Before I got all my equipment, I always wanted to reload. I would ask a few guys I worked with or knew that reloaded ?'s. I was told probuly the same thing you guys were told. I think for me the 2 most important advice I got was, Get a manual and read it all the way through and again before youstart reloading. He said that should answer most of your questions, but you'll always have a question to ask no matter how long you reload for. The 2nd is when you reload NEVER DRINK ALCOHOL. This will be my 3rd year reloading. I'm still learning myself, especially when I started looking on AccurateReloading, I was amazed at how much information is on AR. Thanks alot everybody.

safty- first. and never load something that does not show a loading in the book.

I only knew one fellow that hand loaded and he is practically a mute. I finally just bought an RCBS Master kit and pulled the Speer manual out of the box and started reading, and what I found out is that this is not rocket science. I took to loading like a duck takes to the water. It just made sense to me, and although I have refined my techniques over the years the same safety rules apply.

buy several reloading books -
load at the BOTTOM of the chart
GET A CHRONO
shoot your loads and factory loads over the chrono

write EVERYTHING done . oal is MORE important than velocity, if a safe and working load, to accuracy

enjoy the heck out of the time you are spending reloading. If you aren't enjoying reloading, you aren't focusing on reloading, and you WILL get hurt

I started loading a .270 winchester and used 100 grain bullets and Milsurp 4831 powder.....there was no way I was getting into trouble with that combination.

I was shown how to use the press and the scale anbd how to check case lengths......and to never use a different powder unless I checked with the "guys" first.....I was 15!

I've never blown up a gun.....but came close twice.....thank god for modern push feed actions!

quote:

What advice did you get before you started reloading?

Zip, zilch, nada. No mentor or even someone local to ask. Just me and Lyman's 45th edition Handbook.

I've still got both eyes and all my fingers and NEVER had an accidental discharge for 38 years, last month.

Some need to be held by the hand for every procedure of this hobby. Some don't.

I started reloading with a neighbor who showed me the ropes. Other than that I read the Hornady Handbook of Cartridge Reloading Volume II from cover to cover many, many times.

These days I tell guys who want to take up handloading to buy a Lyman manual and any other conventional bullet manufacturer's data manual and read the how-to sections several times before going shopping for anything else.

As for safety, no drinking (or otherwise alter your mood), no TV (music is okay if it's not distracting), and no smoking (seems silly to have to mention it but when I was a kid a fella in the next town over burned down his garage doing just that).

The only advice I recall getting verbally was "Watch out you don't open the primer tray upside down." The rest came from books and the first one was the Lyman.

Was a part time apprentice learning gun repair etc.. The only person I knew that did a little reloading was Carl Strebelow the gun smith. At dealers cost he aquired for me a Hollywood senior press, a Redding beam balance and powder dispenser, 1 lb of IMR 4895, 200 MGS 8mm bullets, 200 large rifle primers, a Speer #1 and #3 manuals, and a set of 8mm Lach Miller dies. His advice was read the book and go from there. That was the start in 1957 and I had very few reloaders to talk to for almost twenty years and not many after that until I got a computer. A lot of my knowledge originally was gleaned from The American Rifleman and other publications

It is a much different story for the neophite today. This forum alone has a plethora (like that word)of usefull knowledge availability. With a fair understanding of potential peril vs saftey you can separate the the wheat from the chaff; who to listen to and who to just shine on. roger

quote:

Originally posted by bartsche:
Was a part time apprentice learning gun repair etc.. The only person I knew that did a little reloading was Carl Strebelow the gun smith. At dealers cost he aquired for me a Hollywood senior press, a Redding beam balance and powder dispenser, 1 lb of IMR 4895, 200 MGS 8mm bullets, 200 large rifle primers, a Speer #1 and #3 manuals, and a set of 8mm Lach Miller dies. His advice was read the book and go from there. That was the start in 1957 and I had very few reloaders to talk to for almost twenty years and not many after that until I got a computer. A lot of my knowledge originally was gleaned from The American Rifleman and other publications

It is a much different story for the neophite today. This forum alone has a plethora (like that word)of usefull knowledge availability. With a fair understanding of potential peril vs saftey you can separate the the wheat from the chaff; who to listen to and who to just shine on. roger

Good advice from Roger
For me it wasn't until 1964 and the 30/06 1917 Eddystone. Locally there was 3 or 4 powders available, bring your own bag, box or jug- all surplus numbers 4831, BB ball or Ball- C, the old gunsmith who sold it told me how much to load with which bullet. Finally when of age and working, other than on our hog farm, I bought my first manual, Speer #8, still have it.
Get a couple manuals and read them from cover to cover, you won't remember all of it, but when a question arises a bulb will go off in your head, I saw that somewhere! Enjoy a lifetime of fun, I still do.

Smack the primer out smack a new one in then Fill up the case with powder squash in the bullet ,

if it chambers you done good kid . Sir what about different powders and bullet weights ?.

Ah hell kid thems for fancy city folks , powder is powder bullets is bullets small primer big primer

that's all ya got to git right .

I promptly bought loading manuals and read near everything I could find , then talked to

wise old veteran re loaders !.

That first old fellow was my powder foremen !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. Maybe he didn't like me ??.

I had to learn all by myself, back when all you could do was read books. The internet has shaved years off the process for newbs. As long as you are getting good advice form the net, it's a great source for tips & tricks, trial & error, that will flatten your learning curve.

Read as much as you can.
Buy/use as many manuals as you can.
Keep realy good notes.
Always work up loads.

Kid,........Yer gonna put yer eye out!

Most of my positive attitude toward handloading came reading Jack O'Connor in Outdoor Life, a magazine subscription given to me by my grandmother. That magazine subscription was the only encouragement I ever received. O'Connor always talked about a case full of 4831 behind a 130 grain bullet in a 270.
Eventually I bought a few Handloader Magazines even though I didn't handload.

No One had to tell me to read a manual. I bought a Speer reloading manual before I bought anything else. There was no one around to ask so I just did it on my own. There were no internet sites when I started either. After I started, my friends got in to it also, and I pretty much guided them through the process.

I don't know why I started reloading. I guess I used the old "I want to save money" excuse. However I think it was more for tuning the load to the gun for accuracy sake.

I have never over charged a case, or even had a sticky bolt. I don't usually start at the bottom load, but somewhere in the middle. I think most printed loads are reserved anyway, for safety and legal reasons.

I think if I started today I would pick up David tubbs DVD or a good video anyway. (and a manual or 3!)I am teaching my grandson to reload and my son has done it many times. Always stressing safety and concentration on the task at hand.

I never drink alcohol before or when loading. After, yes!

A buddy of mine told me when in doubt pour it out. Other than that I figured out every thing else on my own.

If you find primers, buy them.

None!

Self taught...

was smart enough to be prudent...
smart enough to learn to keep notes..

screwed up and made a lot of mistakes and had to figure it out...

busted stuff, like die decapping pins a lot etc, and bent up a lot of brass...

experiences taught me to understand what I was reading in reference manuals etc...

but my suggestion to someone else.. and I wish I would have access to... find someone willing to teach you, who is very knowledgable...

and if he tells you can easily turn a 30/06 into a 300 Weatherby at the reload bench.. find a new teacher/mentor...

this forum gives you something else I didn't have.... access to a lot of folks who are a fountain of information, who know what they are doing and are not too stuck up to share with their fellow forum members...

you get info here from knowledgable guys from so many sources, and you get it for free... you couldn't afford to buy this much accessible experience elsewhere.... enjoy the access to it and never forget to thank these wonderful guys for sharing, at times, over 50 plus years worth of experience...

I bought John Wooters' Complete Handloading Book, Nosler's and Hornady's reloading manuals. After digesting that, I purchased an RCBS Rockchucker reloading kit. I found that many of the so-called experts I knew really played by the seat of their pants. By reading these books thoroughly, I had an honest clue where to start.

The one thing that I learned along the way: do not seat bullets until they almost touch the lands. Load them and seat them so that they will function safely in any gun. If it has to be that fast, buy a bigger gun.

Like for anything else in Germany you need a license to buy powder. I wonder how they still authorize people to have babies without one... Anyway, you are required to take a two day course which is not a bad idea, by the way, same like your hunter's safety training.

From there 90% buy the RCBS Master kit and read the included Speer manual, time required depends on their English skills. Others buy the books from DEVA, Lapua or RWS.

Get a good set of scale check weights!! I wondered why my 45 Colt loads were sticking in my Blackhawk and I was splitting almost all the cases upon firing. I mic'd the chambers and found nothing unusual. Checked my scale and realized it was 3.1 grains off. I was over 3 grains above max.....not a good thing!!

Andy B

I started reloading many years ago with the little Lee loaders. I learned I needed a real reloading press...

So, I got a couple of different manuals. I think the Sierra Handgun Reloading Manual was my first. I got a Dillon 550B. I read the instructions, I read the manual, and I started loading .45 ACP.

When I got into bottleneck cartridges, I found there was a lot more to learn.

The Internet has been a valuable resource, but I got my first advice from manuals.

Read plenty of books and buy any videos you can,there's quite a few now. The actual reloading process is much quicker than the it takes to read or watch any video. A great hobby!
Start with this little gem: http://learnreloading.com/

Considering it was 1975 and not a sole I knew had any clue of handloading or such nonsense all the advise i got was bad.

You'll blow yourself up.

Thats dangerous as hell son.

You'll never load enough to pay for all this crap.

You can't load for rifles.

Might be ok for practice ammo but I'd never hunt with it.

Reloaded ammo never feeds right.

Reloaded ammo isn't very accurate.

and on and on and on.........

Add 12 years too that time frame and not very many people period knew much about reloading !.

Least wise it sure seemed that way in my experience any way .

Just because powder containers look the same, does not mean they are the same. You have to read the label.

quote:

What advice did you get before you started reloading?

Don't tell your wife how much you're spending.

Never have but one canister of powder on your bench at a time. That way you will not make a mistake which you were using if you take an "extended" break between loading sessions and which powder is in your dispenser.
Better than pouring out what is in your dispenser!

The advice I got when I started reloading for trap was "you will save some money". I did, but I'm not sure that would be true today. There were plenty of reloaders at the gun club with advice on trap loads, but those loads were really pretty simple. There were published recipes in the Lyman manual and the club bought a van load of components every year. Field loads for lead shot were a litlle more difficult because wads had to be built and pellet loads buffered. Then came non-toxic shot that was much more complex to load because early on there weren't many recipes and wads, propellants and pellet loads were sometimes experimental. As steel shot propellants and wads were standardized loading became much safer and easier. Finally I started reloading metallic cartridges. That came about when I got a trunk full of reloading gear for $50 and some free advice that I would never save any money reloading. I didn't save any money, but it was a pretty fair deal. There were 2 presses (RCBS and Lee), a RCBS knife edge scale, 5 or 6 lbs of rifle powder, a couple lbs of pistol powder, a few hundred assorted primers, miscellaneous brass, bullets, & dies, various tools, and 3 loading manuals (Speer #9, Lyman #45, and a NRA manual). I read the manuals and found out that reloading metallic cartridges can be as simple or as complex as you want to make it.

You will never save money, even if you can pencil out that you will, because the scope of the project grows.
Once you figure out how to make more accurate ammo, you will not be thinking in terms of money, but accuracy.

Have a seasoned reloader show you the ropes, I started out loading 30-06´s with a friend who is extremely knowlegable and the "course" lasted about 2 hours.

I still consult people I know and trust, I seldom get a load of a forum.

Started reloading at age 13. Got no advice at all, just a Lyman Handbook and a 310 tong tool plus a Pacific powder scale. Father was anti-gun, and I knew no reloaders. But ammo prices were keeping me from shooting as much as I wanted.

I also started when 13 and got some advice. Drinking wasn't one of the things at that time yet... by that's good advice!

Read the book until I could explain it to my dad in detail. Never go over the max load. Only handle one powder/ and cartridge at a time. BE CAREFUL and don't blow yourself up!