Round Count

If the newspaper ran a story, that a person had been arrested who possessed multiple firearms and thousands of rounds of ammunition, the implication is that those possessions are evidence that the owner was dangerous and deranged.

However, it is highly likely that someone involved in competitive shooting could be described just so. I don't think competitive shooters are any more dangerous and deranged than citizens at large.

Look at Cowboy Action Shooting (CAS), which has been reputed to be the fastest growing shooting sport in the world. That is an impressive claim, which it may actually live up to. In CAS, you need at least 4 guns to participate: a lever action rifle, a period correct shotgun, and two single action sixguns. The average match will burn up 120 rounds of rifle and pistol cartridges, and about 25 shotshells.

So, if you were to shoot with the Molalla River Rangers on the 1st Saturday, the Orygun Cowboys on the 2nd Sunday and again on the 3rd Saturday, and the Oregon Old West Shooting Society on either the 3rd Sunday or the 4th Saturday, you have now sent about 500 rifle/pistol cartridges downrange, as well as about 100 shotshells. Which means that over a 2 month period, you need in excess of a thousand rounds just to play. You haven't accounted for any practice ammo.

This ammunition can get expensive when there is a war sucking up ammo components, as the Chinese buy all the metal in the world, presumably to poison us with in toys and milk, but I digress. Most people who play these shooting games have to load their own ammo to afford to play. Store-bought rifle and pistol cartridges can cost you $1 a round, $500 a month. 4 boxes of shotshells at $8-9 a box today at Sportsman's Warehouse. So, I own a device like this for loading rifle and pistol cartridges, and a device like this for loading shotshells.

So, when a competitive shooter sees an ad like this, it is really tempting:



You kind of pause for a moment as you place the order, because you are in danger of becoming an unpopular fellow at the Post Office. One of the services of the US Postal Service is the idea of the Flat Rate Box. Whatever fits in the box goes, at a relatively low flat rate. A thousand lead bullets fits easily in the box, costs only about $8 and change to ship, but arrives in a very dense little package that gives half the postal employees a hernia. When you go to the window and ask for your package, the smile that the postal employee has on the way to the package shelf is no longer in evidence as they return working hard to carry your modest package. Comments have been made.