Redsetter wrote on Aug 17
th, 2018 at 11:01pm:
craigd wrote on Aug 17
th, 2018 at 9:31pm:
At this point, I'd never take a Pet Load as a primary load source, but I followed those columns for years and like looking back at them.
Why not? What source would be more reliable, unless you suspect Ken was "making it up"? His personal shooting & loading experience FAR exceeded that of any technician in a ballistics lab.
It ain't no big deal Redsetter, but no it's not too much for you to ask me to base my statements on what you actually said. Did I ever get bent out of shape for you putting words in my mouth such as suspecting 'Ken was making it up'? Waters articles or Roberts/Donaldson personality hiccups aren't the point, only the changing standards of 'historical research'.
If you look at your answer here, it has the look to me like you don't seem to hold to your lectures about historical research and rigid methods, which relates directly to my faith comment. It seems if you have faith in something, it's good enough, but I quoted my perception of you referencing faith in a disingenuous way to belittle the way some folks interpret what they read.
If you actually read my comments instead of assigning motives, all they come down to is me being thankful that writings were published, even if the vetting wasn't strictly by some guideline.
There are many examples of reference books that are the result of meticulous research. Some authors are much better than others, and there are some publish addendums and other corrections in subsequent book form. I think it shouldn't be forgotten that the audience for these subjects is so limited, that these books come up because of authors' passion and not for the money.
It's okay in my mind for a reader to question and have the passion to seek correction, but the reader has the luxury of minimal investment. Would it have been better to not have the book in the first place? I bet if the authors of the past had digitized archives to search, their books would've turned out different, but just a little. So many of the writings are the only record remaining for a particular topic or event, and as I've mentioned maybe they can be appreciated as better than nothing, because no one has the passion to publish corrections and sources are long gone.