Handloader Ammunition Reloading Journal October 2011 Issue Number 274 -

“October 2011. Issue #274. Reduce 58.0 to 55.5 grains. Work up in 0.5 increments. Reason: Dad’s powder lot was 1992. New H4895 is faster. Also: I’m not him. That’s fine.”

He looked at the cover one more time. “Issue Number 274.” He wondered if the man from Idaho ever found his answer. Probably not. Probably he just started a new notebook, too. “October 2011

Outside, October wind rattled the garage door. The 2011 date on the cover felt both ancient and urgent. It was the year Frank’s son left for college. The year his wife said, “Do you really need another chronograph?” The year he started answering letters in his head. Work up in 0

He turned to page 47. “Understanding Lot-to-Lot Powder Variation,” by J. R. Walmsley. Also: I’m not him

It was signed: “Uneasy in Idaho.”

Frank smiled, raised his coffee mug to the empty garage, and whispered: “To the next two hundred seventy-four.”

The workbench light hummed a low, yellow frequency, casting long shadows across the spent brass casings lined up like tiny, exhausted soldiers. Frank turned the page of Handloader Issue #274, the October 2011 journal crinkling with age even though he’d just pulled it from the mailbox.