Shoot enough to be scared?

[slickracer]

Steel targets

 

[Golphin]

Depends on what I am shooting. It does not take long to run through a 30 round magazine shooting a AR15. According to some politicians it only takes 2 seconds to shoot 100 rounds out of one but I can't shoot that fast.
I don't go through that much ammo shooting revolvers or even semi auto pistols. I don't really pay attention either as I shoot until I don't feel like it anymore.
If I was paying a buck a round I would probably pay more attention.

 

[Telecaster]

If time and ammo supply allows, I could easily shoot 100-150 rounds a week and leave wanting to shoot more. There’s a point of diminishing returns, beyond which further practice doesn’t improve your skills.

 

[mtgianni]

As one who shoots cast in almost everything except hunting ammo and load work up, I have slowed a little but not a lot.

 

[Twoboxer]

A weekly trip to an indoor range with my shooting buddy includes a stop for lunch and 150-200 rounds through 3 pistols of different calibers. It's as much a social outing as a shoot. At the range my focus is on trigger control, not mag dumps. Frankly, without lunch with friend I'd be bored silly with 40-50 range visits a year.

Less frequent rifle trips . . . 3 or 4 times a year outdoors for shoots plus several more trips if developing a new load.

A lot less frequent during 2020 because of COVID procedures indoors lowering capacity and buddy's replacing both shoulders lol.

 

[Trooper224]

My usual consumption is 20k pistol rounds per year. That's called training, not work. If you don't get it, that's your privilege. I have cut that in half since the pandemic/panic hoarding and buying started. This allows me to keep my skill set honed and conserve my ammo. With what I have on hand, I'll be good to go for the next two years. By then, things should be back to normal or it won't matter.

 

[.38SuperMan]

My wife and I belong to two ranges, one small outdoor pistol range ten minutes from the house and another thirty minutes away. The one thirty minutes away has two each skeet and trap ranged and a clays range. There’s a very nice indoor, 1000yd, plunking, steel plate, competition Rimfire and 200yd bench rest. There are also 10 action bays and a 100yd 3 gun range.

My wife and I go together once a week and I may go another time and sometimes twice. During a typical day the number of people have dropped probably 70% and most often now people only stay a short time. It’s also very common for the people on the plinking range to be someone teaching friends to shoot. Usually they limit the ammo shot to 50 rounds.

On the steel plate range you used to hear folks blasting through hundreds of rounds but not now. You might hear one person blast through 30 rounds but that’s it and they go home.

When my wife and I go we take either lever action 22’s, single action 22’s, an occasional 317 or 617 and rarely our 22 semi autos like our Victory 22 or Mark IV. We shoot together at a dueling tree, poppers and swingers and what I’d call fun targets. Between us me may shoot 150-200 rounds of 22.

When I go by myself I’ll take a precision 22 rifle, 1911, SA Blackhawk, Lever Gun in a pistol cartridge or similar. I usually shoot 50-60 rounds.

After about a hour of shooting We’ve had enough to satisfy until the next week.

I’m not worried. After the last crisis I laid in plenty of everything. I counted the inventory a week ago and have enough 22 ammo for two years and enough loaded centerfire ammo for more than a year and enough components for another couple years.

I’m more concerned now with politics hampering us and I’m not losing sleep over that. As I’ve said before if things get really nuts as far a supplies or politics I’ll buy a couple of air rifles and shoot in my back yard. I have a big backyard with a high wooden fence and shoot my pellet pistol at steel regularly.

 

[G-Mac]

My "go to the club/range every weekend" days are way behind me. I work a lot and have other hobbies besides shooting. I have a good stock of new ammo and also reloading components to keep me shooting for a long time.

 

[dave1918a2]

I try to shoot 2-3 times during the week and shoot club matches on weekends. I shoot 50 - 100 rounds a week through My EDC and every Sunday afternoon I do a set of standards with a few LEO's. I also reload and try to get in a couple rounds of trap. I really enjoy shooting and I seldom spent more the 3 hours at the range, even when shooting muzzle stuffers.

 

[mmb617]

I like to go to the range more often and shoot less rounds per trip. I normally go twice a week and shoot 40 rounds each trip through two pistols. That's enough to keep me familiar with them and maintain whatever proficiency I might have. Once the weather breaks I'll start back at the outdoor rifle range but I'm content to shoot one 30 round mag per trip there.

At those numbers I'm good for a couple years with what I have on hand.

 

[DeplorabusUnum]

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 local 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.

Looks and sounds like a hoot! Wish I had enough land to make a range like that. I'd shoot even more.

 

[DeplorabusUnum]

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.

We just bought a dishwasher, freezer and range. None were in stock at Lowes, and the lady said freezers have been completely bought out of every store. (Think restaurants forced to close down immediately with tons of perishable goods, and end of the world, civil war coming, stocking up on food). We bought them all over a month ago, and the dishwasher is the only thing that's been delivered so far.

 

[DeplorabusUnum]

Reloading helps

I usually come home from the range with a couple hundred empty casings of 2-3 calibers. To me it's more of a quest for making ammo that's accurate. I almost always set up a chronograph with multiple targets and shoot slowly, mostly sitting from a rest, and log every round. I'm always tinkering with loads to find what's most accurate. Some days it's pistols, some days bench rest rifle, some days it's shooting steel with a lever action or revolver.

It's all fun to me, and I view it as an ongoing science experiment. I learn something new every time I go to the range. It's also something my wife loves to do, so we have a fun time together trying out different guns and ammo.

Our range allows us to scoop up lead as long as no one else is there wanting to shoot, so the cost of ammo for us is next to nothing. I've got enough powder for us to shoot the rest of our lives and never run out. Primers, not quite enough small pistol, but everything else. One thing is for sure, if it weren't for casting and reloading, I know we would rarely ever go shooting at a dollar per round or more.

 

[The Norseman]

Rich in a different way

I've always been a Conservative Shooter. I usually shoot 6-12 cartridges
in my Revolvers that I take (1-3) in my Revolver Range Bag.

Recently I have revisited shooting my Rifles, and that is usually
9 cartridges for groups on target. I been taking one different Rifle
each Range Visit per week.

I horde all Components that I need and find on Store Shelves.
I only reload in small batches of 10-20 cartridges. I have
enough for years, and continually add stuff.

The Best to you and your Endeavors.....

 

[Dfish1247]

My usual consumption is 20k pistol rounds per year. That's called training, not work. If you don't get it, that's your privilege. I have cut that in half since the pandemic/panic hoarding and buying started. This allows me to keep my skill set honed and conserve my ammo. With what I have on hand, I'll be good to go for the next two years. By then, things should be back to normal or it won't matter.

Your trigger finger has to be calloused up like iron by now. That’s where progressive presses come in handy.

Looks like most of us are in the same area of usage, give or take some of course.

 

[Smoke]

I go to the range maybe once a month. I'm there for an hour maybe an hour and a half and I spend most of my time practicing drills that I've learned in training classes. I generally shoot between two and four boxes.

 

[typetwelve]

During past panics...I stopped shooting altogether.

This time around, I got into reloading when the getting was good...so I have plenty of ammo to last me quite some time.

When the weather is nice, I got to the range weekly...sadly (or not sadly, depending on how you look at it), 2021 has been miserable thus far so over the past 8 weeks, I've only been out once.

Also sadly, I ruptured a tendon in my right triceps and holding a pistol out in front of me is currency not something I can do, so my pistol shooting for at least the first half of 21 is going to be zero.

...but I can go shoot rifle...

 

[Goldstar225]

I'm averaging two range trips a month. Typically three handguns and 200 rounds of ammo (mix of 22, 9mm, 38). Each session lasts 2-3 hours. My purpose is improving or maintaining my accuracy so when I feel I can't maintain focus I stop. Fortunately I'm well stocked on components and cast my own bullets (except 22 of which I also have a good supply). I have a good friend who just bought a reloading setup. I may have to provide him some primers which I'll let him replace when prices return to normal.

 

[max503]

I've been a dyed-in-the-wool reloader all my life, but I've never reloaded a bunch of ammo beforehand. And I cast all my boolits.
I prefer to reload as I go. Maybe keep a couple boxes reloaded in advance. Doing a bunch in advance seems like drudgery. And I don't go out and knarl the earth either with a bunch of ammo. A box or two is my usual amount for centerfire. Prolly that's why I enjoy reloading almost as much as shooting.

Except for ever now and again I'll take out a 22 semi-auto rifle and a bulk pack of Thunderbolts and have at it. For that I prefer a tube feed. Don't gotta load no mags.

 

[AManWearingAHat]

Ive pretty much stopped shooting anything unless it is for a match or has some known purpose. Most of my recreational shooting has moved to my air rifle. Just nothing out there at prices I'm willing to pay when I can punch holes in my basement for the price of a SCUBA tank fill.