How often did you shoot when you were younger?

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CoyoteSix

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Hey all, due to "The Shortage" my shooting has obviously gotten really slow.

I really have only gone out with my rimfires twice and my centerfire pistol once during this whole endeavor.

During this time I gave alot of thought towards how often I think I should be shooting. My income doesn't exactly allow shooting hundreds of centerfire rounds once a week. Turns out jobs that work around 12 credit hours and let me work 35+hours a week don't pay me much. :D

I was just wondering, for those of you old sages, what was your shooting schedule like when you were just starting out?
 
Maybe younger isn't the best word.

How about: "While working towards one's desired career, on a slightly above minimum wage income."
 
Right outta college, I shot about every weekend for a couple of years, then slacked off to a few times a year for over a decade. A few years ago I hit it hard again and now shoot about half the days of the month.
 
Time, funds and access, not ammunition availability has always been my limiter.

Until my thirties, I shot a few times a year, a couple boxes per session.

Time is still the limiter. Just too much on the plate and I am even retired now. (Now that I am retired, I wonder when I had time to work!)
 
In 1980-2, I was a full-time college student with two part-time jobs and a Dillon press in my apartment. I shot at least once a week, and averaged about 1k rounds of .45acp 10 months a year. That Dillon could crank 'em out. It helped that one of my jobs was with a gunsmith - and he used me as a range stooge to test all repaired firearms. If I wanted to stay and shoot my own, I just "clocked out". I also got reloading supplies at dealer cost. My other job was selling suits at a higher-end department store, on commission. I was good at it, and made more than the full-timers. I actually made less money after I graduated and started working full-time!
 
I was just wondering, for those of you old sages, what was your shooting schedule like when you were just starting out?
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Back in the 70's when I was a kid I had no shooting schedule, I played with.22lr but only when I could afford a box of Wildcats. Maybe I'd buy a box of CCI mini-mags before hunting season and that would last till next summer, same with shotshells sometimes we'd have a box of #4 Express shells laying around but other times I would buy shells by the piece at a local hardware store on Saturday before went out hunting.

In the 80's I was working so I had a bit of money for guns and ammo but not much cause I also had a family, it was primarily bird hunting for which I reloaded and Deer hunting (black powder, shotgun slugs).

I didn't get into handguns until the mid 90's when my kids were older and I quit bird hunting.
 
When a kid, I'd shoot several times a month, 22 mostly. 500 rds wasnt unusual each time out, 1000 rds wasnt unheard of each time either. Just depended on how much I could afford with yard work, farm work etc.
 
^^ That's what my shooting sessions were until the shortage hit. I've got a good amount of .22lr stocked, but I like to save it for the new shooters I bring out.
 
younger?
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Well, the Marine Corps gave me a M1 Garand when I was 17 but they wouldn't let me shoot it much. :D

BuckM1USMC.gif


When I was about 21 and living in the city, there was a gravel pit outside the city where we use to shoot several times a month.

When we moved to Texas (1966) and bought a little ground I was 26. The shooting increased greatly.

Now I shoot several times a day and some evenings (laser practice), 5 or 6 days a week (home ranges).
 
When I was younger I would shoot once a week or so, on average. A couple boxes of 22 maybe a box of 12 gauge.

Nowadays I reload, a lot. I also shoot bullseye comps, a lot. I shoot a minimum of 500rds of 38 special per week, during our 18 week season. Off season I do about 300rds a week. On top of that is 45acp for an occasional IDPA or just some plinking. Usually about 100 or so of those per week, sometimes less.

I average around 20k 38 specials per year.
 
Given my school/work situation (similar to yours), if it weren't for 2 things I wouldn't get to shoot much.

1. Handloading
2. Casting

I can load 1,000 .38 specials for about $55 and 1,000 .45 Colt rounds for under $70. Prices like that let you shoot quiet a bit. I can shoot .38s as cheap as I can buy .22 lr before the panic.

I wouldn't be able to shoot half as often as I do if not for casting and loading.
 
Once per year at a week long YMCA family camp. Probably went through maybe a box of ammo the whole week.
 
Hunting seasons only ( rabbit, squirrel, bird, deer). Money was tight back then.
 
Welcome, btown.

I was raised in Baltimore with not much shooting opportunity at home. My dad's kin is all over Virginia, so 2-4 times a year, we'd go visit and drag along our gaggle of .22 rifles.

At 17, I entered the infantry and my round count rose significantly. Then I learned that 30 minutes of shooting resulted in 3 hours of compulsory cleaning......
 
When I was a lot younger (like out of high school), I use to shoot quite a bit as I had an older brother who also was very much into guns and shooting. But after I got married and had kids the amount of time I had for range visits totally disappeared. It's only been in the last six or seven years that I have had the time (and money), to get back into shooting.
 
As a 13yo, I reloaded 12ga and 20ga on a weekly basis for skeet and doves with Dad.
 
When I grew up, ammo was reserved for hunting. You shot a new gun to sight it in and after that only when game was in your sights. Sometimes you were allowed a round or two to make sure the deer rifle was still on the week before season, but most times a box of 20 lasted several years. I still remember the fit my dad threw when he found out I shot a whole brick of .22LR over the course of a year........:eek:The local rifle range was basically deserted except for two weeks before deer season and for Hunter Education shoots. The exception was shooting trap. This mindset was one reason so many older revolvers are basically like new. Only wear they got was from rubbin' against the socks in the dresser drawer.
 
My dad use to take me shooting almost ever weekend starting when I was 6 years old. By 13 I took and old jeep to the woods to hunt. By 16 I had a model A based swamp buggy I built and a old truck to haul it with and was in the woods many weekends during hunting season.
 
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