I simply couldn’t shoot what I like without handloading.
I have always wanted a Desert Eagle. They are not inexpensive.
A twenty round box of 50AE is not cheap.
I would have already spent three and a half times what I spent for the pistol for ammunition. Buying a new Eagles worth of ammo every year for the three years I’ve had it.
At about $1.89 a shot. For the most inconsistent factory centerfire ammunition I have ever used. It’s in the running for rimfire velocity variation, and left so much powder un-burned the chamber was jammed at the third magazine, which is the end of the box anyway... no joy at all. “Custom Grade”, pffft. The only disappointment from that company I’ve had. Some shots had a lot of flash.
ALL of
my handloads have A LOT of flash...
And come in at about 48 cents each, with Berrys.
Or I can go heavy, or hollow pointed, or very lightweight monos that cost an arm and three kidneys.
I still can’t be frivolous shooting it, like a rimfire, but Handloading would be the only way for me to think about having one. If you have a race car, you gotta drive it!
Then, once one handloads, more firearms options open up!
Like 450 Bushmaster. Built to be an inexpensive pistol bullet slinging slug gun. Try to find factory rounds less than a buck each. (Yeah, there may be some. I don’t look hard for stuff...)
224 Valkyrie. 22 bullets, 6.8 cases. Not hard. Unless you wanted garbage FMJs or effete loaded target rounds. Fancy new cartridge flopped by factory ammunition.
45 Auto. Yup. You’d think after 109 years they would be getting cheaper. Or more accurate. I laughed at pistol accuracy until I loaded my first set of SWCs. That did it for me.
But if I didn’t like it, you couldn’t make me do it.
I’m not one to join a softball league just because everyone else is. I know me. Me doesn’t like softball and I would have to listen to me complain to myself the whole time I was doing it, meanwhile, myself and I just want a beer to shut me up!
See? Isn’t easier to spend less time looking for good deals and buying in bulk amounts and planning?