Getting practiced up for Deer season (photo)

[KirkD]

This year, I'll be hunting with 'Old Savage' (not the forum member, but the name my Winchester 94 30-30). Although the season is still two months away (mid-November), I've started practicing already. Here's a photo of 140 rounds I reloaded over the past few days ...


Chances are, it will take only one shot, so a pragmatist might argue that by shooting off so much ammo before the season just to practice, should really be included in the number of shots to bag one deer. Well okay, if he insists. However, what the pile of ammo shows me is that it's not really about just harvesting a deer for the freezer. It's a lot to do with the enjoyment of just plain shooting. Simple as that. 'Practicing for deer season' is just the excuse I'm using to go shooting. All of my practicing is being done from a free-standing, offhand position.

[AndyM]

Good for you - practice makes perfect and by doing most of your shooting from field positions that would qualify as perfect practice. I firmly believe a large portion of hunters do not practice enough with their weapon of choice to become really proficient with it. I shoot alot of rounds before our seasons start.

[Mike D.]

How lucky you are, Kirk. Our season will be long over by then. Can't hunt in CA unless the temp is over 80º.

[KirkD]

Can't hunt in CA unless the temp is over 80º.

I can assure you that it ain't gonna be no 80 degrees up on Manitoulin Island (North side of Lake Huron where I'm hunting) come mid-November.

[Andrew]

I like that pile of crayons you got there. What weight is that bullet? Details, man.

[KirkD]

Andrew, they are 28 grains of IMR 3031 under a 150 grain GC RCBS bullet for around 2,100 fps.

[Griff]

Well Kirk, enjoy your practice. It is a worthwhile endeavor. And so you don't feel bad, my wife once calculated the entire cost of my annual deer hunt out to the price per pound of meat, AND she included the three prior years where I failed to fill my tag. I told her she was purposely trying to ruin my hunt. Unsuccessfully, I might add. Some things are simply worth their cost, whatever it adds up to.

[pshort]

Howdy,
So, I'm dying to know.. What was the cost per pound? I've never figured that out for myself..... Doesn't matter for the same reason you gave, but just curious.....

Thanks,

Paul

[KirkD]

I haven't figured it out myself either. The brass lasts indefinitely, and the bullets are cast out of wheel weights. Probably the biggest cost is the IMR 3031 .... one pound does about 250 rounds. Primers aren't much; I usually buy them 1,000 at time and like to have at least a brick and a half inventory. Let's say 15 cents for powder, 5 cents for the primer and 3 cents for the gas check and 5 cents for the used wheel weights per bullet. It's just a wild estimate, but it comes to roughly 28 cents per round, or $5.60 per box of 20. Someone else on the forum has probably a more accurate estimate. All I know is that once a fellow starts casting and reloading, it's just so cheap the cost of ammo isn't a factor anymore. A fellow has to get up pretty early in the morning to find factory ammo at $5.60 anymore. I don't know how fellows do it who buy their own ammo, unless they're rich.

[Sixgun]

Kirk, Thats a nice pic. I look at that pile of ammo like a rich man looks at his pile of money. I call it insurance.
As for the cost, I figure I can load a box of 30-30's or 45-70's for about $242 a box of 20. If you break down the 3 or 4 K in moulds and other gear plus the huge amounts of electricity needed to run the furnace, I figure that the $242 figure is close. After buying a few old Winchesters, (plus a SA Colt or two), plane fare, gas, etc., the cost of an elk or a local deer is probably close to $6,000 a pound. And I do this on a Teamsters hourly wage. ------------------Hey, life is short-play hard! -----------Sixgun

[Ysabel Kid]

A picture of ammo? That's it??? I started drooling as soon as I saw the title - can't wait to see another snap shot of "Old Savage"!!!

[Griff]

Howdy,
So, I'm dying to know.. What was the cost per pound? I've never figured that out for myself..... Doesn't matter for the same reason you gave, but just curious.....
Thanks,
Paul

As I recall, (little facts like that are immaterial and I have to remember a LOT of other stuff, so access to those parts of the memory card are random at best), it was over $1,000 a lb. Had to give her credit, she didn't count meals or other incidentals as I'd have consumed them anyway, that was just gas, tags; actual costs directly associated with the trips. You should have seen her calculation of what going to my family reunion cost! (She stayed home and cared for the horses), so there might have been some ulterior motive, but including R/T airfare, hotels, rental car and lost wages for the month long trip, it was over $22K! But... gettin' up on stage in my cowboy duds with a full load of barley pop, and tellin' those 1500 Kiwis that, "nope, I ain't from the States, I'm from a lil' town 40 klicks west over the mountain... that's my story an' I'm stickin' to it!" Well, that was priceless! Believe my Mom fainted from embarrassment, the cousins were rollin' on the floor, but then they'd equaled or better'd my intake of barley pop! I did line that in my best west Texas drawl.

Here's a pic of my outfit (sans guns of course):

[KirkD]

If you break down the 3 or 4 K in moulds ....

Well now, there's yer problem .... too many moulds! I plan to only have one mould per caliber (when I finally get all my moulds), except for the 45-70 where the trapdoor has its own 500 grain round nose mould. I use camp fuel to melt my lead, which works pretty good. I can cast a lot of bullets on a dollar's worth of camp fuel.

[El Chivo]

I always wondered about the cost breakdown myself; I've had about 30 lbs of venison to divide into my expenses for guns, safe, ammo, reloading equipment, gas, etc. Still I don't think I'm anywhere near $1,000 per lb., maybe more like $200.

And that's without subtracting other uses of the firearms, such as recreation, target shooting, etc. And without considering the resale value of the guns and equipment when I'm done with them.

Still this weekend I'm going to spend about $70 in gas without much chance of seeing a buck. But I have a 100% chance of having a great time.

-------------------------------

Oh, and about the cost of ammo, I loaded up 24 of those expensive copper rounds, and it may be a lifetime supply. I probably won't use even one per year hunting. I'll fire a 3-shot group next year to check the scope. So I should be able to go for years on this box.