I am not into politics, religion, music or a lot of the things I read about here I am into guns and computers.
I just did a Kuro5hin search for "firearm" "handgun" and "pistol". I was somewhat surprised that the searches returned a rather anemic list of stories. Perhaps it is just me. There were a few stories mostly news. Now, IAAA (I AM an American). At the risk of starting a Holy War on either side of thie firearms issue I ask the community for a bit of indulgence while I ramble on with my questions / museings / opinions.
Some background is in order. I am ~50, born and raised in the Midwestern U.S. I am NOT one of these "Take my gun from my cold, dead fingers" types but I do believe in the absolute right of an individual to defend their home, family and property. By any means available wherever they live. I am a country boy. I hunt for meat. I shoot for fun. Computers are an addiction and I do computer, network and technology consulting.
My arsenal has gone from dozens of firearms in the past to a mere handful at the present time. As far as rifles are concerned I have owned everything from a .17 Bee to a .300 Weatherbee Magnum, including many in the middle of this range. Many an odd duck cartridge has been in my collection like the .357 Roberts, .45-70's, et al. Much like computer Operating Systems they all do basically the same thing with different uses, advantages and FUD surrounding the "best" for whatever job was at hand. Experience has led me to the conclusion that, just like an O.S. there is no "one" that is good for everything. While that old .17 Bee could damn near put one bullet inside the hole of another at great range with very little recoil or noise, it was traveling so fast that it would damn near vaporize the light bullet on leaving the bore of the rifle and could be deflected or fragmented by a blade of grass. Not much knock down power, either. Now that .300 Weatherbee could disable a Mac truck at 300 yards and it was pretty accurate but it could dislocate your shoulder if fired improperly. Just 2 example rifles and the differences between 2 tools that do the same basic "thing". Both were fine, beautiful rifles. Each had its use and one was not "better" than the other beyond a specific use. The point being that if I had the need to stop a bull elephant or enraged rhino the .17 Bee would be all but useless while the .300 Weatherbee would do it with authority and finality, all things being equal. Nor would I use that .300 to clean gophers out of the hay field as it would be like swatting a bee with a sledgehammer. It would be dangerous to neighbors and livestock, expensive and extreme overkill. As well as a waste of resources.
NOTE: I do NOT advocate killing for pleasure and certainly not the killing of endangered species for any reason beyond self preservation.
A few years ago I started shifting my arsenal over to handguns for several reasons. Living in a relatively small farming state we do not have any "big game" hunting opportunities beyond the White Tail deer. The law allows shotguns only with handguns included lately. Large bore rifles are extremely dangerous in populated areas and with a limited legitimate need beyond target shooting I slowly sold most of them off.
About the same time I started shifting my arsenal over to handguns I discovered Linux. Slackware .99 I believe. I have always been a do it yourself kind of guy. I had reloaded my own ammunition for decades before this. Those first few Linux installs were a good parrallel to my "roll your own" philosophy WRT reloading. You could get what you wanted with a little effort and try some things that were not available otherwise. I guess I was an Ammo hacker. I found the same satisfaction in using Linux as I had in reloading. There were catastrophic failures in both endeavors but I never gave up. I learned from my mistakes. I now wear shooting glasses while reloading and shooting and I backup my data often. Guns and Ammo are inherantly more physically dangerous than computers. I blew the side out of a fine Winchester 30-06 by stuffing too much vigorous powder behind too heavy a bullet once. I've lost several hundred Megs of data by hitting <enter> in a telnet session (B4 ssh) without reading the command closely rm -rf / is a lot different than rm -rf ./ heh. I guess what I am saying is there is a lot to be said for being able to customize your tools and equipment but it comes at a cost in effort, time and perhaps safety. It is not for everyone.
OK, you got this far so I didn't bore you to tears or you found it entertaining or perhaps you just need some ammo for the flamethrower. Thats cool, I welcome your comments but hear me out.
This is NOT a firearms or Linux advocacy piece. Not everyone should have a firearm nor should everyone be a Linux user. I am only attempting to draw a parallel between customizing ammunition for a specific use with customizing your computer software for a specific use. You can save money doing both although at the expense of your time. Both can become an obsession if you let it. Niether will bring you great riches, except to a few. Both can be exceedingly rewarding. Both have led me on to new exciting uses of my hardware. Niether has brought me fame or fortune. A firearm and its ammunition are simply tools, ditto a computer and its OS. Tools which you can custom load with whatever you need to get the job done.
While whatever the factory loads for the retail trade may do well for some, it is not for me. Reloading like Linux, BSD, et al are definitely not for everyone. It can provide a rewarding departure from the norm if you are willing to put forth a little effort.
Fdisking a factory install of M$ and slipping Debian/GNU 2.2 with a 2.2.17 kernel on the HD feels nearly as good as that well placed shot from the .44 Mag with 24 grains of H110 and a 240 gr. JHP handload that puts that fat doe in the freezer. Both help me retain my sanity. Both give me a sense of having accomplished something useful in my own way. The OS was free and the reloading components cost me less than a dime and a couple minutes. Both do exactly what I need no more and certainly no less. I have more I could blather on about but this has gotten pretty long and I can get into it in the discussion phase.
The questions are. Are there other communitiy members out there who reload ammunition? Are there other pastimes / hobbies that people engage in that have similar parallels? Am I totally and completely off my rocker?