Extract from 'Rifle Magazine, #215, September 2004, John Barsness.

• You've seriously debated the difference between the .270 Winchester and .280 Remington and ended up owning both.
• If the only thing better than the latest, newest 'in-rifle' is a really old rifle.
• You spend serious money buying rifles you once owned as a kid.
• When cleaning out your shaving kit for the same trip, you discover an ejector assembly for a 98 Mauser.
• You reach in your pocket for change and amid the dimes and quarters find a recovered bullet from a bull elk.
• Somebody asks for a good 7X57 load and you can recite every one you've ever used.
• Your rifle safe is like Heaven: There's always room for one more.
• You buy 1000 rounds of brass at a gun show and have to buy a rifle to use it.
• While hunting groundhogs in North Carolina you want to plug the ballistic data from your rifle into your laptop. However you don't remember the ballistic coefficient of the bullet so you call a friend in the Rockies who always has such information at his fingertips. He does. (You're BOTH rifle loonies).
• Your local firearms emporium has your number on speed-dial.
• The heavy barreled .223 Rem you bought last year will average five shots in 0.35 inch at 100 yards but you've decided to spend $600 rebarreling it with a Lilja hoping for better.
• The bullet selection on your loading room shelf exceeds the variety available at your local shooting emporium.
• You'd rather read a new Brownells catalog than a new Playboy. Really!
• The gun safe you bought last year is already too small.
• In your mind a foot-pound never has anything to do with rhythm.
• You buy a used barrel at a gun show for $35 and spend $850 putting together a rifle around it.
• Every centerfire in your safe is chambered for an "Ackley Improved" cartridge.
• Your favourite travel rifle is a prewar drilling chambered for 12g over 8X57R.
• You told your wife that your latest purchase was an "investment" - and either or both of you believe it.
• You take more than one centerfire on a prairie dog shoot so one can always be cooling.
• You buy a .375 H&H just in case you ever get to Africa.
• Your UPS man comes up the walk with a long box singing "Here's another one".
  
• You own anything at all called a 'truck gun'.
• You purchased a set of used dies at a gun show and had to build a rifle to fit them.
• You spend $15000 on a big bore double rifle and consequently can't afford to take it to Africa.

Excerpt from "Speaking Frankly", by the late Frank Marshall.

By Jeff Brown

I remember a few years back contributing to an internet forum discussion regarding the purchase of handloading data manuals as new editions became available. Some people were solidly of the opinion that as each new version/edition of the manual became available it should be acquired in order to stay up to date. At the time I was bemused by this mantra and my question to the group was this. Why buy a loading manual when all the data is freely available online? That seemed like a fair question and to my utter surprise came a response that resulted in my outlook on the matter taking a 180 degree turn.

A very astute contributor stated a number reasons for owning the manuals, some I had never considered. First up he opined that owning the material in hard form made it yours and it was available to you at your leisure and in your possession at all times. Like any book, by purchasing it in its physical form you can do as you see fit with it independent of those that produced the material. The same can not be said for 'owning' online, 'e' versions of literature where, in essense, you have only purchased a right to read the material and often based on the availability of the platform the seller operates on. Should the vendor cease to exist so does you 'book' and your access to it. The second point was that depending on your location and coverage the online material may not always be accessible. An example may be that your loading room may be located such that a WIFI signal is not available. I know that at my club one of the major telco networks has terrible signal strength so accessing the internet is near impossible certainly on a mobile device. The third and arguably most prudent point was that data for old components is eventually weeded out from online sources as stocks fade of discontinued lines. After all, why would a supplier continue to list data for a powder that they no longer supply or haven't done for some time? Should a user be solely reliant on vendor websites for load data only the most modern powders, primers and projectiles will be listed.

The third point has really home to me in recent years. As shooters I know have exited the sport either by choosing a different hobby or the inevitable permanent exit from this world I have come into possession of components that have not be available from retailers for a good many years. For most part I am referring to propellants as when stored correctly these can remain viable for decades however I have also received shotshell wads not manufactuered for two score or more and for which loading data is long gone from sight and the old style brass slip on gas checks unfamiliar to newer, less seasoned shooters. Examples of powders acquired lately are the long obsolete Winchester 452AA and 473AA shotgun/pistol propellants. In the 70's and 80's both powders were widely available and used in great quantities by scattergun and handgun loaders. 452AA was 'the' trap powder for 2 3/4 dram target loads and 473AA at home as a field powder but both also lending themselves equally well to pistol cartridges but try and find that pistol data now. The challenge in our modern online world is to find reliable and reputable data for either as Winchester/Hodgdon do not list these powders any longer. The answer, of course, lies in the advice from our friend on forum. Old manuals and/or brochures.

Sadly I recently learned of the death of an old shooting friend and cast bullet crank. His widow has entrusted me with the disposal of what remains of his shooting supplies and literature. All of his loading manuals and such remained at his loading bench when I recovered them just last week and a wider variety of material I had not seen including many older versions of current manuals and powder supplier brochures. Scanning through the old Winchester catalogs/brochures, sure enough, there was the data I was looking for. In addition similar data was listed in, you guessed it, the older loading manuals.

Moral of the story. Online sources have their place but there is not substitute for hardcopies of loading data especially when old components find their way to the surface.