Firstly, welcome to 1967spud Reloading Supplies Ltd. Our warehouse is the UK's largest specialist reloading centre in North Norfolk. It covers over 4,500 square feet of pure reloading supplies, with over 25,000 separate product lines covering all shotgun and rifle shooting styles.
We have a retail outlet open Monday - Friday, 8 a.m. through 4 p.m., for all of you who want to come in person. We also have a dedicated reloading helpline for all the reloaders who have queries or questions or wish to place an order over the phone with a human. The phones are operated 365 days a year from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., even on Sundays. If we get a missed call, we will always call you back. And, of course, the website has live stock control for all online orders.
"We offer something a little extra with our goods, and it's called SERVICE-
-Why not try us and see what purchasing should be like...."
A little of our history.
The myths, the rumours and the beginning.
Me, Mark, aka Spud, started shooting in the early 70s when I was only 5 or 6 years old. Most weekends, I would fish with my dad in and around Aylsham, Norfolk, on the river Bure for Eels or whatever came our way. During the winter, we did a lot of walked-up pheasant shooting and, in February, roost shooting for Pigeons. I was mainly using up until the age of 14 a .22 Wierauch air rifle. My shooting quickly progressed from air rifles to shotguns at school, leaving age and once I got my own transport.
Moving forward a few years, I got to accompany a mate from school who was now a full-time gamekeeper, mostly lamping at night after fox and sometimes a bit of rabbit shooting. The seed was set at that stage for me to own my first centerfire rifle. After another couple of years, I got my land with permission to control the rabbits and foxes, so I finally needed a centre fire. My first “big” rifle was a Ruger M77 22-250 with a laminated stock and stainless barrel. After having it for a while and struggling to get regular ammo supplies, I liked it and was confident. I talked to a local gun dealer about my ammo supply problems, and the conversation turned to the dark art of “reloading”. He suggested speaking to his mate about teaching me how to reload.
I was eventually kitted out and reloading my own after a couple of tuition evenings with his mate. The satisfaction of getting my first kill with my new rifle was only succeeded by my first kill with my own-produced ammo—I WAS HOOKED.
This happened about 20 years ago, and I’ve been reloading in various calibres, including .243, .243AI, 6.5, 284, .284, etc.
Moving forward 15 years, you now find me as a full-time gamekeeper on a Norfolk Family Estate. With the invention of the Internet and eventually YouTube, I came up with an idea after watching some early uploads on rifle shooting and reloading and thinking I could do better, if not better. It's more UK sounding as most of it is American and only sometimes not the easiest to understand. I started mainly filming kill shots of mine with the rifle, and after a while, I got a few people from within the UK asking about reloading advice and whether I could do a feature on this matter. So it started, and after 240-odd uploads, YouTube deemed my channel to class as a partnership channel, which is no mean feat.
At this point, I also discovered target shooting. I am passionate about it at the club level and, due to my job, compete at the national league level in the long-range discipline of Class shooting when time permits.
This, in turn, started people asking where they could buy the items I had used in uploads or done reviews about. After a few weeks of thinking about it, I decided to speak to Stainless Tumbling Media in the USA about stocking their products in the UK. I had already done a lengthy review of their tumbler, which was embedded on their site, as they were impressed. They agreed, and in early 2012, the 1967spud website went live. Orders flew in from the beginning for the tumblers from as far afield as Spain, Germany, and Italy. Customers who would ring up would ask whether I could get this piece or that piece of reloading equipment.
After some thought, I expanded my range and supplied whatever people wanted. Not being a Registered Firearms Dealer limited what I could sell. I am so glad to announce that I am a fully-fledged, insured, Registered Firearms Dealer. So I can more or less supply all your needs and guns as well! Happy Days!! Anyway...
Many rifle shooters nowadays want to start reloading themselves for many reasons, including the cost and availability of commercial ammunition, personal satisfaction or simply to learn something new and expand their knowledge and enjoyment of rifle shooting. The buzz for me nowadays, apart from my beloved F Class, is 100, 200,600, and 1000-yard Bench Rest Shooting, all at the national level. It is getting new people into reloading and helping where I can with advice, tuition, and gear to the point where they can confidently and safely make that kill or get that bull's eye with their ammo.
As of early 2017, I'm very proud and pleased to introduce Nathan to the team. Nathan comes from a non-shooting background but has a varied career in retail and customer services. He will manage all day-to-day human resources and sales at our Distribution Centre based in rural North Norfolk and will also take on the role of Director.
As of spring 2019, my daughter Amber (aka Chip) joined the team, running all logistics and mail-order deliveries. She will also be on the sales helpline, helping customers with reloading and technical questions. As a female shooter, she'll hopefully add a feminine touch to our operation for lady shooters.
More staff, including James, joined in late 2020. James is another new shooter in our sport and plans to participate in the shooting community. He seems to like the idea of ELR, but only time will tell. He will be part of the sales team and look after new product ranges as we expand our portfolio.
Team members' contact details.
For sales, reloading advice and complaints, contact - Mark at spud@1967spud.com
For sales, reloading advice, and accounts, contact Amber at amber@1967spud.com
For sales, reloading advice, new products, and returns contact James at james@1967spud.com
For deliveries, stock control, and purchasing contact - Nathan at nathan@1967spud.com
Well, that’s enough of my blathering.
ATB, and may your next shot hit where you aimed.
Spud.