Reloading is the gateway drug of old guns.

[Red98422]

So it has occurred to me as a reloader, that sometimes I find myself intentionally looking at firearms that are only viable in the realm of handloaders (centerfire converted Vetterli, 44/40 revolvers, ect) and I seem to think it is handloading itself that has lead me on this path of "obsolete" and "out dated" calibers and I find it fascinating.

I post this in hopes of hearing stories similar to this. Perhaps it went the oposite way? Did you learn handloading because of an old hand me down? Or did handloading open the "gateway" of unknown and obsolete firearms?

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[oremike]

Well learning to reload opened my eyes to both the price and quality of hand tailoring ammo to a specific firearm. I haven't gone out of my way to load obsolete calibers but I do load for lessor common calibers like 44-40 , 32 H&R, 41 Mag, 38-40. Knowing how to reload has given me the confidence to load non commercially available calibers like 30 Herret, 357 Herret, 357-44 Bain & Davis, 7TCU and the like.

 

[Alexx1401]

For me it was not really obsolete, just real hard to find. I bought a Charter .44 sp. Liked it so much I bought another, and another to play with. This was before Al came up with the net and we could not mail order ammo. You had to find it at the store. When I could find .44 sp it was only the one load, the 240grRNL. Even that was rare. So had seen loading, ordered a Lee Kit with book and when it got to me off to the store to buy the parts. As soon as I saw how damn easy it was then I of course was rolling for other stuff just to save money. If I had not bought those .44's I probably would not have tried rolling my own till much later.

 

[Goosebrown]

My first rifle was a 303 and my second was 30-40 Krag. So for me it wasn't the reloading that led me to guns it was the other way round. My brother reloaded so I followed his lead.

I have a 308 and a 5.56 and those are the only ones I can buy off the shelf unless it's a BIG ammo store. Even got a bolt 233 so friends could shoot with me.

 

[Whisky Tahoe]

For me reloading enables me to consider firearms that I wouldn't buy unless the ammo was less expensive like a 30 carbine or 44 Magnum pistol. I won't pay retail prices for those rounds but I will buy components and reload them. Same with several calibers for TC contenders. Factory ammo is sometimes available but with reloading you can make your ammo "best" for the shorter barrels of the contenders. Consider that reloading has enabled an entire shooting discipline, Benchrest where almost everything is reloaded.

 

[RVTECH]

I could see early on reloading was going to be 'necessary' not only as an extension of my interest in shooting but to tailor ammo for my specific shooting interests as well as to get the maximum accuracy out of my guns.

Interestingly while I have always appreciated older & classic firearms I never ended up owning any with obsolete or hard to find ammo. Came close a couple times (once with a .38-40 and a .25-35) but still all my calibers I have are relatively 'modern' and available.

 

[Mikej]

Reloading for me was because Wifey and I could go through $40.00+/- at the range in 1-11/2 hours. Loading my own was the perfect thing for me and my mechanical mindset. I'm not sure I gave much thought about what I was spending to load? Just that I wasn't buying it by the box. I bought components in bulk. Now I'm loading for the Garand, a Swedish Mauser and an M1 Carbine, that's some savings. And I can look at pretty much purchasing any gun that turns me on and know I could make ammo for it. And then there's the rush I get every time I put a freshly pressed, completed round in the box that turns me on too. And it's something I can do in a relatively small, warm dry space that makes it perfect.

 

[DLS]

I had an Arisaka Type 99 and a Chilean Mauser at one time ... you don't find ammo for those puppies at your corner Bi-Mart!

 

[P7M13]

You're really hosed once you acquire a taste for wildcat cartridges.
Reloading started for me because I couldn't afford to shoot as much as I did on $6/hour. Like @Alexx1401 , I ordered a Lee kit. Stopped shooting for 15 years, then dove right in with a Lee Loadmaster.

 

[Ownerus]

The old gun was the gateway drug to reloading in about 1965 when Dad remembered the Jap rifle he'd shipped home to my uncle after they occupied Japan. We had to reload to shoot it. Once that milestone was passed, Reloading became the gateway drug to old guns. "You can't get ammo for it" no longer had much meaning. No longer a deterrent to getting an otherwise interesting piece though it sometimes lowered the price.

 

[41mag]

Did you learn handloading because of an old hand me down? Or did handloading open the "gateway" of unknown and obsolete firearms?

.....sudden interest in IHMSA requirements, handguns on steel at 50/100/150/200 yards started it all for me....

and a couple decade dose of Single Action Shooting Society expanded need for both vintage and now-esoteric loads of the Holy Black still desirable to this very era....I still prefer the 38x55 single shot as my favorite 100 yd target carbine.

 

[Spitpatch]

More like a family member who is an "enabler", than a "gateway drug":

Handloading has enabled me to feel comfortable acquiring a gun in an unusual caliber and exploring avenues to load for it:

Among the weirdos:
.40-50 Sharps Bottleneck
.256 Winchester Magnum
.276 Ackley Magnum
.38-40 Winchester
.350 Remington Magnum
.25 Bullberry
.25-20 Single Shot
.38-56 Winchester
.45-60 Winchester

And has allowed me to have one gun constructed in a caliber from my own imagination:

.25 PPC (Pronghorn Pursuit Cartridge).

Handloading for nearly 100 cartridges occasionally saves the initial outlay toward dies for the unusual: dies and equipment for other calibers on hand sometimes serve admirably for assembling cartridges of a caliber for which dies are not yet in possession.

 

[matts]

Can you attach a picture of the .25ppc?
What's the parent case?
Matt

 

[Capn Jack]

It's always been cost for me. I started reloading 30-06 range brass in the barracks, in '56 with a Lyman 310 nutcracker, a Redding balance scale, plastic funnel and a tea spoon.

Now, it's an RCBS press, bottom drop Lead pot, Gas check cutter, Multiple dies & molds. Even though I've invested in an RCBS powder measure, I still have my old balance scale.

Recently I've had to start sending my old SCUBA weights down range 325 gr. and 145 gr. at a time as my wife says I'm getting to old for diving.

 

[Spitpatch]

Can you attach a picture of the .25ppc?
What's the parent case?
Matt

6 PPC is the "parent" case (more of a little sister). Bump the bullet diameter up .013 (.257) and there ya have it. (Only something a quarter-bore looney might believe to be of great advantage).

The rifle is an Interarms Mini-Mauser originally in 7.62x39. No modifications necessary to bolt face or feed rails. Lilja 21" barrel. 85g Nosler Ballistic Tip at just over 3000fps: Duplicates .250 Savage ballistics (the goal) in a tiny gun that can ride like a wisp on the shoulder for an all-day walk (or trot as the need arises). Hence the assigned moniker (with apologies to Palmisano and Pendell).