Avid hunters and 1000 yard benchrest shooters won't consider what they do is "silly" nor countless bullseye and action pistol match shooters who hone their "art" to perfection.
Talk to some tuna fishermen (Not commercial fishermen but sports fishermen) and hear some of their "essential" justification for expensive gear and you will soon agree that such expensive equipment is necessary for their sport and ensuring they come back to harbor instead of being shark bait. Just one of their salt water reel will cost more than a Dillon 550 or LNL AP press. And there are many reasons why a Yamaha 150 HP outboard costs more than $12,000 and you need two of them on your boat. I work with a "sport" fisherman with a 60 foot boat who just returned from a 2 week fishing trip and diesel fuel alone costed him $3500 - Yes, he did catch a lot of tuna but that's for a different thread.
Yet I can't bring myself to justify an upgrade from my humble 21" aluminum fishing boat for a trophy boat or Boston Whaler or even a Mako boat. Why? While I like to fish, I am deathly afraid of being shark bait and will keep trolling around the coastline for Ling cod, Rock cod and Vermillion zipping along in my boat with Berkeley jet drive.
Talk to four wheelers and they will gladly explain why they need to spend $30,000 on a brand new $60,000 4x4 truck to "bullet proof" everything.
Our family grew up riding quads and we went through several tow vehicles and toy haulers not to mentions various quads. Of course you can't afford to break down in the middle of nowhere and my wife could easily justify every dollar spent on every upgrade of "her" trucks and quads - absolutely necessary for family fun without the worry of break down. No, we didn't spend $30K on a new $60K truck, more like several thousand dollars on a used truck that costed several thousand more dollars. Cost of toy haulers? That's another story and wife did finally get her new 2016 Ram 4x4 truck with EcoDiesel and Outdoorsman trim with all the goodies yet to be installed for retirement.
I like to cook and can absolutely justify every dollar spent on my outdoor kitchen and various cooking equipment/utensil of several thousand dollars but since we ate home cooked meals instead of dining out, we probably saved tens of thousands of dollars over the decades.
Ultimately for me, shooting and reloading is a hobby that some may consider a passion. My approach to life is that it is short and we will leave it just like we entered, with nothing of this world. So I am more focused on what I do during my lifetime than what valuation the world places on "things." For me family and friends mean more than "things" and enjoyment of life means much more than simply existing. And after 50 years of walking around this life, I refuse to simply "exist" as I desire to "thrive" and share the joy of shooting and reloading with others with a passion.
Don't get me wrong, I am not trying to justify what I do, I am explaining the reasons why some of us passionate hobbyists do what we do.
Where's my credit card - I need to order that new PSA 22LR upper
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