Hmmm. How and where to start? Let’s begin with why reload, why not buy a box or two of ready made Norma, Federal or whatever?
You have to decide for yourself why, I will give you the answers to why I started with reloading.
I started to shoot a lot in competition in the early eighties. My first gun, a .22 LR Unique Des69, a French made target gun soon got company of a .357 Magnum DW. The cost of factory made cartridges for both .357 M and .38 Special prohibited the use of the later gun.
So.. I had to learn how to reload, first for the economy factor. When I got more accosted to it I saw that my scores went up, my ammo was tailored for the gun hence more accuracy on the target.
Next gun in my gun safe was a .32 S&W target gun, with reloads, same result. More bang for the money and better scoring on the targets.
Later on I got my hands on a Ruger revolver in .45 LC, now that’s a gun that you had to reload for. Factory ammo was available but only one brand and bullet weight combination and with a load to be used in old Colt SA guns. With reloads, Vihtavuori N340 powder and heavy Cast bullets (250 grains or more) that gun made factory .44 Magnum cartridges to seem puny :)
Next gun was a Dan Wesson .357 SuperMag, I could buy cases from I.H.M.S.A. in U.S., (at that time I was living just a few miles from the Polar circle in north Sweden) so reloading was a must, to find factory cartridges back then for that cartridge wasn’t possible in Sweden or US.
Economy, more bang for the money, better accuracy and a must for some cartridges, are those answers enough?
More and more involved in pistol competition and reloading got me to a point where I couldn’t separate shooting and reloading. It was fun, part of my hobby and later on even part of my work. For me, part of the fun with shooting is using my own cartridges (and with my own cast bullets mostly)and it doesn’t matter if it is a tinny .32 calibre handgun ctgs or a .460 Weatherby, (the later one cost at least 5$ a pop, over 100 US greens for 20 in a box of factory made ctg’s)