He followed the instructions to the letter, feeling foolish as he warmed the powder on a baking sheet in the late September sun. The bear oil was impossible, so he used a drop of his own gun oil. He seated each bullet with the press handle pulled so slowly he could feel the individual granules of powder settling.
For the dedicated handloader, tracking down this issue is a rite of passage—a reminder that while bullets and powders evolve, the physics of internal ballistics remain delightfully, frustratingly eternal.