Pistol/Rifle ratio

[Hinnerk]

I get the sense that pistol reloading is far and away more popular than rifle reloading (and not just by numbers of rounds reloaded). Is that a fair characterization of the makeup of this group?

I am a new reloader and so far only rifle.

[Capt.Dunsel]

I reload for both rifle and handgun . Problem I have is that my handguns shoot what are considered rifle rounds , 30/30 , 7/30 waters , 218 Bee , 45/70 , ect , ect .so hard to tell the difference.

And then I have rifles that shoot handgun rounds 45 LC , 357 Mag , 357 Max , you get the idea .

They blend together in a large blur . Once you start , it never ends . You will end up loading for everything you shoot , then shoot everything you load.

It's never ending . Just enjoy .

[JMP]

I get the sense that pistol reloading is far and away more popular than rifle reloading (and not just by numbers of rounds reloaded). Is that a fair characterization of the makeup of this group?

I am a new reloader and so far only rifle.

I spend nearly 99% of my reloading time on rifle. Pistol is pretty trivial, and I just pump it out on a Dillon machine a few days out of the year. Rifle reloading for accurate results takes much more detail and there is a much larger diversity in cartridges.

In short, I reload pistol to save money. For rifle, I reload it to get better ammo, or for ammo that is not commercially available. That's how I look at it, but my position is probably in the minority.

[Eljay]

Most reloaders start with handgun if only because brass prep is so much simpler and there's generally less detailed load development, etc. You can also usually buy maybe one powder and be done with it. I think there's also more handgun shooters than rifle shooters in the first place.

That being said if you need advice on something there's some precision reloading guys and some that load bulk rifle rounds for 3gun or plinking or whatever and some guys who load weird C&R calibers because that's what they shoot. I think all the bases are covered...

[wpod]

My only rifle is a .22lr, so no reloading rifle.
Wife has her new Henry Big Boy. 38/.357. I have everything to reload for that. She has yet to shoot it. (grrrr...)

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[Divernhunter]

I shoot both. In the last 5 years or more I have mostly reloaded and shot rifle rounds.

[Enfield47]

I reload more for rifle than pistol. Pistol is far easier to reload but I shoot my rifles more than my pistols so most of time is spent there. I have C&R rifles so it's easier for me to reload for them than to buy ammo and I can tailor a specific bullet and load to a rifle to get the best results.

The are probably more handgun shooters but many, if not most of them also reload for their rifles as well.

[JagerDog]

Straight wall pistol is simply easier, faster and more applicable to bulk processes. The learning curve is also shortcut.

A lot of folks don't have the ballistic curiousity (I'll call it) to play with rifle loading.

Might look at as the difference between reloading and handloading.

['ol shooter]

I shoot a lot more 9mm and 45acp than rifle, but am comfortable reloading either. At last count I load 9 handgun calibers, and 10 rifle calibers. I don't shoot as much as I'd like, due to physical limitations, so my old RC gets the job done.

[Capybara]

We find in our reloading classes almost a perfect 50/50 split between new students learning how to reload pistol vs. rifle. Pistol is easier to reload and requires less gear to get started.

[TexasJackKin]

I load both, but for the last few years it's been mostly handgun. between the wife and I we go though about 800-1000 handgun rounds a month. As mentioned above rifle loading is more time consuming (for me at least) mostly because I'm fussy about the results!

I have quite a few firearms that I've never fired a factory round though, although most have had a box or two though them, but not much more than that.

I reload hand gun, for cost savings and consistency, and rifle primarily for precision, and tuning a load to the rifle.

Reloading will make you a better shooter, and you'll shoot more (connected?) but may not save you much money....

It's a great aspect of the hobby, kind of like tying your own flies!

[sghart]

It goes in cycles for me. Sometimes I focus on revolvers and their performance.

Then I might get the 1911 bug and do 45 ACP and 38 Super for weeks.

Then I will see an old rifle in the corner that I have been neglecting. That is where I am now. I got out my VZ24 in 7X57. I bought a new mold for it from NOE and am just now getting that back in the rotation.

So it definitely goes back and forth for me.

[opos]

I grew up loading rifle only....over 5 decades ago....never did load handgun until I'd left the hunting paradise of Colorado back in those days..got clear away from all guns when I moved to California as I dove into salt water fishing and spend my spare time and money there..

About 10-12 years ago I started to load again and this time all handgun and didn't shoot any rifle at all except 22 now and then...been loading 38/357/44/45Colt/and 45acp. Then the "old school sporterized milsurp rifles"" caught my attention again....stuff that was built in the 50's and 60's...I don't hunt and love to reload so I started to gather the beautiful old walnut and high polish/blued rifles...today I load for all the handgun stuff that I've been doing plus 30-06, 7mm, 8mm, 25-06 and 7mm magnum. Not a high volume shooter but enough to stay very interested.

I don't much "load ahead" very far...just kind of get the itch to shoot something and load up a reasonable amount of ammo for it and go punch some holes in paper..

[liber]

So far I only load rifle, and probably in a minority as I don't load entirely for precision. I started to reload to get better quality ammo and to save money. I load 308 and 223. I started with 308 as that saves me the most money. I added 223 as that is also what I shoot.

I'm in the finishing stages of building a pistol, and will be going to the pistol range more frequently once it is done (real soon now). I will be adding 45ACP to my reloading soon as this happens.

With rifle one goes through a LOT more powder, even a 223 case holds about 4x as much as a 45ACP case, and close to 8x in a 308 case. It's all numbers with powder, on average about 150 rounds of 308 per lb., 300 rounds of 223 per lb., and I estimate I should get close to 1200 rounds of 45ACP per lb. But this will give you an idea as powder is about $20-$30 per lb. these days, some of it more. I only load match grade bullets, since I figure if I spend my time I want quality ammo. That's currently about $0.30/ea for 308 (168 SMKs), $0.22/ea for 223 (69 SMKs), and 45ACP (230 FMJ) will be about $0.22/ea.

[Eljay]

That's a good point. A lot of pistol reloaders end up with a 4 pound jug of what they like and they're still using it years later...