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Charley
Administrator
| Joined: | 9 September 2005 |
| Location: | San Antonio, Texas USA |
| Posts: | 2223 |
| Photo: | | | Are you a handloader?: | Yes | | Favorite type of cartridge to load?: | I load everything! |
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Posted: 6 January 2008 10:27 PM |
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Maybe the difference is nil, maybe the question is akin to "how many angels can dance on the head of a pin".
My thoughts, the handloader is always looking to experiment and improve, the reloader cranks 'em out without much thought.
A friend is Dillon dealer, he sells quite a few machines to members of his IDPA club, and his customers that shoot IPSC. He will go to their house, set up the machine for one load, and tell them, not to touch ANYTHING. One powder, one bullet type and weight, one primer brand. To me, those guys are the handle pulling monkeys of the poll, they have very little idea what they are doing.
I believe if you have ever formed brass from one caliber/case to another, you are a handloader. If you cast and load your own bullets, you are a handloader. If you experiemt with seating depth, load density, or any of the dozens of variables that deal with cartridge performance, you are a handloader.
My .02.
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"You all can go to Hell, I'm going to Texas" David Crockett (and probably George Bush)
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jjb2
addicted handloader
| Joined: | 5 July 2007 |
| Location: | |
| Posts: | 348 |
| Photo: | | | Are you a handloader?: | Yes | | Favorite type of cartridge to load?: | pistol |
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Posted: 6 January 2008 10:39 PM |
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| going by what the rest are saying i'm a handloader.... i did take the time and followed my mentor's directions expressly... but i made sure i knew all the whys and what fors and my friend and mentor was very patient to teach me what i needed to know make great ammo without killing myself..... thanks again HP.....
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wheezengeezer
addicted handloader
| Joined: | 16 July 2007 |
| Location: | Jeddediah Jones Swamp, Kansas USA |
| Posts: | 622 |
| Photo: | | | Are you a handloader?: | Yes | | Favorite type of cartridge to load?: | pistol |
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Posted: 7 January 2008 01:34 AM |
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| actually i am kind of a reloadin junk-e.i have 10 presses.some date to the 40's and 1 is a progressive.7 are turrets,6 are antique.i have 8 or 10 ideal hand tools,some from between the world wars.also i have many more die sets for the hand tools.over the holidays i sat down and loaded a batch of ammo with a hand tool,just to savor the experience.my son thinks i am nuts,my wife knows i am hopeless,my friends think i am crazy.life is good.
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I was raised in the 50's on gunpowder and jackrabbits.salt and pepper wooda made'em taste better
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OK Hunter
HB Life Member
| Joined: | 23 April 2007 |
| Location: | Stillwater, Oklahoma USA |
| Posts: | 118 |
| Photo: | [Download] | | Are you a handloader?: | Yes | | Favorite type of cartridge to load?: | I load everything! |
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Posted: 7 January 2008 02:38 AM |
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Although I voted for "what's the difference", since I've read the responses I have determined that I am indeed a handloader.
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Read the Patriot Post. It's right and its free!
http://www.patriotpost.us
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sako06
addicted handloader
| Joined: | 22 July 2007 |
| Location: | California USA |
| Posts: | 493 |
| Photo: | | | Are you a handloader?: | Yes | | Favorite type of cartridge to load?: | I load everything! |
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Posted: 7 January 2008 02:53 AM |
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| I've done what I call handloading with a 45-70 Schuetzen Rifle topped with a Unertyl Target Scope & a Martini Cadet using 32-20 cases & cast breech set bullets:prime the brass,charge it with powder,add an over powder wad of dacron,breech seat a bullet and fire it.Next punch out the primer & reset a new primer,increase or decrease the powder charge,add dacron,breech seat the cast lead bullet then fire it
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sako06
addicted handloader
| Joined: | 22 July 2007 |
| Location: | California USA |
| Posts: | 493 |
| Photo: | | | Are you a handloader?: | Yes | | Favorite type of cartridge to load?: | I load everything! |
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Posted: 7 January 2008 05:17 AM |
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| I was on a site http://www.handloads.com anything I load is a handload since it's all set up by me,fed by me & packaged by me not a programed PC or fully automated reloader that does everything. Last edited on 7 January 2008 05:18 AM by sako06
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chaltu237
HB Life Member
| Joined: | 28 January 2007 |
| Location: | Lisbon Falls, Maine USA |
| Posts: | 143 |
| Photo: | | | Are you a handloader?: | Yes | | Favorite type of cartridge to load?: | I load everything! |
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Posted: 13 January 2008 01:27 PM |
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| Well, I suppose I am a hand loader. With my rifle rounds, I like to play with seating depth and other variables to produce the best ammo. Even when I load something as mundane as 30-30 or 38 special according to a recipe, I weigh each charge. I guess I would try a progressive press for some of that stuff if I could spend the money on one of those rigs but then again I prefer to know that every one of my 30-30 loads will perform the same because my winchester still sees the most time in the thick north woods where every animal I have ever shot is 50 yds or less.
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Work is for those who don't know how to hunt!
Manchu! Keep up the fire!
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guntech59
HB Full Member
| Joined: | 25 March 2007 |
| Location: | Carthage, New York USA |
| Posts: | 36 |
| Photo: | | | Are you a handloader?: | Yes | | Favorite type of cartridge to load?: | rifle |
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Posted: 16 January 2008 11:29 PM |
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sako06 wrote: That's s superb response to the poll. When my friends were alive they basically used 2 rifle powders 4895 & 4831 mil surplus for all of their hunting loads.When Sierra Bullets were made in Santa Fe Springs, CA they'd go there & buy seconds by the pound and weigh them all out to get the same weight for their hunting loads & use the rest for practise & plinking.
By this definition I am a handloader. I fiddle around withprimers, powders and bullets to see what is the very best I can get out of my rifles. After that I stick with that recipe religiously.
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U.S Army 1977-1998
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bea175
Board Founder
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Posted: 16 January 2008 11:54 PM |
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Handloader because i build each load for maximum accuracy. 
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skoalman1
HB Full Member
| Joined: | 12 December 2007 |
| Location: | Berkely Springs, West Virginia USA |
| Posts: | 28 |
| Photo: | | | Are you a handloader?: | Yes | | Favorite type of cartridge to load?: | rifle |
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Posted: 5 February 2008 02:27 AM |
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| guess i'm both i use f.l sizing dies ,and inline hand bullet seaters, starting to use the seaters with almost everything
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SKOALMAN1
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3006 user
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| Joined: | 30 July 2007 |
| Location: | Denver Area, Colorado USA |
| Posts: | 297 |
| Photo: | | | Are you a handloader?: | Yes | | Favorite type of cartridge to load?: | I load everything! |
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Posted: 5 February 2008 05:06 PM |
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I prefer to think of myself as a handloader, because every round coming off my bench is manually assembled. My tools are definitely not automated. I've been a handloader since H4831 was fifty cents a pound and came in large cardboard containers. The enjoyment of my hobby/avocation/obsession is still there, and will be until I can't do it anymore.
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WestDivide
HB Full Member
| Joined: | 25 May 2006 |
| Location: | Denver, Colorado USA |
| Posts: | 9 |
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Posted: 4 March 2008 06:52 AM |
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I'm late getting in this thread, but I've got a comment for all to ponder. This question has been kickin' around since way before I started in the early 70's.
One thing I've come to notice, and it was prevalent in the circles I started out in, was that being a "handloader" vs a "reloader" was something of a status symbol, if you will. Some looked down their collective noses at the guys who simply refilled the cases and seated bullets. You weren't cool if all you did was make ammo, you had to be the cat's meow with all the toys and a dozen different cartridges in your locker.
This was OK, I guess, I got over being scorned because all I did was 'reload' my 3030 and 357. I lucked onto a fair load right away, about medium to upper charge, and I stayed with it for several years, both guns same deal. It wasn't MOA, but my open sight M-64 couldn't shoot MOA anyway. Nor could my eyes see well enough to do it, telescope lenses for glassea notwithstanding.
Later on, my gun disease got the better of me, and I got several more rifles and a couple more handguns to feed. I started the eternal search for loads, finding some, and never quite finding the ballistic nirvana for others. All along, it was/is fun and I still have all my fingers and eyes. (a little dimmer, but what can I say...)
My point, after all this rambling, is that I've come to figure out that as long as a person does a credible job loading, stays safe, and enjoys the pastime, I'm not gonna label him/her, nor scorn their involvement. They're a shooter, and meeting their own demands for accuracy, speed and safety. They add to our ranks and help bolster the sales, demand, and hence, the positive addition to the gun ranks of America.
'nuff said, --West
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...some days you just have to take a deeper breath.
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3006 user
Gold Sponsor
| Joined: | 30 July 2007 |
| Location: | Denver Area, Colorado USA |
| Posts: | 297 |
| Photo: | | | Are you a handloader?: | Yes | | Favorite type of cartridge to load?: | I load everything! |
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Posted: 4 March 2008 08:55 PM |
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WestDivide----
Well said!!!
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Hunter
HB Full Member
| Joined: | 12 June 2007 |
| Location: | USA |
| Posts: | 39 |
| Photo: | | | Are you a handloader?: | Yes | | Favorite type of cartridge to load?: | I load everything! |
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Posted: 14 March 2008 05:33 AM |
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I consider myself a handloader.
I experiment with all components for best results as well as cast my own bullets to add to the variables.
____________________
From my cold dead hands.
If it ain't a Colt it is a copy.
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sako06
addicted handloader
| Joined: | 22 July 2007 |
| Location: | California USA |
| Posts: | 493 |
| Photo: | | | Are you a handloader?: | Yes | | Favorite type of cartridge to load?: | I load everything! |
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Posted: 10 April 2008 03:50 AM |
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| I'm definitely a handloader since it's my hands that put the brass into the Dillon RL550B for loading and I have to turn the handle on the OHAUS 7200 DUO Powder Measure to charge the case & it's me who adds the proper bullet to the case them I seat the bullet and clean the sizing lube from the brass.Mine is a hand operation all the way.
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LGBloader
HB Full Member
| Joined: | 26 April 2008 |
| Location: | USA |
| Posts: | 6 |
| Photo: | | | Are you a handloader?: | Yes | | Favorite type of cartridge to load?: | rifle |
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Posted: 29 April 2008 03:56 AM |
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RELOADER;fill em back up amd shoot. HANDLOADER;how can i make this better,damn the old way is kinda cool,i just need one more tool,crap i am out of empty cases,is that .05 or .06 off of the lands,hmmm 150 gr or 165 gr?,i need to buy more powder i only have 30 different cans,i know i have 10 presses but i want that one!!!my bench fell over,it couldnt hold 1000 lbs of bullets!!!!
Wheezer, This is the story of my life. It's really cool when you realize that your story and other people who handload stories kinda just intertwine. I am starting to think that there is only one big giant story of handloading and all our individual stories are a small part of it.
Drinks all around....
____________________
Keep a sharp eye...
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scr83jp
HB Full Member
| Joined: | 23 April 2008 |
| Location: | |
| Posts: | 29 |
| Photo: | | | Are you a handloader?: | Yes | | Favorite type of cartridge to load?: | I load everything! |
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Posted: 29 April 2008 03:26 PM |
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| I don't buy the latest rifle calibers or the whiz bang ammo. I've developed load data with certain brands of bullets , weights,primers & powders for the weapons I own that can't be replicated from the shelves of sporting goods stores. If someone buys a box of ammo from a store and it's accurate then he needs to return there and check all of the boxes of that brand & caliber & only buy that lot number found inside of the end flap.
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SCSlim
HB Life Member
| Joined: | 2 May 2008 |
| Location: | Boise, Idaho USA |
| Posts: | 180 |
| Photo: | [Download] | | Are you a handloader?: | Yes | | Favorite type of cartridge to load?: | I load everything! |
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Posted: 18 May 2008 10:03 PM |
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"A rose by any other name would smell as sweet." I read someplace once that a "handloader" is one who loads new, unfired brass; a reloader is one who re-loads brass that has been fired at least once. Not much magic, romance or mystery wrapped up in those daffy-nitions.
"Reloader" seems rather mundane and passionless to me - more mechanical, less involved in the process. "Handloader" sounds meticulous, tuned-in, fully involved.
So, can one who rolls his own be both? I have to admit that I have a foot that fits either shoe.
Sometimes I'll crank out 500 rounds in a couple hours from a standard recipe just so I can go in the wide open spaces and burn them up for the pure hell of it - just plinking at cans, busting ripe melons, or trying outrageously long shots Keith-style at some flat rock or wad of bunch grass way out there so far that I can barely see it, then jumping for joy if I stir up dust within 3 feet of it. To me, that's reloading.
Other times, I might spend 2 hours loading up 10 or 20 rounds of hunitng ammo, trimming all the cases to the same length, chamfering case mouths, cleaning the primer pockets, weighing each charge and each bullet, chrongraphing and accurizing the load until I'm satisfied that if I do my part, the round will bring home the bacon (or venison, or elk). To me, that's handloading.
However you look at it, it's a wonderous process that leads to "more fun than a human being should be allowed to have". (Apologies to Rush Limbaugh for using his line.)
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Ride hard, shoot straight, and always speak the truth.
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smacks
HB Pro Staff
| Joined: | 4 August 2007 |
| Location: | |
| Posts: | 71 |
| Photo: | | | Are you a handloader?: | Yes | | Favorite type of cartridge to load?: | rifle |
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Posted: 18 May 2008 11:27 PM |
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Why does it take so long for the reply dialog box to come up on this forum?
No, it isn't my dialup
Any how, I have "reloaded" about 40 rounds of my "handloads" since starting "Handloading" about 2 years ago.
smacks
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3006 user
Gold Sponsor
| Joined: | 30 July 2007 |
| Location: | Denver Area, Colorado USA |
| Posts: | 297 |
| Photo: | | | Are you a handloader?: | Yes | | Favorite type of cartridge to load?: | I load everything! |
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Posted: 18 May 2008 11:34 PM |
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SCSlim, I don't think you left anything out!!!
I carry a gun because a cop is too heavy.
Last edited on 18 May 2008 11:35 PM by 3006 user
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