Re: Whats Reload'n
I used to watch dad in the workshop when I was a kid. He spent the time with me showing me all the steps on a single stage press. We didn't have dial calipers back then so, he showed me how to use the old school calipers... I still have his old calipers and, I still use his old C&H beam scale! Hell, I still have all those old Lyman, Speer and other reloading manuals with loads that you just won't find anymore in the new ones... There are especially a lot of loads in those old books for cast bullets... and yes, I still have his old lead pots, molds, ingot molds and even some gas checks we'd put on the 30 carbine lead bullets... the old bullet luber/sizer...
By the time I was 12yrs old, I was loading for my 270...
As time went on, we both learned more about it... got a trickle charger and started weighing every charge when I started shooting the national match course and loading my own for accuracy rather than just loading up the 130s for my 270 hunting rifle.
These days, nothing gets left out.... I anneal, clean up primer pockets, neck turn, only bump shoulders .002, I know my freebore and know how to adjust for the best groups my rifle is capable of.
I can't thank him enough for letting me learn the joy of hand loading at such a young age and trusting me enough to do it myself. We used to do it all together... he'd bring home chunks of lead from the plant he worked at and, we'd melt it down and cast bullets, ingots, size/lube bullets together and add gas checks for the 30 carbine ammo we'd make.
I've got an 11yr old now and, I can't imagine he's mature enough for such a thing right now ( and he doesn't have an interest in it currently ), but, if or when he does, I'll show him the ropes.
Hell, by the time I was 15, I had my own 1911 and, we upgraded to a hornady progressive for pistol ammo and, I'd load thousands at a time and go to the local police range in west baton rouge parish and, I'd blast away, by myself usually since dad traveled a lot for work.... ahhh, the memories of being young.
