Occasionally the national media has a story that may seem a bit trivial to the likes of Katie Couric, but one I think should be shared with the loyal readers of my column.

Here’s the scoop.

It seems the United States military is using so much ammunition these days that some police departments are considering using paint ball guns to train recruits.

Say what?!

I was a police officer for a number of years and attended several academies, including advanced firearms training, and I can’t quite fathom standing at the 10-yard line blasting one of the FBI’s John Dillinger silhouette targets with lime green paint balls. That just doesn’t compute.

I want to hear the muffled bang through my shooting headphones, feel the recoil of the weapon in my hand and smell burned gunpowder rather than the whoosh of compressed air propelling a paint ball down range.

The intelligence of police departments gets questioned from time to time but hey, guys, hasn’t anyone considered reloading target ammunition for training purposes?

Anyone who is a dedicated trap or target pistol shooter knows doggone good and well the little woman wouldn’t be happy if the man of the house bought factory ammo every time he went to the range.

The shooter, his Charles Daly trapgun, along with his Husqvarna target pistol and probably the dog would be banished to the garage until some sort of sanity was regained.

As a result, any skeet or trap shooter reloads Winchester-Western low brass cases to bust clay pigeons and large-bore pistol shooters crank up the Lee three-stage reloader before hitting the range for a day of punching paper.

Big game hunters know factory ammunition works, but there are some of us who have a pet load gleaned from the Sierra reloading book that makes the old rifle really perform.

I had a .220 Swift back in the day that I could shoot three-shot groups from a bench rest at 200 yards that you could cover with a dime. Handloads of course, with 52 grain boat-tailed hollow points.

I even loaded some shotgun shells for a specific situation that also performed quite well.

Again, back in the day, we hunted wood ducks in this swamp area back home in Michigan.

The “woodies” came in low over the reeds and were right on top of you, almost before you could get the shotgun up.

What I needed was a shell that would get a lot of shot to the target in a hurry and still maintain a wide pattern.

I hit on the idea of loading what I called my “eight-magnums.” These consisted of low brass cases, filled with a maximum load of Blue Dot powder and topped by an ounce and a half of number-eight hard lead shot.

They worked well out of an improved cylinder choke and also did the trick at short range on mallards over a decoy spread.

This only goes to prove one of my adages: “Ducks are mighty tasty when fried or simmered in a pot with vegetables and handloads work.”