Who reloads for their harder to find ammo?

[WV_gunner]

.410 and 10 gauge are outrageous. The last 10 gauge I bought was $30 for 10 shells. And that was cheap. I’ve seen them as high as $52. The only .410 I like is 000, that was very common to find but now I don’t see it. 12 and 20 gauge is pointless to reload for unless you want bigger buckshot stuff or higher velocity stuff. I think if I can get around the ITAR stuff, which I believe I can, I’m going to get a FFL 06. The Ohio straightwall stuff seems like a good market. Not buying in bulk I can sell new .45-70 for $1.50 a round and still be cheaper than the cheapest on the shelf. Worst case it doesn’t sell and I’m stocked up good for my bear gun. The .444 is another but there’s a few AR specify rounds I think would dominate the market. I’d like to get the FFL 07 and build some so I could make the ammo to sell but that’s way more overhead.

[shuvelrider]

The last time I seen .218 Bee, it was $85 a box at Cabela's, .41 and .44 mag are around $50 a box. Oddball military calibers like 7.5 French and Swiss, when you want to shoot an old gun. I reload for twenty or so rifle/pistol calibers, other than .22 I can't remember when I bought cartridges for anything. I handload for convenience.

[darkgael]

I reload for every cartridge that I own and shoot. Common cartridges are a savings.....a substantial savings...other cartridges are so expensive that reloading is that only way that I would get to shoot them. (Read .416 Rigby) still others are so rare as to be not available (.577/.450 or .44 Bulldog)

[Crankylove]

I reload for everything but my 20 gauge.

Even common ammo, I can load it cheaper than buying factory, and for stuff like my .22 Hornet, .358 Winchester, and .375 H&H, even with ammo being fairly easy to come buy, I can’t bring myself to pay what they want for factory stuff.

[lefteye]

I have always reloaded for my centerfire rifles and have never hunted with a factory loaded centerfire cartridge. I reloaded for my 12 ga. shotguns for many years but stopped when lead shot was prohibited.

[gwpercle]

I make it a point to reload and cast bullets for every gun I own , handgun, rifle and shotgun (buckshot and slug moulds). I started in 1967 and never stopped the hobby .
The reason I reload is ammo availability . When Obama was elected , every and all ammo evaporated from dealers shelves . It was years before I could buy a box of 22 LR....22's ...Why 22's ? Then primers and powder and bullets ....all gone.
It showed me an election can cause a huge panic buying event...the ammo is no where to be found and when it comes back....the price has doubled...Panic buying and panic hoarding leads to a gross shortage.
A few reloading tools makes me my own ammo factory...master of my own ammo supply!
Gary

[Charlie98]

I reload for everything I shoot, except .410 bore, but some more than others. I have to load for my hard to find ammo... .348WCF, .41Mag, for example... simply because it's too expensive (.41) or Unobtanium (.348.) But I also load for the cheapies... .30-30 and some .308, because I use cast bullets.

I like to have a box of factory for each cartridge, I use them as my control rounds for velocity and accuracy benchmarks when I'm working a new firearm and handloads.

[J.G. Terry]

I have come to own that reloading is a separate interest. It is a challenge to set a rifle up. Part of this challenge is to make up good cartridges. If your heart is not in it don't go there. I joy shooting rifles but, not at $2.00 a shot.

[bbqncigars]

I'm with darkgael on this. I shoot so much 25-20WCF that I bought a LNL AP press just to feed it. Shooting factory ammo would have cost me more than the gun and press combined.

[joe45c]

I load 3 calibers that fall into harder to find category; .307, .25-20, and .32-20.

[Mike Irwin]

Moving to the Handloading Forum.

If I didn't reload, I wouldn't shoot most of the stuff that I own.

I'm set up to reload:

.32-20

.32 S&W Long

.41 Magnum

.44 Special

.45 Long Colt

.45 Auto Rim

9mm Makarov

.300 Savage

I also have a .25-20, but I've not gotten around to getting dies for it.

At one time I also loaded for 6.5x50 Arisaka, but I ended up trading all that stuff.


I'm also set up to load for:

.30-06

.243 Winchester

.38 Special

.357 Magnum

9mm

.380

.45 ACP

[joe45c]

Mike Irvin, i see you shoot .25-20. Getting the Dies is one thing. The tough part is finding .25-20 brass. Nobody is making it anymore. I think what most suggest is to neck down .32-20. I haven't tried that yet.

[Mike Irwin]

I have about 200 loaded rounds and brass.

And I've not shot the rifle in years.

And, if I run low on brass, I will do the .32-20 trick, because I have a ton of .32-20.

[MarkCO]

When I get a new gun, I get a box of factory ammo if available, and a set of dies. First range trip, I shoot a few factory just to be sure, then on to the handloads. Of the 20 calibers I reload for, I have several uncommon calibers (.40 Super, .414 SuperMag, 6.5 PCC, .338-06) and some that are just not as common like .41Mag and .450BM. Most of my about 30K rounds of centerfire a year are loaded on the Dillon 650. Just rimfire and shotgun are factory.

If I had to shoot factory, my shooting would drop to just a few calibers and probably would drop by about 50% and I would be very sad.

[T. O'Heir]

.41 AE isn't made by anybody except Buffalo Arms($1.19 each). Neither brass nor loaded ammo. The only way to shoot it is reloading. S'ok, there are no pistols or barrels currently made anyway. IMI said 5 or 10 years ago they'd do a run if somebody ordered 1,000,000 rounds. Bought 500 cases when I bought the barrel for my BHP long ago. Supposedly worth a fortune.
Mind you, I reload everything I shoot. Factory is way too expensive.

[458winshooter]

For several years I looked for a 45-70 but to no avail.Then one day at a pawnshop I noticed a rifle with a huge bore and wondered what it was.The guy behind the counter said I'll make you a good deal on that one even before I saw what it was.She had very nice wood and a rubber armored scope.To my amazement it was an Interarms Mark-X action 458 win.I didn't know much about them at the time but the guy said it's easy to download to 45-70.I looked all over town and found exactly one box of factory ammo, 510 gr soft points.Some years later I aquired a P08 German Luger, but no American made ammo I tried would cycle reliably thru it.Now I've got 38's ,357's, 44's, 308's 30-06's,9mm's and God only knows what else I reload for. A few years ago I even started casting my own.Oh, and I did finally get the 45-70 I always wanted and yes reload for her too.

[mgulino]

I reload for every caliber I own, except the 22LR. The only hard to find caliber I have is 7x57 Mauser.

[MarkCO]

Originally Posted by mgulino

I reload for every caliber I own, except the 22LR. The only hard to find caliber I have is 7x57 Mauser.

I almost bought one of those .22LR reloading kits a few years ago. Decided it was not a good use of funds.

[jolly roger]

I reload every caliber I own also but REALLY save money on 44 Special, 45 colt, 45-70, 7x55 Swiss, and 303 British. Frankly find reloading as much fun as shooting even blindly cranking out loads of 9mm on a progressive...well not blindly you get my drift

[Kevin Rohrer]

I reload ALL my ammo, except for defense rounds. Those are store-bought.

[Bfglowkey]

When I got back into shooting my friends warned me of reloading and still I fell victim to the joy and challenge. I now load for all I shoot and for all my range/work buddies that don't have the time(since I am retired and love the time filling it provides). Currently load for :
3x 6.5 Creedmoor rifles ( 1 is mine other two are friends)
6mm Creedmoor
308
270
223/556 x 4 - 3 bolts and 1 AR
7mm-08
7mag
300WM

They provide the dies and materials and I provide the load development and time. Fair trade for all involved

[rodfac]

Lots of my guns shoot tough to find ammunition: .38-40 for rifle, .25-20, .30 Luger, .30-40 Krag, .358 Winchester, .35 Remington, .41 Magnum, .38 S&W, .32 S&W Short to name a few.

For most, I have cast bullet molds that keep them on the firing line, but a few (.30 Luger, .35 Remingon & .38-40) I long ago bought a considerable supply of jacketed bullets when Midway decided they'd no longer stock them and they came up for discount prices.

The toughest by far in .30 Luger...those 93 gr FMJ pills are tough to come by and I dole them out to selected friends at single magazine levels on special occasions. YMMV Rod

[JeepHammer]

Try reloading for 'Schuetzen' rifle calibers!
Even the word is so arcane the spell checker won't accept it...

Schuetzen rifles is why I fell for gunsmithing in the first place.

Every gunsmith that built HIS Schuetzen rifle invented his own caliber and made his own ammo,
While customers got to pick a caliber that was produced and he could buy ammo (at the time) for his rifle.
Schuetzen collectors look for those one of calibers, knowing that particular rifle was built by a gunsmith for himself. This is the ultimate challenge for reloaders...
I love Schuetzen rifles, and old west 'Buffalo' rifles, so I've had to cast chambers, figure out calibration, and attempt to reproduce brass/cartridges for that particular rifle.

Even finding Sharps Creedmore brass is nearly impossible, and it was commercially produced for about 20 years... Granted it was discontinued 125 years ago, but some occasionally pop up...
(Different rim size and slight taper to the case over 'Common' Sharps .45-120 & .50-120 brass)

[hdwhit]

WV Gunner asked:
Who reloads for their harder to find ammo?

When I buy a center-fire gun that is new (or new to me), I buy a box of cartridges and use them the first time I fire the gun. That way if there are any problems, my reloads cannot be blamed. As a result, I have purchased 230 rounds of ammunition in the 40+ years I have been shooting,

After that, if I shoot it, I loaded it even if it was something I could have bought at the store for roughly the same amount of money.

I have to load for my 5.7mm Johnson carbine since I have never seen factory ammunition for it. I understand that some commercial reloads come onto the market from time to time, but I trust what I load more.

[Unclenick]

I think the answer to the original question is: pretty much everybody does. People who don't reload, it seems to me, are unlikely to buy a gun for which they cannot purchase ammunition, nor would someone advise them too. Other than inheriting one, I don't think it will happen, and if they inherit one, it will be a mantlepiece gun or will be sold.