Definitely some upside to high ammo prices

[Jubjub]

For the last several years, I've done a lot of shooting at an unsupervised public range.

During the era of dirt cheap ammo, it seemed that half the shooters that I encountered on that firing line were basically out there to make noise. Many shooters appeared to be way more interested in how fast they could empty magazines than in where their bullets were going. Range safety was always a worry. Nothing makes your day like being muzzled by some clown clearing a jam in a smoking hot AK. I used to make a point of being able to pack up and leave in one trip to the car, and did so more than once.

Now, even though the line remains a thick carpet of rusting steel 7.62X39 casings, a far higher proportion of the people I meet out there are actually shooters, rather than noisemakers. I still see lots of AK's and AR's and SKS's and Mosins, but they are being fired by people who know the rules, and are actually out there to exercise their skills.

I'm not sure if it's all due to the high cost of ammo, but it's a nice change.

 

[Waywatcher]

"That which we obtain too easily, we esteem too lightly."

-- Thomas Paine

Certainly true in this case.

 

[Dravur]

That's right, Darnit!

We should only allow people who shoot like us!

We should hold our noses firmly in the air and join our Fuddite brethren in cajoling these darn people into toeing the line and shooting the way we think they should shoot. Why, if they want to shoot rapidly and they are having fun, then they should join the army where that kind of thing is tolerated.

How dare they shoot that way?? why, I might hold my breath till I turn blue...

Naw. I think I shall not look at high ammo prices as a good thing as these same guys now cannot darken your public firing range. I think I shall look at it as guys who were having fun with shooting, now are not. Maybe they will stop helping us keep our rights. Maybe they will drop their NRA membership.

Now, if they are being unsafe, say something to them. Most of those guys are good guys and may just need some training. Help em out instead of holding your nose firmly in the air and take some time to say Hi to them.

I talked to a guy who was shooting unsafely at a range. I explained to him what he was doing and he snapped right up and started acting right. He was still rapid firing, but hey, he was safe about it.

 

[kingpin008]

+1. I was gonna say it, but Dravur beat me to it.

 

[Tyris]

Eh. I run a silencer on my AK. It does not make that much noise when I smoke through a mag

It does makes the bolt-gun-only girly-men nervous.

-T

 

[LiquidTension]

Eh. I run a silencer on my AK. It does not make that much noise when I smoke through a mag

It does makes the bolt-gun-only girly-men nervous.

Ha! It does indeed. I showed up at my club one time where two guys were shooting clays. I was willing to let them have at it for a while before I set up, but as soon as I pulled my suppressed AR out, eyes widened and they vacated the area. Only thing they said was, "we'll get out of your way - you look way more serious than we are."

Obviously they didn't know me.

 

[Mot45acp]

And we should enact a $.10 per round tax to keep the riff raff from even shooting thus solving the probblem

 

[Mark_from_Iowa]

I fail to see how rising ammo costs increase range safety awareness. Does having ~$6.00 worth of ammo in an AK mag make the user extra-aware of their muzzle, somehow? Please explain.

Expensive ammo does not a safe shooter make. Experienced shooters helping newbies is far more effective.

 

[Mr White]

I agree that with ammo prices going up, it does seem to keep some of the yingyangs at home.

I don't think the OP is being a snob but just stating that same observation. The people who are more serious about shooting will continue to find a way to pay for shooting and a lot of the yingyangs will move on to something else when this gets too expensive for them.

As much as some of us want to think that without question, the more people who shoot, the better off we are. There are lots of people out there who have no business even touching a firearm, let alone shooting one. I've run across a few of them at the range.