Virginia Gun Owners Forum - VGOF

Hey,
I've been noticing both here and on other sites, people tend to include the round count on their firearms for sale postings. That in of itself is odd, but what is peaking my interest is often times, people will say I bought this gun back in 99 or 5 years ago and it has less than 100 rounds through it.


Now I don't know if they are odd or if I am. I bought my g23 back in August 2011, and I've already put over 2000 rds through it. The Sig P220 I got at thanksgiving, maybe just under 500. Obviously the more guns you own, the less love you can give them all, but is there some divide I am missing in the gun owership culture? Do I shoot too much or are there people who collect versus people who own to use?

Kind of like those kids who bought star wars figures but never opened them? I've never gotten that, me I've always been the if i spend money on something i want to use it.

I'm just curious because it seems, at least compared to the people listing them for sale or trade, I am using my pistols way more heavily. Is it odd to shoot your pistols that much?

(I tend to hit the range twice a month)


Just curious what everyone else thinks and feels, and how often they shoot their firearms.

Obviously, it's pretty much a personal matter. I like to shoot, but most is done with .22 for eye hand coordination and just a few rounds of the SD calibers for familiarity with the recoil and the individual frames.

I think there's a big divide between shooters vs. gun owners. Some people like to shoot while some just like the idea of owning guns. There's also a matter of time involved/range availability for some.

Some people might buy a gun and decide they don't really enjoy it as much as something they already own, then go back to the oldies-but-goodies.

Some people are always chasing the next-great-thing and have a high turnover rate (I know a guy who does that with wives... I try to warn them)

Some people buy a gun for HD, test it to see if it works, then stick it in a shoebox somewhere.

Then there's guys like us who just like to head off to the range with a bucket of ammo, slap on the earplugs/muffs, and get all Zen with making little holes really close together in big sheets of paper far, far away or holding off the hordes of paper zombies, or 'sploding evil vegetables that were looking like they needed killin'. To each his own.

AppleaDay wrote:...Then there's guys like us who just like to head off to the range with a bucket of ammo, slap on the earplugs/muffs, and get all Zen with making little holes really close together in big sheets of paper far, far away or holding off the hordes of paper zombies, or 'sploding evil vegetables that were looking like they needed killin'. To each his own.

I'm with Apple. Some squashes just need to get shot. Especially acorn squashes. And the more times you shoot them at close range with .45 bonded petaled jacketed hollowpoints, the better.

Thanks, I needed to get that out...

I'd like to shoot some red-pops sometime if you ever have any spares, Dormin...

dorminWS wrote:I always assumed that anyone who knows how many rounds he's put through a weapon is either really serious about shooting and keeps statistics or doesn't shoot much.

I just enjoy keeping track of statistics. I like to record group sizes and failures with different types of ammo/magazines. See how often I shoot any particular firearm. I really like to watch the failures and see if they are consistent or if it is just the firearm breaking itself in. See if there is a trend over time that I am adapting to that firearm or not. Stuff like that.

In regards to the original posters question, I agree with pretty much what was said above. You have got your collectors and your shooters. I like buying from collectors. They don't tend to shoot their firearms too much and you tend to get a decent deal.

glad to know I'm not the only one who enjoys actually shooting a lot - i was worrying myself, up here in NoVa a lot of my friends think I a weird for even owning guns much less shooting them.

And I am officially jealous of all you people who have the property and space to just go outside and put down the zombie squash apocalpyse : )

I wondered about the round counts, myself. Somewhere in this site, is buried a thread in which I asked the same question. Apparently, it equates to mileage on a car.

And, yeah... I would be hard pressed to offer an accurate round count for any of my guns. Numbers don't stay in my head very long.

Round counts ... some of them are accurate (some shooters are really OCD), most are guesses, some are outright lies. I just ignore them.

Of course, it could be relevant, when one considers that a lot of manufacturers make guns and figure that 90%, or more, of their product will never see five hundred rounds down the pipe. Gun industry QA/QC is crap.

I can honestly say all of my guns have no more than 200 rounds through them.

Nowhere to shoot the rifle (last fired back when I lived in NY circa 2009) and the shotgun I bought here (never fired).

Handguns...make it to the range twice a year even though its only 15 minutes away.

Call me OCD if you will, but I keep track of the rounds I've fired through each gun because I change the springs on the manufacturers recommended intervals, and I change other items like recoil buffers the same way. To me, it's not so much the total round count in the gun, it's how close to needing to replace springs. Once the springs are replaced, the countdown starts over. I normally ask a seller of a used gun if they have an IDEA of how many rounds have been fired, compare that answer (if known/given) to the wear on the gun, and enter an estimate of rounds fired to start that gun's record. If I'm not confident of the estimate, I just replace the springs and start fresh. I also note any failures I had with a brand of ammo or with the ammo, because my diagnostic activities with each gun may stretch out over weeks or months. I like to shoot most everything I have, and typically shoot 5- 6k rounds a year. I don't go so far as to record the weather, the load, the velocity, etc., but thinking back, my record keeping really began when I was reloading regularly. I got in the habit back then of keeping track of how much ammo I had stored at the same time, so I knew when to go shopping.

Counting rounds through your guns is kind of like counting the number of times you've used the space bar on your computer keyboard.

Pretty useless information.

High round count=$$$$$$$$$$$ some can spend a lot of it and some can;t,, Most guys find a comfortable balance

PistolPilot wrote:Counting rounds through your guns is kind of like counting the number of times you've used the space bar on your computer keyboard.

Pretty useless information.

Well, no, it's useful information, as parts do wear and ideally should be replaced on a schedule. Everything from barrels and springs to bolts and firing pins can show wear over use. So it's useful to know when you're in the vicinity of 5000, 10000, 15000, 20000 rounds to carry out that maintenance. It's being able to track every single round that's OCD overkill, unless you're a sniper or benchrester.

Of course, most people who own guns never shoot anywhere close to the number of rounds that makes parts replacement an issue, so instead they just shoot until it breaks and replace the broken part. I know I do.

Diomed wrote:Well, no, it's useful information, as parts do wear and ideally should be replaced on a schedule. Everything from barrels and springs to bolts and firing pins can show wear over use. So it's useful to know when you're in the vicinity of 5000, 10000, 15000, 20000 rounds to carry out that maintenance. It's being able to track every single round that's OCD overkill, unless you're a sniper or benchrester.

Exactly! I don't know how each each round performed and all that pertinent info necessary to calculate the perfect once-in-lifetime cold bore shot. I just track totals for parts replacement. Just this summer, I had a friend with Sig who broke a recoil spring within 10% of the manufacturer's recommended replacement interval, so just to be safe I replace my springs based on time (i.e., round count) rather than on condition.

Diomed wrote:

PistolPilot wrote:Counting rounds through your guns is kind of like counting the number of times you've used the space bar on your computer keyboard.

Pretty useless information.

Well, no, it's useful information, as parts do wear and ideally should be replaced on a schedule. Everything from barrels and springs to bolts and firing pins can show wear over use. So it's useful to know when you're in the vicinity of 5000, 10000, 15000, 20000 rounds to carry out that maintenance. It's being able to track every single round that's OCD overkill, unless you're a sniper or benchrester.

Of course, most people who own guns never shoot anywhere close to the number of rounds that makes parts replacement an issue, so instead they just shoot until it breaks and replace the broken part. I know I do.

+1

Only for the long range guns (benchrest and tactical) do I bother to keep an exact count for, but then it's generally really easy due to the limited number of rounds usually shot in a sitting. Everything else is an approximation and only so I know when I need to change consumable parts. Like someone else posted, it's like mileage on a car.

I keep at least a ballpark figure on mine exactly because of the fact that recoil springs wear out and need to be replaced on occassion for autoloaders.
Manual actions like revolvers and levers I'm not worried so much about.