OK Rob, we've been kicking this around now for five years! When are you going to get with the program? LOL
The .44 and Other Flavors Of Magnum
- Thread starter noelekal
- Start date
Wholly heck. Dude is retired and STILL is not reloading?!
I was working FT, going to school FT, and was only 16 years old, and I had time to reload... 
Had a girlfriend to manage too. Trusty Lee Loader kept me in 30-30 plinking rounds. AA
OkieStubble
Dirty Donuts are so Good.
Wholly heck. Dude is retired and STILL is not reloading?!
AA
(Enjoy yourself), It's later than you think..... start reloading while you're still in the pink!
OkieStubble
Dirty Donuts are so Good.
What is the current status now, with acquiring reloading components and powder?
Love the Grass Roots. About a million hits ...
Component availability. Varies on your scouting skill. In general, getting better I think.
AA
^what he said, but don’t wait for a return to normal in the market, start acquiring NOW. It will undoubtedly take a while to accrue all that you will be needing.
@OkieStubble Primers are becoming available intermittently, gotta grab them when and where you can, but prices are still high. Powder is harder to come by. Projectiles are doing a little better, come into stock but sell out quickly, you have to be on your toes and act fast. You could start buying equipment, dies, electronic scale, etc. while awaiting better availability/prices of the consumables just mentioned. There is a lot of things to buy and they all add up. A good time to spread out the acquisitions over time while you await the unobtainium to become available.
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OkieStubble
Dirty Donuts are so Good.
I hear what you are saying. I like optimism, I really do. But the natural pessimist I am, has this gut feeling it’s going to get worse for reloaders before it gets better.
If it gets better.
If I already had a lifetime’s worth of reloading like you and Michael have had, I would definitely be out there right now, wheeling and dealing for what I could find.
But just starting out? Sounds like a daunting task in order to get where y’all are at while the supply chain of components and powders are on life support.
I have about $15k put up right now, in order to jump right in IF reloading and shooting supplies get back to some kind of normalcy in supply and demand and prices.
What I need to do, is search Craig’s and other ads for some one who is looking to jump out of reloading and are selling their lifetime of acquired stuff.
If it gets better.
If I already had a lifetime’s worth of reloading like you and Michael have had, I would definitely be out there right now, wheeling and dealing for what I could find.
But just starting out? Sounds like a daunting task in order to get where y’all are at while the supply chain of components and powders are on life support.
I have about $15k put up right now, in order to jump right in IF reloading and shooting supplies get back to some kind of normalcy in supply and demand and prices.
What I need to do, is search Craig’s and other ads for some one who is looking to jump out of reloading and are selling their lifetime of acquired stuff.
Yes. Possibly an estate sale, too.Go for just one common caliber, and you'll find it totally doable. Brass you have. A used press now and a better one later. One set of dies. You'll find projos. Get close, and one of us will push you over the finish line!
You got this!Cowboys of old such as Elmer and Skeeter used an Ideal hand tool, sitting around a campfire. You can start on a shoestring, too.
(I really did start at 16 with a Lee hand tool, a block of wood from shop class for a mallet, one box of Speer 150 grain flat points in 30, and one pound of IMR3031, which lasted forever).
AA
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OkieStubble
Dirty Donuts are so Good.
Go for just one common caliber, and you'll find it totally doable. Brass you have. A used press now and a better one later. One set of dies. You'll find projos. Get close, and one of us will push you over the finish line!
Cowboys of old such as Elmer and Skeeter used an Ideal hand tool, sitting around a campfire. You can start on a shoestring, too.
(I really did start at 16 with a Lee hand tool, a block of wood from shop class for a mallet, one box of Speer 150 grain flat points in 30, and one pound of IMR3031, which lasted forever).
AA
If/when I do start reloading, I can’t think of any type caliber I need/want as much as I do .30-.30. I got like 2 or 3 boxes to my name.
When I began thinking about reloading, Back then, I figured I would just reload the uncommon calibers because I could always find cheap, surplus 9mm and .556.
I had been waiting for retirement and then it seemed like COVID and Biden purposely waited to happen and screw up my retirement plans.
Before COVID and my retirement, I was pretty much spoiled as an Academy Instructor, getting to shoot on the daily while training cadets.
When I was promoted to Admin, My shooting on the tax payers dime definitely dropped dropped to only 10 percent of my shooting as a whole.
But after a decade of working at the range everyday, my personal ammo stores were quite fat. I spent 5 years in Admin before retirement and made a pretty good dent in my 9mm and .556 storage.
While I am still not hurting for either, I am definitely rationing and making careful decisions in and when I go shoot. When I was younger, I never wanted to shoot anything other then running and gunning with 9mm and .556, now I am older and would like to go have some fun with other calibers like 10mm, .45, and .30-.30 I find myself realizing that all these years of thinking I was being patient and smart and doing it absolutely right, it turns out, I was very shortsighted and doing it absolutely wrong.
I knew I wanted to reload 20 years ago, but figured I would wait on the kids being grown and gone and retirement came, so I could take the time and do it right.
But NOW, I realize what I should have done, was actually began small, when my own sons were young, and had them join me in building up an awesome reloading bench over the years when I had the space in a 4 bedroom house with a detached garage and RV Shed.
Woulda shoulda coulda. Everyone has regrets in life. But I can confirm, it’s the regrets you have later when you spent years thinking you were doing or planning right that hurt the most.
simon1
Self Ignored by Vista
I have a set of RCBS .30-30 dies that I have never used. When you get a press, powder, primers, and bullets you are more than welcome to borrow them for awhile. I think they are carbide dies...I'd have to look.
I have enough .30-30 factory ammo to last for quite awhile.
OkieStubble
Dirty Donuts are so Good.
I might just drive across the border and take you up on this.
@OkieStubble, if you have $15K set aside for reloading, better spend some of it while it's still worth $15K, inflation is coming big time! Knock out some of the big ticket items or scoop up on the used market. Prices for everything is gonna go up. Get while the gettins good? Just saying...or is that enabling,...nah, I'd never do that!
OkieStubble
Dirty Donuts are so Good.
I am just now getting back into reloading after a 30 year hiatus. I bought a RCBS Rock Chucker Supreme in a kit that included a powder throw, scale, trickler, primerfeed, etc. With 3 sets of dies for 9mm, 44mag and 45 ACP with several of pounds of HS6 and 2400 and a few k of primers and brass I am only out about $900. Not terrible, but way more than I paid back in the 80s.
I don't think those are carbide dies. The only carbide dies I have seen are for straight walled cartridges, ie, 38 special, 44mag, mostly pistol cartridges, and have never heard of any for larger calibers such as 45-70, 458 Win Mag ect. When you do start using them make sure to clean and then use a good case lube, I prefer imperial die sizing wax, just rub a tiny dab on case with fingers, serves to keep hands soft also.
For a .30-30, I load a cast lead bullet and about 10 grains of Unique. They make great plinking rounds. The cost to load is about the same as a big bore lead pistol round....cheap fun.
