Probably No Real Way of Knowing..

[Char-Gar]

As I read the posts on this and other board, I can't keep but wondering how much of this information is;

1. Based on enough personel experience to draw a valid conclusion.
2. Something that was read and repeated.
3. A theory, not proven by personal experience
4. Wishful thinking

Just wondering........

[Blacksmith]

Some of all of them. Figuring which are which is the trick.

Similar things could be said about News Media, Polititions, Teachers, Managers, Friends, TV Shows, etc.

Blacksmith

[jcwit]

Sorta hard to make an intelligent reply when there is no way of knowing what we're discussing!

[btroj]

I think 2 is way too common. I detest 2.
1 is always nice. I can even live with 1a- personal experience on a limited scale if it is not extrapolated to all situations.
4 can be often summed up with the work I hate most here "Best"

[Blacksmith]

Number 2 is often something said as well as read. Like my uncle said.....

Blacksmith

[Charlie Two Tracks]

As a new person to casting and reloading, this has been a very big concern. From advice on another board, I did something to a revolver so it would be able to shoot lead. This was highly recommended by the boards resident expert. Well, I didn't have to do this procedure and it has made casting (for this paticular revolver) much harder. On this board, I look at who posted or responded and see if others agree with the advice. It doesn't take long to see- who wants to be noticed and who is just stating their own experience and what worked for them and their equipment.

[badgeredd]

Shortly after I joined Castboolits, Molly started a thread about this very subject. After reading his comments as well as everyone else's, I have tried very hard to clarify my statements with something to let the reader know it is based on MY experience or opinion. I also try to include something to indicate how much experience I personally have had with the subject. I definitely have my favorite posters on different subjects as well as those I honestly ignore. SO IMHO, one has to work at gleening the good info out of the multitude of other info. Really it is my feeling, that the majority here try to give the best verifiable info they are able to give.

Edd

[btroj]

Well said Edd. Well said.

[PatMarlin]

Generally, I follow the "Higher Post Count Number" ... the lower the IQ rule.

Works for me.,

[fatnhappy]

As I read the posts on this and other board, I can't keep but wondering how much of this information is;

1. Based on enough personel experience to draw a valid conclusion.
2. Something that was read and repeated.
3. A theory, not proven by personal experience
4. Wishful thinking

Just wondering........

caveat emptor.
The advice found here is worth at least twice as much as you paid for it.

[Char-Gar]

Generally, I follow the "Higher Post Count Number" ... the lower the IQ rule.

Works for me.,

That is funny Pat. I notice you post count is way over 7,000. You got guts my friend.

[crabo]

I think you have to be here for a while and read a lot. After a while you get a sense of who knows what they are talking about, and who still needs to learn a lot more.

I always try to comment on things that I have personally learned, don't comment on stuff I don't know, and let others speak for themselves. You will also see trends where some people have one way that they do things, and don't vary from it. Casting to me, is not a one size fits all process.

[PatMarlin]

Would it have made more sense if I put a smiley face by it? ...:mrgreen:

[gandydancer]

[smilie=w:remember the old saying. ?????? eh I forgot.

[Blacksmith]

PatMarlin

several of these would have been more appropriate.
:kidding::kidding::kidding:

Blacksmith:bigsmyl2:

[PatMarlin]

Texans and Californians don't get our meaning ..:mrgreen:

[JSnover]

Shortly after I joined Castboolits, Molly started a thread about this very subject. After reading his comments as well as everyone else's, I have tried very hard to clarify my statements with something to let the reader know it is based on MY experience or opinion. I also try to include something to indicate how much experience I personally have had with the subject. I definitely have my favorite posters on different subjects as well as those I honestly ignore. SO IMHO, one has to work at gleening the good info out of the multitude of other info. Really it is my feeling, that the majority here try to give the best verifiable info they are able to give.

Edd

I remember that thread. Pretty well said it all.

[SciFiJim]

Texans and Californians don't get our meaning ..:mrgreen:

This must be right, because I was born in Texas and live in California and don't have any idea what that means. 8-)

[waksupi]

#1 usually wins out here. Because those who try to answer with #2 are immediately corrected, because someone here will know if it is an old wives tale, dangerous, or just plain untrue. #3 and#4 kind of mix together, and give us some interesting things to experiment with.

[44man]

I never believe anything I read! All my life, I have done one thing only, I set out to prove things wrong. Gun rags can be the worst for information. Old wives tales are a pain in the butt.
When I developed my bow tuning method for broad heads, I read that the head must be perfectly straight on the shaft. They even sell expensive jigs for it. I proved that a bunch of junk.
I took perfectly tuned arrows and installed smaller bushings so I could force heads sideways, some almost 40* off. I shot all arrows into the bulls eye at 40 yards, not a single arrow went askew.
I proved it is tuning that counts, the head will not steer the arrow. This is different from wind planing that happens at long ranges with large heads.
I do the same with revolvers, in fact, any gun. Even my work with primers has taken years of testing to learn what and where to use certain primers.
Fellas here have experience to listen to. Yet some things are posted I know does not work but I will not argue about it because it may work for them.
The most important thing a shooter can do is to try things to see. You must sort out for yourself and reject any failure fast. The worst thing to do is to keep repeating something expecting it to improve.
Information here is the best in the world and you will have a million things to try but it is up to you and your gun in the end.
You will never read your way to accuracy, hard to say but you must do the work.

[44fanatic]

#1 usually wins out here. Because those who try to answer with #2 are immediately corrected, because someone here will know if it is an old wives tale, dangerous, or just plain untrue. #3 and#4 kind of mix together, and give us some interesting things to experiment with.

Think you are right on the money with this statement.

One of the best things I have learned from this forum is searching what has already been posted, then you look at the posts from the SME's that have posted. You quickly learn who knows what they are talking about and who is just "relaying"information.

Of course, opening a thread or a comment with "I heard" or "I read" can be a valuable tool when it is used to open discussion or invite input to a topic...could get someone killed or maimed when used as a definitive source of information.

[Char-Gar]

I enjoy these kinds of threads, where we reflect on what we are all about and how we get to where we want to be. It is most often helpful to look around from time to time and get our bearings.

There have been many good replies and Walsupi's post is about where I am at as well.

the statement by 44Man is as close to pure truth as things can be said;

"The most important thing a shooter can do is to try things to see. You must sort out for yourself and reject any failure fast. The worst thing to do is to keep repeating something expecting it to improve. Information here is the best in the world and you will have a million things to try but it is up to you and your gun in the end.
You will never read your way to accuracy, hard to say but you must do the work." 44man

Some years back I made the decision to limit my comments to my experience and to try and not post about the experience of others. This means I must not jump into some issues, I would like to be involved with, because I have no experience.

I put my little disclaimer at the bottom of each post to warn others and to keep myself honest.

[sundog]

Over time, a lot can be known about a man by what he does not say.

[Char-Gar]

Over time, a lot can be known about a man by what he does not say.

The Chinese say..."The more you talk, the more mistakes you make."

The Mexicans say.."En boca cerrada no entran moscas.".. Flies don't enter a closed mouth.

I could do better at keeping my mouth shut!

[Harter66]

I am guilty of #2 . It happens from time to time. I now use more caution and go find the book page and paragraph before stating what seemed like sound advice, occasionally like GWB I've mis-remembered. Which I've been destroyed on once or twice. I've also seen dozens of references to get book/s xxxxxxxx and read it, go read alll the stickies then ask if you still have a question. It seems to run both ways "you don't learn it from reading" "go read it here"..........thanks for adding me to your ignore list.

My expirence is limited I have found a number of solutions for my tools that are seemingly unique to my tools. So I offer what I have. If it doesn't work,oh well, when it does,well it does.

By the way thanks for steering me to some of the books that you have.

In the course of making invitations to a social group I've found at least 1 member that stated straight out that the result of his asking a noob question was to be pummeled sent to the stickies which he had read. He was asking for some clarification in his own post. He told me he doesn't care to have anything to do w the board period. I know just 1 guy in 20k.

Apoligies for the off track yet somehow relivant post.

[btroj]

Reasi is critical, at first. The key is to read, the go and apply what you learned. It is a combination of book learning and bench learning. The important thing is to find what fits YOUR NEEDS.
Asking questions is a valuable way to garner knowledge but the question needs to be well thought out and clearly defined.

As an adjunct to original question- What one specific "rule" is the most over emphasized in you opinion? I would say it is BHN.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I am guilty of #2 . It happens from time to time.

I like to help people, as I suspect many other members here also.
So I post quite a bit, even though I am quite new to casting.
(I log all my casting sessions, I am up to 33 in the 13 months
that I have been casting.)

I try to only post answers to questions I have personal experience with,
But sometimes I post answers to questions, which I do not
have personal experience with and have only read about,
but I try to post a source or at least say, "I have yet to try it".

one of my own personal rationale's to frequent posting is that
typing out a answer post helps solidify these things in my memory.
Jon

[max it]

Hey, You should post a poll on this one; anyway
1. I am from NYC, where you ask 10 people for directions to one place and get 10 diff answers.
2. Dont believe anything you hear or read; and only 50% of what you see. Bible excepted.8-)

keep your powder dry,

Max It

[SciFiJim]

Before I started casting, by definition I has zero experience to draw on. I have no one around me who casts, who could show me the ropes. I had to draw on what others said worked. Also, with no experience, I could not evaluate the credibility of what was being said. Fortunately, it worked out for me. I found this forum early on and it has helped a great deal. Through continued reading of posts I have learned who is worth paying attention to because of the reasoned posts they have of their experiences. However, it is possible to right reasoned posts with no experience just based on the experience of others. Hopefully, those with the experience will police the posts of others and point out the hazards of what is sometimes proposed. After all, one of the reasons for this forum is for ideas to be shared and learned from.

[Blacksmith]

How you ask questions is important. Some people have an abrasive way of posing a question and get short, curt answers while others ask in a way that draws people out. As you read threads pay attention to how the questions are asked that get the best responses. Generally the questions that give enough information and are specific in nature do well. Also questions that show the asker has done his homework get better responses.

Remember information exchange is a two way street.

Blacksmith

[casterofboolits]

I try to only post answers that I have personal experience with. I started casting in "73" and ended up with my own csting business for 23 years. Primarily for IPSC shooters and I have cast several million boolits. I was out of work for a nine month period and cast boolits paid all the bills.

However, what works for me and my alloys, may not work for others as what I do was geared for the best production rate I could get. I haven't had the business for eight years now and still can't cast with less than two moulds for the boolit I want for my own use.

[redneckdan]

The S/R here seems to be pretty good.

Seems to be a common trend with forums. General gun forums, ie THR, TFL have a lower S/R than say specialty pistols, castboolits or silencertalk

[geargnasher]

Here's a comment from another thread, I really think it captures the essence of this topic quite well:


Being able to separate the wheat from the chaff has always been a valuable skill in all of life's activities.

Gear

[MtGun44]

I always try to put "IME" (In My Experience) when I am writing about something that I have
personally done or watched done, put "In My Opinion" or IMO, when it is just an opinion. Ans
opinions have to be weighed against the reputation for knowledge on the particular subject
by the author of the opinion.

I can have an opinion about something that I don't know diddly about, and the opinion is
worth little or nothing. On the other hand, my opinions on certain areas of engineering
where I have been employed for about 40 yrs may carry more weight.

Ultimately - what gear is referring to, originally written by Bwana is right on.

Bill

[Recluse]

Like the majority here, I try to relate what has either worked, or failed, for me and then I try to communicate the circumstances.

Perhaps even more importantly, I try to make sure and not take the "Well, it works for ME so if it's not working for YOU, then YOU must be doing something WRONG" point of view.

The tumble-lube concoction and technique I posted on the Lube forum serves me pretty well. But I've received enough PMs from folks to realize it is not a one-size-fits-all concoction/technique by any stretch.

Likewise, I generally get along okay with Lee 2-bangers, but FULLY understand why many casters despise and denigrate them. When I post about them (Lee molds), I try to explain how I prep/Lee-ment them and how I cast with them as to why they work the way they do for me.

If I pass along something I've read or heard, I try to qualify it with a source or a link (or both), but if I do pass something along, it's generally with a more casual attitude of "I read/heard about this. . ." and am throwing it out for general consumption and contemplation--not as casting gospel. :)

:coffee: