What is the best money you have spent on the shooting sport and why?

[journeymanwirecontrols]

What is the best money you have spent on the shooting sport and why? This is not limited to gear, it could be property, memberships, targets, and of coarse- Rifles! Feel free to add anything that gets you motivated to go to the range.

This is mine:View attachment 439773

Rem 700 LH (trued) 223 wylde
21" Bartlein standard target 1-7 twist
Timney Trigger
Choate Stock (Bedded)
Nightforce aluminum one piece 20MOA base/rings
Bushnell Elite 6-24x50 FFP g2dmr reticle (Mil)
Custom rattle can paint job by me and the kids

Load:
Lapua Brass
75gr eld match
23.8gr Varget
.010 of the lands

I built this back in 2016 and only worked up the initial load before we bought a farm, sold the house, started a business, and built a house. I finally got my stuff out of storage and started playing again in summer of 2022. I'm consistently getting sub MOA with this little(14lb) rifle at 600yds. Its a blast and cheap to shoot- the best money I've spent.

A distant second is a Savage Rascal Target XP 22cal for my son, he pitches a fit to squirrel hunt and beer cans and cow turds don't stand a chance at 200yds on range day. He also steals our 200yd targets with his 22 hits and thinks it funny...

As I read this thread and and think back over the years I could list many items, there are probably two things that stand out the most.
1 - the first rifle and optics that I put on it, nothing fancy, I used a tax return that I had gotten that spring, it is a ruger M77 mark 2 topped with a Burris Full fielded 3×9. This rifle taught me many things about hunting distances and reloading components, I still use it today.
2 - the RCBS Rock Chucker starter reloading kit that I still use today. I have picked up many more tools and pieces to go with it and I have spent a lot of hours learning to load different calibers and cases of mine for various rifles.
With these two pieces over the years I've taught two sons and a daughter to respect fire arm saftey and reloading, and to enjoy hunting big game or just shooting/plinking for fun. Hands down the best money I've ever spent.

 

[KurtB]

Scopes that dial correctly.

 

[Hugnot]

My Ruger M77 MKII's, most of them have been re-barreled 2-3 times over last 20 years. Then there is my 45-year-old RCBS Rock Chucker press, 19-year-old Browning gun safe & FN Mauser that I have had for 55 years. Some of my shooting gear is 57 years old. Scopes come & go, as new scopes provide better performance.

 

[milo-2]

I'm simple, a Kestrel 5700 with bluetooth and a solver.

 

[3chester]

Ruger Super Blackhawk 44 Mag, and a Lyman gas check bullet mold. Back in the 70's-80's, used to get new truck tires and tire place, would give ya the old wheel weights they had tossed in 5gal bucket. Make 50lb of bullets and use em up,cheap fun back then.

 

[LRNut]

My Colorado property, where I can shoot long range under various wind conditions all day long. I have learned more in the last three years shooting every day than I have learned in the previous 30 (perhaps a bit of a hyperbole, but...)

 

[Varmint Hunter]

The best money I ever spent (by a long shot) was on a RCBS RockChucker press that I bought in 1978. It got me hooked on reloading and is still in service today.

 

[RockyMtnMT]

The best money I ever spent (by a long shot) was on a RCBS RockChucker press that I bought in 1978. It got me hooked on reloading and is still in service today.

My Rockchucker press was my fathers, purchased around the same time.

 

[Calvin45]

Oh man that's tough. But it has to be a press of any kind. I can't imagine being a shooter and not handloading. It is so satisfying and I learn so much all the time over a decade later

You don't need all the expensive fancy stuff either at my level of proficiency though all the power to the folks with the means to afford them and the time to reach the level of expertise to benefit from them. But as for me I love my hornady single stage press, my lee precision dies, my Lyman old school case trimmer and basic vibratory tumbler, and my shooting chronies. That's right. Chronies. I know they're prob not as good as oehler and lab radar and magneto speed and I don't care…I have three of them, they're cheap on auction and I've been impressed at how good they really are. Sometimes shoot over multiple chronies and average the numbers, they generally agree with each other pretty good which is a vote of confidence.

I always advise new reloaders to get a chronograph before they even get a press. It's so ridiculous to do this without one.



In addition to this…one summer when I was a teenager I bought 10 bricks of 22lr, 5000 rounds. Went through them all in a summer WITH A SINGLE SHOT Cooey bolt action. Came out of that summer a much much much better shooter. Money well spent!

 

[Brushcutter]

I've got a room full of (many) guns, ammo, and gear. Also a nice shooting range at home. But by far the best investment has been the guns, ammo, and gear for my 4 kids and granddaughter shoot and hunt with.

 

[hankle]

I've got a room full of (many) guns, ammo, and gear. Also a nice shooting range at home. But by far the best investment has been the guns, ammo, and gear for my 4 kids and granddaughter shoot and hunt with.

My kids are still fairly young so I don't know how it will carry into the future. I thought about it when I started this tread. Hopefully my answer will match yours in a few years.

 

[RB II]

Very cool! I'm thinking of doing the same thing. I've got a 1K range underway at the old family farm. If I had planed better I could have put a shooting window in my office/ reloading room and been able to get 300yds. I'm not sure the wife would appreciate the rifle blast during Sunday afternoons though...

In the process of building a barndo on the property but making sure that structure is a couple hundred yards away from the house, same reason.

 

[338 dude]

What is the best money you have spent on the shooting sport and why? This is not limited to gear, it could be property, memberships, targets, and of coarse- Rifles! Feel free to add anything that gets you motivated to go to the range.

This is mine:View attachment 439773

Rem 700 LH (trued) 223 wylde
21" Bartlein standard target 1-7 twist
Timney Trigger
Choate Stock (Bedded)
Nightforce aluminum one piece 20MOA base/rings
Bushnell Elite 6-24x50 FFP g2dmr reticle (Mil)
Custom rattle can paint job by me and the kids

Load:
Lapua Brass
75gr eld match
23.8gr Varget
.010 of the lands

I built this back in 2016 and only worked up the initial load before we bought a farm, sold the house, started a business, and built a house. I finally got my stuff out of storage and started playing again in summer of 2022. I'm consistently getting sub MOA with this little(14lb) rifle at 600yds. Its a blast and cheap to shoot- the best money I've spent.

A distant second is a Savage Rascal Target XP 22cal for my son, he pitches a fit to squirrel hunt and beer cans and cow turds don't stand a chance at 200yds on range day. He also steals our 200yd targets with his 22 hits and thinks it funny...

I feel the best money I have ever spent in this long range game is the first cheap Lee challenger press kit that I bought(not that the kit was very good money I don't have anything I started with) but it opened my eyes to the world of reloading ballistics, custom rifles, and long range shooting!

 

[memtb]

In the process of building a barndo on the property but making sure that structure is a couple hundred yards away from the house, same reason.

Invite the "little lady" out to join you! Sometimes this is all it takes to receive forgiveness! memtb