of making pill fly better.

Started in the late 60's with a Lee Loader in 41 Mag to feed an S&W Model 57. Still have it and the pistol ... and lots of other toys including a Rock Chucker (missed the last A-4 by a heartbeat!), a Corbin, a C&H progressive, an RDP progressive, 2 Dillons (550 and 1050), and two Mecs for shotshells.

Have cast a few truck loads of bullets in 30 cal, 9mm, 41, 44, 45, .458 and .470 as well. (Made 600 .458's this week.)

Been a lot of fun ... but I'm not sure I saved all that much money ... I think I blew it down the line over time

The first rifle I ever bought was a Wby MkV in 7mm Wby Mag. At $52 a box, reloading was an economic necessity.

When I was about 4 years old, my dad bought an 03 (not A3) and started reloading as he sporterized it. I "helped" as much as I could, including weighing his powder charges and seating bullets.

That was in 'bout '65.... And I just can't stop.

Started in 1972...before Al Gore invented the internet. Shotgun shells first on an old Pacific Tool and Die five stage loader. Moved on to an RCBS Rockchucker junior in 1974 and dies for .38 sp/.357 mag, .308 and on and on. An old fella that run a gun shop near my house got me started and he knew most of the tricks.

I wanted to get into it quite early in my shooting "career" but didn´t have the space and didn´t really think I could do it (I belong to the mechanically "disinclined"") without killing myself and/or the whole neigborhood.

Boha and some other people got me started and I luckily picked up some used equipment from the gun dealer I then used.

That was maybe five years ago and I think I´m getting the hang of it BUT I try not to use my imagination and I TRY to concentrate on what I`m doing...once I trimmed 9.3x62 brass to 9.3x57 length ´cause I just saw 9.3 in the reloading handbook, checked the specs and trimmed...

I still do dumb stuff but not as often as I used to

I started in the mid 60's when my dad bought the loading equipment so we could get more ammo to shoot, that would be cheaper than factory loads..

It soon turned into getting more accurate loads too!

DM

Started in 1959 at the ripe old age of 12 First used a Lee "pound 'em in with a hammer" for a Win Model 70 30-06.
Talked my folks into letting me reload since ammo went for 3 bucks a box and I could reload for about a buck a box.
They did not let me shoot the first one though - dad mounted rifle in a vise and used twine to pull the trigger. All went well.
The habit became an addiction and I hesitate to calculate the money spent, but what the hell, I love it.