Mark started T&R as a reloading supply business in the spring of 2012 as a simple means of paying for his own tools and reloading supplies in order to be able to afford to target shoot more often.

That cold day at the range, Mark walked up to a range officer and asked a very simple question “What do you guys do with all the brass in those buckets?”. After an astonishing answer of “we send it for scrap”, Mark asked for permission to take the brass home with him, and was given approval to do so. He quickly loaded bucket after bucket of brass into the back of his SUV and trudged home with his new found bounty and the idea of “if I sell this, I can buy powder and bullets at Cabelas!” swirling in his head. Upon arriving home with the brass, 2 very critical lessons were learned. 1) Range buckets are full of a lot of really disgusting things and 2) you should really check with your wife before you have these “great ideas”.

After several weeks of sorting brass and throwing away the nasty stuff, the brass was then thrown batch by batch into a simple Cabelas branded walnut tumbler, and then carefully sorted into ziploc bags for sale on a local forum, and eventually at a local gun show where he split a table with a good friend. It was after this show, and the money that came in that Mark was suddenly hooked on this idea of running a “brass business” in order to pay for tools, and more importantly, toys!

Now, nearly 8 years later, T&R has grown from the humble days of shoving brass into ziploc bags and sharing a 4×6 table to an online sales presence, website, branded products and a facebook group dedicated to reloading that boasts over 10,000 members. Also gone are the days of just selling “brass from the range” with growing quality controls, deals with clubs across Canada, and new products such as paracord survival belts and slings, and Black Rifle Coffee. Oh, and no more ziploc bags… ever.