Load testing

[Don McDowell]

I was asked the other day "how do you guys find time to always be testing these powders and stuff, why I only shoot maybe 15 lbs a year"

Well didn't really have a good answer at the time, but after some consideration I think I have it figured out.
Questioner is a hell of a good rifleman and is blessed with the natural ability. But I can see why he wouldn't have the time to mess with stuff like some of us do. He lives in town, has to gather everything up and drive 20 minutes to the range. Just that in itself is enough to discourage the time and such that it takes to "test" something new. Then you have to consider what's at the range when you get there, on the weekends there's all manner of stuff going on, and it may not be possible to get a spot to set down and take your time with "testing".
Where folks such as myself and others can basically slip out the back door and crank a few rounds off. If they don't seem up to snuff it's no big deal to go back to the bench and make a change or two in the load and back out the door and do it all over again. We can wait to get the perfect conditions to chronograph or shoot for group, we're not constrained to what's available when we get to the range.
As I told him at the time, sometimes we don't shoot much at all, other times we keep the UPS truck rolling up and down the road delivering components.
I feel very fortunate to be able to shoot the way and when I want to.