Shoot enough to be scared?

Dfish1247 · Feb 20, 2021

I’ve read all of the slowing down on shooting or even stopping all together posts because of no supply of anything from ammo down to even head space gauges of all things. So this is a supply type question.

At the rate my son and I shoot, it’s a miracle to use 50rds per firearm we take to the range, usually take 3-5 which at least one is a .22. Single shot takes forever, sure, but even if I take a 30rd mag, I’m done after one go with it, lose interest. I’d like to know how folks can blast through darn near a crate every time they go and not be bored to tears by then. I’ve been a one a week to once a month type go to the range, my dad is the same way, even losing interest for a couple years, then picking back up again. These 2-4 times a week folks that blammo for hours on end, that’s too much like work to me, I’m not a fan of work either.

People that reload usually tend to have quite a bit of stuff on hand, just the nature of reloading, I’m good for a real long time at the rate the two of us go. And I don’t have much.

So how do you guys feel, I don’t want pictures, inventory levels, none of that. Just how you feel with what you have vs how you realistically use it.

mpaulrock · Feb 20, 2021

different strokes for different folks. I am similar to you in that I don't go shooting very often. Get to the local range maybe twice a year, spend maybe 30 minutes to an hour shooting. I get back to my home town, which is about 2.5 hours away, for hunting and shooting with my childhood friend. We shoot rifles and pistols but that's maybe 4 times a year. Dove hunting once a year. In time I will increase shooting as I get closer to retirement. But I'm definitely a gun lover. I'm reading books about guns and looking for good deals on new acquisitions. Thinking about putting an ad in our paper offering to buy old crappy guns cuz I like to fix em up.

Longcarbine · Feb 20, 2021

I'm pretty much right on par with you, the only shooters are me and my teenage grandson and most of our shooting is squirrel hunting and plinking with .22's. Occasionally we will break out the big stuff but they are usually reserved for working up new loads with a chronograph or getting them ready for hunting season. We have a lot of fun without blazing through a ton of ammo. As for my reserve I'll just say I seen all this coming when Odumba@@ was elected the first time, I'm good for quite some time.

BAM-BAM · Feb 20, 2021

I was on my High School and College Rifle teams....... shooting 5-6 days a week from Sept to March. A 1-2 hour practice session would consist of 30 for score and maybe 10-20 sighting shots.

Rifle Instructor at Summer Camps for 4 years.

I too don't understand the blast away concept.

Shooting rifle is more like meditation and yoga to me...... last couple of years informal .22lr, 3 position shooting at 100yds.... shoot 2-3 rounds walk down check targets.....walk back . Over a long lunch hour shoot maybe 30-50 rds..... walk a mile and a half.

I enjoy action shooting games like USPSA and IDPA ...... but have slowed down...... though will set up shooting drills at a buddy's range with a bunch of steel.

IMHO any session firing more than 50/60 rounds is just "blasting away"; making noise and for most shooters I've observed ..... getting sloppy.

Much rather shoot 4 sessions over a week or two than blast off 200-300 rds in an hour or two. (my local club is just 8 miles/ 10 minutes away) My buddy's range is just a half mile from the lake house.

nbedford · Feb 20, 2021

Varsity R.O.T.C college rifleteam 50 years ago. Lettered two years, shot matches in Texas and Louisiana, and Arkansas. Back then practiced 4-5 days a week. Still do a fair amount of pistol shooting, but reload and cast my own bullets. Been a spell since I have bought factory ammo; just not accurate enough. For example only 38 Special available before the great stampede was 38 Special fmj which is worthless, or 44 Special which tends to keyhole since most is sized .428 or .429. And try and ever find 32S&W Long factory ammo with cast swc's ... not a chance in Hades.

tominboise · Feb 20, 2021

Most of the shooting I do seems to be testing reloads I have made up. I do shoot a couple of postal rimfire matches every month that are 25 rounds per match. In the spring I chase groundsquirrels around that probably amounts to 500 -1000 rounds over 3-4 months, mostly rimfire but also some centerfire. Do some offhand practice with the hunting rifles occasionally to keep in shape for fall hunting season. Probably amounts to 10 rounds at a time.

I don't just stand and blast at a target to kill time. I do practice some with the CC pistols.

mikld · Feb 20, 2021

I haven't done a "magazine dump" in many years, and while I still shoot a few semi-autos I rarely fun off more than three or four rounds in quick succession. Perhaps it's getting older or mellowing out, but I seem to have drifted into slower accurate shooting. I don't spend 5 hours at the range anymore and there seems to be more time spent with tasks other than pulling the trigger (I'm a dedicated reloader and record, log my loads, and I spend time looking at the ground collecting something I may want; brass!). I haven't altered my shooting because of the current shortages as I have been prepared for some time with components to last me quite a while. I guess my age has more to do with my shooting style than anything else. I have gone shooting at the local "range", an unimproved spot up in the hills outside of town, and sat and looked at the critters for a while without firing a shot...

STORMINORMAN · Feb 20, 2021

Can access the local Rifle & Pistol Club range in about 1/2 hour. It is open 24/7 × 52.
Indoor pistol range with the ability to also shoot from indoor benches to outdoor pistol/rifle targets. Rifle range with covered bench area, targets to 300 yards.

Targets are 10/$1. There is no counter, nothing else is for sale. No attendants, nor range masters. Follow the rules.

I go as often as practicable. There were times (in the not-so-distant past?) when my guests and I might shoot up a couple hundred rounds of centerfire pistol ammo, depending upon how many of us there were: considerably more when shooting 22lrs. Never was much that I would describe as just "blasting away", then...

Now ? "Not hardly, Pilgrim!"

Still, I feel fortunate enough to continue "as practicable"...?

Cheers!

P.S. Annual dues go from $100 per year to $50 the year of your 62nd Birthday: if awarded a Purple Heart your dues are -0-.

max · Feb 20, 2021

I am retired and shot just about every week last year when the weather was decent. The year before, I had a health issue and did not get to shoot much. I shot twice a week a few times and 3 times once when I was teaching a friend of my wife. It is a 45 minute drive to the range and once or twice I drove down and turned around and drove home as the place was full. My wife and I were staying real close to the house and I enjoyed the time on the road.

I typically load a bunch of magazines as I go to the range to shoot, not load mags. I probably shoot a hundred each of .45's and 9's. I usually take a .22 and shoot maybe 50.

I was shooting mostly factory 9 as it HAD been cheap and I had a lot of it. Toward the end of the season, I was shooting 9mm reloads as I had all of the components I needed. I have shot nothing but .45 reloads for over 40 year and had a good supply of that also.

Once the weather warms up, I intend to do the same as last year. As I said, I have a lot of stuff on hand. I am also having another birthday soon and don't know how much longer I can do this. When the time comes, friends will get my guns and divide up the ammo and components that are left.

WR Moore · Feb 20, 2021

I expect a lot of the folks who go through large amounts of ammo in practice are just blasting. Establishing fire superiority might be another way to look at it, but that generally doesn't actually accomplish much.

OTOH, I know some guys who were serious top tier IPSC competitors back in the day who might do 400 or so rounds per day before a big match. Now, the difference is that they were working to a plan to hone specific skills and were maintaining a performance level most of us will never reach. Some of us may shoot more than others doing a downsized version to maintain what they feel is an appropriate skill level.

STORMINORMAN · Feb 20, 2021

Or are likely to ever obtain, without practice...?

Cheers!

Buford57 · Feb 20, 2021

Between loaded ammo and components, unless I increase my shooting by orders of magnitude once I am (if ever) fully retired, I expect that there will be some of both in my estate if I never buy another round.

GypsmJim · Feb 20, 2021

I used to shoot in the summer at camp, and maybe once on a snowy Sunday in the winter at my club's indoor range. Now that I'm retired I shoot more.

Once a week at the club all Winter. Every other week at camp in the Summer.

No, I'm not scared. I'm old and have been thru enough silly stuff so I'm smart enough to have been prepared. I mean, give me a break, we all knew this was coming.

In any event, I have enough loaded and components on hand to weather the storm. If the storm lasts longer and I run out, I'll just go fishing instead.

We have enough problems in these times. Being scared will just add to the mess.

Someone once said that worrying about getting cancer is worse that actually getting it.

delcrossv · Feb 20, 2021

When I bring the kids with me, it's very easy to go though 200-250 rounds at one sitting. We'd go monthly- nice outing and helps hone their skills.

We're not doing that now. Not scared, just prudent.

1sailor · Feb 20, 2021

If I had to go to a range I would probably get bored too. Luckily I live in a rural area and there are numerous places to shoot safely. Being able to get out in the woods with a packed lunch and a thermos to just relax and shoot adds another level of enjoyment.

Baltimoreed11754 · Feb 20, 2021

I am a member of SASS and attend cas shoots monthly at a small club in eastern NC about 2 hours drive away. We rent a big bay at a great community range and have a shed there to store our steel and props. Our match consists of about 60 rifle, 60 pistol and 25 sg rounds, more if it’s a Wild Bunch match. As I live in the country I can check my reloads off the deck on my backyard range. I usually shoot 50 rds or so preceding the match just to check whatever firearms that I’m using for the shoot. Before the cold set in I was shooting my Model 52 .22 about 30 rds almost daily. I like shooting steel, poking holes in paper has never interested me much. This is how my ‘range’ looks.

Dfish1247 · Feb 20, 2021

Being prudent is how I seem to be without knowing it,lol. I love shooting, just not shooting all day everyday. I get bored with it, my son and dad do as well, around an hour every week or month is just fine with us.

I didn’t mean scared about the end of the world, just if someone felt they’d realistically run out of supplies before this mess settles down, I’d love to have a warehouse full of stuff, but I’d never go through it in 40 lifetimes.

When this train wreck of ammo and component zombies waiting in line, having 100 websites open at 5am,etc calms. I’ll buy stuff again, but I’m not losing any sleep over it now. You’d think with how this stuff is nearly unobtainable, the whole country would be stocked to the point of shifting the earth’s rotational axis.

It’s wild how many items, not just firearm related are more difficult to come by now, ever think dishwashers would be hard to find? I now know someone having that problem.

otisrush · Feb 20, 2021

During the 2013 shortage I went almost a year without pulling the trigger on any of my guns.

I try to get to the range once a week - doesn't always happen but that's my goal. I usually do either 1/ reload testing or 2/ pistol practice or both.

This shortage hasn't slowed down my normal shooting volume at all - and I could keep up this volume for quite a while.

rwsmith · Feb 20, 2021

Let's just say....

...that I don't go anytime I feel like it and I'm conservative when I get there. But if I just take my time I can still fill up a couple of hours easy and don't feel like I'm missing anything. I can live like this if things don't get worse it won't cramp my style.

My only hold up is primers, I have a stock, but not a huge one. Probably enough to last about a year. Powder and brass no problem. I have enough bullets, but I can find enough to do me.

ImprovedModel56Fan · Feb 20, 2021

I probably shoot about 50 or 60 times a year, maybe less, usually no more than 30 rounds each time. I generally have a specific objective each time I shoot.

I am 76, and probably have just enough ammo for the rest of my life, except for .223. Of that, I have a little more.

Shoot enough to be scared?

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