Loaded My 20,000th Round of .45 Today

[max]

I think I started loading for the .45 in 74 or so, but can't find my early records. My record keeping goes back to 1981 when I loaded my 3,500th round. I loaded the 5,000th round in 85, the 10,000th in 99 and the 15,000th in 07. I didn't mark when I got the Dillon, but I think it was 93 or so. Between 88 and 92, I only loaded 300 rounds. We had moved and the loading bench had not been set up.

Except for about 500 rounds, they were all cast and the vast majority were with 231. I have tried other powders, but prefer 231. I am not a competition shooter and they have been shot at paper targets with a few going after bowling pins and steel. Up until a couple of months ago they were all fired in my 70 Series Gold Cup or the Commander I have had for 10 years or so. The new Ruger only has 600 rounds or so down range.

It has been a great hobby and I have enjoyed every round.

 

[jazzman452]

Just finished setting up my Hornady lnl press. First batch should be out tomorrow. I have loaded a few thousand on my old Lee press. Congrats on passing that milestone, now onto 25k.

Jim

 

[Ceapea]

I have had my Hornady LNL for 3 weeks now, maybe 4 weeks. I have 850 rounds of various calibers through it now. I started loading in Aug, 2010, on a single stage RCBS 2 press.
Including the 850 w/the LNL, I am up to 22,850 loaded rounds and/or partially prepped cases.

Yep, that's 22,000 on a single stage press in two years! I load for seven calibers.
I couldn't believe it myself until I read my notes. I keep the individual box from 100 primers until I get up to approx. 1500, then I log them and toss the boxes.

Of those 22k, I have approx. 900-1200 that have not been shot yet and maybe 400-500 cases prepped from my recent days of S.S. loading.
Did I mention...I shoot a lot!

 

[Engineer1911]

Who has time to maintain those records? It sounds like a daytime job.

 

[David Sinko]

Back in the "old days" I loaded 9000 rounds of .45 ACP on an RCBS Rockchucker for a Colt 1911. Two good things came out of that: First, I discovered progressive loading shortly thereafter and life got easier. Second, I discovered the S&W 625 and quit the 1911 forever. After that I stopped keeping track of how much I was loading and just kept shooting.

Dave Sinko

 

[brucev]

I've been handloading since the Summer of 1981. I started with a RCBS Reloader Special outfit w/ a Jr. press. It never occurred to me to keep a record of the number of rounds I loaded. In the early days, all I loaded was 5.0 gr. of Unique w/ 158-160 gr. LSWC in a .38 Special and 42.0 gr. of RE-7 w/ 130 gr. JHP's in a Remington .30-06 1903-A3. I shot the A3 so much that by the time I graduated seminary, it needed a new barrel. I loaded a cigar box of .38's for each weekend all through seminary. When I went to my first pastoral appointment, I started ordering lead bullets which I loaded hot in my 6" 28-2. I also fired a pile of 125 gr. JHP in that revolver. Later I added a 1911 in .45 ACP which I fed 200 gr. LSWC's. By then I'd bought a Dillion Square Deal B. It was amazing the amount of ammunition one could turn out in one or two evenings of work.

Nowadays I am just arrived at a new pastoral appointment. I have not yet located a place where I can go shooting. I am hopeful that I will at least find a place where I can shoot my handguns... rifles may be a little harder. There is a range about 65 miles away where I can use my rifles... and of course handguns. If that turns out to be workable, I will doubtless return to handloading although I doubt I will ever again have sufficient time as once was the case to simply load at night and then go to the range or wander in the fields/woods two or three times week.

 

[dla]

I used to peel the labels off boxes of 500 count bullets and save them. I stopped counting after I hit 20K - seemed like an interesting milestone.

Congratulations!

 

[Rule3]

Who has time to maintain those records? It sounds like a daytime job.

You mean Dillon does not have a add on counter for that? Perhaps a wireless direct to your computer with additional software required.


Max,

That is boatload of ammo!!

 

[Engineer1911]

You mean Dillon does not have a add on counter for that? Perhaps a wireless direct to your computer with additional software required.

My ammo counting stopped when I went thru 15 thousand small pistol primers in one year. About 2 years later, I started shooting prairie dogs. The only question was, "Can I buy components fast enough to keep loaded ammo on hand?" NO!!

I fired enough 38 wadcutters through a M52 that I wore out the hammer and sear; hammer followed the slide forward. Gun was loaded and hammer wasn't cocked. Sent it to S&W for repair/rebuild/reblue and paid $128.00 including shipping -- yup those were the good old days.

 

[Ceapea]

Who has time to maintain those records? It sounds like a daytime job.

Every time I opened a box of 100 primers, I tore off the top (Federal) or just kept the small square box (CCI) and put it in a drawer. Every so often, I'd count the box parts and write down how many hundred primers used up to that point. Throw out the boxes and start over. I took all of 2-3 minutes each time I counted 10-15 boxes and do the math. Alright, 30-60 seconds is more like it. If I could make my wages in only that time each day...



I'd load a bunch more now, wouldn't I?

 

[Beans]

[QUOTE
I fired enough 38 wadcutters through a M52 that I wore out the hammer and sear; hammer followed the slide forward. Gun was loaded and hammer wasn't cocked. Sent it to S&W for repair/rebuild/reblue and paid $128.00 including shipping -- yup those were the good old days.

I wore the throat out on a model 19 with a 6 inch barrel back in the mid 70's through the mid 80's shooting cast bullets. That gun had over 200,000 rds through it.
I was shooting it getting ready for a match when the accuracy just went away. I took it into the armour and he found that the barrel had cracked at the throat. I was shooting between 500 and 1000 rds a week.

I had purchased the gun NIB and had fired less then 500 rds of factory ammo through it, the rest was hand loads.

The replacement barrel from S&W was not as accurate as the orginial barrel so the gun was retired. :-(

 

[Frank237]

Way back in 1980 I was a very broke Cop with a new house payment.
I knew a guy who commecially reloaded and was way behind in orders. So I took one of his Dillon RL1000 presses and set it up in my basement.

I did nothing but .223 with GI 55 gr fMJ slugs.

I cleared about $40 per thousand rds loaded. My goal was to do 1K each day I worked the Cop job and 3K per day on my days off. Or average about 10K per week or $400.

Did that for about 6 months. The loading got so absolutely mind numbing that when I quit it I don't think I loaded a single round for myself for a year!

The poster who did 22K on a single stage.....I'm sure you can relate to "mind numbing boredom".

FN in MT

 

[forestswin]

Max - First off - I see US Army VET - thanks for your service
second - great to see this post - congrats - seems like a milestone to me - I'm just starting to reload (about 1k rnds) and the wisdom and experience you guys put on this forum is priceless! I've been reading this forum for about a year So when I see you've loaded 20k and some of the guys that replied also list these high numbers - its no wonder

 

[ShinySix]

Loaded my 10,195th .45 ACP on 8/5/2012. Loaded my first .45 ACP 1/2/2009. All on a 550b. All through a Glock30