Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire How much do you actually shoot

Your hunting rifles?
Say if you shoot mostly standard cartridges. Say you shoot a 30-06 or 270 etc with a “Premium” bullet say TTSX. 80 cents each x 20 is $16 box just for enough billets to reload one box, add powder, primers, brass etc so you are probably at what $25 box to reload them? Plus load development etc so that burns up extra powder and bullets.
- maybe you save $25 box on those over factory but how many boxes will you shoot in a year?

- What does it cost total to reload a box of Interlocks $15 box maybe? What do you save on those maybe $10 savings over factory loaded?

- The equipment takes up space all the time. If you are always chasing the latest greatest powders, bullets etc then that’s more load development, more time in the loading room, extra trips to the range shooting up more powder and bullets varying seating depths and powder charges chasing another 1/4 inch accuracy finding the perfect load.

- If you are elk hunting you are basically shooting at an animal the size of a cow.

- With the quality of some of today’s factory ammo then take the average person that is busy with life. Is it still worth the hassle? If you shoot 15-20 boxes a year out of your main hunting rifle is it worth it?
All that being said I have personally shot very little factory centerfire ammo, most has been reloads for me

You shoot standard factory cartridges?

It costs me about 4 cents to reload a .22.

Reload a 22? Say what?

Obama Panic l, I slowed down a little....Obama Panic ll, I slowed down a lot in the consumption powder and bullets and severely restricted rimfire practice...Biden Panic l, scarcely a shot fired without sufficient reason, and then it's mostly cast bullets with modest charges, no rimfire at all, other than protecting the garden from pirates. With the exception of factory handgun ammo, I'd say a lot of the problem is hoarders and scalpers.

Sounds like a ghost town up here. Lots of deer camps in the area. Usually shooting all the time especially on weekends and holidays. Very quiet this year.

As for me. I shoot when I want, I'm set for my lifetime. Now ifnI have grandkids..... I'll be in trouble!

You have just met one of the more interesting gentlemen on these fora...and yes he does reload his .22.

I don't shoot nearly enough of any of my rifles. My fault.

I live 1/2 mile from the (private club) range, so range trips aren't a big deal. It was a buying point for this house. I'm still loading stuff bought when it was cheap. Just finished a brick of Remington 2 1/2s that had an $11.50 price tag on it, with Unique from a cardboard can that said Hercules on the label with a $10.98 sticker, & Acme cast bullets that cost $22/500... so less than $3 for a box of 50. Add a nickle to 10c a round for JHPs. Much of the rifle ammunition I load with similar vintage components as well. Even with a magnum rifle at a penny/primer, 70 gr of $10/# powder is a dime, & Speer, Sierra, Nosler, or Hornady bullets at c.10c each makes for 21 cents a round. Add 30c to that for Partitions, so that's 51 cents apiece x 20 =10.20 a box for premium ammunition. Smaller cartridges probably cost 15 cents... so that's $3 a box. I shoot a few wildcats & obsoletes that there is no factory ammo for. Even using recently (pre covid insanity) purchased powder & bullets it's still much cheaper than a new boat or maintenance on an older one. Wanna talk about fast/classic cars?

I downsized the loading bench to about 1/2 the size of the old one when I moved here. It has its own corner in my library/office & it works just fine with a 2'x6' footprint. Will be better when I get the wall shelves built for die storage. I shoot 80 to 200 rounds of rifle a week from barrel burning 22s to a few magnums, & a few 100 rounds more when my buddy comes over & we go to the pistol range. Not sure if I reload to shoot more or shoot to reload more. It's a hobby that I enjoy immensely even when I was working 50-60 hours/week plus all the normal chores.

Other than bulk pistol, the last factory ammo I shot was some S&B @ $15/box for the brass but it was unusable because primer pockets were too shallow & I'm too lazy to measure the web thickness & maybe cut them deeper... yet. Maybe a total loss except for barrel break-in.

The daughter & her kids were just here for a week. We bought the oldest one a Ruger rimfire & burned up a brick or 2 of orange box PMC Zappers. Remember them? The same grand daughter (with supervision) happily loaded a couple 100 rounds of 9mm for her mom & some 45s for me. She chased her mom off the stool at the bench so she could do the reloading. She has the bug now too. Three generations in the same house at once & at the range was a thing of beauty.

I haven't shot any CF factory ammo in this century, rifle, shotgun or pistol, but have shot some .22 RF purchased years ago. That began to bore me also.



One of my better groups:


And there there's the big bore....




Anybody can do this with a factory cartridge......250 Savage w/handloads.

Not much makes me envy others, that does.

Something to look forward to?

I might add that while I have a supply of J-bullets awaiting their fate, they bore me silly. See the .250 Savage target.









And my Quigley rifle appreciates it muchly. It informed me that I don't need to mount the scope. The tang sight will do just ducky.


Dunno what it costs to cast and handload the larger bores, but a little math might reveal the answer.

Was out sighting in a new scope on Tuesday. First time out since April. Bee’s ran me out of the shelter LOL. I guess they don’t care for .308.

Only the hog hunt in the last three years.

I sure as hell hope so.

Not much lately, saving my ammo.

With my new Benjamin marauder semi auto pcp in 22 cal A LOT! $15 for 500 rounds
Is accurate quiet and as much fun as my 10/22

The bullets I cast are so terrible they would be more dangerous if I fed them to someone.

Just curious. How did you turn your .22 rimfire bolt into centrefire?

Only when I need to. One night I shot a raccoon in the hen house.

I used to shoot a lot.