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.

I didn't. I use a Contender Carbine which has dual firing pins and goes both ways. My friend Muffin did convert a 10/22 to CF and it works.

I'm not the first loony to do this by the way. If you read the fine print in the following link you will find out who it was. Fairly well known loony in days of old.

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/14251051/1

I quit reloading about 15 years ago, so usually shoot factory loads. I've never been a target shooter but do enjoy checking the zero on 2 or 3 hunting rifles before the season starts. Usually shoot 2 to 3 shots to foul the barrel and verify nothing has changed since last season. Lots of whitetails here so may kill 3 to 10 in a season, and almost all are shot from an elevated blind or ladder stand 20 to 60
yards away. When I go out west for elk i usually shoot a couple rounds to verify zero to put the guide at ease.

Me too, with cast bullets in the .22 Hornet. But both the powder and primers were acquired during a "panic buying" interlude.....

2 bricks of .22 a month. I can do that for 2 yrs. Center fire pistol, 100 rds a week. At that rate I have enough components for 2 yrs. Centerfire rifle, 100 rds a month. Enough components on hand to last 4 yrs.

Before you all rant on me for being a hoarder, most of the components were purchased well before Trump became pres. The stuff was sitting on the shelf with some dust it. I happened to have the cash on hand, and chose to spend some of it. The .22's were off of the 'net, on sale. $190-$210-ish per case. Bought 5 cases. Only thing I have bought since the madness started was 1200 .243 bullets. Gotta do my monthly Hi-Power Silhouette shoots.

Gratefully I'm not the average person and get to shoot more than most.

PD numbers and gopher numbers have been down the last couple years so Im not shooting as much as before, but I'll still go through 2k centerfire rounds in a year pretty easy.

And I handload...

I don’t shoot near enough

Back when I was a punk I was shooting as much as 12k shotgun/year and probably around 1-2k rifle rounds. I one a more leisurely pace these days but the range is in the back yard. Maybe 1k/year or a bit more.

I shoot a lot over short time intervals. And then not much for other short time intervals.

The cost isn't something I ever think about. I don't mind spending on things I enjoy doing.

Not much lately.

Not the i don’t have Ammo ratholed.

Still got a chit pile of the clearance ammo from when the Walmart’s got woke.

Cant replace it right now.

Yeah!!! DD does it the easy way he just flips a switch!!

I used a Dremel tool, drill, cut off drill bit, a local welder, several files..............

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/14251051/32

Be careful, the looney runs deep in this read, and by all indications it is catching!

I have only shot about 100 rounds this year. A box of .243 Win. and about 100 rounds of 50 cal. roundballs. I shoot more in the fall but shoot les and less every year. I have enough for the rest of my life if I shoot 200 rounds a year.

It cost me very little to shoot. I am sure I payed about 20 bucks per 1,000 primers. I have some Rem. 130 gr. .277 bullets that came from Midway over 30 yrs. ago that set me back $73.00/1,000 , and mil powder I payed $69.00 for 2 8lb bottles . I even have a H 872 powder I bought for $22 /8 lb can that I have not used yet.

Not as much as I should /would like.

I have a "Shoot2Poop" system, so it is pretty much once a day. I have a bunch of "Gongs' and I have them set up in a series along the trail from the cabin to the outhouse.
I also have five shooting ranges here on the homestead, but some need to have the D-8 brush out the shooting lane. I am going blind, so other then the daily "Shoot2Poop" event, I don't use the rifle ranges much.

Have a walking trail system that has old propane tanks swinging from the trees. They are each painted one of three colors, Dark Green or Dark Brown or Dark Red. You never know what color tank you will see first, but what ever that color is, you pull down on it, but don't fire. And that color becomes the friendlies for the balance of that days walk. The other two colors are problems to be mitigated. For my application hitting the tank is not super important, this is more about training for instant identification of friendlies vs. "problems".

I shoot factory ammo. Prior to retirement I could buy ammo at wholesale prices and I went deep on the 3 types I shoot the most; 9mm, 223/5.56 and 308w. Summers I dry fire or shoot pistol at indoor ranges. I use Fed 115 gr 9mm fmj for practice and will shoot about 5k rounds this year. I will shoot about 5k rounds of 223 ball through my ARs and coyote rifles for practice and about 2k of 150gr ball through my 308w. I check zero w/ my hunting ammo at 100-500 yards. My ARs are zeroed at 100 w/ 77gr Black Hills OTM and I have 1k rounds of that for SD but use cheap fed. 55 gr for most practice for social occasions.


mike r

I shoot my hunting rifles very little. They all have a load developed for them and I head out prior to hunting to confirm zero. That said,
I typically shoot my handguns and rimfires twice a week.

DD, I don't get how a rimfire firearm can detonate the primers on centerfire wildcat cartridges.

T/C Contenders have 2 firing pins; CF/RF, and a selector on the hammer. I shoot .30 Sneezer, .22 RF & CF in the same frame. Like Muffin said, I flip the switch.

DD, do the primer pockets ever loosen up?

I shoot very little centerfire any more with the exception of ground squirrel hunting which runs from around the middle of April through the middle of July here. When they are up I am out once or twice a week and will shoot around a 100 rounds of 223 on those days.
Rimfire is a different story though - I will usually shoot from 250 to 350 rounds a day when ground squirrel hunting, and all year long any day that it is not blowing too hard or the temperature is not below 40 F. I will shoot at least 25 rounds and quite often as much as a 100 rounds of rimfire.

it is easy to shoot either centerfire or rimfire though because I have a bench on my deck so I can step out the door and shoot rimfire, and I also have a centerfire bench setup just a few yards from the house that allows shots to over 1000 yards. The best part of both bench setups is that hills behind the target has plenty of various sized rocks to use as targets and get instant feedback from hits. If I had to drive to a range and put up with crowds the amount of shooting I do would decrease dramitically.

drover

For those with questions/comments on the 22RF I suggest that the discussion move to this thread..... so as to not hijack How much do you shoot

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/12061610/32

I don’t mind if they hijack I’m finding it interesting.

my shooting is usually in the fall and winter. usually once every few weeks i'll take something out back and plink. occasionally me and the kids light up the valley with AR's and various and sundry assorted semi auto fire. i shoot my 35's lately because i have a schit ton of ammo and i like pumps and levers. the 338 fed and 7/08 scout guns get some range time every year too in anticipation of walks in the woods. i stocked up when times were good. i can have a nice afternoon shooting and not shoot 30 rounds of centerfire though. just plink.

I shoot something pretty much every day. I don't shoot just to shoot much anymore. But will shoot the top of a tee post if I miss or haven't shot something for a few days. Scopes and mounting systems are so bullet proof that they don't get knocked off anymore.

See the text about half way down the page about when I went supersonic. Short version, yes it can happen.
https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/12061610/27

I don't shoot store bought cartridges!

Not nearly enough.

We use to go to a Private Range twice a month before Obummer.
My girl stopped going before the end of Obummers Raine and I cut down to several times a Years
I stopped paying for the Membership to the Range a year and a half ago. and have not been shooting since.
All of my resources are going towards me getting out of this crap hole I live in now and getting myself to Arizona.
When I get to Arizona I have had numerous invites to go shoot when ever I want and How much I want.
Hopefully that will be in the near future.

It isn't nice to gloat about all the 3 cent (or less) primers you stocked up on Dan

I just checked my account at Acme Bullets I've ordered 9100 cast coated bullets from them since last March.

http://www.acmebullet.com/

I finally sent my Dillion 550 back to the mothership for service. I got motivated due to the lock down. It had been a PITA for years, like a car that was out of alinement Primers not feeding well at all. I wish I'd sent it back years ago because now it runs like a top and I have a good supply of components on hand.

My all time favorite gun of any kind is a S&W Model 69 with a Vortex Venom red dot. I had a custom holster made for it and a local gunsmith did an excellent action job on it. Wife and I both like to shoot. She has a bit of a completive nature and her eye sight is 9 years younger than mine. Prior to adding the red dot she had been kicking my butt on the steel target challenges.... I'm back in the lead now but not by much

Me and a bud went to the pit today.

He shot his 308 bolt gun and the 458 socom in an ar-15.

I shot the 25-45 sharps in an ar-15 and a 22-250 that i traded for last year and have not shot it much.

It was a hoot,even if they were not the usual hunting rifles.

I'm not short of ammo, but rather short on time.

Bought a boat in march and it is taking a huge chunk of time out of my weeks. I do stop at a range and shoot 2 cylinders out of my LCR .22 on my way home from weekly business. Once a month, or so I'll empty out the LC9S, or the LCR .38...

We used to see the odd varmint in the yard, but we adopted a beagle pup 5 years ago. Not much around when she's out...

I shoot 3 days a week.

I work remote, so 3 days a week (Mon, Wed, and Fri) I spend the middle half of my day at my range, maybe, 10AM to 2PM. We have an "executive lounge" (their naming, not mine) but it is nice, quiet, and comfortable. I work a couple of hours, eat (or make) my lunch, and shoot an hour or so.



( https://www.libertyrange.com/ )

I have so much powder and primer and components that I will likely never run out.

On a typical week I will shoot perhaps 100 each of .357, .44 mag, .45 ACP, .45LC, and.380. Double that in 9mm and .22. Other handgun calibers, it just varies.

I shoot less with the rifles, but just because I am always tweaking loads, and it goes slower. So maybe 20-40 rounds each of .17 FB, .204 Ruger, and 22.250. Even less of 45-70 and big game stuff. But I blow through ,22 as well with the long guns.

How much do I shoot? Not nearly as much anymore as I would like.

I have never shot at formal competition, nor have I ever owned an autoloader until this week.

I used to do load development as recreation.

I have shot out two bolt rifle barrels, and the Teslong shows that a Ruger #1 and a couple other bolt rifles are not far behind. But for thirty years I had a benchrest ten yards from the front door.

Today, I have to drive seven miles to my old benchrest and steel plate range, or ten miles out to unlimited range on the BLM, or twenty miles to an actual gun club range which I have been to once in the last year.

These days I shoot handguns much more than I do my rifles.

To address the accuracy needed to hunt big game. Yes, my Dad hunted that way. An elk is as big as a cow, and just fill them full of lead.

But I discovered a better way. I figured out that a lot less meat is wasted and you do not have to hunt wounded game if you hit the aortic arch with the first shot, rather than hit the elk.

I made sure my rifles were capable of that task out to 500 yds.

Did you ever make it out to the Colorado Gateway Dynamite shoot? Probably not a bad drive from where I think you are at. A great time - Long range competitions for cash - exploding targets at great distances and the cash pot grows until someone hits them. All different classes of guns (open sights all the way to high powered stuff)

Sadly, it looks like it will never be held again.

Never seen the Colorado state line. So that would be a no. Never heard of a dynamite shoot. And I have never shot long range.

I don't shoot much centerfire rifle much anymore, my hunting rifles have all the loads worked up with several hundred reloads of each for each rifle...for range/hunting use long after I'm gone. This is for my son and two grandkids that shoot and hunt. I check "zero" each fall for my hunting grandson and that's about it. I let him shoot the deer now and very rarely carry a rifle.

My time is far better spent with my Boy Scout troop which I sponsor three major shooting events a year plus
working with a small group of scouts who just love pulling a trigger every week on the shotgun range. ATTEMPING TO PASS ON TO THE YOUNGER GENERATION THE JOY OF SHOOTING AND HUNTING ON WHAT I HAVE LEARNED ON MY OWN AND SO MUCH MORE I HAVE LEARNED FROM HERE ON THE CAMPFIRE.

My main big game rifle shoots .257 Wby magnum 115 gr factory loads. It’s dead accurate. Before hunting I shoot one sight in shot. If it is on target, and it has been for many years, hopefully, I only need one shot for the animal. I bought five boxes of factory rounds a few years ago. Likely a lifetime supply.

My varmint rifles are a different story……….😊

Weekly, sometimes twice. CF, RF, rifle and handgun. Been doing a bit shotgun too. The cost is what it is, and I have piles of components and .22 ammo. Having something to go bang is never an issue. Neither is space for my stuff, or time.

I don’t reload .22s, yet, but I’m thinking about making my own #11 caps.

Since several of my hunting rifles potentially have somewhat short barrel life, I don’t shoot them much after working up a load. Hunting shots are short, so I also don’t need to figure out drop at very long range. I shoot at 200 at times, and 300 to check POI, but play around with stuff that will last, not something like my Fieldcraft, which is now more or less irreplaceable.

Not nearly as much as I used to, but I still manage to burn a box or two of center fire per rifle every summer. Considering I’ve got more guns now though, it’s probably pretty close.
I just enjoy making things go bang, and if I’m not burning through reloads I’m usually burning through rimfires.
Only thing bothers me is that right now it’s a little harder to replace the components I use. If it stays this way, in 4 years or so I may have to cut back!
7mm

Most of my shooting is in weekly competition: 3 gun, IDPA, USPSA, Practical Rifle etc. I try to practice one day a week with my pistols. I only shoot my hunting rifles when I am working up loads or getting ready to go hunting. Most of my rifle shooting is with AR-15's. With pistols (mostly Glocks) it's almost all 9mm. Right now I load all of the 9mm I shoot. I have enough ammo and components that I am still shooting regularly. I also shoot air rifles in my basement which is cheap and convenient.

I shoot once a week, occasionally twice a week.

November - December when hunting has wrapped up through late May, sometimes into June I'm fiddling with equipment; rifles, scopes, cartridges, handloads, etc.
Afterwards, until hunting season kicks off, I'm off the bench practicing with sticks, off-hand, prone, longer than usual distances, hunting rifle competitions, etc.

Oh, yea, almost forgot - and waiting to not draw a Moose tag ...

Very little.....and it has nothing to do with components! Time is the one critical component in life that I’m very short of! memtb

scared I can't replace what I'd use

10-22RF to shoot the 22GTC:

the firing pin, one original and one modified for CF:



Bolt face:



RF top,CF bottom:


More:

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