Handloading as Therapy

I have a job that can get pretty stressful at times. I got some early advice from a mentor who said that two-thirds of the people in this line of work end up addicted to something. So I've always been on the lookout for ways to relieve stress in a healthy manner.

Over the years, shooting at the range has become a primary method of stress relief for me. However, when I can't get out to the range, I've found also handloading to be very therapeutic.

Don't know what it is, maybe the mechanical repetition, maybe the notion that all of these rounds equate to upcoming fun at the range, or maybe it's just the overall satisfaction of looking at a container full of shiny new rounds. Regardless, after about an hour in my handloading room I feel like a new man.

Tennessee Jed wrote:I have a job that can get pretty stressful at times.  I got some early advice from a mentor who said that two-thirds of the people in this line of work end up addicted to something.  So I've always been on the lookout for ways to relieve stress in a healthy manner.

Over the years, shooting at the range has become a primary method of stress relief for me.  However, when I can't get out to the range, I've found also handloading to be very therapeutic.

Don't know what it is, maybe the mechanical repetition, maybe the notion that all of these rounds equate to upcoming fun at the range, or maybe it's just the overall satisfaction of looking at a container full of shiny new rounds.  Regardless, after about an hour in my handloading room I feel like a new man.

Sometimes I reload because I have to in order to shoot, sometimes I reload because it is relaxing and is a good stress relief for me, and sometimes I reload because I just want to try out new things or just want to because I enjoy it.  I've found that casting bullets does the same thing for me.  It is very rewarding to finish a casting session and have a pile of new shiny (or colored) bullets ready for loading.  Lots of time for thinking, pondering, or meditating.

Reloading pays off like any craft -- it requires you to exercise your physical and intellectual abilities, it relieves you of outside stresses by focusing your mind on one goal, it provides the satisfaction of craftsmanship, generates a sense of competence and accomplishment, it gives you the sense of controlling tremendous power, and when you finish, you've got all these shiny little cylinders of whup-ass just waiting to be unleashed.