Aaron
posted this
03 December 2024
Simply put, I now have the time and the money to enjoy casting and handloading for all the oddball calibers I shoot. I started handloading in the early 80s to shoot 38 Spl and 9mm cheaper on the PPC league. When I got involved with J.D. Jones, it became evident that I would need some of his 44 and 45 caliber bullet molds to really make some of my guns perform better on game critters. My casting career began in earnest then. I always found some time to load and cast between parental duties, even trying to get the boys involved. They had other interests however and their mother was never a fan of either me or my shooting activities.
The boys are gone now doing their own parental obligations and trying to keep up with all the current electronic gadgets and minivans for the grand-kids. With a paid-for home and no other major expenses, my wife and I can enjoy our hobbies. She travels and I cast and load for cartridges the younger crowd has never heard of which aren't all that old anyway.
It was just yesterday when I explained to a young "business degree" graduate at Campbell University about the IT bubble bursting in 2001/2002 where both my wife and I lost not only our retirement money, but our entire stock portfolios as well. He had never heard of it. Wasn't even a footnote in the curriculum at university business school. I wonder if he ever heard of the stock market crash and the depression? We started over at age 45 at 1/3 the income.
Remember too that we older guys, generally boomers, have a different way of doing things. We study things, We ponder things, We experiment. We are problem solvers. We READ. We know most of what is available online from keyboard commandos is total BS. We see it here on the forum whereby some members clearly know what they are talking about and a few do not. It's easy to spot if you really have 40 years of casting experience - although this IS a learning forum for all of us - regardless of our experience level.
At the range I do see a disgusting expense of money in 223 ammo, X-Blackout ammo, 308 ammo and yes, 9mm, 10mm and all the new weekly wonder cartridges. To see a youngster spray $1,000 of ammo downrange through a $5,000 AR platform is amazing. The barrel is left smoking from heat, the bore is getting shot out within a year from the abuse, and the youngsters envision themselves in mortal combat with paper targets or dirt clods on the berms. It's scary actually. I wonder if their families are cared for as they expend their money on fantasy serving activities. They certainly have the money, just not the desire to handload or even worse....cast.
I am now at the age, have the disposable income, experience, knowledge, and desire to ENJOY my hobby. Therefore I do. Just last week I was fussing with Accurate Mold 31-120I and wondering why the bullets I cast from it would not completely chamber in a Ruger Single Six 32 Mag revolver. Bullets cast from the subsequent casting session would chamber. Explaining as-cast bullet diameter to an uninterested person is pointless. Most of you experienced casters know about this when casting with different alloys. Yup, the 20:1 alloy bullets chambered. The Lyman #2 bullets did not. I'll have to test that alloy to see if it is still Lyman#2 or perhaps drifted off to some other alloy after being added to in the pot for about a year. Odds are it's something else now right?
Enough rambling from an "old guy" here. You other old guys better get your breakfast going. You younger guys should be at your desk at work by now after putting up with your traffic filled morning commutes. HA! I sure don't miss that.
Shoot Safe
With rifle in hand, I confidently go forth into the darkness.
