A milestone of sorts .... kinda ??? ok maybe :-)

[Metal god]

. I started loading hand gun almost 2 years ago and had only loaded rifle before that . When I started loading for hand gun my rifle shooting really dropped off as well as loading for them . For the majority of the last 2 years I've dedicated pretty much all my reloading and shooting time to hand gun with a few exceptions . In that time I worked up many loads in both 9mm & 45acp using multiple components in both to get a good cross section of loads . Meaning one bullet using multiple powders , cases and primes . Repeat with another bullet etc etc . Some time last year I also came across some new rifle bullets on sale I had not used before and worked up multiple loads for those as well .

Test this test that , come home pour over the data then ask questions here at TFL . Now filled with all this new info . Load , load , load then back out and test , test , test . All that loading and testing pretty much took up all the time I had for the hobby with really no time to actually enjoy the shooting part of the sport .

So I'm at the range today testing some new loads both pistol and rifle as well as confirming others are as good as my data/notes say they are and I realized something as a finished . I'm satisfied with all my loads in both pistol and rifle as far as all the components I use and currently have . As of now that's a good amount because leading up to the election I was stocking up .

The bigger point is that I can actually go shooting now for the fun of it from now on . I'm actually very happy just thinking about this . Today a buddy came with me and as it's been for the last 2 years or so . I'm there in my own world shooting groups over a chono then writing in my data book .While he's not 10' away shooting but it felt like we weren't even there together . I was doing my thing while he was doing his .

After I finished my testing I pulled out my Ruger 22/45 and he and I started shooting together like we used to . Games like tic tac toe , elimination games or just seeing who could shoot the eraser off a pencil at 25' . It was a very fun time I've missed and I'm so glad I'm done with testing loads and I can get back to shooting for the fun of it again .

Any of you get so caught up in testing you lost track of why you started shooting in the first place . As I write this I can't help but to think ahead to how much fun shooting is going to be this year .

[Jeffm004]

It is easier for me to find time to load than shoot. And the .308 load I thought I had kinda fell apart last weekend. :/ BUT, I'm taking a 3-Gun course and the day after, the entire day to shoot. Just shoot. Running unloaders all day

[Mike / Tx]

Growing up I was learning handloading at a young age and similar to your experience I went through the same things. Then I got married, had a daughter, and was divorced in less than two years, again at a young age that pretty much shut me down for a couple of years until I got my head screwed back on straight.

With the new daughter running around with me and having been sent an Angel to rescue me from my pit of despair, I managed to get back into things and get rolling along and back into shooting.

As the years passed I wound up with grandsons who now took up a LOT of my development in that verses buying smaller caliber rifles for them to learn on I used what we already had. They have all successfully gotten into shooting and while still knot headed boys, they all love for me to say,"who's goin to the pasture".

Your right though it is a ton of fun to sit and play those type games with someone who means a lot to you. Growing up I always had close friends who spent this time with me or my Pop who always seemed to be just a smidge better than I was. Now most of them have passed and my sweet wife, the aforementioned Angel, spends that time with me.

There is a lot more to it than meets the eye, and it runs a lot deeper than folks give it credit for. In our family it is heritage and is passed down to the next generation along with the tools in which to carry it on.

[JeepHammer]

Yeah for you MG!

I kind of did the same thing, lots of technical/test shooting, not much 'Fun'.

Now I have my 'Pet' loads, when the idiots or friends or kids show up and want to shoot, we just break out some ammo and shoot for fun.
Targets on springs for the kids so they move, gongs for the guys or walking targets, NOT breaking out the 'Boomers' so everyone can shoot that cares to...

Lots of .22 LR again, no broken budgets, shoulders or ear drums!
Just plain FUN!

Knocking down pistol plates has never really been my thing, but several people seem to really like the old speed gun targets, so I tuned them up.

Glad to hear you made it back to having fun again!

[g.willikers]

I've ever only loaded in order to shoot.
Never got involved in what you describe, but a good friend followed your path.
We've both had a good time.
It's all good.
And, like you say, it's mighty hard to beat a fun day with .22s.
I mostly like using reaction targets with .22s.
Swingers and spinners, both store bought and home made.
My first bunch were made of wood instead of steel.
Cheap and easy to make and they worked surprisingly well.
Enjoy.

[ligonierbill]

Hear! Hear! At some point, load workup can start to look like work. Not really, but it's always good to relax and enjoy some shooting.

[Longshot4]

Oh Yea Shooting games are lots of fun. One of my favorite games is to shoot small targets that fall apart. I don't care much for breaking any glass. To take a soft apple and toss it out as far as I can then shoot it. Pow we have apple sauce. I carry a briefcase to the range with lots of different kinds of targets. Of course sheets of multipole bull's eyes, 1/2" stickers, 1" stickers, and all sizes of disk candies, aspirin and those 81ml. low dose aspirin.
I have squirrel targets and all kinds of printed targets. I keep a stack of cardboard around and tube adhesive to stick the candies... on the cardboard. When I'm done shooting it's a easy clean up and ready for another day. I also have a steel duel disk swinging target that I like to hit out at 300Yds... I just spray the disk white place a cap in the center and spray the disk red. It makes a easy to see at a distance. It pays to handload I love it. But shooting is even more fun.

[Metal god]

And the .308 load I thought I had kinda fell apart last weekend.

I have that issue with an old load for a specific rifle . It was one of the first I ever worked up for that rifle and at the time shot great . The issue I believe is that the rifle was new at the time of load development . Now 3800 rounds later and .075 of throat erosion as of 500 rounds ago ( likely .080 to .085 now ) the load is nowhere as accurate as it once was . I will need to address that at some point for sure because I have 100rnds of that load already loaded . It how ever does shoot well in another rifle of the same caliber and I'll likely dispose of them that way .

[Nick_C_S]

I'm so glad I'm done with testing loads

You're not done.

Any of you get so caught up in testing you lost track of why you started shooting in the first place?

This is a familiar feeling for those who approach loading as a craft - which likely includes just about anybody whose done it for any kind of sustained length of time. The others get bored and go back to buying factory ammo and mothball their equipment.

I rather whimsically phrased it this way once: I started loading so I could shoot more; now, I find myself shooting so I can load more.

It was just last week I was trying to come up with loadings in my head that I may want to test (chronograph). Why? Because once Daylight Saving Time begins, I can position my chronograph where the diffusers are bathing in sunlight (has to do with the rise point of the sun as the days get longer; the orientation of the covered range, time of day, etc). Point is, I was trying to create a need to start a load workup(s) where one doesn't organically exist.

And then there are those times when I go out to the range just to shoot and have fun - feels weird when I don't have my chronograph in tow. And the RSO's have been known to mention it - "Where's your chronograph Nick?"

Yeah, I know the feeling.

[Rangerrich99]

Metal God, I'm on exactly the same page with you. From the time I started reloading about three years ago to a few months ago, all my range time was occupied with testing recipes, and re-testing recipes. Finally a few months back I went to the range without any test loads. I just shot for fun with my buddy, and the friendly competition, good-natured ribbing, etc., just put a big smile on my face. And that's when I realized that I need to go shoot for fun more often and sometimes just let the testing stuff hang for another week or two.

to that end, what I decided for this year and hopefully going forward, is that all of my testing will be done at the beginning of the year and will end by the first week of May (right about the end of spring prairie dog hunting). That way I can hopefully have my cake and eat it too.

[Metal god]

You're not done.

I know

But I am satisfied with where I'm at right now with no need really to test anything else . hmm , well I could use another powder for the 147gr plated HP . I've only tried WSF so far and I like to have at least two powders for every one bullet . That second powder will almost surely be HS-6 with the longer COAL then I used with the 115gr PLHP .