Rounds fired

[OneShotRuger]

I hear, many times individuals say that they have fired (xxxxxxx) number of rounds through their various guns. What is the reason for keeping track of how many times any gun has been fired? Is this strictly a 'my gun has been shot more than yours' kinda thing? What is a logical reason?

I am a reloaded. Round count matters to me, because I have to stock supplies to refill.
50 to a box. 10 boxes 500 rounds
Family Reunion last July 4th
2500 centerfire. .357 and 45.
5000 rimfire
6 different guns for centerfire
4 for rimfire
Each gun had an adult assigned
Adult present to draw ammo
47 different shooters
Aged 10 to 98 years
Best shooting day since my discharge
2 ranges in V shape. 1 for rimfire with lots of reactive targets
Mostly plastic spinners, jumpers and boxes that tumble

A treasure of my families history
Only questions I had were…”AGAIN, HOW SOON?
9 ADULTS WENT ON TO TAKE CARRY CLASSES
AND ARE NOW RESPONSIBLE GUN OWNERS
21 NRA MEMBERSHIPS

 

[OneShotRuger]

So because I don't count rounds, I don't care about my guns? That's a little ridiculous.
I can see it if you are a competitive shooter. Otherwise, if you just makes you feel good to know, that's fine. I don't need to know.

I have a single 9MM Taurus G2C.
WAS TOLD IT WAS CHEAP yugo.
I TRIED TO WEAR IT OUT !
4000 ROUNDS LATER,WITHOUT CLEANING
OVER 10 MONTHS
OCCASIONALLY FAILED TO FEED
CRUD CHUNKS ON FEED RAMP.

LIKED IT SO MUCH, I BOUGHT ANOTHER.
SEVERAL SOAKS AND ULTRASONIC CLEANINGS LATER
DRIED IT OFF TOOK TO BEST GUNSMITH IN AREA STILL 80 MILE DRIVE.
HIS EXAMINATION REVEALED ZERO ISSUES.
WE DID NON DESTRUCTIVE TESTING WITH AN XRAY
OF OPERATING PARTS.
ZERO MAINTENANCE, BUT I REPLACED SPRINGS FOR $20
MY SON TOOK MY G3C
HE LIKED THE FINISH

 

[OneShotRuger]

I never even heard about round count until the internet came around.
Back in those days you could look at a gun and see how well it was taken care of.
Apparently not any more.

UNLESS YOU ARE A TRAINED GUNSMITH
JUST LOOKING IS ONLY FOR HOLSTER WEAR
BORESCOPE, COMPLETE DISASSEMBLY
I AM A GUNSMITH.
LOTS OF PROBLEMS NOT VISIBLE TO THE EYE
I FIND AN OCCASIONAL WORN OR CRACKED PARTS
BUT SELDOM ON RECENT GUNS
EXCEPT IMPORTS.

 

[OneShotRuger]

It has never even occurred to me to even wonder how many or how few rounds I have fired. Years and years ago I might have kept a rough count with a new gun on the basis of the old practice of firing at least a few hundred before trusting the gun to go bang when needed. As to maintenance, other than cleaning I do nothing. If something stops working I would find a gunsmith to fix it. That hasn't happened in the last 20 years or so. Then again, I probably don't go through more than maybe 1,500 to 2,000 rounds total a year.

Last year I fired 4000 rounds of pistol (several calibers)
750 Rifle (4 calibers)
3000 rimfire in a variety of platforms
I harvested a doe pronghorn at 225 yards
that gave us 175 pounds of protein
About average year.

 

[OneShotRuger]

I think some of the reason for round count is that is how people determine when to cleaning (every 500 or 1,000), when it needs to go to a gunsmith for a checkup (I have only had one gun go to a smith and that was because the safety switch broke while I was sighting it in. So I took it to a local gunsmith (about 50-75 from home), told him that the safety switch had broke (popped of where it came through the stock) please fix and check all the connecting parts!
I think those who do maintenance by round count have been in jobs where their life depended on the gun going bang each and every time they pulled the trigger, military, high end LEOs, undercover types.
I do know some guns require cleaning at lower round counts than others. I have pistols that I have cleaned once in the time I have owned them with no issues (aka malfunctions). I have another that started malfunctioning at a lower number of rounds than the others had on them.
I saw a guy on the net who said a gun should be cleaned every +/- 500 rounds or when the gun begun to malfunction. He added, "So mine are cleaned every 500 rounds because in former life I needed my gun to go bang every time I pulled the trigger!" Not sure I would be that anal, but I think every New Years, Birthday, Saint Rose of Lima Day, Saint Barbara Day, or Saint Michael the Archangel Day (chose one) would be a good Idea, depending how often you shoot; I know a guy who shoots almost daily and shoots 1,000-2,000, he may want to clean after each days shooting.

AS A FORMER LEO
AS A CONCEALED CARRY CITIZEN
MY LIFE DEPENDS ON THIS TOOL
MY DUTY ROTATION OF 3 PISTOLS
ARE CLEANED EACH TIME I RETURN THEM TO STORAGE
AGAIN, A TOOL I CAN BET MY LIFE ON WORKING

 

[Jeepnik]

Xordie's comment on recording the number of rounds fired from service weapons intrigued me.

I'm an old Airedale. My experience with issued service weapons consisted only of a very brief (2 day) training period in basic, annual qualification (assigned to mobility, most never touched a small arm after basic) and one issued in Thailand.

Now in anything training related I can understand how round count could be maintained. But for weapons issued in SEA, pretty much impossible. So, I imagine counting rounds isn't something done when issued for non training use.

 

[Busterswoodshop]

UNLESS YOU ARE A TRAINED GUNSMITH
JUST LOOKING IS ONLY FOR HOLSTER WEAR
BORESCOPE, COMPLETE DISASSEMBLY
I AM A GUNSMITH.
LOTS OF PROBLEMS NOT VISIBLE TO THE EYE
I FIND AN OCCASIONAL WORN OR CRACKED PARTS
BUT SELDOM ON RECENT GUNS
EXCEPT IMPORTS.

Why are you yelling ?

 

[Laserbait]

I always figured it was like knowing the mileage of a used car, or the engine hours on boats, tractors, generators and the like.

It's neat to know, and might tell you something about the use of item, but it's far from the "rest of the story".

 

[OneShotRuger]

Why are you yelling ?

Sorry that platform only yells
Limited sight for special needs
I was unaware as my screen didn’t do that
My APOLOGIES

 

[RockyD83]

I kept track on my first gun that I bought for myself. It is a Ruger Blackhawk .357. I had 35,000 rounds through it before I got married and no longer kept track. Kids and life got in the way. The rest of my guns have not been tracked.

 

[s4s4u]

I can tell you how many rounds I have fired, because I either loaded or bought those rounds, but I have no idea how many went through which firearm. It sounds impressive to list round count in a for sale ad, but you have no idea whether it is accurate or the seller is just pimping his ad.

 

[Jagdhund]

I have kept a log of round downrange in all my firearms for some time. Just out of curiosity and also should I learn of a certain maintenance or function concern after X number of rounds.

 

[TestEngineer]

I harvested a doe pronghorn at 225 yards
that gave us 175 pounds of protein
About average year.

I call PURE BS!!!!

A very large buck pronghorn might weigh in at 90 pounds with guts in, hide on, etc. Does might go as high as 75 pounds.

A typical adult elk yields about 200 pounds of protein. I want to know where you find pronghorns nearly as large as elk!

 

[GunnyGene]

One other thing I've done for quite a long time, is numbering my semi-auto mags. This may sound a little anal retentive, but can be useful. I number the floor plate (1, 2, 3, etc.) for each caliber/weapon with white paint, so I can replace the ones that give me grief.

 

[Yaworski]

They came with a card documenting round count, which was low as it was usually just test fire. Every weapon had a PMS card that documented the round count and routine maint and inspections. When it reached the round count required for overhaul it was sent back to CRANE with the cards.

Hard to do in the middle of a war, isn't it? "Private! How many rounds did you fire?" "A crap ton!"

 

[Sam Summey]

So because I don't count rounds, I don't care about my guns? That's a little ridiculous.
I can see it if you are a competitive shooter. Otherwise, if you just makes you feel good to know, that's fine. I don't need to know.

I don't count rounds I count how many cases of primers I have shot each year. Unfortunately in the last 10 years the case count has gone down.

 

[XUSNORDIE]

Hard to do in the middle of a war, isn't it? "Private! How many rounds did you fire?" "A crap ton!"

LOL. Not sure if that's sarcasm or ignorance. Common sense tells you that's not a possibility, for the most part. Weapons turned in from a deployment were mostly returned to NWSC CRANE immediately. Some not operational when turned in.

 

[Jeepnik]

Hard to do in the middle of a war, isn't it? "Private! How many rounds did you fire?" "A crap ton!"

Wrong answer. Correct answer is all I had then beg borrowed or stole more.

 

[GasGuzzler]

I don't believe (no matter how honest I think you are) when someone says only X number of rounds through a gun, that is a used car salesman talk and absolutely unbelievable.

What a pitiful way to go through life. Besides, I thought we could just look at a gun and know the difference between 987 rounds and 859.

But even if you didn't keep count, it's easy to know how many you fired on turkey day, how many rounds did you go up with and how many did you come home with.

If I knew that, I would know the total. Why is it so obvious how many I took? I reload and I had several partial boxes of ammo I loaded myself years ago, open OEM boxes, and even an OEM box of 9mm I opened when the reloads were out. Me and four young adults and teenagers shot three different caliber guns with different and incomplete boxes of ammo I cared not to count prior. We shot guns until we were tired of it. I could guess based on the brass I picked up but I know for a fact I didn't find all the 9X19 or .45 AUTO cases. Dad has a metal detector and so do I so we'll find the rest later.

 

[Donnieweps]

If that was your personally owned Service Match Rifle then that's on you and your preference. If it was a issued rifle then shame on the Armory when it was checked out. I can't speak of other branches of course. But when assigned to the Armory we logged all rounds fired through match grade pistols and rifles. For that matter service grade as well. I know for a fact a member of this forum checked out a Match Grade pistol before I arrived at the Armory at Miramar. He was a match shooter, and we did check out pistols/rifles for matches. We both know the Ordie who checked did the check out. When we discussed it and I discovered how it was done I was shocked (well not totally, the Armory guy was a dork). The way it was checked out was incorrect and would have lead to a missing weapon during weekly inventory if he was conducting the inventory process correct (which he wasn't). When he checked the pistol out he should have also issued a card to log the number of rounds fired. He didn't so the pistol could have missed the max round count. When I arrived as Armorer shortly after, he had moved on to the range as a SAMI (how he survived SAMI School is beyond me). I found a lot of processes not done correctly. I'm surprised there were no missing weapons. He should have been removed from that Division in my opinion but I was a lowly E5. Anyway, when you returned the weapon, you were expected to return the round count log. Only issued match ammo was to be used. The match ammo was strictly accounted for.
Now, the match grade weapons were not shot as much as the service grade. The service grade met max round count and were returned to CRANE more often than the match grade. Same for the DMR rifles.
The service grade 1911s were old. Some had been returned and overhauled dozens of times. Sears and disconnectors would at times fail near the max round count. This was really apparent during Operation Desert Shield and the ranges were filled and hot non stop during the build up. Most of the weapons that malfunctioned were 1911s near max round count.
If weapons were returned to CRANE after max round count, the OIC was notified....and it wasn't a pleasant chat for the folks in Ordnance Control/Admin or the Armory.

It would REALLY help if you used paragraphs.

 

[s4s4u]

Be thankful he uses punctuation and begins sentences with a cap

 

[gunzo]

One other thing I've done for quite a long time, is numbering my semi-auto mags. This may sound a little anal retentive, but can be useful. I number the floor plate (1, 2, 3, etc.) for each caliber/weapon with white paint, so I can replace the ones that give me grief.

I totally agree with this, even is a person only has 2 alike. Importance level of the practice rises with the number of mags of one type a person may have.
If a function problem arises when shooting it could be any number of things, but noting the mag number will get ya way ahead of the game if same problem arises again. Does the gun need maintenance? is it the ammo? Then you pull the mag & see it's #3 for instance. Ah ha! it was #3 the last time this happened. The puzzle may not be solved yet, but your way ahead of the troubleshooting process.

See if mag can be repaired, or can it. A problem solved.

 

[el caminero]

I never even heard about round count until the internet came around.
Back in those days you could look at a gun and see how well it was taken care of.
Apparently not any more.

Pre-innernet, i only recall round count coming up in torture tests, or Special Cases of boastage, or salesmen ( yep, a 44 magnum, only 6 rounds fired, comes with the original box of ammo...)

 

[Jagdhund]

I was on a rifle team with the Marksmanship Detachment of HQ HQCo. at Ft. Rucker in 1971 - 72. I don't remember that we did a round count for our NM M-14's. All our maintenance was done "in house", but very few repairs were required. One of the team members was an amateur gunsmith and could do bedding, etc.

 

[kmoore]

One other thing I've done for quite a long time, is numbering my semi-auto mags. This may sound a little anal retentive, but can be useful. I number the floor plate (1, 2, 3, etc.) for each caliber/weapon with white paint, so I can replace the ones that give me grief.

I do the same, for the same reason. Also, for proper rotation. If there not marked with numbers, dots or other means. It's too easy to have several on the bench or range and mix them up without markings.

 

[el caminero]

Hard to do in the middle of a war, isn't it? "Private! How many rounds did you fire?" "A crap ton!"

Sounds like a recent police story; how many rounds were fired?/all we had!

 

[el caminero]

It would REALLY help if you used paragraphs.

I counted four; was that too many?

 

[XUSNORDIE]

It would REALLY help if you used paragraphs.

* My apologies Professor......next time I will keep you in mind if I need to use more than a few
paragraphs in a post.

* I will be sure to add space in between them. Perhaps double space just for you to make it easier.

* Seems folks like you have difficulties reading text I suppose. Sorry to strain your cerebral cortex's
comprehensive ability.

* Hope you feel better soon.

* Hoping this bullet point format is easier for you.

 

[Jeepnik]

I see the internet grammar police are out in force and why not anonymity assures protection from having to take responsibility for ones actions then again this is 2021 and puntuation & spellin is optional even frowned upon when a few letters can express entire thoughts all in the name of the bandwidth gods.

 

[Yaworski]

. . . then again this is 2021 . . .

??