Uncomplicated handloading

[TRE]

Played hookey from work today to watch NCAA march madness, and found myself in the loading room after lunch doing some "uncomplicated reloading".

38 Special, 148gr lead wadcutters (cast by me, from Lyman mold #358495), Bullseye powder, older RCBS dies and an old school Lyman single stage press.

I started with a similar set up more than 25 years ago, progressed to turret presses and the occassional progressive press, but find that more and more I like the old, uncomplicated way of doing things. When I shot a lot of competition, the goal was to reload as much ammo as fast as I could, to keep up with practice and match schedules. Now, I do it because I love it. It's relaxing and takes me back to simpler times.

Gonna enjoy the rest of the day. More ammo to load and the tournament streaming on my laptop.

TRE

 

[twodog max]

Nothing at all wrong with that.

 

[arjay]

I only competed on the trap range,so I have a progressive for that.I never moved beyond my old single stage for rifle/pistol,it is very relaxing to do when one is bored [emoji2]

 

[rwsmith]

I call that.....

I call that 'knitting for men'. Just keeps you busy and doing something productive. Just be happy. Raking leaves is something like that but not as much fun.

 

[max]

After several years with my Dillon, I also missed it and bought some duplicate dies so I could reload like in the old days. After about an hour, I found I really didn't miss it that much and went back to the Dillon.

 

[H Richard]

I never got rid of my Texan Turret loader. Big, heavy, and solid, but can keep a couple sets of favorite dies in it and load one at a time as I want. Do all my development work and all my rifle loading on it.

 

[Big Cholla]

I have all the fancy schmancy progressive presses one could want, but I too go to the RCBS Rock Chucker single stage every once in a while for the simplicity and the mental therapy that using it provides me. I started reloading at the age of 16. Over the years as my life became more complicated I had an epiphany one night while at the reloading bench. I was reloading more and more just to have something that I was competent at and that I could and must control every aspect. Very few of us have total control over anyone or anything in our lives. We can't totally control our wives, our kids, our dogs, our cats, our bad neighbors, our contrary boss, etc. But, back to my epiphany, I thought thru why I enjoyed reloading so much when I was at the point of being able to buy factory ammo for everything I shot except the wildcat cartridges. I decided that a major part of it was just the mental soothing I got from the machinations required in reloading of management, organization, counting, working to a high level of accuracy and just inspection of those nicely arranged loading blocks of finished cartridges loaded to my specifications. I never allow phone calls, TV or idle chatter to intrude in "my reloading time". Works wonders for my mental state in an overly complicated world. ....

 

[TRE]

I like and collect, to a point, older reloading and bullet casting equipment. I guess it's just a link to the past that I enjoy. Sometimes I just wish these old tools and molds could talk, lol.

I do enjoy some modern equipment as well, but there's just something fun about using equipment that was made before I was born. It was high quality stuff too. Heavy cast iron, built to withstand a bomb blast I think, heavy as hell.

These days I shoot little to no competition, those days are pretty much past me now (except some trap, and I even load trap shells on an old Lyman Easy shotshell press), so my loading and shooting is simply for fun and relaxation. I load a lot of 223/556 ammo for my AR-15 on a modern press and quite a bit of 9mm ammo for a 9mm AR, but for everything else, I guess I just prefer the older equipment. It hasn't failed me yet.

TRE

 

[flyrobb]

In my short time hand loading this is all I have known. I'm sure I will upgrade to a ?????? progressive but my first Spartan will always be there.

 

[THEWELSHM]

I love you 73 Jr 3 and use it now and again to get back to basics. I would love to know how many rounds the previous owner loaded on it?

Thewelshm

 

[TRE]

flyrobb,

That is a great press, and your's appears to be in great shape.

No matter what press, progressive or otherwise, you "graduate" to, always keep and treasure that press. It will serve you well in the future for "uncomplicated handloading", can be used for yeomans duty on your bench or can be used to teach another generation the basics one step at a time.

I like the fact that the Lyman Spartan press is angled slightly back from the bench top, makes it easier to see what the hell I'm doing.

TRE

 

[Leslie Sapp]

Hey - that's my press! I have several, but I probably do 95% of my loading on the old Spartan.

 

[flyrobb]

I bought it from one of our Forum members a year and a half ago and haven't looked back. I have really enjoyed learning each stage of loading on that press.

It's a tank but with a name like Spartan what would you expect!

 

[Bat Guano]

Started out 54 years ago with a massive C press made by R.F. Wells; they designed the Herter's ("world famous") presses in that era. Their starter package was that press, shell holder, a set of dies, a scale and a powder measure. It cost all of $44.00. The press alone was $12.65...

It shares the bench with a "new" Rockchucker bought in 1978 or so, but I still use the old one out of nostalgia. About the only drawback is that the shell holders are proprietary and almost impossible to find. Fortunately the ones I got with it turned out to be the important ones over time.

I load a fair amount of ammo for gas guns; a C press and attention to detail lets me load exactly to spec and the guns run like Singer sewing machines.

The old Wells press and Ian Tyson music--good enough for me.

 

[SMSgt]

Started out 54 years ago with a massive C press made by R.F. Wells; they designed the Herter's ("world famous") presses in that era. Their starter package was that press, shell holder, a set of dies, a scale and a powder measure. It cost all of $44.00. The press alone was $12.65...

Every round I load still goes through my Herter's press. That and the powder measure are the only parts of the "kit" left, other than the dies and a few shell holders. Oh, wait! FORGOT THE CASE TRIMMER. Good stuff that just won't wear out.

 

[rwsmith]

I went from the drawing board......

After several years with my Dillon, I also missed it and bought some duplicate dies so I could reload like in the old days. After about an hour, I found I really didn't miss it that much and went back to the Dillon.

I went from the drawing board to CAD on computer. You couldn't drag me back to the drawing board.

The only problem I had with CAD was keeping the program running. It wasn't pretty, only had one ugly font, but it was inherently fast. (It blew the biggest competitors away) And I was fast. (Incredibly fast in the words of one manager). After that there ain't NO way I'm going back to erasing half a sheet of vellum after a boo boo or to make adjustments.