When will you stop?

[jeepyj]

I have enjoyed handgun shooting for 37+ years. I finally had gotten to the point that I was just as happy shooting a .22 as a Hand Cannon. Well now with the prices going as crazy as they are I will cast to keep my cost down and Just enjoy anything I can I can shoot reasonable until I can't hit the target any more.
Jeepyj

[destrux]

Well now that I've perfected reloading primers with toy caps I could probably shoot forever... at a slower pace. This will all pass though. If it doesn't well then we will just have to make it pass with whatever ammo we have left.

[Recluse]

I have enjoyed handgun shooting for 37+ years. I finally had gotten to the point that I was just as happy shooting a .22 as a Hand Cannon. Well now with the prices going as crazy as they are I will cast to keep my cost down and Just enjoy anything I can I can shoot reasonable until I can't hit the target any more.
Jeepyj

At this stage in my life, there are few joys greater to me than taking out the .22LRs on a crisp, cool fall day to an outdoor caliche (gravel) pit or somewhere in the country, shooting impromptu targets like cans and plastic bottles, then getting the guns home and cleaning them with Hoppes #9.

Something magical, absolutely magical, about the smells of .22LR and Hoppes #9. It always brings back a flood of memories with my Dad and granddads and uncles of when we'd go out shooting on a Sunday afternoon after church, then come home and spread the newspapers out on the kitchen table and clean up the guns.

I've got plenty of .22LR, but I am being judicious with it. I have lots of large pistol primers and so I am shooting a lot more .44 Special and Magnum, and .45 ACP and Colt these days than I am small-pistol primer calibers, even though I have more than an ample supply of them.

Just bought another seven pounds of W748 powder as it is my go-to powder for 30-30, .303 and .223 and it doesn't take too long to go through a pound during an afternoon of heavy reloading. Bought a couple thousand large rifle magnum primers to use as plinking primers for the long guns combined with low charges of Unique and ridiculously small/light boolits that need no gas checks.

I call it "centerfire .22 plinking."

[sparky45]

What you have described, Recluse, about the Sunday afternoon "get together" with family, guns, possibly friendly competitions between(in my case) brothers, reminds me of, well, Norman Rockwell moments. They will be forever etched in my memory and oddly enough, Hoppes and gun oil(s) evoke strong memories and visual images of some of the finest times of my life. I'd be willing to bet the same could be said for most of the "senior" members on this Forum. Thank you for the memories.

[Awsar]

rt now i shoot when i want . i have plenty loaded and lots of components.
but if it all went to heck then id have to cut back .

[HighHook]

These kids at our range saw me blow off 200 rds of 30-06 and just about had a heart attacks. They just shot 50 new 9mm. I told them if I had mine I would of shot 300. Just to make every body mad I shot a box of 333 22 lr. Was a good day at the range.

I will stop when I run low on supplies.

[lead4me]

I'm feeling pretty good about my "stash" right now, over 50k primers 50/50 L&S PP with a few k of rifle thrown in. Plenty of Lead & powder to last a few years. I've got plenty loaded for almost all my firearms, except 22LR only about 1K of those but working on fixing that. I like to take a few different guns to the property we have and spend the day doing drill's and plinking with my girls, we stop when hungry or tired. The biggest draw on my supplies now is all my friends who 6 months ago wouldn't shoot "Lead heads" in their gun's are now asking if I have any extra I can spare!! But hey if you can't help your friends who can you help. Most of them are shooting 1911's and lead is the most accurate thing they have shot so far. Got to stop the pan lubing or have them chip in and buy me a star...think I'll look into that.

[Blacksmith]

I have long had the habit of trying to buy something when I visit a LGS. Sort of support your local business. Often it is a box of ammo, primers or powder over time I have built a supply and I continue to do so. If you support the little guy he will remember and support you also.

Was in a store recently that had a two box limit and I explained I would like to get two Bricks of .22 for a youth shooting program that is coming up. The guy said OK I am sure he remembered me as a somewhat steady customer. The leader of the youth program didn't plan ahead and got caught short. It wasn't a total panic because if we hadn't found any I would have covered it from my personal supply and let them pay me back when available.

Any of you involved with Youth shooting camps in the summer better check on ammo supply. Even The CMP is out and expects to be out until October.

[1bluehorse]

when they nail the lid shut on the box. that is the same time i stop riding my harley or driving my vette.

Yep, me too, sep' it's a quarter horse and a Diesel PU.......

[rhadamanthos12]

I keep factory ammo in the safe, those are always there for when i run out of my components to make my own. I liked to have at least 500 loaded rounds for each caliber I own, doesn't always happen but to me that is a good safe point/goal. I always try to buy supplies when I have the spare funds to do so, even if it is only 100 primers or 1lb of powder it makes a difference to store it away while you can.

[WILCO]

I won't stop. I'll just make components.

[arkypete]

I'm not low on primers, cases or powder. What I'm low on is copper plated pistol slugs for the indoor range. When it gets warmer the cast slugs will start going down range. I never saw jacketed and copper plated bullet get gone in such a hurry.
I worry about the small gun shops and indoor ranges. If they cannot sell ammo, bullets, powder, primers that will cut down on their cash flow and maybe cause them to go under.
This may cause more jacketed bullet makers to start up production.

Jim

[HATCH]

Based on my current shooting I have over 10 years worth of supplies and loaded ammo.
truthfully I have over 20 years worth of 308 because I never shoot it.
The only thing that will suck for me is 22lr. I do have 10K rounds of it so I will not feel the hurt just yet but I will be feeling the pain in another year.
My son (who turns 9 this saturday) pretty much shoots up 200 rds of 22lr every time we go to the range.
I am going to hate to tell him that he has to limit himself to 100rds of 22lr once my supply gets down below 5K rounds.


I have several friends that have approached me in the past week about me loading ammo for them.
I tell them NO. I will not load ammo for them using my supplies.
I tell them that they are more the welcome to purchase primers and powder when they can find them and come use my equiptment to load their ammo.
This even goes for the boolits. They can pay for their own lead and I can cast them on the master caster.
We live in a different world now. We have to think about not IF it will run would but WHEN will it run out.
I know that I don't have a lifetime supply of reloading components and I know that even if I had a pile of money that I can't purchase suppplies because they aren't out there.
For the past year I have looked at the same two 8lb jugs of Unique sitting on the shelves of my local gun store. Well I went in there last week and guess what... they are gone.
Nothing is to be had. I have people looking all over the state from small pistol primers.

[KCSO]

250 rounds for each gun left and then i shoot my flinter till there is more ammo. I can knap my own flints and make my own powder so i will be shooting for a long time yet. The upside of this is that if you can hit what you aim at with a flint pistol you can shoot anything!

[captaint]

I suppose when I get down to 100 each of 45ACP & 9mm, it'll be time to go to 22LR only. I have enough stuff right now to go on as usual for a year, anyway. By then, things will have settled down and we'll all be OK. Right ?? Right ?? . I will shoot the 22LR a little more often, though. Just in case. It's very enjoyable and good practice anyhow. Mike

[Artful]

When my old job left me behind I had to reduce my shooting due to costs vs income, but at my current rate I probably have a 10 year supply of ammo / components. But what I look at is if it's not a "normal" usage issue - I keep enough for each weapon for a dire situation.

Example a 80 round bandolero in en-bloc for the Garand.
A 100 round bandolero of 7.62x54 on stripper clips for Mosin and same in 303 for SMLE.
I keep 6 loaded 30 round mags of 223 for an AR, I keep mags loaded for HK and FAL
- these are all set up to grab and go or to pass out in case of trouble.
Fred up the street is retired Air Force - Vietnam Vet
- other people I trust enough if it comes to defending our homes.

My thoughts are to keep at least enough ammo for each important weapon to be able to use in a serious situation.

If I get down to those level's I'd stop shooting for pleasure.

[429421Cowboy]

[QUOTE=Blacksmith;2085080]I have long had the habit of trying to buy something when I visit a LGS. Sort of support your local business. Often it is a box of ammo, primers or powder over time I have built a supply and I continue to do so. If you support the little guy he will remember and support you also.
QUOTE]

That right there is the truth and exactly how i feel! We have two truely local owned and operated stores, if i go in there i alway try to give them at least a little bit of cash, now all the times i spent $3 on a sleeve of rifle primers is paying off. Also thats why he knocks a few bucks off or throws something in when i buy a used die set or such.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

...So what about you? At what point do you stop? Dave C.

I'll stop ... when Obummer comes to Glencoe and tells me to stop !
Jon

[Blacksmith]

I'll stop in two weeks! Anyone see "The Money Pit".

[Beau Cassidy]

Stop? Hell- I haven't even started good! My my best guess I have enough to last me the next 153.5 years give or take a month or two. I don't like not being able to do the things I like to do.