Kevin Thomas
Well-Known Member
Viking and Barnesuser28,
The issue isn't what the OP choses to do with his rifle or his own handloads. The problem is his disemination of faulty, inaccurate and downright wrong information. As I pointed out earlier, this site is frequented by some very experienced and knowledgable handloaders, but it also has plenty of new guys who are just getting into this stuff. Part of the problem with the OP is that he seems fairly articulate, which masks the misinformation he's spreading with some degree of "credibility." What he's promoting here incorporates some completely erroneous statements, misinformation and some potentially dangerous assumptions. He clearly doesn't understand how proprietary powders come to be, how they may (or may not) achieve "cannister" status, or even the basics of how powders are made. He doesn't even have the terminology correct, which is rather important in a technical field such as this. For someone making proclaimations regarding how you can "duplicate" factory loads, I'd consider such knowledge to be a fairly basic requirement.
I've detailed precisely how this sort of misinformation can be dangerous, and can most definately result in damage and injury. Over the years in this industry, I've seen any number of "inveterate tinkerers" manage to screw up their firearms, and occasionally themselvers in the proces. In the field of ballistics and firearms, I'm a court accepted expert witness in several states, and have testified in many criminal and civil cases over the years. A great many of those civil cases were the result of these homestyled tinkerers going off track and trying such ill-advised ideas. Some of them seem downright comical to an experienced rerloader who knows the process, but I'd remind everyone that they seemed perfectly logical to the guys who did them, simply because they didn't know any better.
Something everyone who engages in this activity needs to understand is that it's potentially dangerous, and yes, you CAN get hurt. Unfortunately, many of the injuries I've testified on, came from what seemed perfectly reasonable to the handloder at the time, because they had bad information or made dangerous assumptions like the OP has here. Unlike the OP, they injured themselves, and weren't trying to promote their "methods" to others. If you manage to hurt yourself through your own stupidity, that's on you. But injuring someone else who happens to follow the bad advice you put out, that's a whole 'nother ball game.
As I've already said, you need to be extremely cautious about where you get your information from, and cross check that info with other sources. In ANY of the reloading manuals from any of the major component makers, you'll find dire warnings against trying to identify powders by appearance. As for identifying them by smell, I can assure that that idea was simply too ridiculous for any of us to even consider including a warning about. Perhaps we should have. In the meantime, dig a bit deeper before you take "advice" of this sort. The more you know about the topic, I can assure you, the more you'll understand the folly of this entire thread.
The issue isn't what the OP choses to do with his rifle or his own handloads. The problem is his disemination of faulty, inaccurate and downright wrong information. As I pointed out earlier, this site is frequented by some very experienced and knowledgable handloaders, but it also has plenty of new guys who are just getting into this stuff. Part of the problem with the OP is that he seems fairly articulate, which masks the misinformation he's spreading with some degree of "credibility." What he's promoting here incorporates some completely erroneous statements, misinformation and some potentially dangerous assumptions. He clearly doesn't understand how proprietary powders come to be, how they may (or may not) achieve "cannister" status, or even the basics of how powders are made. He doesn't even have the terminology correct, which is rather important in a technical field such as this. For someone making proclaimations regarding how you can "duplicate" factory loads, I'd consider such knowledge to be a fairly basic requirement.
I've detailed precisely how this sort of misinformation can be dangerous, and can most definately result in damage and injury. Over the years in this industry, I've seen any number of "inveterate tinkerers" manage to screw up their firearms, and occasionally themselvers in the proces. In the field of ballistics and firearms, I'm a court accepted expert witness in several states, and have testified in many criminal and civil cases over the years. A great many of those civil cases were the result of these homestyled tinkerers going off track and trying such ill-advised ideas. Some of them seem downright comical to an experienced rerloader who knows the process, but I'd remind everyone that they seemed perfectly logical to the guys who did them, simply because they didn't know any better.
Something everyone who engages in this activity needs to understand is that it's potentially dangerous, and yes, you CAN get hurt. Unfortunately, many of the injuries I've testified on, came from what seemed perfectly reasonable to the handloder at the time, because they had bad information or made dangerous assumptions like the OP has here. Unlike the OP, they injured themselves, and weren't trying to promote their "methods" to others. If you manage to hurt yourself through your own stupidity, that's on you. But injuring someone else who happens to follow the bad advice you put out, that's a whole 'nother ball game.
As I've already said, you need to be extremely cautious about where you get your information from, and cross check that info with other sources. In ANY of the reloading manuals from any of the major component makers, you'll find dire warnings against trying to identify powders by appearance. As for identifying them by smell, I can assure that that idea was simply too ridiculous for any of us to even consider including a warning about. Perhaps we should have. In the meantime, dig a bit deeper before you take "advice" of this sort. The more you know about the topic, I can assure you, the more you'll understand the folly of this entire thread.
