How US Reloading Supply Started: From a Single Casting Pot to Serving Reloaders Nationwide

Most reloading businesses begin with a simple idea. US Reloading Supply began with a casting pot, a handful of molds, and the determination to make good bullets at a time when they were getting harder and harder to find.

Long before we sold brass, bullets, or components online, we were literally pouring metal.

Where It All Began — A Casting Pot, a Workbench, and a Goal

I initially started casting in the early '70s, I was around 14 then and needed bullets for my 357. On the farm, lead was easy to get, but bullets weren't. So Dad said, better start casting son! So that started me off with a bunch of used Lee equipment.

Later, in the early 2000's, bullet casting wasn’t just a hobby — it was a necessity. Ammunition prices were rising, component shortages were common, and the only way to keep shooting affordably was to make your own. I had been making bullets for myself and giving a few away after I got out of the service (1991). While out shooting with some old friends of mine that left OSI and joined ATF, one of them said I should start selling them. I told him that I loved the idea but I didn't want him knocking on my door with cuffs in hand since I didn't have a license. To make a long story short, we sat down a weekend later and he helped me fill out the ATF paperwork. A few months later I had a business license and a fresh ATF 6 license.

So I set up a modest casting station in my workshop and got to work. Before long, the workflow turned into a real operation:

• Lead pots running all day

• Molds arranged in rotation for maximum efficiency

• Bullets cooling on trays

• Sizing, checking, and packaging by hand

What started as “just making bullets for myself” quickly turned into producing as many as 10,000 cast bullets per day. It was dusty, hot, repetitive work — but it was good, honest work, and quality mattered.

The Turning Point — Helping Other Reloaders

Friends at the range started asking for bullets. Then their friends did. Then strangers began showing up with empty brass and cash in hand.

That was the moment I realized the demand wasn’t just about saving money — it was about trust.

Reloaders wanted consistent, reliable components from someone who actually used them. Someone who cared about safety, quality, and accuracy as much as they did. That small casting operation became the seed that grew into something bigger.

Learning What Matters: Consistency, Safety, Craftsmanship

Casting 10,000 bullets a day teaches you a few things:

✔ Consistency is everything

A perfect-looking bullet is useless if the diameter is off by a thousandth or two.

✔ Safety cannot be rushed

Lead, heat, and speed don’t mix without proper discipline.

✔ Quality control must come first

Every batch was visually inspected. Every mold was tuned. Every alloy was mixed with care. These lessons became the foundation of how US Reloading Supply still operates today.

From Casting to Components: Expanding the Business

As demand grew, it became clear that reloaders needed more than just cast bullets. They wanted:

• Quality once-fired brass

• A reliable source for powder and primers

• Bulk bullets in all common calibers

• Advice from someone who’d been elbow-deep in it for years

So we expanded. Piece by piece, product by product, we added what reloaders asked for and kept the service personal.

US Reloading Supply never set out to be a corporation — it set out to be useful.

A Lot Has Changed… But the Roots Haven’t

Today, we ship components across the country, run an e-commerce storefront, and help tens of thousands of reloaders every year get the gear they need. But our origins are still there:

• The pictures of that early casting setup

• The memories of trays full of cooling bullets

• The smell of flux and the steady rhythm of mold rotation

• The satisfaction of seeing a customer come back because the product worked

US Reloading Supply was built on those early days, and every shipment we send carries a bit of that history with it.

Why This Story Matters to You — the Customer

When you buy from us, you’re not dealing with a faceless warehouse or a big box store. You’re supporting a business that:

• Started at the reloading bench, not in a boardroom

• Has hands-on experience with the components we sell

• Understands the craft from the ground up

• Knows that accuracy and safety come from doing things right

• Cares about reloaders because we are reloaders

We’ve been where you are — covered in powder, sorting brass, tuning dies, cleaning molds, and chasing that perfect group size. And we’re still right there with you, using Dillon, RCBS, Lee, and FrankFord presses, to load for our next range time.