Why are we all so old?

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  • Last Post 17 December 2024
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RicinYakima posted this 02 December 2024

I got my Fouling Shot last week and my grandson-in-law looked at the pictures from the National Matches. "All a bunch of old guys!"

Well, kind of hurt my feelings, but he was right. So I started looking on the internet for precision shooters through the ages. They are all old guys, why? My feeling is that until you reach 40 you don't appreciate putting the bullet exactly in the right spot. Young rifle shooters now seem to fire a magazine, 30 rounds, and hope to get one close to the center. I really don't know.

Below is a pictures of the Andover, OH, rifle club from a century ago.

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OU812 posted this 02 December 2024

I started casting at age 36 and my only mentor was gun magazines. It was a learning process for sure, from bad leading, fouled black powder barrels, poor accuracy smokeless rifle loads etc. It's now more rewarding when i think i have it figured out more. Maybe we should try to mentor our children and grand children...I don't know? I am now 65 years old.

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Bud Hyett posted this 02 December 2024

I'll be eighty years old in two weeks; I began casting at the age of thirty eight after a severe concussion limited the amount of recoil I could take. Also, I had bought a Marlin 1895 .45-70 where I was paying over $.20 a round for jacketed bullets. The amount of work to develop an accurate load intrigued me.

Then I found the CBA and life progressed from there. The men in my family either pass away at 72 (for some reason) or live into their late eighties. I'm working on getting back to shooting well with the remission from cancer. Cast bullet shooting gives me an incentive to keep going.

Farm boy from Illinois, living in the magical Pacific Northwest

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Premod70 posted this 02 December 2024

After viewing the Nationals this year and seeing some really old guys picking up the honors it is apparent that experience rules the game and rightfully so. Our game requires a much broader knowledge base and being young with all the physical advantages doesn't level the field. It's great that there is a sport us geezers can rule even if we need help getting the gear on the table, lol.

Forrest Gump is my smarter brother.

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oscarflytyer posted this 02 December 2024

I think a big part of it is, we are old before we can really put as much effort as required into such endeavors.  With 5 boys, there is no way I would have been able to afford to shoot enough back then, or afford to travel to the matches, etc.  I am 62 and just now getting to where I could go do all that.  And now Grandkids!

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Pentz posted this 02 December 2024

This discipline takes time, which most younger people don't have to spare.  I started at 35 with LEE 358 molds shooting bullseye when I could, but my work allowed little time.  It was not until retirement that there was sufficient time for all that dedicated cast bullet activirty.  I am now 77 and hope I have the remaining time to pursue the mysteries of the lead muse.

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Lucky1 posted this 02 December 2024

I noticed this truism several decades ago: I had either money or time at any particular point in my life but seldom both at the same time. I'm sure that I wasn't the only one in this condition. Fast forwarding to my current situation; still farming but with less intensity but free time is far from being a commodity. I have learned to take a break from the grind and head to some more CBA matches and work on developing loads etc. in my spare moments. Time is no longer on my side. So I agree that the 'geezery I get, the easier it gets' to patiently do this. But I do worry that we aren't bringing enough new people in to keep this organization going whatever their age.

Scott Ingle

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pat i posted this 02 December 2024

Being old ain't for the weak but it beats the hell out of the alternative. Time constraints, young families, and the cost and unavailability of everything nowadays makes it tough for younger guys to get involved. That and computers, cell phones, and black guns that is.

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linoww posted this 02 December 2024

When I shot my first CBA match i was 28 years old.i was 20 to 30 years younger than most shooters. 

Now at 58 I'm  still at least 20 years younger than most shooters.

Young blood not interested unless it's a  tactical type shoot.And honestly most of the time I'm.at the range it's all tactical stuff,even the old guys.

"if it was easy we'd let women do it" don't tell my wife I said that!

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Tom Acheson posted this 02 December 2024

My casting "career" began in 1983. I shot my first CBA match in 1997, was 49 @ the time. Yes, our group photos at the end of ourlocal matches look like the one Ric included in his OP.

We hear it often...I either have more money than time or more time than money. The years spent raising kids has you in the situation of limited time and money. We just welcomed our first GREAT granchild in June. Never thought I see that day! I can recall being in class in high school, looking at my history teacher (Andrew Rindy) and saying to myself..."I'm never going to be that old." Man, was I wrong!

Tom 

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Mal in au posted this 02 December 2024

My cast career started in 1973,joined the Adelaide pistol club that year, all the old boys back then were very helpful and encouraging us young blokes,.38 spec,45 auto, and .32 ,mostly wad cutters in those days, .45 was a RCBS Keith 200 grainer.It was all ISU (Olympic) style matches ,Rapid fire,Standard Gun, Centerfire,To satisfy the local plod our need for 45 autos we developed a match based on the standard 22 match, but a half course,15 shots slow fire, 15 timed. 20,10 and 5 sec. 5 each. There was no such thing as IPSC in those days. We did start a match called service, it was based around the old FBI match I believe, still shot today,90 rounds from 50 yrd to 10 yrds. Various positions.I then I later yrs shoot a lot of cast in rifles ,.22,308,303,357,30/222,6.5X55, and of course the most fun of all my Swede 40/65 still at it 50+ yrs later.my latest venture has been .22 PCP , newest will be BP shotgun!! Cheers Mal in au.

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Shuz posted this 02 December 2024

I'm 83 now and still trying to compete in local CBA matches. However, my peripheral neuropathy has progressed to my hands now and I am have a great deal of difficulty loading my Savage 16 .250 Savage and the Accu-trigger is  nearly impossible for me to control since I  keep inadvertently applying side pressure on the blade and it trips. I am trying to get around that by going to a Remington 700 in .25-06. So far the results have not been outstanding  but

I haven't given up!

 

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John Carlson posted this 03 December 2024

While our average age may be higher than preferred, it should be noted that this years National Grand Champion came from the younger set.  We do see some new/younger shooters (ok, pretty much everybody is younger from this vantage point) but few of them have the time or desire to travel to a 2 day plus tournament.

John Carlson. CBA Director of Military Competition.

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.22-10-45 posted this 03 December 2024

My experience is a little different..taught myself to cast on an old cast iron wood range in 1969 at 15 running ball for a .36 51' Navy Arms Colt. And later, .30-40 Krag , .38-55 & .222 Rem.  Graduated to a Saeco electric shooting IHMSA.  All throughout that period, up to present time, other than a very few pistol shooters, there has only Ben one other member of our club who casts for rifles. I started loading at range to save time in load development...just powder charging & bullet seating..got many wondering looks..finally a twenty something came over and stated..."Oh..you pack your own?"  So even handloading sems to be becoming an esoteric pastime.

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sluggo posted this 03 December 2024

I used to help my uncle reload .38's when i was 11. He was with the c.p.d. My cousin and I would knock out the primers and clean the brass with steel wool. When I got older it was a great way to shoot cheap. Now the economic savings are not as good. I helped a younger guy (35yrs. old) to handload for his 270 win. After his first trip to the range with his "own" ammo and tighter groups he is a happy camper. I am lucky to be retired and have the time to have hobbies. A lot of younger folk are too busy trying to keep up with everything to have hobbies. I was glad to leave the rat race and not look back.

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DanLH posted this 03 December 2024

Well at this years Nationals, I think I was the oldest one there @ 88 and if you look at the Hvy results in 5 shot group grand aggregate, Nathan Daves who is about 15 beat me by 0.001. So, there is hope for the younger people but you are right, it's mostly and old guys sport.

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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.

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OU812 posted this 03 December 2024

Does anyone else have way too many bullet moulds? Over the years or since 1996 I have purchased several to try and discovered I only need about 4 or 5 of them.

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pat i posted this 03 December 2024

Does anyone else have way too many bullet moulds? Over the years or since 1996 I have purchased several to try and discovered I only need about 4 or 5 of them.
Without a doubt. Mostly 30 caliber but a slew of others too that I thought I needed at some point in time. I'm continually finding molds I didn't know I even had. If LBT was still in business I'm sure I'd have even more.

 

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RicinYakima posted this 03 December 2024

Describe what you mean by "too many". I think I have about 80 or so, including my first Dixie mould from 1961 for the 36 Navy C&B.  There are at least 50 I will never cast with again, but it wouldn't make my life better if I sold them. 

The only way I have been selling some is if someone posts that they are looking for a specific mould and I have it and will not use it anymore. 

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Bud Hyett posted this 03 December 2024

Does anyone else have way too many bullet moulds?

Yes. And I'm getting ready to sell many of them. Some are discontinued, some are custom, some simply did not work out. I've finally realized that one mold cut for the leade and twist rate of the rifle in a heavier weight is the best approach. And I'm getting too old to spend days shooting a possibly good production mold rather than tailoring a load for mold cut for that rifle. o

Edit: The nice item from inventorying the molds for sale is finding an unused brass Eagan 6mm 88-grain mold I didn't know I had. It is tapered like the SAECO #315 and has great promise. 

Farm boy from Illinois, living in the magical Pacific Northwest

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linoww posted this 04 December 2024

I need to catalog my molds.i too find ones I didn't know I still had.

"if it was easy we'd let women do it" don't tell my wife I said that!

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OU812 posted this 04 December 2024

Am I too old to learn paypal? Yes, Elon Musk cofounded paypal...then sold it.

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RicinYakima posted this 04 December 2024

And that is how be became a billionaire!   

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sandwman posted this 05 December 2024

Being old ain't for the weak but it beats the hell out of the alternative. Time constraints, young families, and the cost and unavailability of everything nowadays makes it tough for younger guys to get involved. That and computers, cell phones, and black guns that is.

I totally agree with Pat I. statement above. 

As for me I started casting at 17 years old, teaching myself the art. I had no choice if I wanted to shoot as much I wanted to. I am now teaching my 14 year old grandson which makes me a little giddy, I must confess. I also have 6 younger grandkids, including 2 girls who are already interested in shooting. One granddaughter who is 10 wants to learn how to handload. Wow, I am blessed. 

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Tom Acheson posted this 05 December 2024

It was more of a fire sale when I sold 40 some molds. I too suffered from the mindset of buying yet another mold for yet another “new load” and then that load flops!

This post inspired me to take a mold inventory. There are (13) molds to serve (10) guns. I’m calling this chipping away at down sizing, in anticipation of eventually selling this house.

Tom

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Rockydoc posted this 05 December 2024

“Mentor our children and grandchildren “. I immediately thought of the old hack “You can lead a horse to water…etc.”.   I have had a hard time even getting them interested in reloading. Much less casting.  I am 87 and I don’t want to leave all this reloading equipment and supplies in the hands of the disinterested.  It could be dangerous.

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wimilkman posted this 06 December 2024

I didn’t start shooting and reloading until I was 40 at the persistence of my father in law he got me to a range with my wife’s coaxing and we all know how it goes after that. I shoot all handguns but do not cast my own bullets due to where . I live just buy them as cast from a couple sources. I had a great mentor my father in law he helped me with everything, I now try to pass that on to younger shooters/reloaders but most of them I have mentored just want to shoot the wonder nines and have no interest in reloading. They would just rather buy cheap 9mm ammunition and blast away. I am now starting to help a younger shooter with reloading he has bought a press kit and next week I am going to help him with a reloading bench and mounting his press. He has already bought brass, bullets , powder and primers with me helping him we have had a lot of phone calls back and forth. I am 69 and try to pass on as much of what I have learned as possible.

Fred H.

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linoww posted this 06 December 2024

I'm running low in molds myself.And it's not the full family picture.  After going though this pile looking for my 25720 Ideal I remember I'd given it to Joe G! 

 

 

 

 

"if it was easy we'd let women do it" don't tell my wife I said that!

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RicinYakima posted this 06 December 2024

Fred H., you are a great guy! Wish I could find another young guy to mentor. 

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pat i posted this 06 December 2024

I'm running low in molds myself.And it's not the full family picture. 

George I think it might be time for an intervention!

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Tom Acheson posted this 06 December 2024

 

Reminds of what someone told me in 2009, right after I bought my CSA Model 74 Sharps...."welcome to the world of mold and rear sight collecting".

The rear sight collecting thing didn't happen, I bought one for the rifle and that's all. For molds I own (3) for use in that rifle. So I guess I avoided the curse. 

That photo of a "handful of molds" is quite scary! I never imagined I could have been in that situation.

Tom

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linoww posted this 06 December 2024

 " be afraid of a man with one gun,he likely knows how to use it "

the guy with way too many molds can't make up his mind and probably can't stay with one load that works.

"if it was easy we'd let women do it" don't tell my wife I said that!

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RicinYakima posted this 06 December 2024

Duplicate post.

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Premod70 posted this 06 December 2024

If you cast and fired bullets from all those molds you have my admiration. Good to know the disease is not reached total fruitation in my house!

Forrest Gump is my smarter brother.

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linoww posted this 06 December 2024

I bet I've cast with 90% of them. then I go back to the 20 molds that are my standards and the others sit.

I like to have options when I'm looking for new toys.Having molds for calibers I don't yet own is helpful.I also provide bullets for close friends who shoot odd calibers ammo and bullets are hard to find.i trade for lead.

last week a buddy scored a mint bore Russian berdan rifle. I had a proper dimension heeled bullet and with an assortment of form dies and lathe work I made a  couple of cases and we got it shooting.

"if it was easy we'd let women do it" don't tell my wife I said that!

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wimilkman posted this 07 December 2024

I like mentoring people that have some interest in reloading and shooting. I do it because I like to pass on what I was taught and have continued to learn I feel if we as older reloaders don’t mentor the younger people they just won’t take much interest in it . This all started with just a simple question on reloading from him and it grew from there . And as far as the title of this post goes,,,, We’re not Old just Older!!!! And hopefully Wiser!!!

Fred H.

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Millelacs posted this 08 December 2024

We're all lucky enough to live as long as we have.

I started casting in '77 or '78 with a used 4-cavity 311291 mold and a cast iron skillet on the stove.  My ladle was a spoon formed to have a pouring spout on the end.  A rag was wrapped around the handle, tied on with a string to keep from getting to hot.

I've still got all of that, Thankfully, I've upgraded my equipment "a bit" since then.

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trapdoor4570 posted this 08 December 2024

Why are we so old?

We were lucky.

Many friends didn't make it.

To many molds?

NEVER.

The next mold will be a world beater.

But in our hearts we know it is the nut behind the bolt is the problem.  I started molding around '65 the price of surplus ammo was starting to go up.

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RicinYakima posted this 08 December 2024

Me too in 1961 for the Civil War centennial when my dad bought older brother and I cap and ball revolvers. 

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Millelacs posted this 08 December 2024

 A couple more thoughts:

We were posted in Indonesia in the late 90's and our son was about 10.  He decided he wanted a 30-06 with a black synthetic stock and a big scope.  I told him I had stuff at home he could try out and see what he liked.  And he could load his own ammo, to make it "better".  He couldn't wait to get home and try it out.  Of course by the time we got back on leave, he lost interest, and time for reloading was really short.  A downfall in a career overseas.

Now, at 37, the only rifles he is interested in is .22LR 10/22s.  For his 9mm I can't even get him to save his spent casings for reloading in the future.

Second:  This morning I was at an indoor range.  The guy next to me was shooting a .300 Blackout.  When he was done, I told him the range master had swept some of his casings into a pile next to the wall.  He said it didn't matter, he didn't reuse them.  I asked if I could take them for a friend, and he said go ahead.  97 once fired casings.  Before I left he was praising the .300 Blackout, how great it was, and it was the only thing he used for deer hunting in Minnesota.  Sounded like he shot it a lot, but didn't bother to reload.

Most youngins are just not interested in taking the time to load or cast, they'd rather just shell out money to buy ammo.

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Coydog posted this 08 December 2024

I started casting fishing sinkers that my dad taught me when I was really young and then in the mid 80s I started to get into reloading handgun and rifle and started casting my own bullets. Since I learn the bases from my dad . It came natural to me my dad was interested in it also. For what I learn on here and other sites .Got me to improve my casting for the mix of alloy and the more knowledge  for slugging the barrel and lubes and PC . Still learning,   You not old . You just get wiser and better for what you like to do. It just that the body changes on you. Otherwise one keeps learning and willing to help those that is willing to do it like to learn. So we can past down so it will be kept going forward. That is how I look at it . 

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Eutectic posted this 09 December 2024

My Dad cast fishing sinkers, salt water fishing takes a lot of sinkers. My first rifle was a 71/84 11mm Mauser. The surplus ammo was old, paper patched, and not dependable. Commercial ammo? You must be kidding! Jacketed bullets - not available. My first Lyman mold in1962. My mentor was our boy scout leader who cast bullets

The Marines whetted my interest in pistol and rifle shooting. My first revolver was a Ruger 357 purchased at the post PX. Factory ammo was expensive but I knew how to deal with that, a Lyman mold.

After the Marines I went to college. I wanted to shoot with the pistol club. I needed a 22 and a 45. Soon I had a High Standard and a Colt National Match. Feeding the 22 was easy at 90 rounds a match. The 45 was 180 rounds as I used it for both center fire and 45. 180 rounds of jacketed match 45 ammo was a sore hit. I knew how to fix that, a nice 4 cavity Hensley and Gibbs mold.

New gun calls for a new mold. Used mold at a gun show!! Needs a new gun!

We have to get them started YOUNG.

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Idahocaster posted this 09 December 2024

I started reloading when my grandfather gifted me a Swiss K31 and there was no surplus ammo available at the time. Later he gifted me a 30 caliber mold, a lead pot, and a push though sizer. The black rifles and plastic pistols have never interested me. Revolvers and military bolt actions are my thing. I've gotten to the point where I have money, but still very little time. Attending a match is still not in the cards for me, but someday it will be. By then I will probably be one of the old guys too!

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ALYMAN#1 posted this 17 December 2024

Amen to all above - too many molds and probably too old.  Thanks for all the philosophy,

Al

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