Plinking never gets old for this Old Timer

[dverna]

A post by Murphy in the Rimfire forum sparked this.

For me it is always about trigger time. Shooting is the only hobby I still do after over 60 years of "playing". And that "playing" has run from plinking to competitive shooting.

This brings a saying to mind my dad had, "We start life as a baby and end it as a baby".

I started plinking at 8 years old with a BB gun and I am now plinking with a PCP gun. The days of competitive shooting are behind me. Too old to shoot rifles or pistols well, and too cheap to shoot trap. No regrets. Along the way I had a lot of fun, won a few trinkets and met many wonderful people. Two of those men helped me find Jesus, so shooting has been a life changer for me.

Funny thing about plinking. No matter how serious I got about the shooting sport I was into, plinking has ALWAYS been fun!!!!

I have a few projects lined up for next year. Develop a new "universal" load for the seven .38/.357 guns with 30 lbs of a new powder I got cheap (currently my universal load is a light 130 gr RNFP, but going to a +P 158 SWC). Develop a "universal" load for the five 9mm's with the same powder (just added two carbines and have not tested them yet). Develop a "universal" cast load for the three .30/30's (do not shoot cast in rifles). Get the Master Caster set up with a Lee pot as a pre-melt feeder. Get the .22 dad gave me 58 years ago shooting accurately again. None of those projects are for "serious" shooting...plinking fun and maybe a couple of coyotes with the .357's is all. My "serious" work is done with jacketed bullets. I have one project there...a deer load for the .308's with the 150 gr Hornady Interlocks.

With the supply and price issues we face, many of us can no longer afford to plink with CF guns. Let's face it, for most of us, over 99% of our shooting is plinking. I had expected things to get better by now, but I was wrong. We can still afford to hunt and defend our homes, but having fun is expensive.

Plinking never gets old for me. I have switched to PCP's to keep shooting and to conserve supplies. I miss shooting "real" guns but at least I can keep having some fun. I am lucky to have enough primers and powder to last a long time if I cut my shooting down to 2-3000 rounds a year but that would suck. The load development work I am planning may be all the "fun" CF shooting I do next year unless things get better. I am not whining about it...just the way it is. I will NOT stop shooting. "Tinging" a 4" steel plate at 100 yards with an air gun is not the same as ringing it at 200 yards with a CF....but still fun!

It will be a sad day when I need to sell all this stuff. No one else in the family cares.

[FredBuddy]

Well said, Don.

[NSB]

Good post. Sounds a lot like me. I used to shoot of everything, to the tune of about 50,000 rounds a year between handgun, rifle, and shotgun (lots of rimfire in there). Competition days are gone but with the PCP and a lifetime supply of pellets I’m probably good for the rest of the ride. Hunting is still good, got my fourth deer for the year yesterday. Still like my bench time but there’s less of it.

[dondiego]

Plinking is my favorite too. I like to shoot at pumpkins, squash, tomatoes, and gourds that I grow. They don't require cleanup, have a definite response when hit, and sometimes they regrow from the seeds left behind! I shoot into a berm that I built so I can get back all of my alloy too. In the winter I shoot at clay targets laid on the berm. I like reactive targets.

[centershot]

It will be a sad day when I need to sell all this stuff. No one else in the family cares.

Yeah, me too. I'm the last hunter/shooter in the family. There are family members that have guns but haven't shot them in years.

Plinking - oh yeah! Bounce that little plastic cube all over the range with my single shot Remington 514. My wife bought it for me for Christmas some years ago. She was with me in the LGS when I first saw it, I wouldn't buy it (I really did want it!) 'cuz it was way overpriced for what it was, but somehow she sneaked it home and there it was on Christmas. It'll be the last one I ever sell, it's just too much fun to shoot!

[georgerkahn]

Well spoken! My bad knee/leg getting "worser" put me in a place I didn't wish to be at the range. To wit, one needs schlep about 100 feet to the target shack to retrieve one; and then stand it at (your choice) plastic pipe up-ends at 25- 50- 75- or 100-yard distances. (Of course we have a 300 yard range, but for me would give new meaning to "impossible" ;)) My normal shooting distance for past decade or so has been 75-yard. I have yet to come across anyone who did not volunteer to both post as well as retrieve my targets -- but frankly, that's not my style.
Hence, I dusted off an air rifle and an air pistol -- and, became hooked. Pellets are plentiful and quite inexpensive to purchase and shoot: My most costly ran about four and three-quarter pennies per shot! They are quiet, but still provide *TONS* of plinking fun!
I bought a target called, "Quad-target" (Airguns of Arizona) which has four rotatable metal strips about a centre-piece -- so I can plink for hours at end with instant feedback without leaving my stool. I start with the PCPs, and when I run low on air switch to the gas-piston, and then the springers.
"YES!" to me -- an afternoon spent plinking surely is hard to beat!
geo

[45-70 Chevroner]

Use to do a lot of plinkin, along with target shooting and Cowboy action shooting. Then age stepped in along with heart problems and it came to a screeching halt, turned 80 last August but decided I needed a home defense gun ( I've got lots of guns but nothing that I would call a home defense gun) so I bought a tactical 12 guage, then decided it was too cumbersome and then bought a Taurus G2c 9mm. I've had it for a little over 2 months and haven't shot it yet. My son and grandson are going to take me out sometime before Christmas, weather permitting so I can see how it shoots, and do a little plinking with some of my favorites. You all have a nice Christmas.

[Bad Ass Wallace]

Like most of you fellows, ill health has put a stop to my days of competitive shooting but I still enjoy plinking 2-3 days every week. Mostly with the little guns, 32/20, 25/20, 218Bee and 22 Hornet, with lots of cast boolits.

https://i.imgur.com/6AFUHJMl.jpg

[dverna]

We had dinner tonight with two couples from church. At one point we got around to old age and I was asked, “Are you in your 60’s?” I am 71...but my fiancé is 58...I think she makes me younger...LOL!

I know things will get worse. I empathize with you other Old Timers who are further down the road...I am catching up faster than I want to. But you are an inspiration. We will keep putting rounds downrange as long as the good Lord sees fit to let us play. We cannot compete any more, walking to and from the targets can get challenging, but we can plink and relish our memories.

Thank you posting your experiences. Good to see others who value their trigger time.

[smoked turkey]

I also identify with the plinking idea. At 75 years young I too am feeling the pinch of old age where it is more difficult to do the things I really enjoy doing. I also notice that it takes me a lot longer to do things than it used to. I want to say this is an excellent thread and I'm glad to see those who have posted are "in the same boat".

[Murphy]

Don,

Thanks for mentioning my having sparked you into posting about your life and shooting. I've not gone down the BB/Pellet road believe it or not. I grew up in Oklahoma City until the ripe age of 13. Not a lot of plinking to be had in the big city in the 60's. That all changed when my father changed jobs and moved back where he'd grown up as a child, a small rural town. It was rather unusual for a young man not to have a BB gun, the real lucky ones had already gained their parents trust enough they had actual .22's

My father wasn't a shooter aside from keeping a 'deer rifle' around so he could go once a year and be with his brothers to deer camp, a big thing in our area, and still is. All of my uncles were hunters and took me along squirrel or rabbit hunting from time to time. I eventually got old enough I was allowed a .22 and the real hunting and plinking took off. More hunting than plinking. Our county is known as a welfare county, timber country and not much more. Any money to be made by a youngster looking to fund his shooting habit was hard earned. We bought hunting 'shells' and did little plinking, just enough to know our guns were sighted in. We wasted precious little ammunition for the sake of fun.

Thankfully, things change and our county had a major spurt in growth due to a large paper mill being built along with a few other industrial plants. I had already been bitten by the lure of handguns. Articles by Skeeter Skelton and few more only helped to spur it on. Then, I read about a gentleman Ed McGivern. Wow! The die was cast and I was bent on becoming the best I could become with a handgun. Being in a rural area, I could step outside the barn where I did my reloading and shoot any day I wanted. I went onto competition shooting (never was a bullseye man though) leather slapping and such. Won a few ribbons and trophy's along the way, loved every minute of it. And, much like you stated met some of the best men I will ever have the good fortune to call a friend.

One sure thing about plinkin' for me. It clears my mind of any worries I may have, I'm too bush concentrating on the task at hand to think of anything else. I'm having fun.

Murphy

[Bad Ass Wallace]

Thinking back to my "younger days", Started plinking tin cans from about age 8. I would get 50c per month pocket money, and a pkt of 50x22 boolits was 35c so I would count out 12 per week to make them last until next 'pocket money day'.

Yep! I'm pretty old to have such memories.

[John Guedry]

I thought I was the only kid who didn't get a dollar a week "spending money". I'm a confirmed "plinker".

[Hanzy4200]

I hope I am still going strong by my later years. I've been casting and hand loading for 10 years, and it has only be come more enjoyable as time has passed.

[pworley1]

I have been a caster for 51 years and now a days I spend much more time plinking than hunting. I am blessed to have family that also enjoys the shooting sports, and I know that my guns will be enjoyed by at least one more generation. I enjoyed reading your post.

[robg]

I just like trigger time,as i get older i shoot 22rf more and more,turning into my father.