I have been reloading for over 50 years and casting bullets, on and off, for over 40 years. This does not make me an expert but does make me experienced. I am a seasoned citizen and as such most of my equipment (reloading/casting equipment) has some age on it. I do not have a progressive loader (my volume of shooting, at this stage of my life, makes it hard to justify the high cost of a good progressive loader.) Anyway, enough about my inherent cheapness.

I was sitting in front of the bench last night, luber-sizing some bullets. (Lyman 450, bought used in the early 70s). As I was thinking, it occurred to me that: Lubing bullets may well be my least favorite part of reloading. But then again, I remember the last time I was trimming cases, I had the same thought. (I use a Wilson trimmer (arguably the best manual trimmer), also bought used in the 60s.) I have made a modification when trimming large quantities of rifle cases so I can use in my drill press but still sort of a PITA.

Except for the fact that I shoot cast bullets in several calibers that are not readily available commercially I would give up casting.(The cost of getting into casting today is almost cost prohibitive. New retail cost on my casting equipment is well over $2500 bucks) I did not get back into casting until my retirement because I could, until recently, buy good commercial cast, in common calibers, for less than I thought my labor was worth. Again except for the semi-weird rifle bullets I like to shoot. As for case trimming, shooting new cases every time, is not a great choice considering my taste in rifle calibers. (.257 Roberts, 250 savage, 264 win mag, ect.) So,I sit at the bench and trim and I sit in front of the bench and lube. Having to pick between my least favorite reloading tasks....... The winner or is it the loser! Lubersizing@*+%&#$

Everything but cost savings.. If only I could teach my dog..

I don't really like the brass resizing stage but it's a part of the process so I do it.

Cleaning the brass...

Or convince my wife............

There is an unpleasant part to reloading???? Say it ain't so!

MY most unpleasant part is running out of components in the middle of a run...

Randy

I think the thing i least like to do is remove primer pocket crimp from GI brass. I don't do it anymore. I've got enough brass to last. I don't like lubing bullets eather, I got spoiled while stationed at Wheelus AFB. As an E-4 making $165 a month before taxes I was pretty broke. The Rod and gun Club had a complete reloading set up and their bullet luber was a Starr. It was the easiest luber I've ever used. put a bullet in the sizer pull the handle, put in another bullet pull the handle and a lubed bullet fell out the bottom.
SWCA 892

I'm not crazy about any part of it - other than being able to shoot twice as much for half the cost.

I don't reload in bulk because I don't shoot competitively. I reload in (fairly) small batches of 200-400 of a given round at a time. So the time saving benefit of a progressive doesn't cost justify for me (IMO)

One day when I retire and have a lot more time and less money, then I may enjoy it more and even get into more detailed load development.

Right now its just part of the hobby in order to be able to shoot 400 or 500 rounds of various ammo per range trip - and not have to feel bad about the expense.

I've been reloading since I got out of the Army in 1976, so 41+ years and really enjoy it. I find it to be a real stress reliever. I guess my least favorite is occasionally having to poke pieces of media out of the primer flash holes.

Handloading for me is almost as much fun as handling guns and shooting them. Well, maybe not quite but still enjoyable.

my uncle started me at reloading when I was 15 years old (I'm 68 now) and quite frankly reloading ain't much fun at all anymore. I only load for the 41 mag and 45 acp. I bought a box of Sig 45 acp hardball just to keep from reloading

.223 case prep. (Specifically - the length check, trimming, and primer pocket removal.)

The AR enables consumption of ammo that is disproportionate to the effort required to load it up.

Pistol, on the other hand, is more balanced: It's easy to chew through ammo, but it's also easy to get it loaded up.

It's case trimming, hands down. I enjoy doing the chores of reloading because I enjoy shooting the results. Back 40 plus years ago I shot a lot more, now if I shoot just a few rounds when I go to the range and watch the wife and daughter shoot well and safely, I have had a good time. I reload when the urge strikes me. I primed a few 9mm the other day because I need to load a some more for them to shoot.

Have a blessed day,

Leon

I have been loading since 1978 or 1979. I load 4 gauges of shotgun and about 113 metallic cartridges & 12 and 20 gauge metallic. I enjoy loading in general.

But a long weekend of 4 sons and myself practicing and shooting a 3 day Cowboy shoot, left me with most of 8000 empties! I miss the time to refill them all in about 5 days!

The metallic rounds I shoot a lot I have over 5000 of (45 Colt, 45 ACP and 38 Special) I had 20,000 rounds of 223 reloaded, but the sons got in it a few years ago and I have 3000 now. You can start to see a pattern here!

Ivan

PS. I'll take empty cases & time with the boys, over piles of ammo any day!

Least favorite part of reloading? A complete changeover and setup for a run on a progressive press.

I suspect more money is spent minimizing that issue . . . regardless of whether your press is blue or red . . . than any other annoying aspect of reloading. Case feeder, bullet feeder, primer punch, case belling, powder charge. And those stupid primer tubes . . . 2 tubes per 100 rounds. (Yes 2 . . . you load a tube to load a tube.)

Far behind in second place is rifle case prep when trimming is involved.

JMO lol.

I can't say I really dislike any part of reloading. To me it means I get to spend more time with the kids shooting, our youngest is 31, both boys and girls were brought up shooting and the wife shoots pretty good when we can talk her into going. Being retired now I find reloading is a nice time filler, beats mowing the yard and I'm too old and fat to go sky diving!

Bending over and picking up the fired brass lying all over the place.
Being the "frugal" (tight ) person I am I just cannot walk off and leave my fired brass...and it ruins my day to come back with any less than I started with. If I come back with more ...that's a great day !
Having aged a bit my back begins to ache before I get them all.
The young don't realize what they have right now....good sound bodies !
Gary

GW: Get one of those fairly inexpensive roller cages on a long handle. No more bending over.

Hank M.

I'm exactly with you on both of those onerous chores...trimming bottle neck cases...lube sizing. Trimming is the worst of the two, IMHO.

Hank M.

For me it's being interrupted by someone or something when I'm trying to concentrate on my reloading process. I hate leaving the bench when I'm only part way through the process. Otherwise, I find reloading therapeutic.

My least favorite part of reloading is when a case doesn't seat properly on the ram and I snap a depriming pin, or when an occasional Berdan primed case gets into the production line and snaps a depriming pin.

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Judge control not gun control!

I too find case trimming as well as primer pocket uniforming to be real nuisance chores. Regarding the latter, I only do the large primer pockets.

Me too... very relaxing and I don’t mind the repetitive work.

I've been handloading since the mid-'sixties. It's a hobby unto itself. I've enjoyed it all and learn something most everyday I participate, and that's most days at least for a little while. Those who handload to save money (not sure that's really possible) and see it as a chore miss out on a lot.

I got back into shooting in 1989 and also got into USPSA competition. Shooting USPSA back then demanded handloads to make major and run the guns properly. By 1992, I owned an early 650 and was cranking out large amounts of 38 Super and 40 S&W ammo. I enjoy handloading as a physical activity entirely opposite of my professional life. Very therapeutic.

The only task I really don't enjoy is swaging and/or reaming primer pockets of used military brass. I bought a box of 3000 9mm military brass a few years ago and then let it sit for a while. Finally, in 2016 I cleaned all the primer pockets and made 3500 rounds of 9mm 124 gr coated ammo and I'm still using it up.

I leave 9mm brass on the ground because I can buy used 9mm at gunshows for $20/1000 or less.

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Bob.
SWCA 1821

I HATE case prep. Brass shavings everywhere. I'm that guy if I drop a primer on the ground I will take twenty minutes to find it. Even if I can't see it I know it's there and it will bother me. And the problem with case prep I can see the brass shavings. I hate it so much I pay my 13-year-old granddaughter $5.00 a pound to do it for me. And she probably does a better job than I do anyway.

I've been reloading for about 10 years but I just started bullet casting about 6 months ago.

For reloading it's dumping the powder and weighing it. I use a powder measure for pistol but rifle I still trickle up. This seems to take me forever and since I added an electronic scale to the mix now I'm even more picky.


For bullet casting it is the lube process. I have thousands of bullets that are cast, sized and gas checked but not lubed. I am dip lubing right now because I don't have room on the bench for a lube sizer. So I dip lube, run them back though the sizer, then scrape the extra lube off the base of each individual bullet. This takes a ton of time. I should switch off to powder coating honestly

Running out of components

Removing the old primers using a hand tool. Sometimes it is hard to find the hole.

Case trimming is the worst, followed closely by case trimming.

And, if that wasn't clear, I despise trimming cases. After 100 or so, I'm ready to forcefully stick a screwdriver in my ear, just to relieve the tedium.

I suspect the majority of folks that find some aspect of reloading to be a "chore" or a "necessary evil" are to be found among those who load on progressive machines, and got into reloading simply to churn out basketfuls of ammunition in the shortest time possible. I still load on an old Lyman Spar-T and a couple of other single-stage presses, and even break out the old Lyman 310 sets and even older Ideal No.3, No.4, and No.10 tools, even an old Winchester loading tool. I cast mostly from single-cavity moulds, and I size and lube with a Lyman No.45 that is likely pushing 70 years old now. Reloading, to me, has never been about the production of hundreds upon hundreds of rounds in one sitting, but more about taking my time, getting to know each component on a personal level, and being intimately familiar with each and every cartridge I load.

I can honestly say, there is not a single operation that I find onerous or unpleasant. When I am at my bench, I am in my own little world and thoroughly enjoy every minute of it.

Trimming 223/556X45 cases to load and shoot in my AR15...

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NRA Benefactor

In a worst first neck turning wins out over casting.
I don't mind lubing, I have a Lyman 450 and an older RCBS Lubrisizer. Lubing gives me another chance to cull rejects.

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Front sight and squeeze

When certain supplies get low.

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Case/media separation. I really need to get one of those doohickeys that shakes it all out.

A close second is my current Lee FCD in .45 ACP -- it drags all hell on any case that isn't a Remington - Peters (RP) headstamp. Well, it doesn't drag that badly, but the little jarring bumps are annoying and gradually wear on my shoulder. My other 3 FCDs are perfectly smooth, which is weird.

So I think I might be helping myself to a new .45 taper crimp die (no FCD). Or a Redding or RCBS. Or since my birthday is advancing on me, maybe a Hornady Custom Grade New Dimension taper crimp die. Or the whole damn set.

46 years reloading and 45 years casting bullets. I have to say that ammo production is probably the most enjoyable part of the whole shooting thing for me. Learned a lot about metallurgy, ballistics, and other aspects of firearms usage than I could possibly have done any other way. Still spend an evening now and then re-reading older manuals and reviewing years of loading notes.

Like many others I have gone over to commercially cast bullets for most handgun calibers and uses. Most of my casting now is for obsolete calibers and antique firearms for which handloading is the only feasible option. I still enjoy it all.

Mining bullets from the berm was bad, but melting the bullets down to pour ingots has got to be the worst. My little mind enjoys sizing and lubing bullets -- one of the simple joys in life.

Removing stuck cases from bottle neck sizing dies is the worst thing I really hate. The rest of the reloading steps aren't too bad. I have a small primer and large primer press to reduce change-over misery.

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S&WHF 366

This one is easy for me. Picking up the 200 or more pieces of brass after shooting my 1911.

Removing the crimp from military or foreign-military-sold-as-civilian brass.

Everything else is actually relaxing for me.

The answer is simple, don't get cases stuck in the dies.

RCBS resizing lubricant and pad, Lee "toothpaste tube" lubricant, Imperial sizing wax or Hornady Unique. Never stuck a case in 40+ years of reloading although I did once get the neck inadequately lubricated using the Lee lubricant and tore the neck off a case.

Besides, the part about Hornady Unique I really like is that since it is mostly beef tallow, I could always use it in an emergency to fry a potato knowing would come out tasting like McDonald's french fries used to taste back in the 1970's.

Running my cast bullets through the sizing die. Just brain numbing.

Stu

Cleaning/separating range brass. Hoarding components for too many calibers. I keep trying to reduce calibers, they multiply overnite. .223, 308, 30-06 for rifle. 38spl, 45acp for pistol. I shoot but don't reload 20ga, 12ga, 9mm. Otherwise I like reloading

Worst part?
Reading about what is the "best" press to get and how wonderful certain methods of "cleaning" brass is.

Hands down it is case trimming(rifle brass)

next, would be doing the chicken dance picking up brass , spend more time doing that then shooting

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Still Running Against the Wind

Having to purchase components at today's prices to replace the ones I bought 15 years ago for a lot less money. Remember the one cent primers, the five cent jacketed bullets and the surplus H4831 for about fifty cents per pound?

I remember buying 4831 from what looked like a fifty or hundred pound drum getting it in a paper bag or a container I brought in... It was fifty cents a pound..
Primers were a dollar box or less.
All close to sixty years ago..

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NRA Benefactor

Casting and lubing bullets,,I gave that up some years ago. I just by them now in that form.
I save & accumulate scrap lead (and brass) still. I sell that and figure it helps bring down the cost somewhere but I don't really worry about it.

Next is having a case stick in a FL sizing die and the rim pull off.
Just a simple mis-q by me,,not enough case lube.
It's a simple process to remove, I've done enough of them!, but it kinda spoils the reloading session. Kinda like a flat tire on that nice summer evening drive.

I don't load anywhere near the # of rds many of you do,,the many 100's or 1000's of rds in one caliber at a time.
So if I do have to anneal cases or trim them it;s just a few and not a real chore.
I still use scoops for powder measuring but do check them against a scale.

On the shotgun side I use a progressive MEC in 12ga, If that decides to dump a load of shot or powder on an open station (in attention by me!),,that can usually end the night of fun.

Other than that, it's pretty smooth running hobby. Sometimes finding stuff like that set of dies you haven't used in a while or that odd size shell holder can be a challenge.
Especially if you use the 'separate stacks of stuff' arrangement like I seem to do to keep things in order.
It's all (supposed to be) fun!

It would have to be case trimming, that's what I was doing yesterday. A couple years ago I purchased a 'Little Crow WFT' and it made the chore a whole lot easier.
I also have a Wilson trimmer which does a good job , but is slow and a pain to use when you have more than just a few to do.

I haven't cast bullets in years. I found it much easier to just order them.

I done that a couple times. Shrinks my vocabulary to all four letter words.
I hate a 'lube pad'. Hornady One Shot is good on pistol cases, but not so good on rifle bottle necks. I few years ago, a friend got me started on Imperial Sizing Wax. Great stuff haven't got one stuck since and a tin of it lasts forever.

Case trimming is no big deal as it's not required every time. Case lubing, on the other hand, is what I distain.

I use carbide dies so resizing doesn't require lubing. No part of the reloading process is difficult, for I have a Dillon 550B press.

Getting interrupted which seems to happen whenever I reload.