I was asked tonight if I knew anything about reloading by a guy who'd been shooting with shotguns for almost 50 years, but had only recently started rifle shooting, his question to me was, "can any powder be used to charge pistol calibres (like 38/357) with reduced loads"? well, I do reload, but not pistol calibres or reduced loads, I asked him what powder he used for which calibres, I was stunned when he told me, "it doesn't matter which powder I use, I'm only firing reduced loads", I then asked if he'd looked on the website of the powder manufacturers he was using to check the data relating to the calibres, again, he told me he hadn't, the alarm bells were ringing with me and I told him, I'd have to look on the websites of the powder makers to double check the data. I was even more worried when he told me he'd made up some 357/303/223 loads with Hodgdon H110 and none would fire properly in any of his rifles.
I asked him not to fire any more rounds off until I'd done some research, what took my breath away was when he told me that he didn't know what powder was in which rounds as he used other powders too, he keeps no records of what he loads and has no load data in any of the ammo boxes he has his reloads in.
Something tells me I should walk away, but the caring and concerned person in me, tells me I Should try and get this guy back on the straight and narrow.