Reloading

I’ve never had a passion for reloading.  When I first began shooting, Dave-the genius mechanic, and I spent many hours with a Lee Loader, pounding individual cartridges one-by-one into a Lee die.  After much labor, one cartridge was created.
Seemed like a monumental waste of time to me.
Later Dave (of course) acquired a single-stage press.  RCBS, I think.  For some reason, it ended up in my apartment.  It was this press I used to create the tiny firebombs custom manstopping .38 rounds (with .357 pressures!)
But, an hour to maybe crank out 50 rounds seemed too labor intense for me.

Then, I saw a Dillion XL650.  WOW!
And eventually scared up enough cash to get one.  Another friend helped me set up a reloading bench in my tiny off-bedroom computer/storage room.
And, I was off to the reloading races!  Kind-of.
The speed of a sequential press was/is astounding.  If one took one’s time, and checked one’s work, hundreds of rounds/hour were possible.
There were two problems, for me:
1.  Feeding the beast (components weren’t free) and,
2.  Trusting my own work.
I’d shot commercial reloads, other friends’ reloads, stranger’s reloads, never had a serious problem.  But, my own?  Ay, there’s the rub.
All this is moot, now, of course.  The same burglars that took the 800 pound vault, took the Dillon, too.
I never had a passion for it, anyway…

(BTW – The Dillon press is excellent.  If I ever get ahead again, I plan on acquiring another one.  PS – attn FTC, Dillon offered me nothing to say this-go away!)

h/t Dave