Touching your stuff

I have handed keys to a >$50,000 vehicle to a kid I didn’t know before and even gave him money when he handed them back to me after dinner.

I’m not going to sweat about someone using my tools.

My answer is----------It depends!

My oldest Son and a few of my close friends that are reloaders are welcome in my house and I would not mind them using my reloading room. Those same guys are welcome to use my kitchen, shop, truck, side by side, ect. If something happens while they are there I value our relationship enough to cover the cost. I expect that they would insist on taking care of it theirsellves.

With a few other good friends, I would want to be there. Some of them are reloaders, but probably shouldn't be! They would be likely to pour Bullseye into my can of 4350 or to drop a full box of bullets on the load cell of my expensive digital scale! Or to just leave an unknown powder in the measure! They wouldn't
put anything away and I wouldn't be able to find anything!

The first set of guys would turn off my air compressor, welding machine or torch when finished in my shop. And roll up the cords and hoses, turn off the lights and lock the door. Probably even sweep up any mess they created.

The 2nd group of guys would not turn off anything or put anything away. The air compressor would still be running, so would the welding machine and the gas would still be on on the torch. Cords and hoses would still be stretched out, the door open and the lights on. Sweeping up------uh, forget it!!!

You can forget about casual acquaintances or strangers. I would gladly help them but they would have to earn my trust and respect before being there alone.

Hi...
Nobody uses my tools but my son. He knows how to care for them and how to use them. Most other people I would just only let them watch me use them.

When I worked for a living building printing presses I learned very quickly that most people can't be trusted to treat other people's tools or property properly.

I also learned to lock my tool boxes up when I went to break or lunch.
I went to break one day and came back and in 10 minutes some coworker had stolen half of my tools out of my tool boxes. I went directly to the production supervisor and he said to make a list of what was stolen and the company would pay for replacements. At lunch, I told my coworkers that my stolen tools had my initials engraved on them and I had better never see them in their hands. The next morning, someone found them hidden under a workbench in a tool bag. I figure that they couldn't figure out how to get them out of the shop without someone questioning what they were doing. This was in a union shop and the union steward had no interest in getting involved.

I don't lend tools, I don't borrow tools and I don't trust very many people that I don't know very well. Yes...I have trust issues and with good reason.

In general no I don't really let anyone mess with my reloading stuff unless they want a lesson on how to do it. That's more of a hypothetical though, and I don't really consider myself experienced enough yet to teach anyone.

My girlfriend did wander into my loading room one day to see what all the hubbub was about. I showed her what I was doing. I did let her pull the lever several times, and raise the ram. There was no down side.

I only let my wife touch my "stuff".

I say! Not really a subject for duscussion, is it?

People I wouldn't trust to touch "my stuff", I don't trust to come to or in my home.

Most reloading stuff is hard to hurt. Am I gonna go ballistic because my friend picks up a die, bullet case, looks at a jar of powder? Pulls the handles on my press. Of course not. I try not to be a control freak. My dies are locked down and if they weren't I check things enough.
If you're really worried about this sort of thing. Give your friends a beer and have them stand outside. Probably the last beer you'll have to give them.