What % of hunters hand-load?

I hunt, and I handload, but have never hunted with handloaded ammo. I had a whole boatload of factory .30-30, .308 and .303 factory ammo given to me, what else am I going to use it for? Shame to waste all those old silvertips on paper.

If i ever get out to hunt any sort of big game again, I might use some handloaded 6.5x55.
 
I've been handloading for some 40 years. Cast my own bullets for my handguns. I even have swaging dies in '38/357 and 44 cals. I have a set of Corbin dies that allow me to use .22 fired cases for .224 dia. jackets. When I acquire a new toy, I buy the dies for it. When I sell/trade the toy for something new, I keep the dies. I treasure my time at the loading bench!

Mike
 
Handguns and target rifles aside, I have a decently stocked FN Mauser in .458x2inch American that is a wildcat cartridge.
It really helps that the 45-70 is very popular these days for loading components. The added plus is that my base brass casings come from range discards. I have conversion dies from RCBS. A bit of labour involved, but I never have to lay out cash for brass casings. I can use the savings to buy primers, powder, bullets & moulds instead. And if I really had too, I could use black powder and cast lead bullets and still expect a big game harvest with it.
 
Country wide I'd guess the figure at about 10%. Starting out in my youth and for about the first ten years of hunting, all my ammo was factory. I didn't get into reloading until I started handgun shooting. Then, getting into the more serious aspects of paper punching and structured bullseye competitive shooting, ;)with the volume of ammo I was going through, reloading was the cost effective choice. Reloading hunting ammo then became a natural next step. Another governing factor today is some of the calibres I have and the availability, if at all, of factory and/or even custom ammo. For example;
  • 219 Donaldson Wasp
  • 7x57R
  • 7x61 S&H
  • 308 Norma Magnum
  • 348 WCF
  • 358 Norma Magnum
And now, all the reasons mentioned above are applicable, plus, being retired;) I now have the time to and enjoyment of semi-serious load testing:p.
 
Handloader here. I much prefer to tailor the loads to the rifle. The only exception is for my cowboy loads, I will buy in bulk for "spare" rounds, in case I do not have time to load all I need.
 
i've been always handloading since i started shooting.
almost never fired any factory ammo except few boxes of 30-06
 
I think this varies a lot by region as well. I can say I don't know nor have I hunted with anyone who doesn't load. I think probably here in the Yukon handloaders/hunters are among the highest percentage in Canada. I know there are store bought hunters here, we see them at the range in August checking their rifles. But the reloading communtity, in the Yukon, is huge. With a population of 32,000 I know literally 100s of guys who reload.
Could be the 6 months of winter and 4 hour daylight, gives us a lot of loading room time!!!
 
I guess I'm that guy. I reload for my long range target rifles. Look at my name, 6xc. You can't exactly buy rounds for that cal at Walmart.

Hunting however.... I admit I buy. It's just not worth the cost and time of developing a load. I have a 30-30 however and I am thinking of getting some dies for it as its generally a fun gun to shoot.
 
I have travelled most of Canada, raised with rifles hunting with father and uncles that did the same with theirs, lived in a few different provinces.... I would bet real real good money that hand loaders are less than one percent of those that have firearms and or hunt.

I also agree that the highest percentage of hand loaders per capita is in the Yukon and territories. And for some odd reason you see a lot more collectors and wildcats up there per capita than anywhere else I have been. Why do you think every single FTC and Walmart sells ammo, but not reloading supplies. Same goes for every small gun shop.

I wish more people would get into hand loading as it would help with supplies and pricing, although, I kind of like belonging to a more prestigious group of firearm owners and enthusiasts.
 
This is a bit off topic but the Cold Lake CT store recently had an extensive expansion of it's rifles/shotguns/ammo/handloading equipment.
They even carry Burris scopes and reloading dies.
It's downright awesome that I can go in there today and buy Hornday .50 RB right out of thier store. :)
 
mwjones said:
I hunt, and I handload, but have never hunted with handloaded ammo. I had a whole boatload of factory .30-30, .308 and .303 factory ammo given to me, what else am I going to use it for? Shame to waste all those old silvertips on paper.

If i ever get out to hunt any sort of big game again, I might use some handloaded 6.5x55.
Click to expand...

The 170 grain bullets loaded in the 30-30, by most of the big companiies, especially CIL Dominion, were about as good as it gets for hunting. Hard to improve on those by handloading.
And Winchester Silvertips earned the great reputation they had, also.
 
I like handloading as a hobby in itself, and I also like to shoot unusual cartridges than require handloading to keep me shooting. I don't quite agree that <10% of Canadian hunters handload, but the west is likely different than point east of Manitoba. I would guess more than 10% of all hunters in Saskatchewan are also hand loaders. Of my hunting buddies and relatives, more than 3/4 are hand loaders.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom