A sincere thank-you, and finally. . . .

[TexasJeff]

I've been reading this forum since late fall of last year. I joined it right after the New Year of this year. I finally got brave enough to post my wishes, intentions and questions, and now, finally, I am about to finish my very first smelting session.

The support of the forum is other-worldly. One forum member, Craig (crabo), invited me into his home and gave me a first-class demonstration, then lesson, then "on-the-job-training" on boolit casting.

In this day and age of "me first" and "what's in it for me?" mentalities, how rare is it that an individual will invite a perfect stranger into his home, no less over a GUN related interest or issue, and not expect a thing in return?

I had insisted on taking Craig to dinner, but he made it clear it absolutely wasn't necessary. Craig freely admits that the majority of what HE learned, he learned it from you guys.

Been reloading for well over two decades. I've lost count of the number of people I've taught to reload and helped out with shooting problems/issues, etc. What goes around comes around.

Every time I was ready to ask a question about my smelting, fluxing when smelting, appearnce of the ingots, etc, I walked over to the laptop and did a forum search.

The answer was always there.

The resources here are fantastic. I've been PM-ing Pat Martin and am about to put an envelope in the mail for some of his famous CFF. I've seen it in action firsthand at Craig's house.

I'm about to put an envelope with money in the mail to Alaska for some Bullshop products. Not just because they're great and people who know love them. I'm wanting to become a regular customer because I admire Bullshop's attitude, religious beliefs and dedication to excellence. This site supports him, and he supports this site.

And finally, I've been meaning to do this since I first joined, but I am also wanting to send a few dollars to help support this forum. I'm a terrible procastinator. I guess I've lived by a clock or calendar or deadline for most of my adult life (military, law enforcement, creative director at global advertising agency). Now that I'm semi-retired, I rarely even wear a watch, don't care what day it is, and am perfectly content.

But to those I've told I was going to do business with, I'm getting the stuff together--my procastination is also why I insist on paying IN ADVANCE before anyone send me product.

My first smelting session is coming to a close and I've got a huge silly grin on my face. My casting furnace and mould and accessories will be here early this week. Thanks to Craig and the members of thi forum, I will be able to do my first casting session with at least a modicum of knowledge, experience--but most importantly, with absolute safety.

Thank you again.

Best regards,

Jeff

[Buckshot]

................The best part is actually SHOOTING the boolits you cast up :-)

..............Buckshot

[crabo]

Jeff, it was a pleasure to have you here. I still plan on getting together and shooting some of our homemade boolits. I am sure the steel won't stand a chance. I have spring break March 17th. Email me and let me know what days you are off and I'll see if we can work it out.

You also passed the wife approval test. She's a pretty good judge of character.

Crabo

[45nut]

Jeff,
It is my hope that your experience mirrors most that come here for help and friendship in the silver stream. If we can do but one thing it would be to give confidence to continue the craft we are dedicated to and do it well enough to pry posts from those that have little other reason to post.

It makes my day when posts such as this show up. :drinks:

[mroliver77]

I think all cast boolit folks should move to a common state- county-town etc. ;) Really though the gun crowd and the cast crowd especially are good people. This is a common ocurance with folks on Cast Boolit. I feel privleged to be welcome (tolerated) here.
J

[MakeMineA10mm]

The support of the forum is other-worldly. One forum member, Craig (crabo), invited me into his home and gave me a first-class demonstration, then lesson, then "on-the-job-training" on boolit casting.

In this day and age of "me first" and "what's in it for me?" mentalities, how rare is it that an individual will invite a perfect stranger into his home, no less over a GUN related interest or issue, and not expect a thing in return?

I had insisted on taking Craig to dinner, but he made it clear it absolutely wasn't necessary. Craig freely admits that the majority of what HE learned, he learned it from you guys.


You got to it later in your post, but to re-itterate - not only does this kind of behavior NOT suprise me, I've found it is incredibly common and the "norm" in the shooting/reloading/hunting culture.

My father had a modest gun collection and very modest reloading and casting set-up. (Two moulds and a 10-lb Saeco pot.) He was self-taught and didn't know much of the ins or outs of casting or reloading. I began reading about it in magazines, and then met a kindred spirit (who became my best friend throughout High School), whose father was an FFL and very experienced reloader and shooter. Once I was old enough to have a driver's license, I think I lived at his house about 70% of the time. My friend and I were like brothers. We shot every day in nice weather, and a lot of days in bad weather. His dad basically adopted me. Every night we reloaded (instead of studying mundane things like algebra or composition), and all day at school we couldn't wait to get home to shoot up what we loaded the night before! On rare occasions, some of those cases would stay loaded four or five days until the weekend, when we had a real big shoot-out! One winter day, we were instructed to go out back and take out the stump in the corner of mom's (yes, my friend's mom adopted me too!) garden. 450 rounds of 44 mags later, and there wasn't much left of that stump, but a crater about 5" deep where it once stood... (I don't think that's what Dad had in mind, but the stump WAS gone....... [smilie=1: )

Never once did that man ask for money for powder, primers, or lead. I did help out every chance I got, cleaning up the woodpile, plowing snow, replacing the well pump, cleaning out the basement, etc. But even many of those things became valuable educational opportunities. He was a great man to know, and I miss him very badly now, along with my grandpa, and another man who "adopted" me (but that's a different story)...

I've begun to pass this along, now. I've taught three people how to reload, and I'm preparing to teach a friend about reloading for his new 460, as soon as we can get time together. It hasn't come close yet, but I believe he'll be my second pupil on casting as well. I've also done my best to create new enthusiasts. Recently took a co-worker and her boyfriend shooting, and now they're hooked. This is how we'll keep our hobby and our representative-republic from vanishing, is by gaining new people to be interested in shooting, hunting, and reloading. It's the ONLY way we'll save the hobby and our country for the future generations.

[bart55]

I wholeheartly agree that this group from the first time I happened upon it back in the ninetys ,has always been free with knowledge and always willing to lend a hleping hand. I learned about my snider ,43 reformado, 41 swiss and how to make lee moulds work , I have been the recipient of many group buy moulds that someone has volunteered to honcho ,usually with no more recompense than alot of work and a thanks from the members . I have tried to do the same , helping anyone who would like to learn what was freely given to me. Heck I even got a bunch of free boolits sent from Texas from skeetex to help with my 1917 45 autorim. what a great bunch. I hope to keep this spirit alive