A New Endeavor to Foster My Gun Addiction

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Woo Hoo! Happy Birthday to me! Well, not for another month.

BUT, my lovely lady, for the sub-momentous occasion of my 47th birthday, ordered me the RCBS Rock Chucker Supreme kit and it arrived in all its green glory today. It was like a hot, humid Christmas with no annoying relatives and tuna for dinner.

I am pretty jazzed to learn the art. Plan is to start with 9mm, get a solid understanding and then move on to the rifle ammo.

I think I’ve gathered all the basics. I’ve done a ton of reading… here there and everywhere. As soon as this post is done, I’m making a tuna sandwich and digging into the reloading manual

I’m also scoring a 6’x32” heavy duty wood-topped bench with steel legs for my favorite price… free - another perk of being with such a lovely lady. Her place of employment is getting rid of it and they seem fond of her. I get to pick it up Tuesday.

Out to the shed goes my crummy almost-a-gun-bench! The book & gun room is getting a makeover! Next week includes a bunch of stripping and painting…. followed by the mounting of hardware, and finally the beginning of what I’m feeling will be a pretty rewarding endeavor. The OCD element within is just giddy with the thought of all the counting, measuring and adjusting… ever towards a more perfect round.

That’s the multi-moment of good day vibes I wanted to share. I guess it’s also fair warning - there’s a new guy getting into it… another round of questions. :wave:
“We cannot be sure of having something to live for unless we are willing to die for it.”
― Ernesto Che Guevara

Re: A New Endeavor to Foster My Gun Addiction

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TheViking wrote:You won't save much on 9mm but once you get into bigger and more oddball calibers, you can save money really fast - and once you have the basic equipment, all you need for another caliber is a set of fairly affordable dies.
Sorry, Vike, but I have to disagree on the point about 9mm.
My cost for 9mm works out to $2.34 per 50, casting my own. If you buy commercially cast bullets, expect to double the cost....to six bucks or less.
Six bucks a box is easily half the going rate for factory ammo.
Hell is where:
The British are the chefs
The Swiss are the lovers
The French are the mechanics
The Italians make everything run on time
And the Germans are the police

Re: A New Endeavor to Foster My Gun Addiction

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beaurrr wrote:
TheViking wrote:You won't save much on 9mm but once you get into bigger and more oddball calibers, you can save money really fast - and once you have the basic equipment, all you need for another caliber is a set of fairly affordable dies.
Sorry, Vike, but I have to disagree on the point about 9mm.
My cost for 9mm works out to $2.34 per 50, casting my own. If you buy commercially cast bullets, expect to double the cost....to six bucks or less.
Six bucks a box is easily half the going rate for factory ammo.
I mean relatively - as compared to something more exotic.

I load 9mm too, the only factory ammo I buy is .22 LR. Well, and .25 ACP but that's because I shoot little of it and my fingers are a tad on the big side for those diminutive bullets and cases :laugh2:
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Re: A New Endeavor to Foster My Gun Addiction

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Agreed; 357 mag will run you three times the cost of 9mm. 45 Colt will easily run 3.5 times the cost of 9mm (that's 90 cents apiece in regular numbers). So, yeah, the 'exotic' pistol calibers nearly match common rifle ammo in unit price.
No matter how you cut it , reloading is a win-win-win....well, unless life gets in the way, which does happen.
Hell is where:
The British are the chefs
The Swiss are the lovers
The French are the mechanics
The Italians make everything run on time
And the Germans are the police

Re: A New Endeavor to Foster My Gun Addiction

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beaurrr wrote:Agreed; 357 mag will run you three times the cost of 9mm. 45 Colt will easily run 3.5 times the cost of 9mm (that's 90 cents apiece in regular numbers). So, yeah, the 'exotic' pistol calibers nearly match common rifle ammo in unit price.
No matter how you cut it , reloading is a win-win-win....well, unless life gets in the way, which does happen.
Try finding 7.7 Arisaka or 7.35 Carcano in stores... Or 7.92 Mauser that isn't old, corrosive surplus stuff...
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Re: A New Endeavor to Foster My Gun Addiction

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Now you have the equipment you will learn that you don't save a bit of money. Because the more you load the more you shoot, then the more you load etc. It is a positive feedback loop that grows and grows. Reload for one caliber then you buy another gun caliber so you can reload for it and then another and another. Next you will want a progressive to load faster and greater quantities to shoot even more. Then you want to have more reloaded ammo for backup. It never ends. :yahoo:
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.-Huxley
"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." ~ Louis Brandeis,

Re: A New Endeavor to Foster My Gun Addiction

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TrueTexan wrote:Now you have the equipment you will learn that you don't save a bit of money. Because the more you load the more you shoot, then the more you load etc. It is a positive feedback loop that grows and grows. Reload for one caliber then you buy another gun caliber so you can reload for it and then another and another. Next you will want a progressive to load faster and greater quantities to shoot even more. Then you want to have more reloaded ammo for backup. It never ends. :yahoo:
Well, you DO get more bang for the buck. Literally.
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Re: A New Endeavor to Foster My Gun Addiction

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When I first joined LGC, I did not reload and had no desire to do so. Now, I'm a casting and reloading fool. :confused:

When I go to the range, I'm usually the only one shooting fabulous old timey rounds like 45 Colt, 44 mag and 357 mag (and secretly feeling smug about the fact that I'm spending far less (per round) than my rangemates are spending on their nines and forties).

I have the brain trust here to thank/curse for it.
Hell is where:
The British are the chefs
The Swiss are the lovers
The French are the mechanics
The Italians make everything run on time
And the Germans are the police

Re: A New Endeavor to Foster My Gun Addiction

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Why are we all picking on the poor guy... It's a Birthday present fer chrissakes!

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Last edited by Bisbee on Fri Jun 03, 2016 5:36 am, edited 1 time in total.
"It is better to be violent, if there is violence in our hearts, than to put on the cloak of non-violence to cover impotence. There is hope for a violent man to become non-violent. There is no such hope for the impotent." -Gandhi

Re: A New Endeavor to Foster My Gun Addiction

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TrueTexan wrote:Now you have the equipment you will learn that you don't save a bit of money. Because the more you load the more you shoot, then the more you load etc. It is a positive feedback loop that grows and grows. Reload for one caliber then you buy another gun caliber so you can reload for it and then another and another. Next you will want a progressive to load faster and greater quantities to shoot even more. Then you want to have more reloaded ammo for backup. It never ends. :yahoo:
Yup, I think the technical term for this is False Economy. We think we are reloading to save money but end up investing a whole lot more time and money into shooting than if we were just to pay $20/box of 50 every once in a Blue Moon.
-But hey, it's funner.
Yeah but if you are OCD by nature, watch out! You may be looking into a second mortgage and spend way too much time in your man-cave with your fondling boolits.
Your little lady might have second thoughts on that present she gave you...
:surrender:
"It is better to be violent, if there is violence in our hearts, than to put on the cloak of non-violence to cover impotence. There is hope for a violent man to become non-violent. There is no such hope for the impotent." -Gandhi

Re: A New Endeavor to Foster My Gun Addiction

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RCBS is a great company, customer service is legendary.
My first press was the Rock Chucker and I still have it and use it. It looks like hell now from water damage 20 years ago but it still works perfect because
I always kept it cleaned and lubricated. I have always used a little motor oil for lubricating the ram and linkage, plus the depriming will leave residue that is
quite abrasive so keep it clean. Mine was bought in 79 and it is still solid, no play in the ram. Cheap ammo leads to more and better shooting.

Re: A New Endeavor to Foster My Gun Addiction

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Yup, Beaurrr served as my reloading mentor -or my Mephistopheles... After all, I've been witness to him rejoicing over molten lead on numerous occasions. I mean, is that normal?
;)
"It is better to be violent, if there is violence in our hearts, than to put on the cloak of non-violence to cover impotence. There is hope for a violent man to become non-violent. There is no such hope for the impotent." -Gandhi

Re: A New Endeavor to Foster My Gun Addiction

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eelj wrote:
Bisbee wrote:Yup, Beaurrr served as my reloading mentor -or my Mephistopheles... After all, I've been witness to him rejoicing over molten lead on numerous occasions. I mean, is that normal?
;)
Yes.
I was delighted when Bisbee took an interest. It's not like I'm some kind of expert, but it was fun to share what I had learned (especially those weird things that would seem to contradict accepted practices - and there are a lot of those types of things). Shit, I could probably write a book on all of the confounding problems I've encountered. I've even figured out one or two of them. :lol:

So now, we have a sort of mutually beneficial relationship; he feeds me lead and I return 2/3 of that lead to him as finished boolits bullets. I also get feedback on my product and useful information about his load recipes. Plus, casting/handloading, then shootin' it all up is just damned fun... and cheep!

ps. I admit it; geeking out over lead is freakin' weird, man.
Hell is where:
The British are the chefs
The Swiss are the lovers
The French are the mechanics
The Italians make everything run on time
And the Germans are the police

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