Cost effective shooting.

[Scott58]

Ammo cost has been killing me here lately, so to offset the price a bit I've been shooting .22lr a bit more. I've had a Ruger 10\22 since 1981 and my SR22 is probably 10 years old. After a 2 month back and forth with RK I finally got a Heritage Rancher carbine. I gotta say I'm happy with this. Looks like a museum piece and I've been able to get a few 1" groups with it at 25 yards. I just ordered a Settler Mares leg in .22 and hope its of the same quality. Gonna be more .22lr purchases in the future.

 

[COOPADUP]

Fully understand about ammo prices. I purchased a used Marlin model 60 last fall and just recently installed a new factory recoil spring. Can’t wait to test it out and see if it feeds the cheap 22lr better this time around.
The lockup is certainly stronger than the original spring could do.

 

[Michigan Slim]

I took to casting my own and being a lead scrounging fool to cut costs. It's a bit more work but I shoot pretty much all I want. I do enjoy a good .22 though.

 

[gassprint1]

Fully understand about ammo prices. I purchased a used Marlin model 60 last fall and just recently installed a new factory recoil spring. Can’t wait to test it out and see if it feeds the cheap 22lr better this time around.
The lockup is certainly stronger than the original spring could do.

Wetsand all the flat trigger pieces and polish them out to remove the machine marks. Makes for a very smooth trigger on the 60s

 

[ECS686]

While you can never go wrong with 22 stuff an easy fix is there are a number of good quality yet challenging 10-30 round assessment drills onB8 repairer center or the Tom Givens 5x5x5 on a playing card 5rd 5yards 5 second par

You can run anywhere from 10-5 drills out if one box.

50 rounds a week of structured drills will do wonders to keep you proficient so 200 rounds a month (and more in those days you have some more)

Good luck

 

[Bitcoin919]

While you can never go wrong with 22 stuff an easy fix is there are a number of good quality yet challenging 10-30 round assessment drills onB8 repairer center or the Tom Givens 5x5x5 on a playing card 5rd 5yards 5 second par

You can run anywhere from 10-5 drills out if one box.

50 rounds a week of structured drills will do wonders to keep you proficient so 200 rounds a month (and more in those days you have some more)

Good luck

I second this approach; draw + shoot, mag reload, jams, multiple targets, movement drills...there are tons of drills out there that can make you better while saving ammo. I usually use 100 - 150 rounds per training session but I could definitely use less if I had to and still get quality work done.

 

[Joniki]

Ammo cost has been killing me here lately, so to offset the price a bit I've been shooting .22lr a bit more. I've had a Ruger 10\22 since 1981 and my SR22 is probably 10 years old. After a 2 month back and forth with RK I finally got a Heritage Rancher carbine. I gotta say I'm happy with this. Looks like a museum piece and I've been able to get a few 1" groups with it at 25 yards. I just ordered a Settler Mares leg in .22 and hope its of the same quality. Gonna be more .22lr purchases in the future.

I just bought a second SR22. My first has a laser sight and threaded barrel. I bought the second one for muscle memory shooting. I have several bolt action 22's, they don't burn the ammo like semi autos...

 

[COOPADUP]

Wetsand all the flat trigger pieces and polish them out to remove the machine marks. Makes for a very smooth trigger on the 60s

Thanks for the tip ! Yes not a very crisp trigger on those rifles What do you use to polish with ?

 

[gassprint1]

Thanks for the tip ! Yes not a very crisp trigger on those rifles What do you use to polish with ?

I used car buffing compound with the dremel and fritz for final polish. Buffing wheel on bench grinder would make it faster. I found a write-up for my guide.

 

[92FSTech]

I reload to save money on some of the bigger calibers, but rimfire is definitely a way to send a lot of rounds downrange without breaking the bank, and sometimes it's nice to not have to worry about saving and reloading your brass. The problem is, even though the ammo is cheap it's still easy to get too much money wrapped up in the guns...

 

[COOPADUP]

I used car buffing compound with the dremel and fritz for final polish. Buffing wheel on bench grinder would make it faster. I found a write-up for my guide.

Thank you !

 

[DadSmith]

While you can never go wrong with 22 stuff an easy fix is there are a number of good quality yet challenging 10-30 round assessment drills onB8 repairer center or the Tom Givens 5x5x5 on a playing card 5rd 5yards 5 second par

You can run anywhere from 10-5 drills out if one box.

50 rounds a week of structured drills will do wonders to keep you proficient so 200 rounds a month (and more in those days you have some more)

Good luck

I like to use playing cards for this drill.
Smaller target increases the challenge.
I get the cards at dollar tree or if I find them marked down for a $1 I buy them for this and other fun shooting games.

 

[BigRed]

Plinking around with a 22 is still a ton of fun.

When I was a kid, Friday night was often a night where Dad would set up a plinking range in the back yard. Tin cans string from tree branches. Golf balls for walking down the range. Coffee cans set way out. Great memories. Stuff is still as fun today, but it would be even more so if he was still here to shoot....in many ways he still is though.

 

[Sniper 79]

Yep. Target shooting is a thing of the past for me. Selling guns and handloading equipment again now. It's sad. Quit the sportsman club too. Prices are out of this world. Took the fun right out of it. I'm done.

 

[nipprdog]

Ammo cost has been killing me here lately, so to offset the price a bit I've been shooting .22lr a bit more. I've had a Ruger 10\22 since 1981 and my SR22 is probably 10 years old. After a 2 month back and forth with RK I finally got a Heritage Rancher carbine. I gotta say I'm happy with this. Looks like a museum piece and I've been able to get a few 1" groups with it at 25 yards. I just ordered a Settler Mares leg in .22 and hope its of the same quality. Gonna be more .22lr purchases in the future.

Agreed. I'm looking at retirement in the next couple months. Will be shooting more rimfire as well. Just picked up a Taurus TX 22 Compact. I watched dozens of videos on it, and every one raves about it. I'll post a thread about it after I get it to the range.

 

[Scott58]

Agreed. I'm looking at retirement in the next couple months. Will be shooting more rimfire as well. Just picked up a Taurus TX 22 Compact. I watched dozens of videos on it, and every one raves about it. I'll post a thread about it after I get it to the range.

That was part of the problem. Retirement gives you the time to do everything you want. My problem was falling in love with an inexpensive .45 acp carbine that's more often times then not is a $1 a shot. I do want one more higher caliber gun, but after that I think its going to be .22 if any.

 

[Squid556]

I’ve found the solution for high ammo cost is to do much more purposeful and drill oriented centerfire training.

I take one box of handgun / rifle ammo to the range

Use it for low round count deliberate drills.

After it’s burned, switch to rimfire. Have 22 equivalents of your primary and secondary

And in between range visits, snap cap dry fire practice.

This is just my formula. Stay sharp friends

 

[Creedmoor]

That was part of the problem. Retirement gives you the time to do everything you want. My problem was falling in love with an inexpensive .45 acp carbine that's more often times then not is a $1 a shot. I do want one more higher caliber gun, but after that I think its going to be .22 if any.

I would suggest that you learn to reload and cast bullets. Even at today's prices you can cut that cost way back.

 

[92FSTech]

I’ve found the solution for high ammo cost is to do much more purposeful and drill oriented centerfire training.

I take one box of handgun / rifle ammo to the range

Use it for low round count deliberate drills.

After it’s burned, switch to rimfire. Have 22 equivalents of your primary and secondary

And in between range visits, snap cap dry fire practice.

This is just my formula. Stay sharp friends

I've been doing something similar, except I've kind of given up on .22 equivalents of my centerfire autos. They just aren't reliable enough. I have a .22 AR that is flawless and .22 revolvers that are fantastic, but I've had to go to purpose-built .22 semi-autos to get any kind of meaningful reliability. The fundamentals are the same, and the platform specific stuff can be worked in dry-fire.

 

[WebSnyper]

I've been doing something similar, except I've kind of given up on .22 equivalents of my centerfire autos. They just aren't reliable enough. I have a .22 AR that is flawless and .22 revolvers that are fantastic, but I've had to go to purpose-built .22 semi-autos to get any kind of meaningful reliability. The fundamentals are the same, and the platform specific stuff can be worked in dry-fire.

Taurus Tx-22 compact is close enough to my carry guns (double stack, striker fired, with a holosun mounted). It's not the exact same grip, but it's pretty good. Its reliable even with cheap ammo and I've been able to shoot FNS with it.