How much $$$ per month in production.

blueflash

blueflash

CGN frequent flyer
EE Expired
Rating - 100%
29   0   0
Location
S.W.Ontario
Hello all. I am about to start IPSC in the production class. I was just wondering, if you are using a 9mm and you wanted to be half decent, what would the average guy spend every month on ammo if he were to buy factory ammo. I figure on practice once a week and do the real stuff once a month.

I am not a El cheapo, or anything. I was just looking for a rough estimate of how much the average guy would spend on ammo. My geuss would be about $300 a month if I bought factory ammo. Does this sound right? I was going to introduce my wife to the sport also, but if it cost much more than that, then I think I will just get my wife a .22 to do some plinking.
 
If you just started you will be going thru more ammo than more experienced but average shooter for some time. If you dryfire and practice draw and so on at home you can cut down to 100-200rds a practice at the range at rate of once a week. If possible, shoot matches twice a month.

GMs and Ms usually go thru 25-35K rds a year.

There are ways to lower your expences where one is to start reloading, another is to use .22lr upper on the gun to improve trigger pull and reset.
 
I've been shooting production for approx 1 year. My club has a weekly practice night where we set up simple stages and run through them without keeping score. Depending on how talkative people are I can run through as few as 100 and as many as 200 rounds. We also plan on having around 10 matches this year which usually seem to use close to 200 rounds, or maybe 150 if there isn't too much steel ;) . That means I'm shooting 400-1000 rounds per month depending on the intensity of practice and whether or not there's a match.

If you're going to the range to practice on your own you can plan on using much more ammo per trip since you won't be picking up other people's brass and waiting for your turn.
 
If I understand correctly, you want to be half decent. Here is my schedule and personally I still don't think I am anywhere near half decent. This is just considered normal practice. Some people even shoot more.

- Practice at the shooting bay for accuracy(Stand Still Practice) - Once a week
200 - 500 Rounds per visit.
- Practice with my IPSC and IDPA League -Twice a week.(Making stages for
practicing);
Minimum 200-300 Rounds for IPSC Practice/ 100 - 150 Rounds for IDPA;
- Go to Matches 2 or 3 times a months. About 270 Rounds per month.
About 2160 - 3240 Rounds Per Year.
Each Match cost $20 - $25.
Gasoline to drive to the Matches.

I reload my own ammo, the cost are as follow:
Bullets - $97/1000 + Tax
Primers - $27 - $36/1000 +Tax
Powder - $130 + Tax/8LBS - Each LB can load approx. 1000 - 1500 Rounds = Approx.$16/1000Rounds.

Adding it up.

Cost about $158/1000 Rounds Ammo
OR
$15.80/100 Rounds
OR
$7.90/50 Rounds.

For this kind of cost, I can shoot more than with Factory Ammo.

P.S. I shoot Production.
 
I have only been shooting a couple of years. I have found the book "perfect practice" by Saul Kirch and absolute must for newbies in this game. Some more experienced shooters here have developed routines of the years and that works for them.

Saul's book above all emphasizs quality practice. Practice isn't doing much if you are not in the frame of mind.

As he say's in the book "Practice does not make perfect. it makes permenant"

Practicing poorly will give you poor match day results.

So my advice is, practice as much or as little as you want as long as you are improving. Right now that might be 100rds a week. 2 years from now when you are tryng to improve your split times or something like that it might be 300 rounds twice a week.

I am really new so my improvements come a lot faster now.


DRY FIRE all the time.
 
I'm an Open GM, but I don't think I've ever shot more than 15k rounds in a year. My typical output is probably closer to 10k. IPSIK would probably say I'm not working towards my potential, though...I could be doing a lot more practice to improve. I do more draw/dry fire/indexing instead of live fire though, as I place a lot of value on consistent grip/trigger control and on target acquisition. I get more from visually watching the dot (I shoot Open) than I do from checking the target afterwards.
 
You forgot (remember this is Production Division)

...about $1,500 per year so after realize you bought the wrong gun...you can replace it with a new make/model

...an additional $250 per year for "modiciations"

The final cost is optional, but highly recommended...and that is $300 for an optic...so when your modifictions (see above) get inspected...you won't feel so out of place in your "new" Division

Yes I know...I'm an @ss hole...:redface:
 
I think I shot my least amount of ammo this past year,..probably 4000 9mm, and perhaps 2400 rds of .40. (diapers or bullets!) Year 2007-2008 I shot perhaps 8000 9mm and 2000 .40.
2006 I think I shot 10,000 9mm thru my USP. I hope to put 5000 9mm downrange by the end of June, plus some .40 mixed in there...,
so,..rough estimate of $200 per month on ammo, plus gas money to the range, etc. Match fees during outdoor shooting months,..plus the cost of my guns, belt, mag pouches, main holster, BT back up holster, spare parts, magazines, cleaning stuff, cool guy shirt,.....it can add up, BUT, the guns will last a least a few years, as will the cool guy shirts, holsters and rig. You need protective eyewear and ear protection as well. Most stuff will last a few years, and you don't need to get everything at once. Get a good belt like a CR or DAA right away, and a Bladetech holster with some Ghost or CR speed, or even Guga ribas mag pouches. (in that order due to how much they cost)
 
Definetely not a cheap sport, but not really any more expensive that say having a snowmobile in the winter and a Atv in the summer. Sounds like alot of money when you figure $300 a month, but I would easily spend $300 a weekend in fuel, lodging,travel expenses, and food when I would go away snowmobiling. I have gotten out of that sport, so I don't mind putting the money back into something else like shooting
 
blueflash said:
Definetely not a cheap sport, but not really any more expensive that say having a snowmobile in the winter and a Atv in the summer. Sounds like alot of money when you figure $300 a month, but I would easily spend $300 a weekend in fuel, lodging,travel expenses, and food when I would go away snowmobiling. I have gotten out of that sport, so I don't mind putting the money back into something else like shooting
Click to expand...

good on you! Yep, the way I see I look at it is,....I will always have some type of sport or activity that allows me to meet people, have fun, get out of the house, etc. There is no sport that I can think of that does not cost money. How much you want to spend is up to you.;)
 
also, you do not need all the things I mentioned, heck , if you go to enough matches you will probably have enough shirts from the larger matches to fill your closet.
 
The average production shooter goes only to club matches and considers practice as a form of cheating:)

Your budget of 300 in ammo a month is far more than the average.
 
Last edited:
I'm sure you can get away with 500runds a month and still shoot a match every month and practice at about 3 times. that's only $80 on ammo (reloads) +$20 match fee = $100 :)

Belt, mags, holster is part of a start up fee, and when you're starting you don't need the top quality stuff. Because if you're slow or don't know how to shoot it won't help you much IMO
 
Spend as much or as little as you want.

RELOAD! It may be a bit costly too setup with a press, primers, powder, scale, etc etc, but it pays off in the long run. Load 9mm on a Dillon Square Deal and you're laughing.

"Pefect practice makes perfect". It was told to me years a go and It's SOOOO true. Just take your time and do it right, or it's just a waste of time, energy, money, ammo. You can practice bad habits and make them yours just as easy as practicing good habits.

Get your rig, set it up, and don't f*&% with it. Load your mags, load your rig and load your gun same way every time... and don't put a partially loaded mag on your rig ever, because that will be the one you grab when you need 8 rounds to finish a stage and it's only got 7 in it!

Dry fire - lots of dry fire. It's cheap but again, do it right.

Find what works and then repeat, repeat, repeat. You want to go from conciousley incompetent, to unconciousley competent... it takes time but it's fun getting there.

Have fun.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom