For every animal you take

[Wolfdog91]

For every shot you make on a live animal about how many you reckon you take in practice? Buddy asked me this at work and after some thinking I told him depending on the rifle load development ect, I'd say at least 200rd ( looking at around 500 with this cast stuff lol). He said he thought that was a little nuts and I just shrugged and said I like know where everything is going and what's gonna happen when I pull the trigger.
What about y'all ?

[WinchesterM1]

I kill 11-13 deer a year here in KY and I say I shoot 100-125,000 rounds a year….so a lot lol

[versa-06]

91; Can't give an accurate count. Sometimes I get an animal with every shot, & then I may get a new gun that loads need to be developed & may try many many loads til I find what I think I want. Then I may change my mind & start all over again. But then again I have tried a load that was great right out of the gate & stopped right there. But I still need a frequent fix from the bang stick due to my addiction.

[Scrounge]

For every shot you make on a live animal about how many you reckon you take in practice? Buddy asked me this at work and after some thinking I told him depending on the rifle load development ect, I'd say at least 200rd ( looking at around 500 with this cast stuff lol). He said he thought that was a little nuts and I just shrugged and said I like know where everything is going and what's gonna happen when I pull the trigger.
What about y'all ?

I haven't hunted since I was 17, makes it 50 years ago. When I hunted, we used my dad's 30-06 Springfield that he's sporterized himself. My next-youngest half-brother owns it now, AFAIK. I started helping him load for that rifle when I was 10 or younger. Moderate load of 4895, IIRC, 150gr cast roundnose bullet. 1500fps? Somewhere close to there, anyway. I have no idea how many bullets like that we put down range before that hunt, but it had to have been upwards of 1000. ;) I have my own sporterized 30-06 Springfield now, somebody else sporterized it, but it gets similar loads when I'm loading for it. Don't know if I'll ever shoot a deer again. The one I got back there/then was really a fawn, probably, bit over 100lbs dressed out. Muley. What they have here, white tails, that's a pretty good sized buck, or so I hear. I am collecting stuff to do mouse-fart loads for the 06, just for fun, and punching paper targets and soda cans. That's about all I'm likely to hunt these days.

Bill

[Tripplebeards]

Once I develop a load I only shoot a few times to check my zero every year before season starts. Then it’s usually one shot per deer.

[M-Tecs]

I am a shooter that hunts. I normal shoot about 20,000 rounds a year. I like shooting so I shoot whatever as much as I want or need. The least shot is my smokeless muzzleloader. When I first got it I shot it a lot for load development. Now it's one shot to confirm zero and one shot to kill a deer. Past 5 season totals were 5 zero confirmation shoots and 5 dead deer.

[HWooldridge]

An interesting question to be sure. I was introduced to a Marlin 39 in .22 RF when I was seven years old (fully supervised) and began hunting small game with my grandfather, then I was allowed to hunt alone a few years thereafter - maybe by age 9 or 10. My family was mostly made up of old German immigrants and they were cheap. When I began hunting alone, my great-uncle would count out cartridges then grill me on any shots I took; this was when Super-X .22 LR was 50 cents for a box of 50. In most instances, he wanted to see proof - even if it was a varmint, so plinking wasn’t really encouraged. Even though the grown men in our family all participated in target competitions, we spent very little time shooting once someone was declared competent enough to “bring home the meat”. Subsequently, a box of centerfire rifle ammo or buckshot would sometimes last 20 years or more, depending on how many deer were collected.

I’m in my 60’s now, and although I might shoot a combination of guns in a year while plinking or developing a load, I have kept the habit of being generally frugal with the ammunition. A 7mm-08 is my main deer rifle and it was only shot to initially sight in and once at each deer I have harvested, so I’m on my second box of Federal ammo.

The long answer to your question is that I shoot a variety of firearms in the course of a year but rounds fired per game animal is pretty low - certainly less than 5/1.

[Bazoo]

Last deer I took I used a gun I didn’t use a lot. I shot something like 100 rounds total the whole time I had it.

Id be totally confident to hunt deer with my 30-30 if only I could have 1 shot to confirm sight elevator is correct. I’m a close range hunter though. For that matter, Im sure my sights are on with factory 170 grain so I’d be confident to hunt with it with nothing but a wipe down and lube.

[Misery-Whip]

My savage sees 20 rounds before the season. 2 rounds to check 100 yd zero, 2 at 200. And if its good the rest of the box at various ranges on clay peigons out to 300yds. And cleaned when the season is over.

I shoot alot too, but this is a tupperwear wounder I picked up, and dont really like it. The good areas to hunt here are accessed on foot or petal bike. So if i crash again, it will ruin my day and maybe wreck a $300 meat getter.

[megasupermagnum]

I like to practice a lot. For shotguns, I've had years I've shot 100:1 practice shots to birds killed for sure.

Then there are years like this year. I got hurt, had shoulder surgery. I've fired a few hundred rounds of handgun. Good one-handed practice, but it doesn't do much for hunting. I haven't fired a shotgun in months. I feel good, but I'm not willing to push it quite yet. Bear hunting is in 3 weeks, and I'll be taking out the M1A or the Henry rifle. The Henry I'll take 10 shots, a few to foul the barrel, and some more to confirm zero. The M1A is sighted in for something else, so I'll probably have to turn down the sight some. Maybe 15 shots for that. I'm not too worried though. Bears are shot at 20 to 40 yards.

[Winger Ed.]

Back when I was still hunting, I'd shoot the primary deer rifle about 100 times a year.
Then go hunting with it and kill 2-3 deer per season.
But I sort of counted all the other several hundred from other rifles as helping me with that one too.

[stubshaft]

I have enough rifles that I no longer just use one to hunt. I shoot between 65K and 100K bullets a year, but for hunting purposes, I just grab whichever one strikes my fancy and use maybe 5 rounds to check zero. Most of the time the rifle I grab is a single shot, so I just take 3 cartridges with me on my hunt.

[dverna]

I have enough rifles that I no longer just use one to hunt. I shoot between 65K and 100K bullets a year, but for hunting purposes, I just grab whichever one strikes my fancy and use maybe 5 rounds to check zero. Most of the time the rifle I grab is a single shot, so I just take 3 cartridges with me on my hunt.

WOW.

I thought I used to shoot a lot at 15-20k/year. I would love to see your reloading setup.

Anyway, to answer the questions posed, I might shoot 10-40 critters a year of all types (squirrels to deer). And rounds downrange has varied from 4-20k for the last 30 years with fewer lately.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

When I was a kid, back in the 1950s, reloading was practiced by a relative few. I knew several men, old at the time, who got their deer every year with one shot using a cartridge from a box of 20 that contained maybe 18 empties. I asked one of them if that meant he had bagged 18 deer and he said, "No, I shot 15--I missed a couple of times." Things have sure changed.

DG

[Electrod47]

I kill 11-13 deer a year here in KY and I say I shoot 100-125,000 rounds a year….so a lot lol

Jeez, Somebody's having fun!!

[Bazoo]

I can’t imagine shooting 100k rounds a year. I’d get bored of shooting. I shoot less now than I did, but I was into about 10k a year for a while, including 22s.

[Jeff Michel]

100,000 would be 274 rounds a day, 365 days in a year...... I might shoot 50-60 rounds a week, less during hunting season, call it 3000 more or less. Generally take between 8 and 12 deer per year, had to shoot one twice in the last ten years. And I always use a different rifle for every deer bagged. Keeps it fun.

[ascast]

With the shotgun slugs, 2 shots per year. With the 30-06, 1 or 2 per year. That's 1 to 4 deer per year. I generally only shoot once per critter. That's how I do it. Maybe check zeros every 5 years or so if shots seem off. All the rest is just fun blasting. My slugs are Ffactory Remington sluggers and my '06, that load was worked up 40 years ago or so. 168 Sierra Game King over IMR 4895, 46 grains more/less.
I did fire 15 slugs at a buck once. I won.

[WinchesterM1]

Jeez, Somebody's having fun!!

I shoot guns for a living for 11 different gun magazines, in one session(one day) I’ve shot up to 7k rounds of 9mm….yes it gets very boring I stopped picking up 9mm brass because I had 7-5 gallon buckets of it before I said..wow I will never have the components to reload all of this…..so why keep it, so I sold it/gave it away/ scrapped it till I’m down to 1-5 gallon bucket…but we have been doing ALOT of 10mm lately now that I pick up

303065

That’s me.. I own that pistol now, a real sweet shooter

[gunarea]

Hey wolfdog91
Interesting question! According to simple reciepts accounting, my Dillon RL 300 has assembled over a million cartridges. Most of my discharge is in competition. For thirty years, the legal bag limit was taken on deer and hog. My kill ratio is an unblemished 1 to 1, even in my bow usage. Even the most serious shooting competition, is still only play and practice. Marine corp duty showed me the very real difference. Although my proficiency has declined, rest assured, the present ratio could easily be maintained. No longer does the allure of fresh meat, find me in the swamp somewhere, ready to ambush an unwary animal. As time marches on, my continued shooting will numerically increase the amount of expenditure per carcass. To hazard a guess at how many rounds per kill would be possible, but probably not impressive or good for the ego. Still, an intriguing question that has stirred my thoughts, thank you wolfdog.
Roy

[Markopolo]

Once I develop a load I only shoot a few times to check my zero every year before season starts. Then it’s usually one shot per deer.

I am with Cory on this! I don’t really recreational shoot with the struggle for components. I tune up, check zero, and make food. On load development, prolly less then 100 hopefully if things go well..

[popper]

10 shots at hogs, other 4 bricks of primers just having fun.

[Jaybird62]

Good to know there's another Athlon contributor out there in the cast boolit world, Garrett.

[missionary5155]

I probably pull that old recurve 100 times for each corn cruncher that we chew on. But then I enjoy watching flying shafts.
ILL-Nois has 100 days of bow season and few firearm days.

[pworley1]

I may shoot 100's rounds developing a load I like for hunting, and then I will load 100 are so of them. Each season I shoot about 3 to check zero.

[SoonerEd]

I'll shoot several hundred rounds developing a hunting load. Once that's done maybe only a few to foul the barrel prior to hunting season and test POI. However, I shoot thousands of rifle rounds a year. So I'm always practicing just not with that rifle. I also tend to change rifles i hunt with depending on what I want to shoot. For example, my dad gave me his Browning A-Bolt European in a 30-06 about a month ago. If I can get to the range to work up a load i might hunt with it for nostalgia.

[technojock]

It could be hundreds. Western black tail deer are hard to hunt...

Tony

[white eagle]

developing a load for hunting takes a whole bunch of time and like you have said shots fired
I shoot more targets than game by far
to develop a load for hunting say 4 powder charges, 5 rounds for each, there we already have 1 box
then you have to figure which one is going to suit your parameters and then you need to test again at the ranges you intend to shoot there goes another box then you have to load up 1 box to have on hand for the season so there is three boxes for the 1 or two it takes to harvest the animal
but that is why we are in this game aint it?

[David todd]

Holy smokes, as an TR match rifle shooter that practices every other day or so, I usually burn over 40 pounds ( yes pounds) of smokeless powder a year, this year was a bit less mind you.
I have never tried to figure out how many rounds ratio per animal I use , I normally average three deer a year.
David