How did this start?

[Char-Gar]

shooters.com was on of the "umbrella" boards and the cast bullet section was just one of the forums. When shooters.com went belly up, the cast bullet folks sorta wandered in cyberspace for a couple of years, landing first one place and then another.

Five years or so ago, the group found a home here, and it has grown by leaps and bounds.

I don't know when the cast bullet guys started with shooters.com but I hooked up in 1998. 'They were going pretty strong by that time. We were a bunch of guys who had been casting and shooting in isolation and bumped into each other on the Internet. We began to share information and experience, argue, dialog and many good things happen that formed the knowledge base we have today.

Not many of the "planks" are still with us. There are a few, but most have grown tired and/or frustrated and have dropped out. The names of Mad Mexican, Horsefly, and others should be remembered for the contributions they made.

[9.3X62AL]

IIRC, the term "boolits" was coined to dodge firewalls or other filters that stopped terms like "bullet". Not certain as to that, though. Odd that a few folks are annoyed by use of the term, but it does appear on a couple other boards I infest as a descriptor for castings. Not my doing, I should add.

I'm here almost daily as well.

[waksupi]

IIRC, the term "boolits" was coined to dodge firewalls or other filters that stopped terms like "bullet". Not certain as to that, though. Odd that a few folks are annoyed by use of the term, but it does appear on a couple other boards I infest as a descriptor for castings. Not my doing, I should add.

I'm here almost daily as well.

That is a good point on the "boolit" spelling. It will bypass a lot of filters, that block other gun and shooting sites.

[Charlie Two Tracks]

That is what I was wondering about Chargar. It is too bad some have left. I guess that is the way it usually goes though. I just like to hear of the history of the site and people.

[Char-Gar]

Charlie.. Change at any level is something most human's don't like. We favor continunity over change is every area of life. The older we get, the less we tolerate change.

With the influx of new casters and posters change was bound to happen. While it is a great thing to have new folks involved in the craft, it also produced some change that set the old boys teeth on edge. Among which were:

1. A flurry of the same basic questions, that occurred over and over and over again. Folks were not willing to do a search or read a book. They wanted the Big Boys to spoon feed them. For a time, you smile and give the answers. After while it starts to grate on your nerves.

2. Then you have the influx of feaux experts that didn't know alloy from their anus, repeating some of the bunk they have read in the pulp gun press as if it were holy writ and arguing with the folks who really did know. That get's tiresome real quick!

3. There there are the always present personality conflicts, whereby one of the parties gets pissed and moves elsewhere. We have lost several good folks that way.

Why did the "planks" move on? More change than they wanted. I continue to hang around, but I have gotton pretty surly!

[blackthorn]

If you go back and look you will find the same questions occurring at intervals throughout the old posts. I believe this cycle happens as often as a "new" lot of shooters (would be casters) begin to participate. It may be that researching a simple question becomes daunting when they open up the thousands of pages of information that exist now. At least that is what I tell myself when I start to get irritated! At the end of the day, I am not obligated to reply in any way. We all started somewhere. Have a great day.

[qajaq59]

I have noticed that some of the old timers have gotten quiet. It's just natural that they would skip answering the easier things that can be handled by the ones with less experience. But if a serious question comes up they often come back in to help.

[Beekeeper]

Please excuse a complete newbes answer.
I have been casting for nearly 50 years.
When I started I was out in the cold sort of as there were no other casters around me except family.
I am 74 years old now and didn't get a computer until I was 68.
It took me until 2 years ago to find this site.
And yes I ask a lot of questions that someone else has already answered.
Mostly because I have an extremely hard time using "search".
If you do not know the right words to put in you get nothing that helps and that is frustrating.

Personally I have received more help here from the "plank owners" as you call them than I have ever received in all the years of going it alone on what I read in a book.
I almost stopped reloading completely as the rag writers now days are more of a hinderance than a help( sorry Rocky Rabb but it is true)

I think I would pack it all in if I didn't have this forum to go to for info and answers to my (dumb and often stupid) questions.
But that is only one mans opinion!!


Jim

[Char-Gar]

Beekeeper. Your story is like most of us who have been with this board for a while. We worked in isolation and when we got together and shared, the craft took a giant leap forward. We busted many cast bullet myths that had been around for generations and were oft repeated in print by the "experts. WE also had a good crew of hard science types who could quantify and explain why things worked they way they do. Many of us knew what worked and didn't work, but we didn't know why. Once you know why, then finding a linear path of sucess became much easier. When we worked along, our sucess was often hit and miss and we didn't know why. Since this board matured, we know know why and the hit and miss is gone.

I still see most of the newer posters on this board "jackrabbiting" around trying this and that without a linear approach or much understanding of what they are doing. They just seem to want somebody to give them a load so they can skip the learning and testing. They posses little interest in learning the "why", they just somebody to spoon feed them the "what".

Folks who want to learn the craft are always welcome to ask question. That is how we all learned much of what we know. It is just the "grab a load and go" folks that get under my skin.

I told you I was getting surly!!!!

[Beekeeper]

Not in my book!

I am guilty of the jackrabbiting as well as When I found this place I couldn't find time enough to ask all the questions I had.
I"ve slowed way down now and find I enjoy the site even more this way.

Just wish I could figure the search function out.

Like my kid says garbage in garbage out,
I just can't seem to find the right search words so get a lot of garbage out and kinda get discouraged.

Jim

[goofyoldfart]

Charger: I do have to sort of agree with Beekeeper. My biggest problem was trying to find the proper word sequence to use the search function. You know, It's funny, I have worked with computers for over 28 yrs. (putting them together and loading programs) but some things--well, I have a serious "Senior Moment" I have been reloading and casting since I was 10 yrs old with my Uncle Joe. I am Now almost 66 yrs old (65 11/12 yrs.) and find that I haven't realized how much that I have forgotten. In my late 20's and early 30's I shot h**l of lot of cast and really enjoyed it and completion. as I got older, work interfered and I didn't cast as much and reload as much. I have had a couple of Bosses that were the proverbial slave drivers. (Guess that's what happens when you are a good worker and have a sense(Misguided?)of loyalty. Now that I'm retired I am starting to get back into the swing of things and enjoy myself. Even though I have been casting and reloading for 55-56 yrs. I am still learning (or re-learning ) new stuff each time I peruse these pages. I having a ball just reading as well as reloading. God Bless to all.

[badgeredd]

Charlie.. Change at any level is something most human's don't like. We favor continunity over change is every area of life. The older we get, the less we tolerate change.

With the influx of new casters and posters change was bound to happen. While it is a great thing to have new folks involved in the craft, it also produced some change that set the old boys teeth on edge. Among which were:

1. A flurry of the same basic questions, that occurred over and over and over again. Folks were not willing to do a search or read a book. They wanted the Big Boys to spoon feed them. For a time, you smile and give the answers. After while it starts to grate on your nerves.

2. Then you have the influx of feaux experts that didn't know alloy from their anus, repeating some of the bunk they have read in the pulp gun press as if it were holy writ and arguing with the folks who really did know. That get's tiresome real quick!

3. There there are the always present personality conflicts, whereby one of the parties gets pissed and moves elsewhere. We have lost several good folks that way.

Why did the "planks" move on? More change than they wanted. I continue to hang around, but I have gotton pretty surly!

Well put Charger.

Others for help on the search engine:
One way to get more out a search on this site is to go to Google and use the advanced search. Putting in http://castboolits.gunloads.com as the domain to search (the last line of the advanced search page). Usually people put in too much (making the search to tight) or on the other hand too little info (making it too loose) to get the desired results. Often one can put in a broad search and then go back with a narrower search to find exactly what they want. This suggestion was made several months ago and I've found it to work very well. I'm kinda just repeating what was said by others in the past.

As for the plank holders, we still have many and they are ever helpful. I'm impressed with the ever present patience of many so I tend to ignore the repeated often questions figuring someone will answer it one way or another eventually. Often it is a relative "newbie" that gets a bit tired of the SAME ole questions too.

By all means, this site has a vast array of personalities, but as a friend has said (he's on this site too) I have yet to meet a member face to face that I don't feel comfortable around. It is amazing we have so little conflict here to me with the number of members we have.

Edd

[HangFireW8]

Putting in http://castboolits.gunloads.com as the domain to search (the last line of the advanced search page).

I find it faster to limit the search on the standard Google page as thus:

site:http://castboolits.gunloads.com/ search terms

To narrow results I put a "minus" in there with undesired results, like this:

site:http://castboolits.gunloads.com/ wanted_info -unwanted_info

To force Google to hold two search terms in order, use double quotes:

"220 Swift"

Putting it all together:

site:http://castboolits.gunloads.com/ 22 Hornet -rimfire -"long rifle"

-HF

[45nut]

IIRC, the term "boolits" was coined to dodge firewalls or other filters that stopped terms like "bullet". Not certain as to that, though. Odd that a few folks are annoyed by use of the term, but it does appear on a couple other boards I infest as a descriptor for castings. Not my doing, I should add.

I'm here almost daily as well.

actually,, every other name that I wanted to use was already registered and taken, boolits was a last resort but considering the heritage of the word it fit nicely as a tribute of sorts to the fellow refugee's from the old shooters board.
No disrespect was ever intended to those that think a bullet can only be spelled one way and any variant is "cutesy" or such,, it literally has a provenance to those roots and the meaning is spelled out in my signature.

Anyone can be the target for the disdain created by words , it's not meant to be an insult though.

[Charlie Two Tracks]

Thanks HangFireW8. I did not know that. I would just hit the search button and put in something like .359 and get all sorts of stuff to sort through. I will try your method.

[BOOM BOOM]

HI,
I was on the old amieo site. It was very good too.
When the move happened I spent more than a mo. printing the threads there as I was afraid it would disappear. There is a lot of good info there as well for you newbies.
Now there is a sticky with its link.
THANK YOU FOR THIS SITE!