Can't afford to shoot anymore?

[AFChief]

I do feel like I am pulling gold bricks out of my shooting bag instead of ammo boxes when I go to the range. A few months ago I took along a few boxes 9mm and .380 to give the CC pistols some exercise and the girl behind the counter looked at the .380 and said, “Your not going to shoot those are ya?… you’re lucky to even have some!”

It’s bad when a few boxes of ammo starts costing more than the firearm!!!

[captaincalc]

In a by-the-way note: this would be a good time to teach your kids the idea of "buy low." They probably aren't gonna get this lesson in any public school. Buy when prices are low, enjoy when prices sky-rocket. Ask any older guy, prices for ammo stuff go up and down. Over the years I've learned to stock up when I can. I get a little at a time when prices are right, so I don't have to buy a whole lot (at a time) when they aren't. You can't store English muffins, or gasoline like you can reloading stuff.

[sigman2]

Originally Posted by captaincalc

In a by-the-way note: this would be a good time to teach your kids the idea of "buy low." They probably aren't gonna get this lesson in any public school. Buy when prices are low, enjoy when prices sky-rocket. Ask any older guy, prices for ammo stuff go up and down. Over the years I've learned to stock up when I can. I get a little at a time when prices are right, so I don't have to buy a whole lot (at a time) when they aren't. You can't store English muffins, or gasoline like you can reloading stuff.

I see this every year. When hunting season rolls around I have several friends who call me because they can't find ammo. The first one or two times I helped them out. Now, if they let themselves get stuck again it's on them. They've got to learn.

My grandson duck hunts so he's always looking for 12 Ga. 3" steel shot. I don't hunt any more, so last season I gave him all my steel shot, about 6 boxes, and 25 or 30 rounds of buckshot. I gave him a Remington 700 .30/06 when he graduated high school a couple of years ago. With that came 200 rounds of HXP and 100 rounds of commercial 150 gr. soft point. He's still ok on the rifle ammo. This summer I taught him how to reload and gave him enough components to get started. Now he needs to build up a supply of components when the prices are reasonable.

I'm going to date myself here... I still have several hundred Super-X 12 Ga. 2.75" #6 lead shot from my earlier duck hunting years. These are from the days of 500 shell cases... way back when their shells were marked Mark V plastic. They won't do my grandson any good since they're lead shot.

A few years ago, before Covid, our local grocery had a close out on their brand of 18 roll packs of double roll toilet tissue. They were changing to 4x rolls so the 2x rolls were marked down 75% off. I bought the remaining 10 packs... yes, that's 180 double rolls. No problem, we had the room to store it. When I got home my wife looked in the car and said, "I see they had a good sale on toilet paper!" We're both on the same page when it comes to "Buy it cheap and stack it deep".

[JimF]

Originally Posted by Griff557

Mind sharing where you found 4895??? I could use some

I don’t mind at all, but . . . . .

A half hour (maybe less) after I bought it, it was sold out!!

Powder Valley . . . .8 lbs..

[Griff557]

Originally Posted by JimF

I don’t mind at all, but . . . . .

A half hour (maybe less) after I bought it, it was sold out!!

Powder Valley . . . .8 lbs..

That’s one of the places I look…guess it wasn’t my day

[Tothemax]

While it is more expensive to shoot in our current climate it has not slowed me down. I have tons of components to load along with tons of factory ammo. I can't take it to my grave so I might as well shoot it.

[medalguy]

As the song goes "this ain't my first rodeo." I've been through this crap several times now, so I learned that when supplies are available, buy them and stock up. Several years back, when Tula primers were first being imported into this country, I bought about 200,000 mixed primers for around $12 per thousand. I still have quite a few of those left. I also bought Winchester and Remington primers when they were on sale. Powder came from several surplus dealers at around $3 per pound, and I'm still using that too. When this passes, and it will, remember to buy what you can, when you can, and hold on to your stock. Replace what you shoot when prices are reasonable and keep a good backstock.

[Mad Anthony]

I've definitely slowed down on shooting but haven't quit entirely. There is a glimmer of hope that prices might be coming down ever so slowly. Just yesterday I stopped by my friendly neighborhood Cabela's in hopes of finding some Garand-friendly 30-06. I didn't find that but I did find 9mm for $18/box. I can hardly remember the last time I found it for less than $20 as sad as that sounds. Of course I grabbed a few boxes. So, just maybe the current bloated ammo prices won't last forever.

[m1garand1055]

I don't shoot my M1's like I used to. I would go up to our range and shoot about close to a hundred rounds of HXP and think nothing of it. Go up at least every week while I was still working!!! Now I'm retired and I shoot my M1's about once a month and when I do , I usually shoot 3 clips full and that's it!!!

I still shoot my U.S. 44's alot .I have enough 22's that will last me for a while.

[milprileb]

Making the ammo too costly is the same result as making ammo unavailable. Drives down value of fire arms and denies you and your kids / grand kids the kind of shooting life we've long enjoyed in this country.