Dave McCracken
Moderator In Memoriam
Wonderful Wife would call the title of this thread oxymoronic.
We can spend obscene amounts of money on shotguns,shooting them, and associated gear. Even if we skip the Piottis, the tailored tweeds and the shooting trips to Scotland, we can run through our discretionary income pretty darn quick.
Even those that love me can testify that I can be a miserly, penny pinching tightwad. Circumstances have forced me to make do, to stretch things out, to get along without.
Anyway, here's a few ways to make your shotgunning dollar go farther. And a couple points to ponder.
First point is that if we stick to the common and excellent repeaters, the shotgun is not the major cost. Many common shotguns like the A-5, 870, etc can be bought new or used for less than $300 and shot for generations. Anecdotal evidence of numerous 870s indicate the receivers crack around 250K rounds. That puts cost per shot at about $0.001.
Even if we buy a used O/U for $2K, shoot it 100,000 times before it gets too loose to use, per shot cost is $0.02.
For the sake of comparison, a K frame S&W 357 shooting hot loads will need a trip to the gunsmith's after 3-5,000 rounds.
A centerfire bolt action rifle for a modern high pressure cartridge will show accuracy degrading after 5K shots. The top quality scope for that will need replacement after maybe 2K rounds. Marine Snipers maintain logs and change scopes after 1500 rounds, I'm told.
The durable and popular AK will not last much past 5K rounds either.
So, our shotguns are really cost effective.
Anyway, let's move on.
Ammo can be the big expense. We shoot lots of shells, and oft the more we shoot the better we get. The better we get, the more we shoot.
As everyone knows, oft there's sales of stuff at sporting stores and ranges where we can get a better deal. Keeping up with the sales can help us squirrel away more ammo for the same cash. So can reading the ads from Able Ammo, Cheaper Than Dirt, Sportsmans Guide, ad infinitum.
Often we can get deals on leftover stock right after a season closes. February is a good time to stock up on goose loads and slugs.
And if nothing usable is available at the moment, see if your buddies and/or militia group want to go in on a bulk buy. Splitting up a few pallets of trap loads. slugs and buck can give a great unit cost.
Another approach is the bulkpacks, four box sleeves sold by the chain stores. The Federal stuff is top notch, Remington and Winchester both are more than adequate for most clay shooting, practice and hunting.
And then there's reloading....
I can turn out ammo as good as the premium target loads for $3.05 a box or less. My reloading equipment was bought used and paid for itself in a few weeks.
One box takes less than 9 minutes to make. Counting fillup times and weighing charges, an hour sees 150 shells reloaded.
Buying components in bulk could lower the costs even further. A bag of shot costs $17.50. If I bought 10 bags at once, I could get them for $16 each. Using oz loads, that would give 4000 shots for $15 less. I'd save a dollar or two buying primers if I got them 5K at a time instead of 1,000.
Light loads help. The 7/8 oz claycrusher summer load for trap runs $2.80 a box. That's 450 shots per 25 lb bag of shot.
Buying ammo in bulk makes a great deal of sense. Besides price, one gets the same loads consistently, often from one lot. See what kind of price break your dealer will give you on 10,000 rounds of target loads.
Next, cleaning stuff....
In Shotgun Sports Magazine, a high tech cleaning rod called The Brute is offered for $55. A one piece brass rod,it's designed to be used in a 3/8" drive variable speed drill to power clean a bore in a single pass or two. Brass brushes can be threaded on the shaft.It's a nice piece of work. But, it does nothing that a 11/32" cedar arrow shaft cannot chucked up in that drill and split for some 4/0 steel wool cannot. Total cost of that last runs less than $5.
4/0 steel wool is good stuff for cleaning, from bores to gas pistons. Besides stuck in that shaft,this can be wrapped into a brass bristled brush for cleaning the bore and that all important but oft neglected chamber. A couple dollars worth is several years supply.
Speaking of chambers, a 10 gauge brass brush is snug in a 12 gauge chamber. It's good for getting that plastic mess out and giving rust no place to hide.
And those 200 count patches work well, but patches made from old 100% cotton T shirts, flannel shorts and denim trousers work as well, are free as air and are recycling of a sort for the "Earth friendly". I can knock out a month's supply during the commercials in an episode of Jeopardy.
Pipe cleaners and Q tips are good for cleaning under vent ribs and poking into nooks and crannies.
A quart of 10W-30 weight oil is a lot of lubed, protected shotguns, inside and out for less than $5.
Or, get the BIG bottles of CLP, SLIP and Hoppe's #9. One can buy a little bottle of Hoppe's or get 6X as much for 3.5X the money with the quart size. Bulk buying again.
And now, Gear....
That same mag that has the Brute has a wad knocker designed by Stan Baker. This is to be dropped into the barrel after a blooper round and knocks out any wad left behind. $15 is the price.An AA battery does the same and Son's Gameboy supplies many spent ones. I keep one in my pouch and more in my shooting box. The Baker design has more class, maybe,but $15 is another couple rounds of trap, etc.
Walmart has cheap shell carriers and paraphenalia for a few bucks that do the same job as the fancy ones at the range shop. I paid $3 each for some that hold a box of shells and another $3 for a choke tube case made by MTM.
We can spend a lot of cash on stuff to carry stuff back and forth to the range. I use a Home Depot/Plano toolbox I bought for $9. It holds 200 empties or 250 loads. The lift out tray on top holds small tools, loose rounds, choke tube cases, choke wrenches and shooting glasses. A gym bag can hold more ammo and cost only a pittance at a garage sale.
One trapshooter of my acquaintance loads everything into a 5 gallon bucket. Not snazzy, but it does the job.
That should be enough to get things started.
What little tricks and suggestions do you have?....
We can spend obscene amounts of money on shotguns,shooting them, and associated gear. Even if we skip the Piottis, the tailored tweeds and the shooting trips to Scotland, we can run through our discretionary income pretty darn quick.
Even those that love me can testify that I can be a miserly, penny pinching tightwad. Circumstances have forced me to make do, to stretch things out, to get along without.
Anyway, here's a few ways to make your shotgunning dollar go farther. And a couple points to ponder.
First point is that if we stick to the common and excellent repeaters, the shotgun is not the major cost. Many common shotguns like the A-5, 870, etc can be bought new or used for less than $300 and shot for generations. Anecdotal evidence of numerous 870s indicate the receivers crack around 250K rounds. That puts cost per shot at about $0.001.
Even if we buy a used O/U for $2K, shoot it 100,000 times before it gets too loose to use, per shot cost is $0.02.
For the sake of comparison, a K frame S&W 357 shooting hot loads will need a trip to the gunsmith's after 3-5,000 rounds.
A centerfire bolt action rifle for a modern high pressure cartridge will show accuracy degrading after 5K shots. The top quality scope for that will need replacement after maybe 2K rounds. Marine Snipers maintain logs and change scopes after 1500 rounds, I'm told.
The durable and popular AK will not last much past 5K rounds either.
So, our shotguns are really cost effective.
Anyway, let's move on.
Ammo can be the big expense. We shoot lots of shells, and oft the more we shoot the better we get. The better we get, the more we shoot.
As everyone knows, oft there's sales of stuff at sporting stores and ranges where we can get a better deal. Keeping up with the sales can help us squirrel away more ammo for the same cash. So can reading the ads from Able Ammo, Cheaper Than Dirt, Sportsmans Guide, ad infinitum.
Often we can get deals on leftover stock right after a season closes. February is a good time to stock up on goose loads and slugs.
And if nothing usable is available at the moment, see if your buddies and/or militia group want to go in on a bulk buy. Splitting up a few pallets of trap loads. slugs and buck can give a great unit cost.
Another approach is the bulkpacks, four box sleeves sold by the chain stores. The Federal stuff is top notch, Remington and Winchester both are more than adequate for most clay shooting, practice and hunting.
And then there's reloading....
I can turn out ammo as good as the premium target loads for $3.05 a box or less. My reloading equipment was bought used and paid for itself in a few weeks.
One box takes less than 9 minutes to make. Counting fillup times and weighing charges, an hour sees 150 shells reloaded.
Buying components in bulk could lower the costs even further. A bag of shot costs $17.50. If I bought 10 bags at once, I could get them for $16 each. Using oz loads, that would give 4000 shots for $15 less. I'd save a dollar or two buying primers if I got them 5K at a time instead of 1,000.
Light loads help. The 7/8 oz claycrusher summer load for trap runs $2.80 a box. That's 450 shots per 25 lb bag of shot.
Buying ammo in bulk makes a great deal of sense. Besides price, one gets the same loads consistently, often from one lot. See what kind of price break your dealer will give you on 10,000 rounds of target loads.
Next, cleaning stuff....
In Shotgun Sports Magazine, a high tech cleaning rod called The Brute is offered for $55. A one piece brass rod,it's designed to be used in a 3/8" drive variable speed drill to power clean a bore in a single pass or two. Brass brushes can be threaded on the shaft.It's a nice piece of work. But, it does nothing that a 11/32" cedar arrow shaft cannot chucked up in that drill and split for some 4/0 steel wool cannot. Total cost of that last runs less than $5.
4/0 steel wool is good stuff for cleaning, from bores to gas pistons. Besides stuck in that shaft,this can be wrapped into a brass bristled brush for cleaning the bore and that all important but oft neglected chamber. A couple dollars worth is several years supply.
Speaking of chambers, a 10 gauge brass brush is snug in a 12 gauge chamber. It's good for getting that plastic mess out and giving rust no place to hide.
And those 200 count patches work well, but patches made from old 100% cotton T shirts, flannel shorts and denim trousers work as well, are free as air and are recycling of a sort for the "Earth friendly". I can knock out a month's supply during the commercials in an episode of Jeopardy.
Pipe cleaners and Q tips are good for cleaning under vent ribs and poking into nooks and crannies.
A quart of 10W-30 weight oil is a lot of lubed, protected shotguns, inside and out for less than $5.
Or, get the BIG bottles of CLP, SLIP and Hoppe's #9. One can buy a little bottle of Hoppe's or get 6X as much for 3.5X the money with the quart size. Bulk buying again.
And now, Gear....
That same mag that has the Brute has a wad knocker designed by Stan Baker. This is to be dropped into the barrel after a blooper round and knocks out any wad left behind. $15 is the price.An AA battery does the same and Son's Gameboy supplies many spent ones. I keep one in my pouch and more in my shooting box. The Baker design has more class, maybe,but $15 is another couple rounds of trap, etc.
Walmart has cheap shell carriers and paraphenalia for a few bucks that do the same job as the fancy ones at the range shop. I paid $3 each for some that hold a box of shells and another $3 for a choke tube case made by MTM.
We can spend a lot of cash on stuff to carry stuff back and forth to the range. I use a Home Depot/Plano toolbox I bought for $9. It holds 200 empties or 250 loads. The lift out tray on top holds small tools, loose rounds, choke tube cases, choke wrenches and shooting glasses. A gym bag can hold more ammo and cost only a pittance at a garage sale.
One trapshooter of my acquaintance loads everything into a 5 gallon bucket. Not snazzy, but it does the job.
That should be enough to get things started.
What little tricks and suggestions do you have?....
