[dacaur]

I've been shooting a since the early 80s and always considered myself an avid shooter. I've also always wanted to learn how to reload and am also quite a tinkerer. I've never been able to cross the invisible line to buy the reloading equipment. My calibers are now down to 9mm, .380. .22LR. Not sure it was worth it (cost-wise) a year ago. Maybe now it is very much worth it.

I see people wonder about the cost, and I don't get it.... For me, it was a matter of I had always thought about reloading, and then one summer I helped my dad re-roof his house, so had an extra chunk of change that wasn't earmarked for anything else. So I bought a bunch of reloading stuff.

I figured, I was going to spend the money on SOMETHING, weather it be a gun, R.C heli or plane (my other hobby), or just dollar by dollar on movies and crap like that....

So when I figure the cost of reloading, I don't figure in the cost of the press and initial things.... the money I spent on the press would have been gone by now one way or another. Its down the road when I DONT have a nice chunk of change sitting in the bank that I look at the cost of reloading, and from where I sit now, it looks pretty good. I spend about $30 at a time on components, which would get me around 20-30 (cheap) rifle or 100 pistol rounds, but turns into over 50 premium rifle or 200 pistol rounds.....

I both reload and change my own oil, but I suspect the percentages are approximately the same and somewhere in the 1-5% range.

I disagree on the changing oil thing. I bet a lot more drivers change their own oil than shooters reload.... Like I said before, I know more than 10 shooters, but only 1 reloader (me). But I would guess 20-30% of the people I know change their own oil.