Target Shooting Budget. What Kind of Ammo, How Many Rounds Per Week Or Months...?

[Andy54Hawken]

hi I Have 2 9mm 1 M&P15 Patrol And I'm learning the M&P15 how often should I go to the range with it??

I don't know...how often do you want to go to the range...?
Or How often can you go to the range with it...?
Whatever that is....do that.

I don't like to tell others how they should do something.

I would suggest that you consider practicing with your firearms enough...
So that safe handling and accurate shooting become natural and second nature.
That is how often I like to practice...which works and has worked for me...but maybe not others.
Andy

 

[oremike]

I shoot as much as I want, of what I want, when I want. If I didn't own an ammo loading business I would temper that with "that I can afford". Right now I'm loading 38 Super so the over-run will most likely be some of what I shoot next. I'll call it quality assurance testing.

 

[Jay Walk]

I see Bi-mart has 38 special for $19.99
Finally.

 

[ilikegunspdx]

I see Bi-mart has 38 special for $19.99
Finally.

I shot 38 special for the first time in decades the other day and I felt the same way I did then. Give me something with more power! The .357 felt pretty good though. .38 special is just not a cartridge for me I guess.

 

[Jay Walk]

I shot 38 special for the first time in decades the other day and I felt the same way I did then. Give me something with more power! The .357 felt pretty good though. .38 special is just not a cartridge for me I guess.

I hear ya, I do want a vintage dedicated 38 sp revolver though.

 

[gmerkt]

No schedule here. The weather figures into it at least half the year. When I do get out to shoot, I usually have a number of firearms with me and no restriction on amount of ammo. And I almost always bring some of it back unfired. Because I either get tired of shooting it or I've accomplished my goal of testing the weapon function, sight or optics zeroing, or reloaded cartridge testing. These aforementioned technical chores are often the reason for my shooting trip.

Sometimes, my grandson is with me. When he's with me, we often have shotguns and clay birds which is pure recreation. We mostly use 20 ga. for that. He likes the AR platform and the Glock 19 and can go through a lot of ammo in either or both by himself. He also likes to spend time wandering around looking at stuff.

 

[oremike]

I shot 38 special for the first time in decades the other day and I felt the same way I did then. Give me something with more power! The .357 felt pretty good though. .38 special is just not a cartridge for me I guess.

I only shoot 38 Special in a little 1 7/8" barreled 5 shot model 60 S&W. I find even 158gr SWC's to be spicier than I care in that little gun. In my 357 Blackhawk and GP-100 I shoot 357 ammo.

 

[CLT65]

I shot 38 special for the first time in decades the other day and I felt the same way I did then. Give me something with more power! The .357 felt pretty good though. .38 special is just not a cartridge for me I guess.

I used to feel the same way, but my shooting interests have changed over the years, come full circle in a way. I even enjoy shooting .32 S&W Long nowadays. Talk about weak ballistics!

I still love the .357 Magnum, and the .44 Magnum too, but I don't shoot them as much as I used to. At the beginning of the Covid thing I spent a lot of time working from home, often with not much to actually do. I had a case of 5k sp primers, a 5-gallon bucket of .38 Special brass, a hundred pounds of scrap lead, and a 5-cavity, .38cal, 125gr bullet mold. The out of pocket cost was probably less than the current cost of .22 lr ammo, and I have a many-year supply of .38sp ammo.

When I'm shooting the big N-frame Highway Patrolman, .357 mag ammo feels right, but I have several older K-frame Model 10's that are a lot of fun. My favorite is a 6" 10-7 from the early 1980's. Someone who really knew what they were doing worked over the trigger, and it has the most amazingly smooth double-action and crisp single-action pull of any revolver I've ever shot.

If I had to pay $20 a box for .38 ammo though, I sure wouldn't be able to shoot near so much.

 

[Jay Walk]

I hope somebody takes advantage of this sunny stretch and "actually shoots" some ammo. I am busy AF or would be out in the woods. FML.

 

[HiFi Magnetics]

I hope somebody takes advantage of this sunny stretch and "actually shoots" some ammo. I am busy AF or would be out in the woods. FML.

Right on!

 

[ilikegunspdx]

I hope somebody takes advantage of this sunny stretch and "actually shoots" some ammo. I am busy AF or would be out in the woods. FML.

Did a self competition between handguns for double taps today. Mp5 reg size clone (with no brace) and Walther q5 match won the day. Also got first chance to shoot g3K clone. Dang that thing is smooth for .308 and about 1/3 the recoil I expected. It's fine even shooting with brace folded which surprised me.

 

[Benchrest]

Good weather, shooting with my brother, maybe 1,800 - 2,200K of 9mm a month, 80rnds or so of .308.

Since my brother lost his bubblegum and I don't hang out with him anymore, a lot less

 

[HiFi Magnetics]

I fired a few of my favorite firearm over 2000 rounds. Not like the way how this guy does it.
Nevertheless.. sun is up and its time to rock!

 

[Benchrest]

I fired my a few of my favorite firearm over 2000 rounds. Not like the way how this guy does it.
Nevertheless.. sun is up and its time to rock!

My Canik TP9 has somewhere around 20K down the pipe, I'd just shoot it until light primer strikes (about every 2,500 rnds), clean out the striker channel, and carry on

Of course two thirds of the rnds were my own reloads, brass being reloaded 10 - 12 times

 

[HiFi Magnetics]

Do you use a special tool to pickup your casings for reloading?

 

[ilikegunspdx]

.

 

[HiFi Magnetics]

This one is still like new around 500 rounds.
The good size:
1. never fail yet not even 1 jam.
2. it groups very well and consistent.

The bad with the good:
1. The trigger is so stiff like you're firing a gun with an empty magazine.
2. Even after the initial 500 round break-in.. Every-time I fire the gun it feels like Wyatt Earp is shooting the gun off my hand.
3. The good after the bad.. When I move to the original Glock 19, it is weight and effortless. Better than Clint Driftwood.

 

[Catfishmoon]

My Canik TP9 has somewhere around 20K down the pipe, I'd just shoot it until light primer strikes (about every 2,500 rnds), clean out the striker channel, and carry on

Of course two thirds of the rnds were my own reloads, brass being reloaded 10 - 12 times


View attachment 1854302

Nice.
I like guns that get shot a lot.

 

[Benchrest]

This one is still like new around 500 rounds.
The good size:
1. never fail yet not even 1 jam.

That's the thing with the TP9, it's never failed (all original springs, most rounds fired from the same mag) other than out of neglect. Of course a light strike could have been attributed to neglect, but was an actual failure.

Never a stove pipe, never a FTF, never a FTE.

And it was the gun I learned to reload on (not saying there were a couple of 124gr loads that tripped the crono at 1,375 ).

 

[CLT65]

And it was the gun I learned to reload on (not saying there were a couple of 124gr loads that tripped the crono at 1,375 ).

Youch, that's a hot one! I've never damaged a gun or blown one up in all my many years of reloading, but I sure abused a couple pretty bad when I was starting out and learning.