is reloading worth it for the average hunter?

All shooters should at least learn to reload, hunters or not! All firearms owners should belong to a club, I don't care if they use it or not, I just want the money in the club to improve the range for them when they do decide to use it.
I was able to get the practice we used to have at our range of allowing "Hunters" to purchase a 1 day non escorted pass for $20.00 to Zero their rifles. They now must either have a membership ($138.00 for a family) or be signed in by a member, $10.00 day pass. If these ranges are not supported then they will cease to exist.

If the "Average hunter" learns to reload, joins a club and uses the range more often we have a couple of benefits, 1. more people in the sport and using the ranges/clubs, 2. Less wounded animals due to lack of proper shooting skills.

Handloading not only provides a source for perhaps less expensive ammunition but opens up a whole world of new people to sit and have a coffee with to discuss your new load and what works best with xyz powder in such and such a calibre.

Belonging to a club/range gives you a place to shoot yes, but far more important it give you a place to learn. New hunters can receive fantastic instruction and encouragement once they belong to a club/range. You can shoot your whole life and never get better that you are right now, or you can join a club and find a mentor and be directed to try it a little bit differently and improve.

When the CFO's of the country made it manditory to have a club membership to transfer a handgun/restricted weapon they didn't realize what they were doing. Now every person who wants to buy such a gun must belong to a range that means more range members, larger voice, more letters and phone calls to various MP's and more poop rolling down hill to the CFO's, poop that they don't want when they have to explain to the minister why certian people have not received answers to letters they wrote some 6 months previous!

Yes, the average hunter should handload and belong to a gun club with a range attached suitable for shooting at the ranges he wishes to zero at.

Scott
 
+1 for a lee hand loader they are cheap and if your shooting only a few rounds a year for hunting. Even something like a lee single stage press kit isnt to much...
 
A good friend of mine hunts probably close to 6 months out of the year, mostly in the American SW, but he also makes trips to Alaska and Africa when the mood strikes him. He chooses to use factory ammo because he is unwilling to invest the time to role his own, and he can afford a few hundred rounds of premium factory ammo each year. The choice to handload or not does not reflect on a hunters ability to hunt, or even on his ability to shoot, but it may limit the usefulness of his rifle. My pal doesn't think so because he is able to fill his trophy room and his freezer using factory ammo. He does not belong to a club, and his sight-in is done when he arrives at his hunting location when he shoots enough to verify his zero. It does little good to sight in a rifle at sea level then go hunting at 5000' without verifying your zero.
 
The "average" big game hunter in these parts, probably shoots about 5 rds a year. The average duck hunter, at least 10 times that. Anyone who shoots more that that around here is certainly not average.

So, for the average hunter, I would say no.
 
The keyword is "average" followed by "hunter".
Even to be average requires more that 20 rounds per year.
At least buy a new box of bullets every year, and practice with what is left in the old box from last year. If that "box" of bullets lasts more that two years I would suggest one is relying on luck as a hunter.
Reloading will make you a better shooter and I trust a better hunter . . . unless average and better are equated as one and the same.
However, a .22 rimfire can make you a better shooter when 500 rounds costs about the same a a box of centrefire hunting ammo.
 
Just to add something to what Boomer wrote, I was thinking of the old time hunter, Grancel Fritz.
Between 1926 and 1955, he shot a specimen of every one of the 24 different classes of big game in North America. Thirteen of those species were record book class. He has printed books of his own, but I have read in other places that he used only one rifle in all of that hunting, a 30-06. I forget the make of the rifle, but it is said that he considered a rifle just a tool, and he said that was all he needed. he never reloaded and shot all factory ammunition.
I have one of his books, North American Head Hunting.
 
m39a2 said:
All shooters should at least learn to reload, hunters or not! All firearms owners should belong to a club, I don't care if they use it or not, You can shoot your whole life and never get better that you are right now, or you can join a club and find a mentor and be directed to try it a little bit differently
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...Wow!. Although you make some valid points and I think you mean well in your post the above excerpt is a little over the top IMHO. I have an awesome homegrown 300 yard non-restricted "range" on crown land and the membership fee for the select few that shoot there is absolutely zero. The only requirements are to practice firearm safety, maintain the site and clean-up after yourself.
Over the years I have taken first-time shooters to this place, and have had many a great day of shooting and conversation with the select few that shoot there. Here's the kicker though...I enjoy my little range most of all when I'm there alone :eek: , I also get better with practice at any discipline I shoot, gained through personal experience.
The combination of appropriate paperwork in my wallet enables me to legally discharge my non-restricteds in this area.
I have a very strong voice advocating firearms ownership in Canada and have donated time, effort and money for the cause, all without attending your approved range.

Mad Mikey:rolleyes:
 
Sun_and_Steel_77 said:
... I have a very strong voice advocating firearms ownership in Canada and have donated time, effort and money for the cause, all without attending your approved range.
Mad Mikey:rolleyes:
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In some ways I feel strongly sympathetic with what you are saying MM, especially enjoying the range when one is by oneself, for example. But I have to admit too, that I have felt frustrated with friends who don't join clubs and support them. From the sound of it you are one of the rare people that supports the shooting sports without being a member and so you are giving something back to the sport (This is important right!?). But I don't believe you can escape the real possibility, however, that without supporting clubs and organized shooting activity through your own membership, and by not encouraging others to become members too, you could be helping the shooting sports expire. If everyone takes the attitude you are recommending, in the end there will be no protection for your enjoyable times out in the weeds. I don't feel like criticizing you, having made the same mistake myself for many years, (Maybe not realizing there was issue is fairer to me on this one.) but I think you are making a mistake when you think you can go it alone, and when you imply that it is OK not to join.:( Respectfully, fred
 
canadian hunter312 said:
ive never reloaded and havent been around anyone who has. is it worth it for the average hunter?
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Define "worth it".

In the purely monetary sense, hunting isn't worth it to the average hunter. Beef is cheaper than venison when you figure in all the costs... but most of us know that and hunt for other reasons. Same thing for reloading. Some people enjoy it. If you shoot more than 100 rounds of rifle per year, you might benefit from reloading but it really doesn't matter for most hunters. If it interests you - do it.

By the way, nobody saves money by reloading. Reloading allows you to shoot more for the same cost.
 
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I think it depends on the round you hunt with. I load for the .22 hornet and .35 Whelen. Both have limited factory ammo to choose from. The .358win would be another round worth loading for. If you shoot a .308 win or 30-06 or any other cartridge that has plenty of factory ammo around then don't bother.
 
Once, I was a hunter and loved it. I used go to some bush shooting range with my factory ammo and Remington 700.
Then, I said lets try to reload. Went to Cabelas, got Rock Chucker set and it started.
I have no idea, how much I have spend on guns and components. This year only I want to shoot between 15K to 20K rounds, do the math.

If you are a happy hunter, don't get into reloading, it is like a drug.
 
rookie wildcat said:
Actually not worth reading. But I am responding in agreement.
We must always get the whole picture before adding your $.02.
Know the situation, know your facts, expound your theories.
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Agreed.
My mom used to say me: Always respect your opponent. She told me that more then 45 years ago and I follow her advise.
It's very nice to hear the histories of hunters born and shot 80-70 years ago. I have always respected their experience. But I was told that world has changed :) And new premium bullets have arrived on the market. And serious hunters tried them. And they reloaded and shot it. They reloaded to shoot on short distances making their bullets fly @ velocities equal to about like that from factory ammunition @ 150 to 200 yards to have penetration and expansion the bullet was designed for. They printed a lot of books and articles. They suggest to use the bullets on the distances it was designed for. Or reload to adjust for your shooting distances. I didn't know it was a crap. It was only my fault to follow their advice. And I will follow. It's my IMHO.
My respect to any opinion.
Good Luck.
 
Okay, I have sharpened my pencil 1- lee kit $120 2 - lee dies (270wsm) $39 2- primers $3.50/100 3- 1mr4350 $32/lb 4- Nosler BST 130GR $30/50 5 - Win brass $34/50 . Now we have bought all the stuff, cost to make a bullet: powder-32/7000=0.0045714 x59= (0.2697) brass-34/50=(0.68) primer - 3.50/100=(.035) bullet- 30/50=(0.60) now we add all that up it comes to $1.58 a round using new brass( 90cents if re-using brass) A box of win bst 270wsm =$42/20 = $2.10 per round
 
deerslayer said:
Okay, I have sharpened my pencil 1- lee kit $120 2 - lee dies (270wsm) $39 2- primers $3.50/100 3- 1mr4350 $32/lb 4- Nosler BST 130GR $30/50 5 - Win brass $34/50 . Now we have bought all the stuff, cost to make a bullet: powder-32/7000=0.0045714 x59= (0.2697) brass-34/50=(0.68) primer - 3.50/100=(.035) bullet- 30/50=(0.60) now we add all that up it comes to $1.58 a round using new brass( 90cents if re-using brass) A box of win bst 270wsm =$42/20 = $2.10 per round
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Being able to make your own ammo when the store shelfs have been empty for a couple years... priceless :D there is something this money just cant buy for everything else there is mastercard lol
 
msg.drew said:
+1 for a lee hand loader they are cheap and if your shooting only a few rounds a year for hunting. Even something like a lee single stage press kit isnt to much...
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I have thought about re-loading for a while now, but the money to buy a set up always goes somewhere else. Are you telling me that with a $30 hand loader, I can make the exact same quality rounds as someone who has invested $500 in equipment, just that he can load wayyy more than I can in an hour ????
 
.. "heavyBullet" .....Not quite, but you CAN produce surprisingly good,serviceable hand-loads from them. Just a bit slow, and resizing can be a bit of a "challenge" ! Not up to Target or Bench Rest standards, but good for practice rounds and lots of game have been taken with the basic "Lee" loaded rounds ! ( uses a scoop instead of scales to measure powder ) ... David K
 
David K said:
.. "heavyBullet" .....Not quite, but you CAN produce surprisingly good,serviceable hand-loads from them. Just a bit slow, and resizing can be a bit of a "challenge" ! Not up to Target or Bench Rest standards, but good for practice rounds and lots of game have been taken with the basic "Lee" loaded rounds ! ( uses a scoop instead of scales to measure powder ) ... David K
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Ok, so not up to par as with someone using better equipment, but would the ammo be on par with commercial ammo ??
 
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