Always hear you have two type of folks in the roll your own game . Either your a reloader or your a hand loader . At what point y'all reckon someone becomes one or the other ? I think it's when you start getting out the book a bit and start making ammo exactly for individual guns Measuring for custom COAL / CBTO and the like. But what y'all think ?

I tend to agree to a degree. I think for me it was when I transitioned from trying to push as many rounds out as I could in as little time. Set the the powder measure and then just dump each charge, set the bullet depth and then just go. To taking the time to weigh every charge, check every round for overall length. All other steps are closely monitored for consistency. I might use the book for a starting point but then I go through a long sometimes painful process of finding the exact powder and powder charge along with the right bullet seated to the right depth all for the best accuracy out of that one rifle. I still reload but that's for my handguns.

while I get as good or better accuracy out of almost everything I reload than factory.

I guess the true "handloaders" would buy new brass to assemble the perfect round would pay big money for norma brass

a "handloader" would weigh all their pieces of brass and weigh all their bullets and sort by weight

while reloader me uses range pickup brass I can't even tell you how many times I have reloaded some cases

I am still squarely in the reloader side of the camp I like accurate ammo but I am loading to shoot , but I am doing it to shoot more for less and get good ammo but I don't need perfect ammo give me MOAish and I will shoot I don't need to chase sub-moa

Handgun ammo I'm a reloader, rifle ammo I'm a hand loader...literally. well except .223, I'm a reloader on that round too. I burn to much of that to hand load.

I'm a reloader --- if it goes bang and prints a reasonable group - run it. Never got into lotting cases weighing individual bullets or tailoring to a specific rifle. While I can see the benefits of that- it just doesn't fit me at this time.

As others have stated, you can be both depending on which firearm you're loading for.

Mike

Sounds a lot like a question I heard recently, something like, "when does experience become a hindrance"? Or something like that, Not biting twice. With the utmost respect, Thanks for the offer.
Me.

Lol two different things case just a fun curious what other reloading guys think is all

Respectfully, just my opinion.

I personally load only rounds for the specific guns they will be fired from, fire formed cases, seating depth, if I'm loading a generic round then why not just buy them from Joe blows shop? But then again I started when the only way to get better than off the shelf quality was to "role your own". Again with the utmost respect. Gona feed n check traps in a few, good morning.
Me

Roll your own was cheaper too. Well we are back to cheaper again. Have to put in a lot of effort though to get components at a reasonable cost. Lots of gouging going on. Selections for factory stuff now is simply if its the right cartridge buy it.

Ammo that will go from quarter sized groups at a hundred yards to nickel size groups isnt important to me. Putting a bullet in a coyotes boiler at 300 is plenty good enough.

I know long range is all the rage now but I seriously doubt more than one or two out of a hundred reading this, can shoot good enough to go from quarter size to nickel size groups at a hundred by changing ammo, without a shooting bench being involved, using a 3 to 9 power hunting scope. In fact I doubt the majority reading this can shoot quarters at a hundred with a bench. The number isnt much bigger when a bench is used and a target scope with 24 power magnification.

So now that we are past all the gun magazine sell more ads articles, back into the real world of most meat and fur gatherers, who says hand loading and reloading are two different things anyway? There is a sackfull of people ought to quit reading and watching videos. Go out side and shoot. Be realistic in their approach.

Its pretty easy to go out and buy a new Louisville slugger, a 900 dollar pair of cleats and a 7000 dollar custom fitted first basemans glove, but after you do how many are good enough to play probaseball?

If you can put all your shots on a teacup saucer at 300 hundred yards you have a very serviceable firearm and load. You can also outshoot most everyone reading this. I have gone shooting with a LOT of people and that is simple truth.

I reload but I also reshape brass. I make 25 06 out of 270 , 243 out of 7mm-08 , 22 high power out of 30 -30 . just make ammo to shoot.
I am what I am.

When I'm running a progressive press I'm reloading volume-already got all the bugs worked out of that load.

Single stage-i'm still working or tweaking on that one.

I use a progressive for handguns, and I guess you could call it handloading for my meat/fur/p'dog rifle. There is a good article in Handloader on sizing case necks---I guess that's handloading!

I believe I came off a bit harsh. That wasn't my intention. The guys the magazines are calling handloaders are competition shooters for the most part. The goal of those articles though is to convince the average joe he needs to buy more stuff from the people advertising in the magazines. Make them feel a little inferior. Make them want to get on the "band wagon" too. If you want to open your mind up take a class or read a book on marketing strategy.

It is true that most gun owners, even avid hunters, don't shoot well enough to see a difference by using "handloading" techniques and buying 5000 dollar rifles. Read about military sniper schools. Then check the washout rate. Some training, under a good instructer can improve the ability of many people. Even then though , dime size groups at a hundred yards are beyond their ability.


marketing. Its all marketing

I think the borders on that issue are kind of blurred a bit. I go though a bunch of steps to find the right load for a rifle and a bullet weight that I want to shoot ...... so that would make me a hand loader. Once I found that good combination, I tend to stick with it. That in turn would make me a reloader. ..... So take yer pick

I think most reloaders do that. Bullet seating depth, powder charges, powder are to my my mind the big three. I just dont think most, certainly without a doubt not all, shooters are capable of taking advantage of a lot of stuff being marketed. The improvement once the big three is determined are so slight they dont shoot good enough to tell the difference. I also don't believe the difference is enough to add another coyote to the fur shed or deer to the freezer.

For the guys are capable of superior marksmenship, who like to challenge themselves in competition, or even the guy who just wants to try, I get that. But buying stuff just because an advertisement disguised as an article on reloading, I dont get that. And like it or not that is exactly what most of those articles really are.

Paying 15 grand for custom made/fit golf clubs wont improve the golf score of very many golfers either.

I also spend good bit of time and bullets getting the load right , then I leave my dies set keep my components the same and make and shoot.

I use a lot of what many consider " lower end " equipment mostly lee but I get good results

cast boolit shooters must falls somewhere other than hand loader vs reloaded it is a lot of curvey blurry lines in this I think only the people who are sure they are one or the other even know where the lines are and they just set the lines to make themsevles reassured they are what they want to be.

When you make bullets that shoot the best out of your gun. If you spend a few hundred dollars finding the best load you are no longer assembling ammo.