You drove all that way for one box?
Yes. I kinda figured that the dealer might have a finite supply (which has turned-out to be the case) ... and so I felt that I should leave some for other CGN'rs (who do not hand load) who were also following the thread. I also wasn't sure if it would cycle properly in my Rossi, but fortunately it did. I have friends with .44 Magnum revolvers, so it would not have been wasted.
And one box is a lifetime supply to you? Probably yes ... I am an official senior citizen ... don't have to buy a fishing license but also could drop dead any minute. Because there were only a few boxes left, I chose to leave some for others. I'll buy another box or two (for practice and amusement and sharing) if they ever again become available but I am guessing that no amount of practice will make me appreciably more proficient with the few HSM cartridges that I have. I am also guessing that ... if I really need it ...it will basically be a last-minute point and pray scenario. That's also the same reason why I've only fired a few of my fifteen Brenneke Black Magic slugs. Just point and pray and shoot. Make the first one good. Practice with non-rare stuff. (I now use the fine Score slugs from Ammo Supply for practice with my Marine Magnum.) And like many folks, I am working my way through a big box of SKS ammunition, and am becoming quite a good offhand shot with my little Chinese carbine.
In the bear hibernation season I have the .44 Ranch Hand with me every day while I'm doing chores ... stoked with that money-no-object ammunition. When I'm fishing on the river in the summer on foot I often have both firearms nearby. And I carry bear spray. (My neighbour R got jumped from behind by a cougar last autumn.)
You don't shoot or practice enough obviously ...
Who are you to say how much ammo someone buys? Good point. I can't say that. But in this particular situation I got a little peeved ... rightly or wrongly.
The "holy grail supply of cartridges", are you kidding me? For some of us, yes ... if it's rare and really good and now impossible to get.
You need to shoot more and learn to reload. The same cartridges you are driving hours for and not shooting because they are the "holy grail" can be made at home by anyone with a brain at a fraction of the cost. I have a brain, and actually used to cast my own bullets (from wheel weights) and reload for my 4" Model 19 ... in Williams Lake ... in 1974. I have all the reloading stuff for my similar Model 66, but nowadays just prefer to use regular factory ammunition. The K-frame is not designed for a steady diet of super-hot .357 ammunition, and it's just for target shooting anyways. But if I lived on a ranch in Montana, I'd carry it with HSM "Bear Loads" and also hope it never was needed. I buy good-quality remanufactured .45 ACP in Black Diamond for my Norinco 1911.
You would be far better off shooting piles of factory Remington through your gun than one box of golden shells in your pocket that you never shoot thinking they will meet the intended target with no practice. Actually, I have one a them Dayglo green silicone spinning woodchuck targets (from the Blairmore Home Hardware) attached to the upper rail of the log fence that surrounds my backyard. About 10 or 12 metres from the back deck from where I hang my laundry (and from which I had to shoo-away a bear last year ... after first moving him/her from the front deck). The plastic woodchuck is totally pockmarked with .44 sized dents ... I shoot two or three boxes a year and am very comfortable with the gun. Them HSM shells will obviously kick more on The Big Day, but that probably won't affect the first shot too much. I'm guessing/hoping that reloading another round takes long enough to "settle-down" from the original boom.
It's not like I'm figuring to make Annie Oakley snapshots at flushing quail ... where a lot of practice would be A Good Thing.