Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Question for all you handloaders...

Just wondering on average how many rounds a year you load and shoot. In 2017 I was around 2000 and will be right at or slightly above 3000 this year depending on the weather. Yes I have no life... Vast majority of my loading consisting of 2 243's, 2 7-08's and 2 270's. I had a spell with a 30-06 but it wasnt much fun because everything worked well in it. Favorite powders would be 23 & 26, h4831, imr4064 with honorable mention going to the 4350's. Most disappointing has been 4451.

R15, 4064, and 414 seem to work pretty good in everything. Id have to say the Lee Classic Cast press was the best money spent so far.

Doing load development for a .257 Roberts, .30-06 and a .35 Whelen the past two years I have been shooting 500 + rounds per year. Favorite powders are IMR 3031, IMR 4064 and IMR 4350, loaded in Winchester brass with CCI primers. My press is a Ponsness Warren, dies are Redding sizers and Hornady seaters, powder measure is a Redding and scale an Ohaus 10-10. I have made these selections based on more than 45 years of handloading experience.

Probably about a thousand. I like IMR 4350, Reloader 22, H 4895, varget, titegroup

5,000 plus...

Maybe a few thou for rifles is all I do anymore. When feeding the shotguns it was up around 8-10 maybe.

I was well over 3000 rounds fired before the house fire in July.

4-5000 rounds maybe? I'm not so anal as to maintain a round count for my rifles. Load data and quantities go into a journal that I have maintained for around 40 years now, but I have better things to do with my time than to sit and add them up every year. The number increased dramatically when I started feeding an AR-15 with a voracious appetite.

2500 for me, mostly 223, 22-250, 270,30-06, 257 Roberts and this year some 7-08.

I am probably at 800 this year.

a lot . most are cast loads I go by primer count 2/3 1000 round boxes a year

Nowhere near the numbers you guys are doing because I too often have to pay to shoot. I will add another shout out to the Lee classic press and Lee neck sizing dies allowing me to use the same brass over and over. I made an attempt to use only one powder in my three rifles I load for and keep returning to IMR 4351 and Sierra bullets. I could get as good loads in most cases using 4451 though. If I wouldn't mess with what works perfectly.....well to be honest, If I took better notes at the range and in my log I wouldn't be scratching my head so much and having to retest .


Merry Christmas guys. Three years ago my son killed his first buck using my 270. This year I am breaking out the 6mm for him.

Less than a thousand , most of it being 223 and 7.62x39. Don't have the spare time much any more. It still keeps me sharp for the hunting season.

I'd say 300-400 as I have friends and family I help them with their loading and do have a business for obsolete cartridges! Love R-17, use a lot of 4350 both flavors, varget is starting to warm up to me and very pleased with TAC as well as their other powders!

For rifles and counting 223 or 308 it's 1000+/year. I load a number of obsolete rounds where reloading is the only way of using them. 308 Win adds another several hundred rounds (an M1A has a healthy appetite) and the 223 Rem is more like a teenage boy and gobbles up a couple thousand on its own.

Handgun it's a couple thousand each of 40 S&W, 45 ACP, and 38 Spl with a 1000 or so of everything else mixed in ranging from 25 ACP to 454 Casull.

Shotgun ran 15,000/year of just 12 ga at one time, now it is more in the 3000-4000 range. 16 and 20 ga are several hundred each with 28 and 410 around 300-400 each. I loaded a lot more 20, 28, and 410 when I was serious about competing but I backed off after reaching my goals.

I generally shoot a couple of 3-shot groups a year.

I just shoot 1 shot groups, but they are always sub moa, when I do my part..

so do you clean your bore after those 3 shot groups ? or are you like me about every 5 years ?

No idea. I've been shooting mostly cast at gongs in the back yard the last couple years. Sometimes just crack open the back door and whack the gong. Roused the wife from a nap on the couch just a few minutes ago doing that. 45acp, 25-20, 308, and 38-55. Most used powders in the rifles are 4198 and Universal

Around 1K...rifle of some sort...I have a few.

You can keep shooting until the grooves are filled with gunk. The accuracy drops off and you change the barrel. If you clean, you lose range time. There is one exception - shooting cast bullets. When the grooves and throat gets packed with lead, you switch over to jacketed bullets. The jackets scrape a lot of the lead out and accuracy can come back for a while longer.