I just read on another site that a reloading shop is closing in Texas and the owner said... "its a lost art..young guys don`t want to learn how to do it. They just want to buy in bulk and burn it up".....

Unfortunately I think the internet retailers have driven most shops out of the reloading business as the places I used to buy stuff stock very little of it these days, but you can get 30 different flavors of 1000 count 5.56 ammo. Plus how many people have lifetime supplies stashed away after the various panic periods in the last 10 years?

WHILE NOT AS SCARCE AS HANDGUN HUNTERS, WE NEVER HAVE BEEN OVERRUN BY RELOADERS. I WONDER WHAT THE STATISTICS ARE ON RELOADERS, DIE SETS SOLD, etc.? I HAVE BEEN A SERIOUS 45 COLT SHOOTER FOR 49 YEARS, SO GUESS HOW LONG I HAVE BEEN RELOADING?

Considering the popularity of "tactical" firearms amongst my generation, it's no wonder many of them would prefer to buy large quantities of inexpensive ammo rather than spend hour upon hour at a reloading bench. Quantity over quality.

It amazes me at how amazed and impressed other hunters are when I tell them I both handload, and, hunt exclusively with a handgun. I get the handgun thing-we really are a somewhat underground culture. But handloading?? Handloading really is a lost art.

I agree. I have been hand loading since my Dad taught me when I was a kid. I have just recently started to pick up the art of bullet casting which in and of itself is a lost art as well. Not wishing anything bad to happen, but in the event of another "Ammo Shortage" we hand loaders will still be able to shoot.

I think the fact that we frequent these types of forums puts us into what would be called the "enthusiast" crowd. I have seen guys on this and several other boards obsess over the smallest details, getting everything just perfect. The vast majority of those guys are also hand loaders. You can't get everything perfectly dialed in if you don't have control over your ammo....amirite?

Unfortunately there is a huge population of both the shooting and hunting community that don't share that enthusiasm. I hunt with several of those guys. They will go out and buy a couple of boxes of ammo for their hunting rifle and that will have them set for 2 or 3 years.
When we sit around camp, they are continually amazed that I:
1) Hunt with a revolver
2) Load my own ammunition

I am not saying that these guys are poor hunters, in fact they aren't, and generally make good shots, but they just aren't into the equipment aspect of the sport like many of us are. I suppose you can file that under different strokes for different folks.

The tactical crowd also tend not to be handloaders and to be honest, for my tactical calibers (9mm and 5.56) I really don't reload either. Bulk ammunition for those platforms are cheap enough to not warrant the time or expense of reloading those. In reality, am I going to notice that much difference in accuracy between the NATO 124gr ball ammo and the stuff I turn out on my own press when shot though a gun that is "combat accurate".

I think one other aspect is what people perceive as the difficulty of it. They think that there is this ultra complicated world of of bullets and powders, and casings, and primers, and micrometers, and scales and you must sit down and calculate out everything and all of the various combinations to make sure you don't blow yourself up. To some extent that can be true, however as we all know, you can pick up a reloading manual, or even download one, and get set up to make functional ammunition without needing the components for 10,000 different combinations of ammunition. Unless you were either very inquisitive (see enthusiast above) or had someone to show you the ropes reloading can seem like black magic.

Just my $0.02
Take that an another $5.00 and maybe you can get a cup of coffee at Starbucks.

redline, Know what you mean about thinking some sort of magic is involved to handload.... I set up reload equipment for two handgunners and got them started and these guys eventually said "it`s easier then it looks"...

I have been reloading almost as long as shooting handguns. I'm 67 years old so that should tell you something! I have to admit I have never reloaded bottle neck cartridges only straight wall. That should tell something too! I'm lazy! I have owned and shot everything from 9mm to 500 S&W Mag. Hand loading has always saved me money and given me more accuracy! I used to cast my own bullets using wheel weights but now just buy cast bullets. An older friend of mine, and yes he's still living, taught me how to reload. A couple of nights watching and I was ready. The AR/ AK crowd have a different outlook on things and that's fine. When it come down to it we are and will be fighting for the same thing!

Plus 1 for RSW.
30 years ago i shot a pile of 44mag every week. still have enough stuff to last me most of my life. plus i can load to hot 44spl/low44mag, and thats all i need. 458 win mag because at 5-10 bucks a pop it dont take long to burn though a hours pay. on the other hand if ya can go through a couple hours pay in one sitting your a better man than i am. 45-70 because its a original trapdoor and get just my cast bullets with black powder, no smokeless powder loads for that thank you. i know that dont make any sense but thats the way i feel. every thing else i dont shoot enough or just isn't worth the effort.

Been reloading since early ,early teens and will be 67 on Saturday. With the amount I shoot, son and I shot .22 .22 mag .45 colt .308 [6.5 Grendel only rifle] .38 special tonight for 3 hours. Then some of the calibers I shoot .358 JDJ 7 TCU etc you can't buy ammo for. I could not shoot like I want to, 'or what I want to without reloading. Not rocket science or black magic but a Serious,relaxing, thought provoking hobby.

One of the problems with attracting new handloaders is that many established reloaders, me included,tend to make reloading much more complicated than necessary. When I loaded my first cartridges over fifty years ago, I started with a hammer powered Lee Loader. Loading for a war surplus M98 Mauser purchased from Montgomery Ward, I was able to fashion cartridges that were reasonably accurate (3" at 100 yds.. Sometimes better. Sometimes worse.) Had sufficient power to kill a deer, as evidenced by being able to shoot through a 2-3" pine sapling. No chronograph necessary. My entire reloading kit (including components) fit into a shoe box with to spare. Cartridges were expensive back then costing anywhere from $3.50-$10.00 per box, depending on what you shot and where you shopped. I could manufacture a box of 20 deer loads for less that $1.50. The driving force for reloading was purely economic. Once I learned (or believed) that factory cartridges were not as accurate as expected, I concluded that I could make better and more accurate ammunition than the factories and cost be damned. Traveling down that slippery slope, the little shoe box has burgeoned into a massive loading bench packed with tools and components that takes up 1/3 of our garage, and the monster keeps growing. Sometimes, I miss that little shoe box.

Sometimes I miss that little shoe box. AMEN TO THAT!!!!! I still have my first Lee hand loader in .45 Colt, and the old Lyman Tru Line Jr. press and dies my brother bought way back when that started it all.

I have a full scale operation in my gun room, 12' x 15'. I do spend hours at the bench, whether shooting or loading. It is where I find happiness.