I've got to say-- there's immense satisfaction to be derived from stalking and putting down an animal with a load you manufactured yourself.
I went elk hunting a few years ago, and carried my Sendero (which has never, in its ~1000 rounds, fired a single round of factory ammo!) with my special 180g GameKing load in it. After a couple of days of realizing that we were in the black timber and I was NEVER going to get a shot of over 100 yards, I switched to the backup rifle, a handy little SMLE #5 with some 180g ProHunter spitzers loaded up in nickle cases over a goodly dose of 4350 (or was it 4064?), and was excited about the prospect of trying one of those out on an elk in the timber. All the while, for coup de grace purposes, I carried a .45 auto loaded with some hot XTP 230g handloads.
I couldn't WAIT to use one of my handloads to take one of the noble beasts. Unfortunately, it wasn't to be. I went back the next year, and again got skunked. Oh well. Time spent in the mountains looking for elk --even unsuccessfully-- is NOT time wasted! But the thrill of hunting was spiced just that much
more by carrying loads that I had put together myself. Only a couple of 4-legged critters have I even shot at with factory loads. (I have to admit that the 3 javelina I shot, I used factory handgun loads, but that was in the interests of research for carry loads.)
Uh... what were we talking about, again?