pjvrefugee said:
I have reloaded since the late seventies, used certain powders that are now somewhat difficult to obtain in my area. therefore I am buying that which I know will work, and looking for data so that I may make good decisions and cut my try this and that time to a minimum.
Hi,
Quick suggestion, not just for this poster, but for anyone who's reloaded a while and asks a question:
You may find a more "friendly" reception if you "introduce" yourself some, with a touch of background on your question. A lot of people don't write so well, in person, and definitely on the Internet, so questions that sound just fine to them can seem like rank newbie stuff once they hit a screen.
To tell the truth, I couldn't tell from the OP whether we were dealing with a newbie or what? So let's consider a rewrite of the question, out front, instead of waiting many posts into a thread, as we see in this one:
"I've been loading since the '70s, and have used Brand A products most of that time. But with the recent problems getting powders, I've only been able to come up with some Brand B and Brand C, which are new to me. I know some of you have loaded them for years, so if you've got any pointers to get me back up to speed quickly, and maybe recipes using them for (insert caliber), it would be helpful."
Or something like that. I'm sure anyone with a question like that is in good company considering the market "situations" of the last couple of years!
And then set aside some of the "kinder, gentler" (???) responses you'll get. Some folks like Wil can be good at being irritable, which we've talked with him about, but don't expect much change. I wish I had a tenth of his experience, but in its place I might have ten times his patience, especially with what must have appeared to him to be a newbie question, too! So it's always good to hang around a while and learn both the characters and their characteristics--makes it easier to ignore (or distill?) some of the answers!
Remember, too, that "sharing" reloading info and recipes is not the same thing when you're sitting at the bench or talking at the range with a buddy and working on something new as it is on the Internet. Who knows how many dozens, hundreds or thousands of people read any given post, and we've all seen bad info spread faster on the forums than thru most any other medium we've devised so far! So it shouldn't be too surprising that a lot of folks just don't like "sharing" their recipes, not knowing who's gonna use 'em or how, and suggest straight away to "go to the books."
Some of us have other backgrounds which affect that mentality, too. Mine, for example, comes from a decade plus of running a trap and skeet range, where we were bombarded with questions. My boss had a rule: "Never give anyone a 'recipe.' Grab one of the books, point to an appropriate section, and tell the person 'A lot of people use loads in this section.'" He recognized the way amateurs always seem to "know more than the pros" and how some things grow like fish stories. Old habits die hard, ya know? Especially whenever I remember our glass display case of "mistakes"--many of them the result of someone's own "interpretation" of what would work--which looked like a bunch of twisted and torn metal, some of it with rust spots from the blood... OUCH!
It's not a perfect world, but we can each do a little to make it less imperfect if we don't go getting our knickers in a knot every time an answer on such an impersonal medium as the Internet isn't to our liking!
Rick C
