I have a bit of a different perspective now a days than I had , even just 5 years ago.
Trying to not goin to a lot of detail, but it may take me some time to try to explain it.
Skip it if ya don't feel like reading this.
Anyway, I like to "experiment" (
might also be called,"extrapolate") on some loads I shoot & have done so since I started reloading and particularly after I started casting bullets. Same with alloys & that with casting. Or, with lubes or using PC... You know... Trying different things to see what works for me & what doesn't.
Generally if I found it to be basically my only option, or if I wanted to try something that had not been tried as far as I knew in my limited exposure to others who reloaded & cast bullets, I either could have just stuck with "book loads", and did not try other things, or did what I did. Stuck with the same alloys, stuck with the same lubes...
I'd Experiment/extrapolate, when necessary, or if I thought I might find improvement.
Basically when it was about load data, it came down to the situation that many times I could not find what I wanted in paper manuals & so I had to do what I could to figure out how to safely make something work that was not out there in print.
With all that I did , I did not "catastrophically disassemble" any of my firearms & no one has ever been hurt. I may not have always reached the goals I was after, but that is just how things go sometimes. Many times things worked out just fine.
With that said, the reason I typed out the first sentence is why I became a bit more hesitant after I saw just how folks were getting BS-ed about things in general, but most of all about the quality of products that were being offered, and how many just took for granted. ( Oh I know I did...For a while anyway. Bet most did...)
Then I realized that while the price of things was getting higher, not just due to inflation or shortages, or even jus the "times", but at the same time the quality of things was diminishing at the same time. Some might say, "drastically".
(
Things are not like they were in older times when something was "Made in Japan", or "Made in Taiwan", or "Made in China" was basically saying it was a POS product compared to US made or even German made, etc... You know if ya lived it then. )
Not unlike the "shrink-flation" ya see now a days with the bag of chips staying the same, or the bag/box/etc. might even be the same, but less chips in the bag/box/etc., and more "air", and the same goes for boxed goods as well as canned, or for that matter most any "containerized" stuff.
Then another method the make $$ & you get less, is the amounts get smaller & so less of it in the same container so they reduce the container size, & still less amount of product, but the Price Goes Up. Doesn't it?
They want to make $$ & not lose anything when it comes to inflation, supply issues, whatever... It is all about where they can "save", or "make" & get away with it....
So that brings me to....
We have, in our pastime/hobby/tradition of casting & reloading, seen the same has gone on in the price of the components, haven't we?
Price of components has gone up, hasn't it?
Well, then how about "Quality", or even "Quantity"?
If the price has risen, we can sort of expect that with supplies being limited & all that jazz.
We EXPECT the quantity to be the same.. What was a pound is still 16oz, and so on up to an 8pound jug of powder. Still the same amount, container pretty much the same. The price went up though... Just a "supply thing"?
100 or 1000 primers is The price went up though... Just a "supply thing"?
Where could the bean counters still make some more $$$ since the pound has not changed & the "count" has not changed?
QUALITY of product could be reduced or, QUALITY ASSURANCE ( QA) becoming less "stringent" & important. THAT might be a place to count them beans & make more $$, couldn't it.
Yeah, I know some of you are shaking your heads...
Let me ask ya something though while ya shake the head...
Would ya ever thought that having parts fall off airplanes, which USED TO HAVE some of the most stringent QA inspection standards in the world, to start happening "regularly" almost, with doors falling off, cowlings separating in flight, etc., would seem like it was getting more & more common?
At least compared to the past? Like Five years ago? You know what I mean. I hope.
Well, just with those examples, I can only say that I will keep on doing my "experimenting/extrapolating" in the same way I did before,
BUT, I am still gonna "Start low & work up" just as I did before, whether with established "Re-Loading Manual" load data, or my own doings.
I
No Longer Trust what I am getting, "Of Any Product", to be as reliable, or as good of quality as it was 5 years ago or before. (
What is commercially produced that still is? )
That bums me out & spooks me a bit... Not just for myself, but more for my concern about this issue as I try to get my sons and grandsons more & more into our shared pastime, I want them to also learn that not everyone is looking out for their best interests & when it comes down to reloading & casting, it is Your Butt that is on the line for what you are doing. Not anyone else.
So, While I understand working up from previously established loads, as I have done it myself, or , working up new stuff or "experimenting", it seem prudent & safer to me to keep doing the old ways & also only change one component at a time & if ya change one, Start over & work up the load.
Long one... Oh well. Either it gets read or not.
I don't get paid for it. Just sharing an opinion. YMMV, of course, as they say.