Ammo Costs, etc.. is it time?????

J

John E. Rupert

Guest
With the new HIGH costs of ammo, maybe it is now time to settle down and shoot only one discipline??? Some of us older people (shooters) on a fixed income, are facing the challenge of all these new costs. My wife and I both shoot and two years ago we were faced with the decision to shoot only one discipline. Now we're faced with higher costs yet. What are some of you fellow shooters going to do to off set these costs????
 
John I hear ya buddy Im not going to shoot any sighters or warm the gun up anymore that away I can get 2 targets from one box of shells:D No really this ammo is crazy lapua,rws,really need to get in the ball game again to help with the cost.It would be nice for winchester to get back into it again they used to make match ammo many years ago.Imjust going to shoot less.Jerry
 
I've been thinking about the same subject for some time. Now I'm known to change my mind more than a politician, but I have a half case of pretty good Master left. I have a bunch of this and that Midas that never quite measured up (old gold box stuff from the nineties). I been using it in three position. When that is all gone I'm thinking of switching to Wolf ME. It can be pretty good but not top level. Course it's going up in price too. May not be competitive but would allow me to shoot with my friends. Will see how I feel and how thick my wallet is when My Master is gone. I'm retired also.
 
Cutting Costs

I was fortunate to accumulate enough ammo to last me for years- this was before the price increase. I shot 28 matches last year from western Arkansas to northern VA. Fuel, now, is a major factor. I'll cut back on the number of matches I shoot and probably do just regionals and states and stick to just one discipline. I don't think that cutting back on sighters and warming up will significantly effect your budget unless your down to a few bricks. Once my ammo is gone, I'm going to downgrade the quality of the ammo I shoot and just have fun.
Bob Pekaar
 
Makes shootin a AIRGUN looking more interesting all the time. No lot sorting "to speak of" , not really much of a back-stop needed, no nosie for people to complain of. Plus you REALLY have to know what wind-flags are lying about................cheap ammo is endless
 
I think the key is fewer bulls on the target. I am going to try and put on a few matches this year and I am planning on using the IBS centerfire score targets. Shoot 5 targets at 50yds and 5 at 100yds. 50 score rounds plus sighters. 2 boxes should do the whole match.
 
It is pretty tough. For the last 2 years I have taken a summer job to pay for shooting. The gas is really getting to be a killer. My truck gets good mileage but it still costs 10.00/hr to run it. My range is 1 hour from the house and I will tell you that I sure do not pratice anywhere near as much as I need to.
I am also a match director and have told the club that I will only attend club meetings if I am required to. I would love to do more but the 500.00/mo Exxon bill is getting real old.
 
John

good question, what do you do with rising cost???? My Son just started College, Ammo has risen at a very fast rate and Gas prices are up also. Cut back, stay local and attend only State, Regional and Nationals if they are close enough. Oh, keep working till I drop! Maybe I'll hit the lotto, who knows!
 
Rising costs

Yup,the prices to shoot and get to somewhere to shoot are getting worse all the time.Now i know there are some out there to whom the costs are not a deterrant and i'm happy for them but....they may one day find themselves shooting alone? My plan for this year is to try and shoot enough matches to qualify for the a-line and agg. line and hope that Hawk Hill shoots after all, as it is closer.Also the only ammo i will be using will be SK Standard.I had planned to get the good Eley this year but after seeing thier price increases they can kiss my butt. I realize i will have no chance against the guys that cough up the money for the top ammo but i reckon that is how it will be.At least maybe i can shoot. I really think being retired would not change much,i work for the state of Missouri in the Dept. of Corrections and we are the lowest paid corrections staff in the country also Missouri's teachers just made the list as lowest paid in the country.....ya listening Gov.Blunt?
Sorry for the rant,this weather just depresses me!
Colt.45
 
Sailor,
If you come up with a rig to haul your gear behind the motorcycle, please post pics!

I have to travel 2.5-3.5 hrs to every match I shoot, other than ours. Between gas, ammo, and match fees, it's over $150 for every match. I don't plan on shooting nearly as much as I did last year unless gas and ammo prices drop...imagine that:rolleyes:
Todd
 
Just wait till the $4.00 per gallon gas comes this summer....ammo will sound cheap. Other than that, one needs to pick their favorite hobby and do that. If it be shooting competitively, then buy the expensive ammo. If it be driving an antique muscle car to all the car shows, buy the expensive gas. If it be whatever you can dream of, they are all getting too expensive.

Carp
 
ammo cost

hey guys
we made up our benchrest targets with only three sighters and 20 bulls for record.I am retired also and it takes all of my pension to pay for my insurance and I am still 11 years away from S.S..

But if it will make any of you feel better,I read on the worldnetdaily.com today that our great noble senators and congressmen just voted theirselves a $4000 raise.It was the second one in the last seven months if I remember right? You know they surely deserve it to! NOT!
 
I'm going to cut back on the practice ammo I buy. I drive approx. 1 hr to get to the range where I shoot. I've solved the gas problem with a small car that gets 40-50 MPG. Rear seat folds down and gives me enough room to put everything. To my way of thinking life is way to short not to enjoy.
 
A couple of solutions . . .

We have 24 "regular" rimfire shooters in our club. They all live here in Chippewa County, in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The drive to the range is pretty short for all of us. We also have about 8 shooters that come UP from Lower Michigan, and 3 or 4 from the Western U.P. and Wisconsin. ONE from Canada. I guess the key to our success is that our core shooters live close, which means the gas costs less than the ammo.

But: We also put a dollar cap on the cost of the ammo, in two of the four classes we run. Because of this, I do not see the increase in ammo or gas prices to be a problem for us. In fact, I am confident we will see an increase in our match attendance this year.

I feel it would be better for our club to run matches under the sanction of a National Association. That's not going to happen, until one of them comes up with a set of rules that work better than what we have now: Guess you can call us "Outlaws", but I prefer the word "Maverick".

Joe Haller (Mr. Frosty)
 
Joe - just curious - what are the $ limits on the ammo for your matches and with all the different prices from different dealers, how do you go about establishing those limits. Do you change the limits from year to year to keep pace with inflation etc?

With Eley black box pushing a thousand bucks a case I've been wondering about this new Eley Club EPS ammo. Has anyone tried it?
 
Hi Todd:

We worked out the ammo prices in a voting Poll over in RFC's Match Section. About 50 shooters voted in the polls, so we have what I think most of the shooters could live with.

No limit on ammo prices was set in the Unlimited or Semi-Auto Classes.

The two classes we set ammo limits on were:
Factory Sporter: $7.00 per box of 50 or $70.00 per brick of 500.
(Allows Wolf Match Target, SK Match and Eley Club Orange Box).
and
Vintage Smallbore: $11.00 per box of 50 or $110.00 per brick of 500.
(Cuts out Eley Red Box, Lapua Midas and RWS R50).
Discontinued match grade ammunition is considered to be in the same price range as similar ammunition in current production. (No Federal 1000 A or B).

A word of explanation on the new "Vintage Smallbore Class". We set up this class because we were losing a lot of 40X and 52 shooters in our Unlimited class. This new class is for the old wood stock NRA Smallbore rifles without barrel tuners or benchrest style stock. With all the thousands of these rifles being sold by CMP, there NEEDS to be a class for them in rimfire benchrest. We opened our first match to this class at our local club last October. This class is going to be popular UP here, and in RFC's On-Line Matches too. At one time we had as many as 140 shooters in our local indoor smallbore leagues. Where did all those rifles go? Locked away in gun safes, everyone.

With the cost of ammunition rising: We will adjust prices in the future.
To keep pace with inflation, we agreed on the prices listed on Champions Shooters Supply's website. Go here:
http://www.championshooters.com/index-ssl.html
Then select "Ammunition on the left side of the front page.

To keep it simple, the prices, as listed on Champion Shooters Supply are before shipping or taxes. If and when the price goes above $7.00 for Factory Sporter or $11.00 for Vintage Smallbore, we will raise the maximum price to the next higher dollar. If someone has to pay more than Champion Shooters Supply maximum, that is allowed.

Todd: I have a couple of cases of Eley Club (Orange Box). Three of our shooters who have tried it in the Factory Sporter and Vintage Smallbore classes say it works for them. Have not tried it myself yet in any of my Unlimited Class rifles.

Joe :)
 
We have adopted Joe Haller's Rules at our Sportsman's Club also. We made a couple changes, Semi-Automatic 22 Class has the same ammunition cost ceiling as Sporter Class. We also added a 17 RF Class. We have also adjusted the Cost Ceiling for 2008 to $7 a Box of 50 for Sporter and Semi-Automatic Classes.
At our last match I did not catch what Sigman was shooting for ammunition, however everyone else was shooting Wolf Match Target.
I somehow missed Joe's ammunition ceiling pole at RFC. We arrived at $7 independantly. As Wolf MT got hard to come up with, our local dealers started getting Wolf Match Extra. The Current Price of Wolf ME at Champion Shooters is $6.40. To try and Keep Wolf ME in the game for 2008, we felt $7 would cover any additional price increases.
We shoot 100 yard RF Bench Rest on a Bulls Eye Target developed by Tom Grace one of our local shooters, and a member here.
Most of our shooters do not make any big matches. The guys with Savage Targets and CZ Varmints have a good time along with the guy with an Anschutz 54. I think sometimes we all forget that we started shooting to have a good time. Back when I was much younger I was shooting IPSC. This is before progressive reloaders. I was in some stage of casting bullets, reloading or shooting almost 7 days a week. This got to be a second job, and not a hobby. I came to the realization at some point that someone with more money, and better eyes and reflexes would always be their. Today, I do not intend to make another shooting sport into a job, so I might as well shoot to have a good time. I can have a perfectly good time Chooting Club Extra, Target Rifle, Wolf MT, Wolf ME, or the SK equivilents of the Wolf.
Just my 2 Cents
Thanks Again Joe for your Match Rules. Maby more Clubs will adopt an ammunition Cost Ceiling for some classes. This would go a long way to keep the lower income, and retired shooters in the game. It would also help to attract new shooters.
With our local crowd, I do not think we would have any big complaints if we shot all Classes with Wolf Match Target. The only issue would be keeping a case on hand for shooters having a problem finding it at the Gun Shop. Our local Gun Shop is starting to get MT back in stock. Infact the price is still down on it. Chucks Gun Shop in Pomona Missouri had it for $37 last week.

Good Shooting

Bob
 
Todd
I have a brick of Club Extra EPS on order from Champion Shooters. In my limited testing I have found that Eley Match EPS shoots a little better than Eley Target Rifle. The Club Extra EPS is rated in between in accuracy by Eley.
I just did a Mid Priced Match Ammo comparison. I was compairing Wolf MT, Wolf ME, and SK Match Rifle. I also had a box of Eley Target Rifle on hand. I shoot groups with Eley Match EPS as an Accuracy Bench Mark.
As expected the Eley Match EPS shot the best. A big surprise was that Eley Target Rifle out shoot the Wolf. Atleast this box did.
Also as expected Wolf Match Extra out shot Wolf Match Target by just a little. The SK Match Rifle was at the bottom of the rating. This test was with 1 box of each in one rifle.
With both boxes of Eley doing so well, I thought I had better try the test again with Club Extra EPS with the EPS Bullet.
I will need to get some additional Eley Match EPS and Target Rifle for the nest round of testing.

Bob
 
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