This sport on a budget

[jimcasey01]

We work (or did work) to maintain the lifestyle that we feel is necessary or the one we want. Some people scrimp so that they can have a new automobile every few years, others so that they can afford to shoot competitively. It all comes down to setting your priorities.
PS I drive an 18 year old truck daily and a 5 year old car for "dress up times".

 

[Falfan2017]

Each of my competition rifles is worth way more than my car. Priorities people.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

@Link next time youre shopping for a bargain let me know what you need.

 

[Rustytigwire]

Have
Fun

 

[Macropod]

You can make a small fortune out of precision shooting sports.... by starting with a large one!

You only live once. Enjoy while you can.

 

[R.Morehouse]

Get quality used equip., It will make the experience much more enjoyable. After that, what I have done to save money on components is to only shoot with a purpose.....Load development, match tune-up ( over flags ), etc. ( dry fire practice ) . I would love to have the luxury of having many barrels and custom bullets to burn up just to pass the time through my comp. rifles but that's just not the case. I stay competitive ( mostly against myself ) and know in the game I like playing ( SR 6ppc ) I will not be on the top of the heap....None the less....I have a great time doing it with a whole lot of fantastic people when I am able to get out there....Take note of the offer Dusty Stevens gave you. He has reached out to me in the past and is a great guy to deal with.....Best of luck.

Regards
Rick

 

[Alex Wheeler]

Its pure fallacy that you have to have a lot of money to shoot well. I was competitive, and even broke some records in br making about 50k as a mechanic, and nothing went on a credit card. It doesnt happen over night, you just save and buy what you need when you can. I think too often guys think they need something they dont. A lot of time proven equipment is better than new stuff. I just was talking with a customer who wants to reuse an old Panda that won a yardage at the super shoot. He wanted to know if I thought that old action was good enough. I told him if you won a yardage at the super shoot with that action I wouldnt trade it for a brand new one. Theres lots of issues with equipment and proven stuff is just that, proven. Im sent rifles all the time that have never shot competitively since new. Nothing wrong with used stuff.

 

[dcali]

When it comes right down to it, some of us just like nice stuff. Do I need a night force on my service rifle? No. Not at all. I sure do like it though. Does the nightforce comp on my f class rifle buy me a single point over the 36x sightron I replaced? Doubtful. Did I hate adjusting the objective and the 7.5 MOA per turn turrets on the sightron? Yep.

You can save a bundle buying what you need rather than what you want.

 

[JFrank]

This is where I got my ''stuff''. I have 3 bench rifles.
#1 is a 30br, it was a used xr100 and a friend gave me a used 30br barrel. It shoots very well.
#2 is a used 6ppc Panda with a new Hart barrel.
#3 is also a used Panda with a Wheeler barrel.
I have bought once fired brass, surplus custom bullets, used scopes, used front and rear rests. All of my reloading stuff is second hand except some dies and a $20 digital scale. I even built my bench from scrap lumber lol
proof you can have fun on a budget.
Don

Well said Don,
Money don’t make the man.
J

 

[garandman]

Americans eat too much, anyway. What you save on the food budget can go into shooting.

Its the right thing to do.

 

[F Class John]

All joking aside I always tell new shooters the easiest way to save money in this sport is just buy the equipment you really want/need the first time if possible. Just know what you want to do with the gear and as many have said before me ‘buy once, cry once”. This applies no matter the budget, just buy the best you can afford and go have fun and practice. Gear isn’t everything, learning to properly shoot is. I never look down on shooters who don’t have top notch gear because I always assume it’s the best they can afford OR it’s all they need to succeed. I guarantee you I could hand Norm, Tod, Jay, Keith or any number of other f-class guys a stock Savage Target rifle with a Tasco on it and they’d all still clean my clock 9 out of 10 times. Skill almost always beat gear.

 

[fyrewall]

I have relatively modest aspirations for my casual shooting. I shoot lots of Hornady .20 & .22 bullets from cheap brass .20 Practical and .22-250. Cheap bullets, cheap brass, small powder charges. I gets new barrels @ 3,000 - 3,500 rounds. Bigger guns like 6mm's, 6.5mm's, & .30s don't get shot as much. Most of my loading gear is over 40 years old and still works good. Barrel costs are considerable because I like good barrels & shoot a lot. Scope optics keep improving and present a financial challenge.

 

[Dud]

I'm trying to see what happens with a little bit of money and questionable skill at 2,000 yards. It's still not cheap but a lot of people have more money in one scope than I have in a rifle, scope, benchrest and reloading supplies.

Hopefully my combination will let me have some kind of success.

I'm not poor but it's not the only rifle I've spent money on...

 

[dogdude]

Spend your money on reloading equipment, best action, barrel, stock, scope don't mean squat if your reloading room is not up too par.