5-10 shots a year?!?!?

[troy_mclure]

i was talking to a neighbor this morning about deer hunting.(he had a small buck in the back of his truck)

he uses a marlin 336 in .30-30.

i ask what ammo he uses? he said he bought a box of 200 10 years ago, doesnt know what brand.

then i ask how much he shoots, and to my amazement he said 5-10 shots a year!

he said he goes out to his hunting camp, shoots 2 shots to make sure its still sighted in, then however many shots it takes to fill his tags.

he seemed just as amazed when i said i have shot over 10,000 rounds in a year.

for him the gun is just a tool like a wrench, or hammer, just something to get his deer.

for me shooting/guns is a hobby beyond hunting, i think guns are part of what makes hunting so fun for me.

im still kinda amazed about it.

 

[44 AMP]

Or less...

Back when I was 15, I went with a neighbor to a local sand pit to sight in their deer rifles. His father in law was with him, and while the gentleman was elderly, to my eyes he looked older than Moses.

We had put up a bullseye target at about 100yds (the kind with an X in the center). Then the old man slide a Winchester .30-30 from its soft case. I swear the gun didn't have a shred of blueing on it anywhere. He took two shells from an old box, and loaded them into the magazine.

Standing at the back end of the station wagon, he levered one into the chamber, lined up on the target and shot. Took the rifle down from his shoulder, squinted downrange for a moment, and said, "that'll do". He unloaded the remaining round, and cased the rifle.

When we walked dow to the target we found a single hole, right between the bottom legs of the X!

The old man spent the rest of the afternoon smoking his pipe, and watching us shoot, smiling gently.

He got his buck that year (again), too. One shot.

There are lots of those kinds of guys still out there still. You just don't meet many of them at the range!

 

[hogdogs]

There are lots of those kinds of guys still out there still. You just don't meet many of them at the range!

well duh... Those guys don't see the fun in sitting at the range watching others shoot as they only take 4-5 shots per year...
Grampa was like that. He had the same bow of 20 .30-30 ammo for many years and had shot many deer with them.
Brent

 

[Ronbert]

It's possible that the guys shooting so few shots per year were obsessed with shooting sometime in the past and have so much residual skill that they don't need the practice anymore.

I put over 15,000 rounds downrange in 3 years about a decade ago.
When I go to the range once or twice a year now and put another 30-50 I find most of my skills are still there. (some age better than others)

 

[Farmland]

That is strange most of the people that I know that deer hunt only shot one or two shots a year. In fact many of them have never sighted in there rifle since the first time they did it. I don't know how many of them are using ammunition that they bought over 10 or 15 years back.

The common factor appears to be they kill deer each year with one shot, never sight in their rifle and that one shot may be the only time they shot their gun since they last time they killed a deer.

Unless they are country boys the city boys that I know never shoot their guns in the off season.

 

[wpcexpert]

I don't shoot my hunting rifle that much. It hurts too much and costs too run 10,000 rds thru it in a year. Even loading, a 7mm WSM gets salty. I ran 3 thru it to check zero, and ran a dry patch down the barrel. Now all calibers included, I might hit the 5,000rd mark. But that's with 4+ months in the desert per year. I remember going to the range with dad every year. It seemed he always had the same ole crusty box of 30-06 shells. Couple shots down range...good to go.

 

[hogdogs]

The first time I shot I shot grampa's rifle it was so to empty a box of tarnished shells so he could justify buying a new box. The box of Remington ammo he bought when I was 9 (1977) was the same one that came with the rifle upon his passing in about 1990...
Brent