Very well worded post, Douglas, certainly glad to see you back.
Like you, and for the same reasons, I have also in the past stated I was done posting. Then, I would receive private messages from new reloaders who stated I had helped them, so I have continued, but also in a more limited manner.
In 1956 I took a flying course to get an instructors endorsement on my commercial licence. The chief instructor made a statement to me while we were flying that I have never forgotten and ever since have applied it to all walks of life, in particular to shooting and hand loading.
He told me to never tell a student being taught to fly, anything about flying, that I could not demonstrate to him/her, while sitting in the #### pit with them!
What great advice! Just think what Canadian Gun Nutz would be like, if everybody adhered to that principal. As it is, I have many times on here stated the multitudes of unproven theories that exist on the CGN and people repeat them, completely unknowing whether they are repeating the truth, or a bunch of garbage.
Being considerably older than Douglas, C-FBIM, I started shooting and hand loading well before he did, but I have accumulated no where near the knowledge of shooting, hunting and hand loading that he has. I did, however, go through the entire glory years of shooting and hunting of about twenty years following WW2. Like virtually every shooter of the day, we competed in more competitions than we can remember.
In 1939 I started taking the family 22 on long jaunts in the bush by myself, bringing home a considerable number of grouse and rabbits, as well as shooting squirrels for their pelts, nearly always shooting them in the head, so as not to have a hole in the hide to be deducted from the price. When I was sixteen I started going alone on day hunts with a big rifle.
In December 1949 I bought a Husqvarna 30-06 for myself as a Christmas present. But this was the third 30-06 I had hunted with and had probably shot at least six or seven moose by then.
I am not saying all of this as bragging. Far from it. I am merely pointing out that in all those years as an active shooter, hunter and outdoorsman, there is actually not much in those fields I haven't encountered.
So, I will continue to post, from time to time, if I can help someone and promise not to be enticed into an argument!