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Poll: How many guns do you own?

Poll: How many guns do you own?

  • 1

    Votes: 4 12.5%
  • 2

    Votes: 1 3.1%
  • 3

    Votes: 2 6.3%
  • 4

    Votes: 1 3.1%
  • 5

    Votes: 2 6.3%
  • 6

    Votes: 3 9.4%
  • 7

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 8-12

    Votes: 10 31.3%
  • More than 12

    Votes: 9 28.1%

  • Total voters
    32
Except for the bird gun and .410's I have less than a box (box holds 20 rounds) for each firearm. Maybe shot a box of shells each to get them sighted in properly, not much good if they can not hit what you are aiming at. I keep buying the sub sonic .22's on a regular basis for the red squirrels that love to haul the pink stuff in my roof to build their own homes. Wish I could tell them somehow that I would feed them if they would leave my home alone. Not one of my guns is a semi-auto, most hold one or two rounds, my father taught me to make the first shot count. He bought me a single shot .22 for my tenth birthday, for the first couple years I could only shoot it while under his supervision. Taught me that even unloaded to treat the firearm as if it was loaded. Don't point it at anything you don't want to kill and eat. I had to clean & eat everything that I killed. Growing up in the 50's and 60's in rural Northern Minnesota, hunting was a big part of growing up.
..........BB
 
Except for the bird gun and .410's I have less than a box (box holds 20 rounds) for each firearm. Maybe shot a box of shells each to get them sighted in properly, not much good if they can not hit what you are aiming at. I keep buying the sub sonic .22's on a regular basis for the red squirrels that love to haul the pink stuff in my roof to build their own homes. Wish I could tell them somehow that I would feed them if they would leave my home alone. Not one of my guns is a semi-auto, most hold one or two rounds, my father taught me to make the first shot count. He bought me a single shot .22 for my tenth birthday, for the first couple years I could only shoot it while under his supervision. Taught me that even unloaded to treat the firearm as if it was loaded. Don't point it at anything you don't want to kill and eat. I had to clean & eat everything that I killed. Growing up in the 50's and 60's in rural Northern Minnesota, hunting was a big part of growing up.
..........BB

That's the way it should be! No need for semi auto( except for the 30-06 Browning BAR Belgium that I will inherit from my dad one day!!) , eat what you kill and only kill what you will eat! I hunt with my 30-06 Ruger #1 international exclusively!
 
I won't ask anyone how much ammo they have because I'm afraid they might ask me how much testosterone I have left.

I will ask: Maybe not for shotgun shells, but why does ammo seem to be so expensive or even unavailable? Was it always that way? My Alaska friend is not only a hunter but a big target range shooter, and he saves all his shell casings and reloads all his own ammo. He says it's still expensive that way.
 
Well, from what we've been led to believe in Canada, ammo prices for popular rounds shot through the roof when Obama was elected as everyone began hoarding for the apocalypse. I don't know if that's true, but I used to buy 500 rounds of .22 for 19 bucks. Then we went through three or four years where .22 ammo was as scarce, just couldn't get any, and now the average price of a brick (500 rounds) is between 40 and 50 bucks. Once the price goes up, it's pretty hard for the wholesalers to drop it again.
 
6.5 x 55 Mauser, old 12 gauge hammer gun, Ruger 1022 and I gave away a 16g double a few months ago, first gun for a young lady.

Christy
 
Ammunition prices have steadily gone up over the years with occasional sharp escalation in prices due to shortage scares. During the .22 long rifle drought which lasted several years, there was definitely some hoarding and even speculation going on. I have one friend who has so much .22lr that if he shot a hundred rounds every day from now on he might not exhaust his existing supply during his remaining lifetime.

Newly manufactured ammunition is usually considerably cheaper if purchased on line and in case lots of 1000 rounds or so. Imported military surplus ammunition for some calibers, especially 7.62 x 39 mm, used to be more widely available but importation was made more restrictive during the last administration.

Reloading can be very cost-effective for some center-fire rifle and handgun calibers but you have to shoot quite a lot before you recoup the cost of the press, dies, and other equipment necessary.
 
I remember (vaguely, could be wrong) paying 50+ cents a round for 444 Marlin ammo back in the early 80s, so expensive that I actually started reloading for a while. Same stuff costs $1.50-$2+ per round now at Midway. Not sure how much of that is inflation, but I expect a lot. And relative to inflation I bet that's a pretty good price.

Agree on the 22 ammo scare. Hoarding and speculation. There was no good reason for that to happen otherwise.
 
Canada still has a good supply of 7.62 x 39, although the price has gone up. Last batch of military corrosive i got was 1400 rounds for 200 bucks. It's now close to 300 for 1100. I've had several SKS's as well. kept the last one as it was a shooter, very crisp rifling, 199 bucks at our local hardware store.
 
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I have a Model 1897, 12 gauge pump shotgun, kept loaded with 00 buckshot.
My wife has a Model 60, Smith & Wesson .357, kept loaded with defense rounds.
They are our "you picked the wrong house", "meet & greet weapons".
I'm ex military (12 years), with 3 one year tours in a combat zone, and combat experience.
We both have our CC permits, and we practice with regularity.
She is a very good shot; has a good instructor, me.
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I own or have owned at least one of each of the following: shotgun, bolt action rifle, semi-auto rifle, revolver, and semi-automatic pistol. (Shot a lot of automatic weapons in the military... too expensive to own and operate on the outside). For me, guns are tools: for hunting, self/home protection, and recreation. I enjoy hunting most of all. I am an adequate pistol shot, and a more than adequate rifle shot, but do not enjoy spending hours at a range simply making holes in a target, especially with a pistol. I am a miserable shotgunner. For those who understand, I average about 13-15/25 in Skeet and 15-16/25 in Sporting Clays.

From September through May, I'm outdoors almost every weekend day, most of the day, and in Sept/Oct (up until the time change) I also hunt for a couple hours right after work on Wednesdays. In June-Aug here in LA, it's too hot to do much, but sometimes I manage to get back to NY for a week in the Adirondacks.

Averaging out my annual outdoor activity, I'm probably 2/3 hunting-related, 1/3 camping/canoeing-only. Even on overnight camping trips, I'll carry something if it's a hunting season for something (deer, squirrel, boar. I don't hunt anything with wings. See "shotgun" above.)

fwiw, I have a wife who is not interested in the shooting sports at all, a daughter married to a policeman/former soldier who is capable of defending herself in her home, and another daughter who will sit on a range bench with a box of .22 ammo and spend the entire afternoon trying to cut the black center out of a target, often taking a minute or more to line up "the perfect shot"... Needless to say, she's also my woods buddy.
 
I own 3 12 gauge shotguns (one is a bolt action Sears my dad used for predators back on the farm in the 50's), a 25 year old Marlin 336 (30-30 cal.) deer rifle and a 22. my parents gave me in 1962 (also a bolt action sears)
I rarely shoot, I have owned the same ammo for years. Every fall I take out the 30-30, take one shot at a target and go deer hunting. Probably not the best prep, but I have venison every year.
 
I won't ask anyone how much ammo they have because I'm afraid they might ask me how much testosterone I have left .

I am not a “gun nut” or even an “enthusiast” in terms of firearms owned, but I have a full ammo box, mostly 12G and pistol rounds.


One thing that strikes me when I read media accounts of some arrest or raid is “Agents discovered 7 guns and 500 rounds of ammunition”. Well, yeah, so what? That describes most of the folks I know who shoot on a regular basis. Christ I hope they are not counting air rifles and .177 pellets or I’d come as survivalist living in a walled compound with watchtowers.

My Alaska friend is not only a hunter but a big target range shooter, and he saves all his shell casings and reloads all his own ammo. He says it's still expensive that way.

The most serious/dedicated shooters I know all reload their own. Serious paddlers have a canoe shed or gear room, serious shooters have a reloading room, or even a shed/trailer separate from the house.

One of my cabin chores as a lad was to reload a bucket of 12G and a bucket of 20G shotgun shells on Friday night. We had both a mechanical and hand clay pigeon thrower and a steep protected valley to shoot in. My right shoulder was black and blue on Monday mornings from ages 10 to 16.

Gawd I loved that old Mossburg 20G youth model. I was allowed my turn in the shooting rotation, but eventually I was also permitted sloppy seconds to try for anything the adults missed with their 12 gauges. I am nowhere near that good today; muscle memory and practice.

I own and have only ever owned one gun, a 12 gauge Ithaca Model 37 shotgun with two barrels, an 18" hunting barrel and a 26" bird barrel.
My purchase justification theory was that I would take it on some trips, do some target shooting on my own property, and have it for home defense. In practice, I have never shot it or even bought shells for it. Chalk it up as another piece of unused or little used equipment bought during the cooped-up fantasies of wintertime.

Glenn, why not at least buy a box of 12G shells for that shotgun to have and hold. I don’t know what you paid for the gun, but a box of 12G shells can be had for $10 -$20. Otherwise just trade it in for a baseball bat.

If you want to try your hand at target shooting on your own property sell one of those derelict canoes and buy a .177 pellet rifle or pistol. Less expensive ammo, backstop safer & quieter to shoot, gobs of fun to practice with and develop your skill level.

I know you will thoroughly research a pellet rifle or pistol, and not buy the equivalent of a Pelican Canoe. A middling decent .177 Gamo or Crossman starts runs $100-$150

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B...as2&tag=airriflhub-20&linkId=SGPHKL5FERWDXN5D


Big box .177 pump pistols start at $50. Much like canoes and paddles, if you find that you enjoy quietly backyard target plinking you will upgrade a time or two.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Crosman-American-Classic-177-Caliber-Multi-Pump-Air-Pistol-Brown/43989758

I fully expect to see you shouldering a Feinwerkbau 800 eventually. Sit out on the back deck and pop off a pellet every time the Huskies drain a basket. You could be a MacGrady Oakly deadeye shooter in a season or two.

Seriously, I have not fired anything louder than “Hey you dang squirrels, get offa my feeder” .22 dust shot (at least while at home) in years, but the .177 pellet guns remain a source of quiet joy.
 
I bought a Crossman Phantom .22 calibre pellet rifle a couple of years ago, it was dirt cheap. It is very accurate for a cheap gun. My wife is big on "camping" in our local park with a trailer. She got a brand new 28 foot trailer last year, and is pretty particular about it Anyway, early in July, the squirrels were over-running the place, and I knew it would only be a matter of time before they chewed their way into the new trailer. I brought the pellet gun out, and one evening I sent one squirrel to the big nut house in the sky. Wife was not happy, called me a barbarian, and forbade me from ever doing it again.

Fast Forward three weeks.....in bed talking around 1:30 in the morning. I hear squirrels chewing something in the trailer, and tell her to listen. She hears it and instantly turns pale. Then she shouts something like this to me:

F@#k, you get out there right now with your pellet gun and murder those Mother F#$king little b*st*rds, shoot the little f@#kers right in their brains, those f#$king little tree rats are destroying my trailer, sons of b*tches have got to die!

After I calmed here down, I promised her I would look after the problem at first light. At 5:00 AM she had me out of bed and on patrol. After a couple of days, the squirrel problem was solved.

So ya, shooting pellet guns is a lot of fun!
 
Keep that gun handy Mem, once squirrels leave their sent somewhere others are sure to follow. I use 22 cal. birdshot on squirrels but would like to have an accurate 22 cal. air rifle to increase my range and it might be legal to shoot within city limits.
 
Red squirrels are the reason man invented the .410 for older men. When you get older you can't see as good. With a .410, you don't have to be Marshall Dillon to kill a red squirrel, just get close, pass shooting is great sport also. The shot charge doesn't leave your property, so no worries about ricocheting bullets. As a fly tier I get lots of material for tying and designing flies.
Every year the No SPRUCE ZONE around my house gets expanded, in hope that the little red beasts will not feel safe enough without them. At this time 150 feet is not enough.
I do enjoy seeing red squirrels out on the sled dog trails, well away from my home on my daily walks. Wish there was some magic material that you could encircle your house with that would keep squirrels out. Then I would put out food for them and watch their antics though my binoculars.
 
What is it with the red squirrel hate and their designation as cannon fodder?

When I was a boy growing up in Maine with my grandfather, he had guns, which he never let me use. He'd sometimes sit on the porch trying to shoot red squirrels out of the big pine tree. He said many times, "Red squirrels are bad, gray squirrels are good." When you're a small boy you just believe these kinds of pronouncements from your grandfather.

I've often wondered since then, long after he'd passed, what he meant by his squirrely comments. I'm not convinced he knew what he was talking (and shooting) about, other than perhaps repeating something someone had told him. Or maybe he remembered something actual from his boyhood in Germany.

I have lots of gray squirrels and they certainly can be pests. No reds that I'm aware of, but I can't see how their behavior could be particularly worse.

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Thank you, Mr. McCrea, for trying to properly arm me.

"If you want to try your hand at target shooting on your own property sell one of those derelict canoes and buy a .177 pellet rifle or pistol."

I have shot targets with an air rifle. B-O-R-I-N-G. Maybe if I were nine years old. Even then, I would have preferred my awesome Lone Ranger pump action water rifle, which I could sneak into school in a book bag.

"Glenn, why not at least buy a box of 12G shells for that shotgun to have and hold. I don’t know what you paid for the gun, but a box of 12G shells can be had for $10 -$20."

Because I see no reason to spend money and hide shells until I intend to fire them. I haven't yet experienced any such intention.

What did I pay for the gun and what the heck does it look like now? Here it is, unseen and un-oiled for six years. I paid $375 on GunBroker from a NY State Trooper who had had it virtually unused in his safe, and another $60 for a new Bagmaster 35" take down case. This Model 37 Deerslayer/Featherlight combo was made at the original Ithaca Gun factory in 1984 before the company moved. I erred in the OP about the barrel lengths. The vent rib bird barrel is 28" and the slug barrel is 20".

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"Otherwise just trade it in for a baseball bat."

I began with a baseball bat. My original and fanciful interest in guns was for self-defense while I slept in some sleazy places in my van -- a weapon against zombies. But I settled for a baseball bat, which I've had in my van for 13 years. I added a police billy club. And I now take some or all of my four machetes, as well as most of my highly enlarged fixed and folding blade knife collection. (Not the axe; that's a useless tool.) I'm all set for hand-to-hand combat of various types, although I now get tuckered out swatting deer flies.

Maybe I should sell the shotgun or use it for a canoe anchor. Actually, my son awaiting Irma this minute in Tampa is somewhat of a gun collector, so maybe I'll give it to him someday.
 
dang that Ithaca is nice, I could have bought one one day... End of the story!!
 
Never seen a grey squirrel in my house on my dining room table. Not so with a red squirrel.
 
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