How many rounds do you shoot ?

[Dahonis]

Me again sign85

How many rounds to you normally shoot on a range day, non competition stuff.

Reason I ask is I will be wanting a .308 but trying to work out the overall cost for ammunition, i.e is it cheaper to use factory loads rather than a new re-loading set-up. I have no idea of how many rounds people use....in the military it was never a problem !

My shooting will be once a month, would like to shoot up to 600 yds, would a .223 be cheaper for factory loads.

I have no idea, but I don't want to make the mistake of buying the wrong caliber rifle and it costing me a fortune to feed it.

Your experience would be most welcome.

Regards

Chris

[tackb]

all of them

[dodgyrog]

50 on average per calibre (cast boolits, of course)

[dromia]

Minimum 250rds, hardly worth turning out if you are going to shoot less.

Usually will have half a dozen rifles each with a minimum of 100 rounds each, actual proportions of rounds/calibre shot will depend on weather, some rifles I won't take out in the wet, distances and what I am wanting to achieve with each rifle/load combination.

This is for ETR ranges where I am shooting all day, no butt duty. Although on a well run Gallery range shoot I would still expect to get through 200 rds in a day.

Field firing range days minimum of 500 rounds average for these shoots is usually 6-700 rounds shot.

[Dahonis]

Thank you.

It would seem by the amounts shot that re-loading would work out cheaper than factory.

I'm not adverse to spending money, I just don't throw it away...unless it's down a range !

Thanks again

Chris

[dromia]

Handloading rarely saves you money but it does allow you to shoot more and if applied properly will give greater accuracy. It also gives greater flexibility and choice of loads, well over 3/4s of my full bore shooting is done with cast boolits. In fact the only time I shoot condom loads is for testing, live quarry and occasions when I haven't a suitable cast boolit on hand. It also allows me to shoot my fullbore rifles on 25 yrd indoor ranges downloaded to be within the range certificate limits. Handloading also gives you a greater appreciation and understanding of your firearms.

[spud]

60 odd and totally agree with dromia plus reloading is very relaxing and akin to its own sports once you take it to the more involved levels

[ovenpaa]

On a typical long distance day (800-1200 yards) I shoot between 40 and 50 rounds at a leisurely pace. At 600 I would expect to put a few more down range, maybe 60.

[Watcher]

Where I shoot it tends to be 2 + 20. Reason is that most clubs here shoot on a Sunday afternoon from 1 - 4 p.m. By the time you've done a turn in the butts and maybe you get 'pinged' for lookout there's only really enough time to shoot one detail and any more than 25 is getting a bit selfish.

I've done some calculations and I work out that its costing me 69p a shot with 155 SMKs and 45.8 grains of N140. Everytime I get an extra shot out of a batch of cases it goes down by 3 - 4 pence a bang. This isn't bad if you compare it with the top notch stuff you get at Bisley!

I've attached my Excel below; its probably not very sophisticated but it was an interesting exercise for a dull afternoon.

[Blackstuff]

As Watcher has brought up, it may depend on the shooting procedure at your range. Some ranges the boards are put up and patched by the shooters themselves, so range time is used between shooting details doing that, other places have shooter/patchers working in teams so first few details one lot shoot, the other lot patches, then they swap. Other places have people paid to patch and the shooters just blat away.

I usually do 30-90rds per full-bore rifle calibre and 50-200rds for full-bore pistol calibres.