The Firing Line Forums

Go Back   The Firing Line Forums > The Conference Center > General Discussion Forum

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old May 6, 2013, 09:15 PM   #1
444
Senior Member
 
Join Date: November 20, 2000
Location: Ohio
Posts: 3,968
How Much Ammo do you anticipate shooting in the REST of your lifetime ?

The title of the thread says it all: How much ammo, do you anticipate shooting in the REST of your lifetime. In other words, if you were going to put together a stockpile of ammo, or reloading components to last the rest of your lifetime, what number do you arrive at ?

This is NOT one of these "if I hit the lottery" questions. Or, if I rubbed an Aladdin's Lamp and got three wishes questions. Think about how much you shoot now. How often you shoot. If you are not yet retired, maybe increase those numbers to take into account that you will have more time on your hands, kids will be gone......... Guess at what age you might not be able to shoot anymore............

I had this discussion with a friend several years ago. We both took it seriously and didn't try to be funny (even though the converstation occured in a bar). We both were actually trying to decide if we had enough ammo to enjoy shooting the rest of our lives or if we needed to keep buying. We even got into the fact that as we advanced in age, we probably couldn't continue doing the type of shooting we did at that time. For example my buddy intended to get into .22 benchrest shooting at some point as he became older since it didn't have many physical limitations.

FWIW: we both figured about 60,000 rounds after crunching the numbers. Not that it matters, but for whatever reason, I don't shoot anywhere near as much as I did then, so that number is probably quite high for me. At that time I was shooting at least three times a week and was shooting in several different matches a month. I could shoot all I wanted right near my house.........

I realize that right now it is hard to buy ANY ammo or reloading components. We all know that, so let's skip over that and just stick with the numbers and how you arrived at them.
__________________
You know the rest. In the books you have read
How the British Regulars fired and fled,
How the farmers gave them ball for ball,
From behind each fence and farmyard wall,
Chasing the redcoats down the lane,
Then crossing the fields to emerge again
Under the trees at the turn of the road,
And only pausing to fire and load.
444 is offline  
Old May 6, 2013, 09:25 PM   #2
Plumbnut
Junior member
 
Join Date: April 28, 2013
Posts: 219
I shoot about 400 rounds a month. 400x12=4800 rnds a year. lets say I shoot for 30 more years. 144,000 rnds.

Last edited by Plumbnut; May 6, 2013 at 10:40 PM.
Plumbnut is offline  
Old May 6, 2013, 09:33 PM   #3
BigTex308
Senior Member
 
Join Date: October 26, 2012
Location: Texas
Posts: 259
Re: How Much Ammo do you anticipate shooting in the REST of your lifetime ?

Usually about 10,000/year /or so for me. Sometimes more Plus the wife would make it 15 or 16k. On the low side figure 45 years.....


675,000 on the low side.



Ike
BigTex308 is offline  
Old May 6, 2013, 09:37 PM   #4
ChaseReynolds
Senior Member
 
Join Date: March 29, 2012
Location: Fort Riley, Kansas
Posts: 186
Well before the madness my wife and I would try to shoot about 1000 or so per month. That means 24000 a year times 70 years, so about 1.7 million rounds in our various calibers to last me comfortably through the rest of my life.
ChaseReynolds is offline  
Old May 6, 2013, 09:38 PM   #5
444
Senior Member
 
Join Date: November 20, 2000
Location: Ohio
Posts: 3,968
Wow, you are old enough to be married and think you will still be shooting 70 years from now.

Who knows ?
__________________
You know the rest. In the books you have read
How the British Regulars fired and fled,
How the farmers gave them ball for ball,
From behind each fence and farmyard wall,
Chasing the redcoats down the lane,
Then crossing the fields to emerge again
Under the trees at the turn of the road,
And only pausing to fire and load.
444 is offline  
Old May 6, 2013, 09:46 PM   #6
BigTex308
Senior Member
 
Join Date: October 26, 2012
Location: Texas
Posts: 259
Re: How Much Ammo do you anticipate shooting in the REST of your lifetime ?

Quote:
Originally Posted by 444 View Post
Wow, you are old enough to be married and think you will still be shooting 70 years from now.

Who knows ?
My thoughts exactly! I'm 21 and figuring on 45 or so. I'll shoot till i go. But I ain't expecting to make it to 90.



Ike
BigTex308 is offline  
Old May 6, 2013, 09:50 PM   #7
444
Senior Member
 
Join Date: November 20, 2000
Location: Ohio
Posts: 3,968
Hey, he's thinking positive, you gotta like that.

If I do live till I'm 90, I am not so sure I would want to shoot. But, I hope I will.
__________________
You know the rest. In the books you have read
How the British Regulars fired and fled,
How the farmers gave them ball for ball,
From behind each fence and farmyard wall,
Chasing the redcoats down the lane,
Then crossing the fields to emerge again
Under the trees at the turn of the road,
And only pausing to fire and load.
444 is offline  
Old May 6, 2013, 09:57 PM   #8
Romeo 33 Delta
Senior Member
 
Join Date: March 27, 2009
Posts: 315
Well, I'm 68 now and I hope to shoot for at least another 5 years. That means about 25,000 rounds ... not counting rimfire.
Romeo 33 Delta is offline  
Old May 6, 2013, 09:57 PM   #9
SHE3PDOG
Senior Member
 
Join Date: January 27, 2013
Posts: 988
If my wife and I were to continue shooting until we were about 70, I'd say we would likely need another 1.2 million rounds of ammo. She likes shooting just as much as I do, and I figure after we retire, we'll probably double what we shoot now until no longer capable of pulling the trigger.
__________________
Semper Fi

Marine, NRA member, SAF Defender's Club member, and constitutionally protected keeper and bearer of firearms
SHE3PDOG is offline  
Old May 6, 2013, 09:59 PM   #10
444
Senior Member
 
Join Date: November 20, 2000
Location: Ohio
Posts: 3,968
Why wouldn't you count rimfire ?

It's ammo you are gonna shoot.



At one time I was probably shooting 2000 rounds of .22 a month. There have been many days I shot 500 .22 rounds in a day.

A shooting buddy of mine was dying of cancer and while he was still able, we went out and tried to shoot a 1000 round case of 8mm in one day. We both threw in the towel before we got half way through it.
__________________
You know the rest. In the books you have read
How the British Regulars fired and fled,
How the farmers gave them ball for ball,
From behind each fence and farmyard wall,
Chasing the redcoats down the lane,
Then crossing the fields to emerge again
Under the trees at the turn of the road,
And only pausing to fire and load.

Last edited by 444; May 6, 2013 at 10:05 PM.
444 is offline  
Old May 6, 2013, 10:01 PM   #11
BigTex308
Senior Member
 
Join Date: October 26, 2012
Location: Texas
Posts: 259
Re: How Much Ammo do you anticipate shooting in the REST of your lifetime ?

Crap. Forgot rimfire. That's another 6-8k/ year for me and the wife.



Ike
BigTex308 is offline  
Old May 6, 2013, 10:01 PM   #12
kilimanjaro
Senior Member
 
Join Date: November 23, 2009
Posts: 3,963
In an article about the Swiss K11 recently there was a photo of a 90-year old proudly shooting for score in their required military qualifications.
kilimanjaro is offline  
Old May 6, 2013, 10:02 PM   #13
Plumbnut
Junior member
 
Join Date: April 28, 2013
Posts: 219
Well if rimfire is included IDK how many rounds.....one week last summer I shot about 5 or 6 thousand rounds. My neck hurt for a month.
Plumbnut is offline  
Old May 6, 2013, 10:04 PM   #14
444
Senior Member
 
Join Date: November 20, 2000
Location: Ohio
Posts: 3,968
Why wouldn't they count ?

Maybe I am missing something here
__________________
You know the rest. In the books you have read
How the British Regulars fired and fled,
How the farmers gave them ball for ball,
From behind each fence and farmyard wall,
Chasing the redcoats down the lane,
Then crossing the fields to emerge again
Under the trees at the turn of the road,
And only pausing to fire and load.
444 is offline  
Old May 6, 2013, 10:14 PM   #15
BigTex308
Senior Member
 
Join Date: October 26, 2012
Location: Texas
Posts: 259
Re: How Much Ammo do you anticipate shooting in the REST of your lifetime ?

It's the reloading in the OP that threw me off rimfire. I was thinking of stuff I reload. 90% of the stuff i shoot is personal reloads. Not counting rimfire.



Ike
BigTex308 is offline  
Old May 6, 2013, 10:22 PM   #16
thallub
Senior Member
 
Join Date: November 20, 2007
Location: South Western OK
Posts: 3,112
i'm 74 years old. Got to be careful about buying too many ripe bananas.

i will continue to shoot 10-15 thousand rounds of centerfire ammo per year until i croak. Someone will inherit a big bunch of ammo.
thallub is offline  
Old May 6, 2013, 10:25 PM   #17
444
Senior Member
 
Join Date: November 20, 2000
Location: Ohio
Posts: 3,968
Ike, I was just trying to include both factory ammo and handloads. I figured I would get replies to the effect: I won't buy any ammo because I reload. So, I was trying to cover all bases.
__________________
You know the rest. In the books you have read
How the British Regulars fired and fled,
How the farmers gave them ball for ball,
From behind each fence and farmyard wall,
Chasing the redcoats down the lane,
Then crossing the fields to emerge again
Under the trees at the turn of the road,
And only pausing to fire and load.
444 is offline  
Old May 6, 2013, 10:25 PM   #18
Beagle45ACP
Senior Member
 
Join Date: September 6, 2012
Location: IL, USA
Posts: 163
Not counting shotguns(don't really shoot them except when camping) or .22lr (I could burn through 500-1000 rounds of that a week), I used to shoot 500 rounds a month on average (quite a bit more weather permitting, not quite that much in the winter - didn't like paying range fees when I had a perfectly good backyard)

So,
500 rds/month X 12 months/year = 6000 rds/year

I'm only 22 now and hope to keep shooting for another 45-50 years, so:
6000 rds/year X 50 years = 300,000 rds

Now, when we factor in that I only have one pistol that fits into my above caliber restrictions, and I hope in the future to be able to buy many more guns in 5 other calibers we have:
300,000 rds/caliber X 6 calibers = 1,800,000 rounds

Of course, I will probably have neither the time nor money to be able to shoot 500 rds a month in all 6 calibers, so for fairness' sake, let's divide my total round count by half the number of calibers:
1,800,000 rds = 600,000 rds
3 calibers

So my final answer is 600,000 rounds. This total is not counting .22lr or shotguns as I previously mentioned.
Sadly, I just realized that I have put more thought into answering this one question than I have into three years of college.
__________________
I have a mild interest in guns. Actually, I think the clinical term is "obsession," but that makes me sound like some kind of gun-nut. Which is fair, since I am.

Wastin' away my future children's inheritance one box of ammo, range fee, and bottle of Hoppe's #9 at a time.
Beagle45ACP is offline  
Old May 6, 2013, 11:46 PM   #19
Frasier
Senior Member
 
Join Date: March 10, 2011
Posts: 197
I used to shoot 100 rounds per week; either 9mm, .45acp, .38 special,.44 special or .22 lr.
As of December, I have only gone shooting twice, and I'm waiting until I can get a box of .22 ammo. Until then.....
Frasier is offline  
Old May 7, 2013, 04:38 AM   #20
BornToLooze
Senior Member
 
Join Date: March 8, 2013
Location: Texas
Posts: 108
Here recently I haven't been shooting but around 100 .45 and .357 rounds a month, but at least once or twice a month I go to my buddies and go through at least 1 of those 100 round bulk packs of 12 gauge shells. Plus I just got an AK 47 and the ammo for those is cheap so I'll be shooting it a lot, so say 300-400 rounds a month maybe, so 600 or 700 rounds a month, depending on how much spare money I have, plus right now I'm in college and only making a couple bucks over minimum wage, so give me, lets say 4 years to get out of college and get a good job and be able to afford to stockpile ammo and I'll be 25 so it'll make the math easier. So say around 7000 rounds a year until I have a good job, so say around 28000 rounds in 4 years, then I'll have a good job and can shoot more, say 10-15000 rounds a year. So if I keep shooting like that until I'm 70 that would be 450,000-675,000. So for me alone, I'll say 700,000 rounds, plus my 2 kids say from 11-18 for them, limiting them to 2000 rounds a year, thats 28,000 rounds. I'll leave my old lady out of this since I haven't got her to shoot yet and I'm running out of fingers to add this on.
BornToLooze is offline  
Old May 7, 2013, 09:16 AM   #21
rlc323
Senior Member
 
Join Date: January 23, 2013
Location: Forgottonia, Il
Posts: 217
Trapshooter here..

I would like to shoot another 100,000 or so 12 ga. Add to that few thousand 9mm, .380, 30-06, .243, and 7.62x39. Plus whatever other yet unknown calibers I have affairs with.
rlc323 is offline  
Old May 7, 2013, 09:45 AM   #22
JWT
Senior Member
 
Join Date: March 16, 2007
Location: Southern Arizona
Posts: 3,888
As much as I can.
JWT is offline  
Old May 7, 2013, 10:07 AM   #23
big_bad_kitty
Member
 
Join Date: April 22, 2010
Posts: 73
Just turned 65. My shooting range for pistols is across the driveway! I shoot at least 3 to 4 times a week. Multiple calibers and I reload for all; 9mm, 38 Special, 38 Super, 41M, 44M, 45ACP, 50AE and 50S&W. I do not shoot all of them each week but at least every other week. Best estimate would be 1250 rounds per week and that would be 5K per month in handguns. I shoot several calibers in long rifle and estimate 300 rounds per month for rifles. That means 60K in handgun loads and 1200 rifle per month. I hope to have another 25 to 30 years left and to be conservative IO will use the 25. That comes to 1.5 M handgun rounds and 30K rifle! No, I do not have that much stashed, yet! However, I am still working on it!!!
__________________
NRA Endowment Life Member - TX Concealed Handgun Instructor
Experience - What you get when you don't get what you wanted!
texasconcealedhandguninstructor.com
big_bad_kitty is offline  
Old May 7, 2013, 01:36 PM   #24
Old Grump
Member in memoriam
 
Join Date: April 9, 2009
Location: Blue River Wisconsin, in
Posts: 3,144
Counting shot shells, rim fire and centerfire I probably shoot 2,000 rounds a month from April to the end of October then it drops down to maybe 600 rounds.

It's not that I want to stop shooting but after 50+ years of steady shooting since my teens my old bones can't take the cold like it used to. I still shoot just not as much. Based on family history unless I become to ill to shoot I figure 20 more years so at my current rate I would need around 74,000 rounds till I hang up my guns for good.

Back when I was actively competing I would average 5600 rounds a month not counting matches for just 22 and 45. I didn't do shotguns then but I shot a lot of rifle both center and rim fire and that isn't in the practice totals so I have cut down a lot. Just can't afford to do it like I used to and I am not capable of that kind of sustained effort anymore. I miss the days when I was a gorilla.

Checked my inventory just now, I'm going to run out way before I retire the guns so its time to get serious about filling all the empty brass I have. If I don't I'm going to be dry firing in about 2 years.
__________________
Good intentions will always be pleaded for any assumption of power. The Constitution was made to guard the people against the dangers of good intentions. There are men in all ages who mean to govern will, but they mean to govern. They promise to be good masters, but they mean to be masters.
--Daniel Webster--
Old Grump is offline  
Old May 7, 2013, 07:50 PM   #25
444
Senior Member
 
Join Date: November 20, 2000
Location: Ohio
Posts: 3,968
The numbers can be staggering.

I get a laugh everytime the news media says, he had an arsenal of guns and THOUSANDS of rounds of ammunition. I think to myself, yeah, he probably had two bricks of .22s. You can fit thousands of rounds of ammunition in a shoe box.

Ironically, I think the reason this subject originally came up is that I made the statement that "they" don't have to ban guns. They could just shut off the supply of ammunition and reloading components. So we both started trying to guess if we had enough if that ever happened. It's obvious in recent times, that many MANY gunowners buy ammunition in very small quantities and if they can't go to Walmart and get more, they are out of luck. On the other hand, some people think ahead. Especially those of us who have been through this before.
I was at a local range and fired 200 rounds of ammo. Most of the people were amazed at how reckless I was with precious ammo. One guy said, now you gotta replace it.
I just smiled and nodded.
__________________
You know the rest. In the books you have read
How the British Regulars fired and fled,
How the farmers gave them ball for ball,
From behind each fence and farmyard wall,
Chasing the redcoats down the lane,
Then crossing the fields to emerge again
Under the trees at the turn of the road,
And only pausing to fire and load.
444 is offline  
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 01:37 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
This site and contents, including all posts, Copyright © 1998-2021 S.W.A.T. Magazine
Copyright Complaints: Please direct DMCA Takedown Notices to the registered agent: thefiringline.com
Page generated in 0.06158 seconds with 7 queries