Anyone have new hobbies encroaching on your firearms hobby?

[Moparmike]

Ack! I am suddenly looking into motorcycles for the gas and wear/tear savings to my car for going to school and back. I suddenly realized how much this will eat into the total budget, and the ammo budget. I will still be getting my CCW in July, but putting off getting training till June/July.

Gear for motorcycling is a helmet, gloves, and a jacket, at the minimum, which could run a minimum of $350 all the way up to $1000 . How do yall deal with conflicting hobbies eating into the gun budget? I am hoping that the gas savings gets me some ammo...

 

[Black Majik]

sportbikes, Cars, girls... it gets expensive!

What kinda gear you using? Make sure not to skimp out on the gear. You certainly dont have a $10 head and a $100 body now..

But seeing that you listed the range up to $1000, have fun riding!


Psst... also what bike?

 

[Ukraine Train]

This is my money pit of a project heh. I've got about 10k into it now. I could have just gotten a decent used car for like 5 or 6 grand and spent the rest on an arsenal lol. I just try to not do everything at once to it so that I have money left over for other things, like guns.

 

[pbhome71]

If you want to know what expensive is... you should wait till you have a house.... then a kid, then a couple of kids..

-Pat.

 

[Linux&Gun Guy]

Chemistry and computers. Of course I don't accualy own any guns so <18

 

[Pendragon]

Been playing a lot more comp games lately.

I don't have the money or the time to go shooting.

Comp games is free when you owns 'em.

 

[PATH]

This is my one and only hobby that runs into money!

 

[Abominable No-Man]

Yeah, wife and kids and house and vehicle upkeep. LOL. They REALLY knock a hole into your gun and ammo budget.

Actually, I'm looking at getting into reloading as a hobby.

The only other thing I can think of..........well, I like Star Wars

ANM

 

[Josey]

I have a friend who collects. He has a bunch of ex-wives. LOL I have a house. A old house. I am trying hard to make it into what I want and need. My most expensive hobby is clothes. Period uniforms, CAS clothes and victorian sundries.

 

[sm]

Well a bunch of us took up the "hobby" reloading, to offset the price of ammo - well that was the theory anyway. For example I did shotshells, others did the metallic reloading.

Which "led to" The "hobby" competition shooting, requiring more guns, I at one time had 10 shotshell reloaders I used. Shot and supplies have been delivered by the pallet.

Motorcyles...We wreched our own...I always felt safer on the dirt bike, even racing them than a street bike...wanna talk money?

Cars...again we wrenched our own...talk about money...

Given 3 days to travel a direction , for good or bad, - one will figure a way to rationalize it - Anon

Then folks get married, have kids, house payments, college funds...divorce...

One of the smartest tools I have is 20/20 hindsight...
It improves each year! The database is a pain to aquire - but damn what a useful tool.

No regrets, I made money on some hobbies and figured that was the fee to pay for others. Life is a journey and not a destination...I find a way to pay to play. I get paid back when I pass it along.

One of the best kept secrets in shooting - have a 22lr firearm. I paid $22 for a single shot 22lr out of a pawn shop...no telling how many cases of ammo I ran through it. Same with a Marlin model 60 I bought new for $59...ammo is cheap when ketchup soup is the fare of the day, and really teaches some great skills.

Used police model 10 for ~ $ 65 ( back when) and reloads , learned a bunch, shot reloads, and had a defensive weapon to boot.

Growing up poor has its advantages

 

[444]

Yeah.
I am getting ready to drop about 20 grand on my house. Garage, shed, patio, chain link fence for about 1/4 of the property and hopefully be able to have some left for the inside.

"How do yall deal with conflicting hobbies eating into the gun budget?"
The solution is easy. The execution is another matter. I am going to start next week working 96 hours a month of overtime until it is all paid for. I promised myself before I started that I would buy one last toy: An ACOG TA31F for my M4orgery. It should arrive Monday.

The party is over. Let the beatings begin.

After I get that done, I hope I have the guts to continue with 48 hours of overtime a month for the next 9 years and 11 months until I retire. Then there is always the option of continuing the 96 hours of OT per month and paying off my house in less than two years. I could probably pay off everything in two full years after the improvements are paid for. I don't know if I have it in me though.

 

[c_yeager]

SM, is right about .22s There have been times that owning a .22 (one rifle one pistol) has been the only thing that kept me being able to shoot. I've always had a little conflict between guns and knives though. Both just keep wanting me to buy them.

 

[RockyNH]

Someone else mentioned Motorcycles... I have that aflliction also. It really does not cut into my budget that much for my gun affliction. Seems I spend the gun budget in the winter when I cannot ride...

What it does do though, is I ride a lot so it cuts into my time to spend at the range... seems like I am gone riding every weekend..


Pat

 

[Blue Line]

Well I've taken to raising minature humans, got a small male and a female one. Thier as cute as a button but boy to they require your time and attention! The girl one is learning sports and the male one can't be far behind. We started out with a dog and wanted something more challenging to raise. Thier fun to play with and sometimes get into mischief but thier ours. They cut into the money budget and time budget but I think (hope) it will be time well spent one day when we release them into the wild.
The other thing that cuts into the time/money budget is I watch this house property for the bank. I send them a check each month and they allow me to stay in the house. I watch it and take care of it, you know little odd jobs around the place and such. The bank says its cheaper to have us stay here than hire some outside property management company to do the samething. I hope they let me stay here the whole 30 yrs we signed up for!

But I do mange to get one gun everycouple of years or sometimes when a deal comes by that I can't pass up. Good Luck to ya.

 

[jamz]

Actually, guns are my newest obsession that is eating into the time and money usually spent on my other hobbies- rock and ice climbing, mountain biking, and car racing (Time trialing, anyway.)

-James

 

[shermacman]

Blue Line:
You are one funny guy! Your post pretty much sums up my existence on this planet. Little human beta release male version 1 is devastatingly handsome, now taking drivers ed.
Little human beta release female version 1 is 13, breath-takingly gorgeous leads her basketball team in hoops.
The only thing that I have in addition it an agreement with Ford Motor Company whereby they (grudgingly) allow me to drive one of their SUV's in exchange for a monthly check. The paint is faded, the bumper bent, the once gleaming leather interior has a couple of years of muddy dog paws ground into it. But Ford doesn't know this yet, I suspect they would be rather upset.

 

[GigaBuist]

Well, it seems I'm no longer able to save money worth a toot. When I find I've got 1-2k laying around I go and spend it on guns before anything else.

I'd like to get a motorcycle sometime soon while I'm still young. Gotta learn to ride it though and get the license which is actually the big thing stopping me from doing it. I hate dealing with the government.

On a whim I went skydiving once last year after a buddy goaded me into it. I was back up in the air within a half an hour after the 1st jump, back the next week, back the week after, etc. Given that it's a 1 hour drive one way to get there it seriously ate into my weekend plans. It would really suck to get all the way down there and find out the winds were too high for student jumpers. Would sometimes wait 4-5 hours just looking at the sky waiting for things to clear.

At $50 a pop for students it ate into my fun budget considerably. I didn't buy a single gun this summer and I didn't get out to shoot near as much on the weekends as I would have liked. My pistol handling skills were hurt considerably.

Maybe this summer I'll blow that cash on gun training instead of verticle travel.

 

[BryanP]

Most people have to pick between their hobbies. There's always the exceptions - people who obsess on one thing - but they are just that: exceptions. With computers, DVD's, firearms and a house to take up my money I have no shortage. To me a car is just a way to get around so that's not an issue. Oh, and there's this other little hobby - saving for retirement. I have this weird idea about retiring and not having to buy that book "101 Ways to Fix Alpo."

 

[TallPine]

BlueLine: you sound like Mark Twain reincarnated

(well, some people say Elvis isn't really dead, why not Twain?)

 

[Sisco]

I don't but the Wife does.
She builds 1/12 scale miniature houses. Just got done placing an order for a 1920's style Roper cook stove and some floor tile; $90.

 

[wardog]

Guns, Motorcycles, Cars.

Like collecting/shooting guns, riding my Victory V92C, and am saving up for a 2005 Mustang GT.

 

[uglymofo]

My other hobby is playing "homeowner".

Fortunately, it's only a secondary hobby, so after I've spent the necessary funds to keep my firearms inventory well-rounded and exercised, I tally what funds are left and use them to buy my other hobby's 'necessities'-- plumbing tools, how-to books, PVC pipe, paint brushes, rollers, etc. Thankfully, "homeowner" is one of those hobbies that doesn't require weekly attention like shooting, because I sure don't enjoy it as much. Financially speaking, "homeowner" is one of those money-pit hobbies in which my wife shows a true interest. Thankfully, that can't be said about my shooting hobby.

 

[4v50 Gary]

Gun related - books on military history. Thousands spent every year. Recently spent over $1k on bookcases to store all those books.

 

[CB900F]

Fella's;

I have no new hobbies eating into the gun budget. However, the same old hobbies frequently conflict. My hobbies are: Skiing, motorcycling, guns, and model railroading. Currently skiing & model railroading are in decline. Guns remains status quo, but motorcycling is on a strong rise.

The big bike is getting a much needed mechanical going over & will be on the street again later this year. Hopefully June.

Yeah, I'm a home owner (read OWNER) & parent, but that's just the normal course of events. The offspring are, in the first case, done sprung & the second is looking for the biggest springing device possible.

By the way, how does that wind/electric Camaro do against the manure/methane Mustangs?

900F

 

[NRA4LIFE]

Dang it Blue Line, I had just had chicken soup come out of my nose.