How much do you shoot your deer rifle/shotguns

[MPHunter]

When hunting with the 12ga I would shoot a couple boxes of 5 before the season to check zero and get the feel for it again. Got a new rifle this year. Put 30 rounds through it last weekend. Back in the safe until opening day. Will go out on a few random days throughout the year with the 22's and do some plinking. If I had a more convenient place to shoot (and more time) I would definitely shoot more often. 

[vizslas]

i generally dont shoot my muzzleloader. its my go to gun.My shotgun has open sights so anything more than fifty yards is a long shot for sluggers. now my muzzleloader has been shot and shot and shot again. it has its favorite round and load of powder. I take it to the range before deer season to shoot alll of the grease out of it and to get it into hunting mode , witch is avery fine line of being dirty and clean. its a muzzleloader thing.I will get about ten to fifteen rounds through it before the season

[GreeneHunter]

Yup .... I shoot at most 40 rounds per year .... hopefully a couple into Deer  !

[ApexerER]

I used to shoot all the time.....Now I just don't have time for it....I hit the range about a month ago and put a box of 20 through my deer rifle. It wasn't fired since I took my deer last year and won't be fired again unless I get a shot this year....There just aren't enough hours in the day between work, coaching my daughters soccer which has become a year around sport and the million other things a husband/father has to get done. The hours per week I get to myself are spent boating/hunting/snowmobiling.  I really should make more time for shooting again.

[Larry]

I shoot something I hunt with at least once month or anytime I change something. I just shot today 25-06 ,308,444 marlin and 870 12ga.

[Billdogge]

I try and shoot throughout the year. 

[Core]

Oh deer, well I confirmed zero of my MZ today. Two bullets and I'm off to the races. Other than bringing it out this spring I haven't shot it since late last year. It's still on the money.

On 10/31/2017 at 8:15 AM, vizslas said:

i generally dont shoot my muzzleloader. its my go to gun.My shotgun has open sights so anything more than fifty yards is a long shot for sluggers. now my muzzleloader has been shot and shot and shot again. it has its favorite round and load of powder. I take it to the range before deer season to shoot alll of the grease out of it and to get it into hunting mode , witch is avery fine line of being dirty and clean. its a muzzleloader thing.I will get about ten to fifteen rounds through it before the season

I actually keep mine polish clean with a thin line of oil and after every shot at the range I'll open it, pour water down, do a few patches so it's pretty clean again. I've never taken two shots without a quick rinse of the barrel. Ultimate goal is that when I bring it out hunting that first shot is going to have a similar state in the bore as it was at the range.

Edited November 16, 2017 by Core

[The_Real_TCIII]

Not much , a few rounds to make sure it's still good . I don't hunt anywhere with long distance shots either so no real reason to shoot a bunch of rounds after determining it's still good.

Same here. I've got 35 or so gun kills and I bet 25 were within bow range. Longest was 90 paced off but I had a good rest

[BizCT]

3-4 shots every August with the shotgun to make sure it’s still dead on.

Rifle-wise, i don’t shoot for years until I have a trip planned out west. Then I will shoot like 5-6 weekends leading up to my hunt


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[nyslowhand]

As few shots as it takes to reacquaint myself with the long gun. After a few shots when we're both zero'ed in, a hunting we will go! More power to those of you who enjoy it, but I don't get anything out of punching holes in paper off a bench.

BTW - Any of you actually shoot your long gun at the range/property with full hunting gear on, ie; heavy coat, pumpkin suit, etc? Or any freehand stances other than off the bench?

[Dinsdale]

7 hours ago, nyslowhand said:

As few shots as it takes to reacquaint myself with the long gun. After a few shots when we're both zero'ed in, a hunting we will go! More power to those of you who enjoy it, but I don't get anything out of punching holes in paper off a bench.

BTW - Any of you actually shoot your long gun at the range/property with full hunting gear on, ie; heavy coat, pumpkin suit, etc? Or any freehand stances other than off the bench?

I've shot quite a few animals with a rifle and other than a couple of 3 or 5 shot groups here and there, I practice everything just like I'm going to hunt. Off different rests, standing/ kneeling/prone, reloads. Also a fan of simple dry fire practice.

On a recent hunt I took several offhand shots to 150yds and  hitting 2" steel targets at 50-100 yds for practice gave good confidence for the longer shots.

[chas0218]

7 hours ago, nyslowhand said:

BTW - Any of you actually shoot your long gun at the range/property with full hunting gear on, ie; heavy coat, pumpkin suit, etc? Or any freehand stances other than off the bench?

I have but generally will take a knee in the field for a rest. If it is a quick hip shot it usually isn't more than 30 yards and in the harwoods you have to pick your shots carefully. I don't hunt fields very often.

[Buckmaster7600]

As few shots as it takes to reacquaint myself with the long gun. After a few shots when we're both zero'ed in, a hunting we will go! More power to those of you who enjoy it, but I don't get anything out of punching holes in paper off a bench.
BTW - Any of you actually shoot your long gun at the range/property with full hunting gear on, ie; heavy coat, pumpkin suit, etc? Or any freehand stances other than off the bench?

Once a gun is sighted in after load development it isn't shot off a bench again other than to confirm zero. I have a 500yd range in my back yard with various steel targets from 10-300yds.

I think many guys that don't enjoy shooting long guns are the ones limited to "range rules."


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[sodfather]

Well to be honest I shoot my bow way more. I won't make that mistake, today I went to take some shots with my scope and I am way off. So by me not practicing I'm using my other gun with iron sights. I promise I'll practice next year and not just the day before.

[Hunter007]

 Some years not at all some year maybe 3 5 shots  if there on the money that is  it . Where i hunt you can't see more then 75 yards anyways   if I new I was hunting in a place with a chance to take 300 400 yard and farther shots I would definitely practice much more .

Edited November 18, 2017 by Storm914

[BowmanMike]

Now i feel bad after reading the posts. I shot my muzzleloader twice on Friday to see if it was on and if it liked the new brand of bullets. The holes were touching and dead on. Only shots i have taken with any gun this year. Then i shot twice on Saturday morning without cleaning the barrel between shots and got a buck at 30 yds and a doe at 60 yds offhand. 

I dont like practicing much with the muzzleloader because i dont like cleaning it. It is tee only gun i own besides a 22. Oh,i did shoot a couple of rounds with that at nuisance woodchucks,the four legged kind.

Edited November 20, 2017 by BowmanMike

[The_Real_TCIII]

I got to camp Friday and shot the .270 three times at 95 yards. Two were touching an inch over the bull and one was 4” high left (bad shot is my assumption. That’s the extent of my practice, I really don’t love shooting guns that much.


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[Jdubs]

On 11/17/2017 at 12:40 AM, nyslowhand said:

BTW - Any of you actually shoot your long gun at the range/property with full hunting gear on, ie; heavy coat, pumpkin suit, etc? Or any freehand stances other than off the bench?

I use a bench and bags for establishing zero, but after that I'll use a variety of improvised positions that mimic expected hunting scenarios.  Funny thing is, deer never seem to do what you expect!  Your post came to mind when I found myself doing a half-squat, in a new blind, shooting at a steep downhill angle through a window of trees to an obscured target at 40 yards.  All I had were the basic fundamentals of shooting to make that one count.

[Hunter007]

All my guns I got in the 90s and 80s  I never did shoot them much they all still like new  except for my  small game guns 22lr and shot gun  

And now that takes a rest to my Pcp airgun . 

The reason I don't shoot the large hunting cal guns much is 1 range is 45 min drive 

2 ammo gets expensive and some times  hard to find 

3  I want my big game hunting guns to last for ever and stay like new 

4 I don't need to shoot them much I don't hunt in a place that you can see farther then 100 yards or less mostly . And any time I do shoot them once sited in shots are always on the money at that distance.  

 

[njg0621]

On 10/30/2017 at 4:35 PM, Buckmaster7600 said:

We have a bunch of threads on practicing with our bows for hours and hours but how much do you shoot your rifles/shotguns?
 
Yesterday at work someone brought in a bunch of old hunting mags and there was an article in one of them talking about how little most hunters shoot. I have no idea how they got the data but the numbers they used were that 95% of hunters shoot less than 20 rounds a year. That seems really low to me.
 
I know I shoot way more than most, I probably shoot around 1500 rounds a year from my hunting guns.
 
 
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What hunting guns are you shooting 1500 rounds through?

[Buckmaster7600]

What hunting guns are you shooting 1500 rounds through?

Everything from 35whelen-357mag. Most of it is with my 35whelen Remington 7600 with plinking loads with 110gn cast lead bullets. I reload, cast my own bullets and have a range in my back yard. It makes shooting pretty inexpensive.


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[turkeyfeathers]

I use my ML regular season through ML season. So 2 shots since last year. One at 25 ( the high one ) and one at 100 ( bell ringer ) 

Although I do carry a Super Blackhawk in .44 with iron sights. I probably put a hundred rounds through that this summer and fall 

[wolc123]

On 11/17/2017 at 5:20 PM, Buckmaster7600 said:

 

Once a gun is sighted in after load development it isn't shot off a bench again other than to confirm zero. I have a 500yd range in my back yard with various steel targets from 10-300yds.

I think many guys that don't enjoy shooting long guns are the ones limited to "range rules."


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I also have a 500 yard range out back, but I don't shoot the deer guns any more that it takes to verify zero each season.   I learned a lesson on that last year, by not getting that done on the Marlin 512 slugmaster that I used to kill a doe today.   I shot a doe with it last year, but hit her above the spine on my first shot.  That wrecked some meat and required a second "finisher" to the neck.   I had skimped on sighting last year, figuring I could just aim low on a deer to compensate for the zero being a few inches higher than I wanted.   That is easy to say but hard to do in "live action".  The full box of ammo it took to zero it this year paid off by putting the slug almost exactly where I wanted it to go on today's doe.   

Two reasons that I do not shoot the deer guns more are cost of ammo and peace and quite in the neighborhood.  I like to get all my "real gun" shooting done by the start of bow-season, because I rarely see any deer activity while the neighbors are target practicing, and I would rather not subject others to that kind of aggravation.   I get around both those issue by doing most all of my marksmanship training off the back porch with my daughters BB guns.  I probably shoot those around 2000 times a year, based on the level of BB's in the big jug I bought a couple years ago.   Our older daughter joined the high school rifle team this year and we just bought her a fancy .177 cal rifled pelletgun for Christmas.   That will be a bit of an upgrade over the smoothbore Daisy red-ryder and Crossman 760 that they have now and it will also permit some longer range practice for me.  Hopefully it will take BB's because their cost and availability is tough to beat.    

I modified the Red-ryder with a big loop and adult sized stock to match my Marlin 336BL almost exactly in dimensions.   It probably weighs half as much though.   Unfortunately, I did not see any Adirondack bucks to shoot that Marlin at on our Adirondack trips this season.  Maybe next year.   I can lay down some pretty accurate and fast open-sight fire with that lever now thanks in part to all the bb-gun practice.  Our favorite practice involves cutting beer cans in half with BB's, as they hang from a wire off a tree branch.   That is way faster than shooting cans off a rail, and it provides moving target practice, as the cans swing on the wire from the wind or from previous shot impacts.   

[Wildone]

Enough to be dangerous to anything standing in the way. LOL