Is recreational shooting pretty much a thing of the past?
- Thread starter GF
- Start date
Ammo has been a slow trickle around here..... +weird stuff; like .22 shorts, .32apc has been showing up ...... haven't seen .22 shorts in years.
Never was one to shoot 100s of rounds at a session or afternoon....... I may shoot as few as 15-20 rounds up to maybe 40-50 (.22) at 100yds or 50-70 rounds of handgun ammo
I'm shooting a lot more with my CZ bolt guns in .22lr and .223 than my S&Ws,15/22 or 5.56 ..... and having a lot of fun.
I got .22 conversion kits for my Browning HP and Beretta 92..... don't shoot a S&W M&P and don't know of any conversion kits for 3rd Gen Smith.
The up side is my local range/club is close.....8 miles/4 stop signs..... so I might shoot twice a week from March to Snow!
By checking; when running normal errands, Wally World, Dunham's and the LGS...... I'm at worse, breaking even on .22lr and .223 ammo for 2013.......... and have even added to the stash of .22mag. 9mm and .357Sig( lots of this around back in Jan/Feb. at pre-crazy prices) this year.
While Oct/Nov are busy times at Pa. ranges (Deer season) the recreational shooters have been out..... always one or two others at the Club; during the week maybe 3-4 on weekends.
Never was one to shoot 100s of rounds at a session or afternoon....... I may shoot as few as 15-20 rounds up to maybe 40-50 (.22) at 100yds or 50-70 rounds of handgun ammo
I'm shooting a lot more with my CZ bolt guns in .22lr and .223 than my S&Ws,15/22 or 5.56 ..... and having a lot of fun.
I got .22 conversion kits for my Browning HP and Beretta 92..... don't shoot a S&W M&P and don't know of any conversion kits for 3rd Gen Smith.
The up side is my local range/club is close.....8 miles/4 stop signs..... so I might shoot twice a week from March to Snow!
By checking; when running normal errands, Wally World, Dunham's and the LGS...... I'm at worse, breaking even on .22lr and .223 ammo for 2013.......... and have even added to the stash of .22mag. 9mm and .357Sig( lots of this around back in Jan/Feb. at pre-crazy prices) this year.
While Oct/Nov are busy times at Pa. ranges (Deer season) the recreational shooters have been out..... always one or two others at the Club; during the week maybe 3-4 on weekends.
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I haven't been shooting in a while either. in my case it's a combination of health issues and lack of decent weather. I haven't bought anything during this "crisis". many years ago I bought what it thought at the time would be a lifetime supply of everything I would need. so far, it has turned out to be true.
Y'know, I don't think it's a thing of the past, but, I know I've cut back a little...and I reload. I'm not sure if I'm just being a little cautious of things to come or what, but I find that I'm thinking twice before I go out to the range and burn through a box or two of ammo.
I don't think we'll see ammo availability or ammo prices like they were a few years ago, but I'm trying to be optimistic in thinking that things will get better.
Until they do, I'm holdin' off a bit.
I don't think we'll see ammo availability or ammo prices like they were a few years ago, but I'm trying to be optimistic in thinking that things will get better.
Until they do, I'm holdin' off a bit.
I've never shot more than 2 or 3 boxes of .22 at a time. Even with my semi autos, I've never been one to just pull the trigger one time after another. I may have shot 200 rounds through a .45 auto at one session. Those would have been my reloads.
Fishslayer
US Veteran, Absent Comrade
Picked this up this AM. Got there at 0530 and waited till 1000 but here it is. They had 1K of the M-22 and 5 of the Win 555 boxes. We had six people in our ammo line "breakfast club" by about 0700-ish.
$68.03 OTD. Pre Sandy Hook I scoffed at that price. Nowadays it's that or drive twenty miles for "maybe" some .22.
And I'm hanging out with fellow shooters & hoarders, not flippers.
$68.03 OTD. Pre Sandy Hook I scoffed at that price. Nowadays it's that or drive twenty miles for "maybe" some .22.
And I'm hanging out with fellow shooters & hoarders, not flippers.
As a reloader I rarely buy factory ammo, but I do try to breeze through ammo sections as the LGS just to keep check on the pulse of the market. Around here Cabela's and Gander Mountain seem to have as much ammo as ever. I've noted in particular that .223 has returned to pre Sandy Hook levels and prices.
I was talking to a FFL the other day and according to him, Sandy Hook happened when the manufacturers were tooling down for maintenance. Thus when the panic began they were caught unprepared and are still playing catch up. That coupled with the new buying habits of gun owners has them well behind the eight ball. Correct or not, seems like a logical theory.
I don't think we'll ever see things return completely to the pre Obama and Sandy Hook days. We must remember that even before Sandy Hook things were just beginning to recover from the election. What we have seen in the last few years is a fundamental change in them market. Folks are no longer buying a box or two of ammo at whatever interval they need it. There is long term uncertainty about the future of the 2nd Amendment and people are worried. I think across the board even casual shooters are buy 3x or 4x the ammo the did during the Bush era because Lord only know what tomorrow holds. I don't foresee this trend changing anytime soon either.
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I was talking to a FFL the other day and according to him, Sandy Hook happened when the manufacturers were tooling down for maintenance. Thus when the panic began they were caught unprepared and are still playing catch up. That coupled with the new buying habits of gun owners has them well behind the eight ball. Correct or not, seems like a logical theory.
I don't think we'll ever see things return completely to the pre Obama and Sandy Hook days. We must remember that even before Sandy Hook things were just beginning to recover from the election. What we have seen in the last few years is a fundamental change in them market. Folks are no longer buying a box or two of ammo at whatever interval they need it. There is long term uncertainty about the future of the 2nd Amendment and people are worried. I think across the board even casual shooters are buy 3x or 4x the ammo the did during the Bush era because Lord only know what tomorrow holds. I don't foresee this trend changing anytime soon either.
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shouldazagged
Absent Comrade
Thanks for the tips. I've been looking for 130 grain FMJ practice ammo in particular--I have EDC and HD ammo barring the much-ballyhooed swarm of hungry dead folks--but I'll take what I can find.
keith44spl
Member
Well Boys,
I still shoot just as much as I ever did....We just don't dip into the reserve.
Jest this week, picked up the grandsons 3M rounds of 22s to enjoy.
Like Redlevel sed, fifty or sixty years ago a box of high speed long rifle 22
cartridge was fifty cents a box of fifty...Five dollar a carton of 500.
Gas was twenty cents a gallon or less...If'n there was a gas war on.
And a buck was still silver.
Fellers we come a long ways...........And it may have been in the wrong direction though
.
I still shoot just as much as I ever did....We just don't dip into the reserve.
Jest this week, picked up the grandsons 3M rounds of 22s to enjoy.
Like Redlevel sed, fifty or sixty years ago a box of high speed long rifle 22
cartridge was fifty cents a box of fifty...Five dollar a carton of 500.
Gas was twenty cents a gallon or less...If'n there was a gas war on.
And a buck was still silver.
Fellers we come a long ways...........And it may have been in the wrong direction though
.
millisec
US Veteran
Sure every incident or threat of regulation sparks a buying frenzy and hoarding but there are a couple more basic underlying reasons.
Cost and scarcity of materials. Copper, lead, zinc are all commodity items subject to market prices and demand. Does not help the booming economies of China and India are sucking up much of it. There's a reason copper theft is at all time highs $$$.
Ammo makers will always make fat government contracts a higher priority than consumer ammo. We have had wars going on in Iraq and Afghanistan for years using up a lot of the manufacturing capacity. A lot of what we have seen lately has been contract overruns (Winchester military 12g buck) or manufacturing seconds rejected by the military (all the M855 green tip stuff all over now).
Add to that government interference. Call it conspiracy theory or not but that move by Homeland buying millions of rounds was a deliberate manipulation to dry up ammo supplies. I don't doubt the manipulation runs much deeper right down to raw materials. There's an old mindset in the anti gun world "let them have guns then... there just won't be any ammo"
I think it will all eventually settle out to some new "norm" but I don't think it will ever be the same at least price wise.
Cost and scarcity of materials. Copper, lead, zinc are all commodity items subject to market prices and demand. Does not help the booming economies of China and India are sucking up much of it. There's a reason copper theft is at all time highs $$$.
Ammo makers will always make fat government contracts a higher priority than consumer ammo. We have had wars going on in Iraq and Afghanistan for years using up a lot of the manufacturing capacity. A lot of what we have seen lately has been contract overruns (Winchester military 12g buck) or manufacturing seconds rejected by the military (all the M855 green tip stuff all over now).
Add to that government interference. Call it conspiracy theory or not but that move by Homeland buying millions of rounds was a deliberate manipulation to dry up ammo supplies. I don't doubt the manipulation runs much deeper right down to raw materials. There's an old mindset in the anti gun world "let them have guns then... there just won't be any ammo"
I think it will all eventually settle out to some new "norm" but I don't think it will ever be the same at least price wise.
I'm thinking the ratio is about the same as those in the military as opposed to the number of U.S. citizens?
...
And I'm hanging out with fellow shooters & hoarders, not flippers.
I prefer the term "Prepper". It's topical and has a nice ring to it.
OP
GF
Member
Lotsa' good thoughts and replies.
As far as the round count I "burned up" in my original post, 500 rounds of ammo shot up at one time was for 4 or 5 people with several rifles. We didn't shoot to hear the pop.
And the bolt action idea is where we're at with our rimfire shooting these days. I have a good stockpile of ammo and used to always replenish the ammo I shot to keep the stockpile a real pile. Can't do that as easy now so I wondered if you fellas' thought it ever would be again.
I know ammo & gas & Marlboro reds useta' be cheaper in the old days than they are now.
Burg & the boys would walk 5 miles uphill both ways in knee deep snow in July to get to school.
Ammo!?! We made our own slingshots - and were glad to have 'em!
GF
As far as the round count I "burned up" in my original post, 500 rounds of ammo shot up at one time was for 4 or 5 people with several rifles. We didn't shoot to hear the pop.
And the bolt action idea is where we're at with our rimfire shooting these days. I have a good stockpile of ammo and used to always replenish the ammo I shot to keep the stockpile a real pile. Can't do that as easy now so I wondered if you fellas' thought it ever would be again.
I know ammo & gas & Marlboro reds useta' be cheaper in the old days than they are now.
Burg & the boys would walk 5 miles uphill both ways in knee deep snow in July to get to school.
Ammo!?! We made our own slingshots - and were glad to have 'em!
GF
See comments in the body of the note
gregintenn
Member
We still shoot for recreation just as we always have, and intend to continue to do likewise in the foreseeable future.
coltle6920
Member
I hear rumor that Illinois, New York and California are going to start classifying all shootings as recreational as a way of lowering their crime statistics.
millisec
US Veteran
Another funny consequence of the various ammo shortages and high prices is more and more people jumped on the 9 and 22 band wagon starting a long time ago thinking it was the cheaper alternative. Now those are easily the two hardest common cals to find ammo. Pistol wise I have for years mostly shot 9 and 45 (and minimal amount of 22, 25, 380, 38). There's plenty of 45 around but I have been seriously thinking about adding a 40 to the mix. There seems to be a glut of 40 ammo and it could well end up being cheaper than 9. Good excuse to grab a M&P 40 pro to go with my 9
rburg
Member
We'd walk across a parking lot to see a gun show too! I know that's a foreign concept to a guy who does recreational plumbing and vacations in Maine instead of scrounging ammo.
For a long time I thought I was the only old coot who used to shoot in my youth. I knew a lot of rich kids who would burn a full brick of ammo and consider it a full day. I was impoverished and could have a great time with a box (50). In fact, I felt rich if I had that much to burn. And along about the halfway point, I started feeling guilty about my waste. Which means I'd pack it in for the day. I'd save the extras for another day.
I guess we just need to understand that folks have a different opinion on what recreational shooting consists of. It may also mean those who have the opinion that a day of shooting consists of unrestrained fire will need to change their opinion. Well, that or the cheapskate uncle needs to dig a bit deeper into those rich pockets to finance a little more ammo! Give till it hurts!
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