Thank you for having us!
Who is Coats Brothers Firearms? A couple of brothers that grew up in the early 1980’s in Western Oregon.
Our Father and Uncle were avid shooters, hand loaders, and bullet casters. We both have fond memories of going out shooting up in the same hills a lot of our videos are filmed shooting our .22’s while the men shot the big stuff. One thing we could count on back then after an afternoon of shooting was each of us kids was handed a pocket knife to go dig lead out of the tree stumps and gravel piles.
Brass detail was another chore. There was always a lot of good once fired brass that people left laying around in those days. We would go visit my cousin at least once a week and we would go play out in the garage. The hum of my uncles Lyman tumbler was always present.
Back then, all of their reloading was done on an RCBS Rock Chucker single stage press. I heard stories later in life that those two would hang out for a few hours after work every night of the week just to create enough handgun ammo for the next Saturday.
At some point in the early 80’s my uncle bought a Dillon 550. I’m sure this made things a lot easier on them time wise. My uncle was the main reloader. He and my father both worked in plywood mills back in the 70’s and 80’s. Good money around here in those days. My uncle had fashioned a fairly crude reloading bench out of scrap 2×4’s and some 1 1/8″ plywood. It wasn’t much to look at but it was effective.
Fast forward to 1999. Our uncle passed away from cancer. I was able to buy one of his rifles, a Ruger M77 tang safety in .22-250, and all of his reloading gear and components. Jump ahead 15 years. Our Father passed away from a massive heart attack.
We both miss them tons obviously.
So. My reloading and casting started in late 1999. I cut my teeth on a lot of books and a great mentor from work. I started getting my brother Aaron into this sport after he moved back home to take care of our Mother whose health is failing. He picked up reloading and precision rifle shooting rather quickly. He had lived out of town for better than a decade and when he moved back, we reconnected in a big way as far as firearms were concerned. The rest is history as they say.
As for that old reloading bench along with the Rock Chucker and the Dillon, I still have and use them. I have never thought of upgrading any of it. Way too many memories tied up in this equipment from family members I love and miss everyday. That old Lyman tumbler gave up the ghost about a year ago. So I bought a new one. The old one still sits on the bench as I can’t bring myself to get rid of it.
So much of our hobby is more than just shooting better, cheaper ammo with better accuracy. It’s passed down to us from earlier generations. My kids are into shooting now. I hope they take it to the next level and show interest in reloading and casting bullets as well.
I’m a Grandfather now, at 43 years young. I hope to have many, many years with my grandson telling stories from my past and teaching him what I know.
So. Coats Brothers Firearms. We do a lot of stuff. We have many more videos in mind to try and show all of the different kind of stuff we are into. It’s not all long range rifle stuff I promise. We are revolver and lever gun guys. We love semi autos, both pistol and rifle. We hunt Varmints, fowl, and some big game.
We cast our own bullets for all handguns and a lot of rifle stuff as well. We both have a pretty good sense of humor and don’t take ourselves too seriously. On behalf of my brother I would like to thank James (Loads of Bacon) for having us. We will learn a lot from this site and hope to try and contribute some as well. Thanks for reading along this far.
Walter.
