Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles I must be getting old

I was browsing through my latest edition of the Handloader magazine, and was looking at the 6.5 RPM. I normally look at speeds and compare them to my 260 Rem. This time I looked at speed but also powder consumption, and thought, "Nah, not worth the gains if I have to use that much more powder. Plus, my 260 will still easily kill deer at 400 yards, and if I need something bigger I will use my 30-06"
Kind of cracked me up at myself, thought I must be getting old. BTW I am only 38
PS. another contributing factor may be that the price of powder is creeping up. I like to check "shots per lb of powder" and using a 90 grain charge sure makes the powder go down faster than 45!

"We grow too soon old and too late smart."

I wouldn't say you are growing old, more like maturing.

I've gone the same way over the past several years. I call it reverse magnumitis. 😏

I don't do any real long range shooting, so I've pared my rifles all down to small and midsized cartridges. Save myself some powder and a lot of beating on a bad shoulder and neck.

Not so much for handgun rounds, but in rifles I generally try the lighter charge powders first to try to get the most bang per pound, since I'm not chasing velocity anymore.

H4198 is a favorite, but since it has been essentially unobtanium for several years now, IMR3031 has gotten worked pretty heavily into my loading, since it generally shoots pretty well and gives fair speeds with fairly light charges compared to a lot of other powders.

Yep Powder is getting way more expensive (when you can even find it) so I sold off all my Magnum chambered rifles because they are powder hogs. I can make a pound of powder go a lot further shooting my .308 Win chambered rifles and have just as much fun....Hb

You are not old, just reasonably sensible. Up until recently, I have not shot any of my bigger cartridges for a while now. I even took my damn 7mm08 elk hunting last year!!! Funny thing though, I've been shooting a new 30-06 quite a bit over the last few weeks. First time out and I burned up 82 rounds, then the second time it was 70. After looking at the 3 green MTM boxes that were empty, I thought to myself, "damn I just burned up over $300 worth of ammo!!!! H4350 and 200gr nosler partitions don't grow on trees!!! In times like these, I look at my ammo and component supply with a more watchful eye. Sometimes it makes me cringe..

That kind of shooting I why I buy 168 grain match bullets at bulk prices when available.

I hear you. I also have a bunch of 168's, but they were not loaded. Trying to wring out a new rifle. Established a good base line with the 200gr partitions and el cheapo 180gr Winchester powerpoints. Those damn powerpoints have been a great bullet for paper punching and also hunting with. Glad I bought 750 from Crod here when prices were dirt cheap. I don't think that man gets enough praise here!!!


Also, I don't hunt with match bullets. Good to know a rifle is capable without them. Like I've told you many times, anyone can get match bullets to shoot good.. Load development will start soon for this rifle, as it is now solid. The foundation and mechanicals like Bedding, scope mounts and scope are proven now. Time to really start having fun with it..

If you want it, age doesn’t matter.

Welcome to the Age Of Reason.

I keep looking at all these nifty new guns, reading reviews and going over ballistic charts, until that little voice in my head says, “Wake up Grandpa, you’re 70 and ain’t going to Africa, probably not Texas, nor even Iowa. You have enough crap to play with, so enjoy it while you can and stop wasting time (and money) on stuff you’ll never use.

It’s still a struggle.

Excellent and very wise post here. I feel the same Pappy 👍......Hb

Yep. I've more rifles than get hunted now - about 13 years for the .338WM (probobly going caribou hunting this fall), and over 20 for the .243 - last shot 4 years ago when I was tuning the bedding, and last hunted over 20 years ago. I've a Belgian Browning A-5 12 ga. that's never been hunted by me, after I inherited and re-blued it over 20 years ago.,

Most my rifles are merely hobby projects . Cheaper than fixing an old truck.

Pappy, you're right. You're talkin' sense there. VaHillbilly, I totally agree with you. When you're right, you're right. However, every now and then I get the urge to get just one more.....

I'm just two years younger and realizing old age has really caught up to me. I'm selling off rifles. It's funny how they multiply when you start with inheriting four or nine and add some every few years. There's not much, if any, hunting I'll ever do again that can't be done with a 180 grain bullet at 2700 feet per second so most of them have to go. Then, there are a few extra shotguns around that rarely get any use any more. Heck, the sales are financing a nice fishing trip this year along with adding an inflatable boat to the fleet and putting a down payment on a Jeep (old one, not Fiat made).

The Fait made ones are the better ones, it's those Mercedes Benz ones that weren't so good.

Down to 2 A Roberts and a 270 Win.

At my age, I question a lot of thing. I look at some wildcats and think, "that is a lot of cost and trouble to only pick up XXX FPS over a factory offering".
I look at new factory offerings and think, " that is only XXX faster than the old round that it is supposed to be better than".
Then I think about brass and where are you going to be able to find it in 10-15 years.

My 6.6x55 swede has seen a lot more use in recent years, than the larger calibers.
Turning 70 will do that.

I’m 78, and damned if they don’t still keep showing up in my safes…..handguns and rifles.