I have and still do help develop loads, and load ammo for select people, never charge. To me, it is about the other person.
One story sticks out though, about 5 yrs ago, facebook groups were big, esp LR shooting groups, one was Wyoming Long Range Shooters, fantastic bunch, knowledge was shared and passed, general info, and pure unadulterated ridicule, my kind of group.
One day, a member pipes up, I have this LRI built 243, shoots fantastic, but I think I am over max on my charge, then posts his data. Bam, he gets bombarded with whoa, pump the brakes gordon, don't fire another rd. It was 44gr of H4350 with a 105 hybrid. So he asks a poster, "do you have time to help me", big fat "no, out of town all summer working, but milo has more time than God". Oh boy, here we go, now others are offering up my services.
Now I am tagged in the post, so I pm the guy, we chat, I crunch numbers off his parameters in quickload, yes, you may be over charged. So we make arrangements, be here at 8 am, 15 loaded rds, 10-15 fired rds, 30 prepped and primed cases, bullets, powder and seat die. We chat again when he gets here, look things over, devise a plan. He did not own a chrono, so we will chrono and group his charge, load some rds for alternate load and shoot a ladder at 500 yards, see if we can find something suitable. We do that, jump in PU and head south to the proving grounds We paint some steel, use a template of a crosshair that matches a MOAR reticle at 500 on some bigger steel. I throw the magneto on, of coarse he has no dope, so I make a profile in a phone to get us close. He gets on a plate at 500 with magneto on, running 3175fps, 26" barrel. I tell him, probably a little warm, how are you shooting, feel you can knock a group out at 500, yes. He proceeds to shoot a 3 shot 1.5" group at 500, tough act to follow for sure, plus his brass does not look beat up.
After a cool down, we shoot a ladder at 500, with 41.0 to 42.5gr charges, we are in the zone. I tell the guy, let's go back, load 40 rds of 42gr, i can tell, he has seat depth nailed, should be easy. Get back, he has to go retrieve brass and more bullets, close to lunch also, I ask if he could eat a sammich, yes. He leaves, I mess around, send the little woman out for burgers, it all times out. We load 40 rds, head back south, first we need to verify this is going to work, bingo, 1" group at 500, we chrono, comfy 3075 fps, happy camper.
I ask if he has ever banged steel, nope, so I adjust the app, get a solid zero, with my help he connects 1st rd impacts to 800, floundered at 900, and got hits at 1K. I did my job, and felt good.
Later that night, he posts up that milo got things squared up, rah, rah, rah, I did feel good.
All good, but 3-4 days later he posts up, load is great, but I think I can run it faster. Duh, not think, you know you can, but i will tell you, I was ticked, I wasted close to 7 hours, gas, and lunch money for this. I honestly could not believe it, we toned his load into spec, shrunk his group size, but now he is going back. I told him he had wasted a lot of resources for this.
3 mos later he pms me again, can you help with my 308, 2 shots and a flyer. Reluctantly, I said sure, told him to bring rds and come by, we will go shoot. I was lucky this time, first thing I did was check his action screws, loose, I give them the fat wrench treatment and go to the gun club and shoot. problem solved.
For me, it's the person, not coin, nor the satisfaction, you will be vetted before you set foot in my garage for help today.
