Keeping a round count

Status
Not open for further replies.
Always keep a round count. Just count the boxs you shoot through it, and I keep my serial numbers listed it on also.
 
No I don't and life is too short for such foolishness.

I enjoy my firearms immensely and shoot them a lot and try to baby them and keep them in as good a condition as I can.

I can see keeping a round count of how many times rifle brass has been reloaded to keep replacements ready, but firearms themselves........hell no.:rolleyes:
 
I don't know why- you just shoot them until you know accuracy is failing and nothing will help. Then you rebarrel or sell it.
 
have a ruger mkii that i bough new in 1984 put 2500 rounds through it in the first 6 month's and then i lost count. it still shoots just as good now as it did when it was new the only problem is, now i can't....
 
I keep an exact round count of all my guns. I have no real good logical reason to, except that I'm OCD about it and for my own personal curiosity. Do you need to? No. But for me, I like numbers, and I like to see how long things last. If I were to ballpark it, I would probably be off by quite a bit. It also helps me to keep track of failures and malfunctions. It can help me see if something is a pattern, or if it's just a one off problem.

As for it being foolishness, I think that's a pretty arrogant platform to stand on. Many things that people do every day are foolishness. Keeping a round count takes literally 20 seconds per gun each time I go out. To say there's not enough time for "such foolishness" is just, well, foolish. If you can't spare 20 seconds (or even a minute or two) then I pity you. I'm not saying you have to keep track, but it's certainly not a burden of time, and most definitely not foolish.
 
I keep, and have kept, a record of each round fired in all of my handguns. I started this around 1958 or so when I was in the Army. I was the company armorer and we kept a log book on our 106mm recoiless rifles. Seemed like a good idea and I started one for my Ruger Blackhawk. I labeled my ammo boxes with loading data, and when I returned from the range logged this in by counting the empty cases. I then marked the number of rounds remaining on the box label.

I found it interesting that folks who kept a "ballpark" count, and didn't shoot as much as I did, actually had higher round counts in their guns. But, when a gun did malfunction, and they all will sooner or later, I knew how many rounds had been fired up to the break-down.

What started as a matter-of-interest thing became serious years ago when I wrote a gun column for the old Tennessee Sportsman magazine as oftern the question came up about how many rounds could one expect from a new gun or something like that.

Bob Wright
 
I have very very rough ballparks with my .22's and don't count centerfires either. But I do keep notes on every reload I do and considering I pretty much never shoot anything but handloads I can almost tell you to the exact number I've put thru my centerfires.

Things might get mucked up if I had multiple guns for each cartridge but I don't and won't.
 
But, when a gun did malfunction, and they all will sooner or later, I knew how many rounds had been fired up to the break-down.
This is excellent information to have, especially for a self-defense gun. It can help determine a good replacement interval for various parts to insure that normal wear parts are replaced before they actually break and disable the firearm.
 
I keep a rough estimate so I know when it's about time to swap out springs. I replace them sooner than needed more often than not but they are cheap enough where it just makes sense. Plus I just save the old springs as backups as they are still good most of the time.
 
Yea, I drain my vehicle oil at 2000 miles but I keep it in a jug just in case I ever need to put it back in for an emergency. It's still good.
 
If you plan on selling it someday, it might be a useful # to know for the potential buyer. Other than that, meh.
 
Honestly couldn't care less about rounds. I know that I'll never shoot any gun I own enough to even be concerned about numbers of rounds fired.:rolleyes:
 
I know that I'll never shoot any gun I own enough to even be concerned about numbers of rounds fired.

What about self defense guns? It's a good thing to know a ballpark figure of how many rounds you have through the gun to swap springs out before they start giving you problems.
 
What about self defense guns? It's a good thing to know a ballpark figure of how many rounds you have through the gun to swap springs out before they start giving you problems.
My take is why go and fix something that isn't broke. Whats to say the "new replacement part" is good, it could be bad.
At what intervals are you folks going to be replacing parts, springs, to insure a working SD piece? 1,000, 2, 3, 4, 5,000 rounds?????
I still say looking for problems that don't exist.:cool:
 
It's common for manufacturers to recommend that certain parts be replaced regularly based on round count. The manufacturer will generally provide recommended round count replacement intervals for various parts such as recoil springs or other normal wear parts if consulted, or in the owners manual.

The reason you fix it before it's broken is so that it doesn't break or malfunction when you need it, and/or so that the worn out part doesn't cause damage to other parts because it's not properly doing its job.

As far as the potential for installing a defective part--that's always a possibility. A gun should be tested thoroughly after any modification or parts replacement. That should go without saying.
 
Honestly couldn't care less about rounds. I know that I'll never shoot any gun I own enough to even be concerned about numbers of rounds fired.

I agree. Besides being old, I couldn't afford enough ammunition to wear out any gun I have.
 
A few years back I could tell you how many thousand rounds I had shot through most of my guns because I could remember how many cases of ammo I had bought for each.

Any more I don't worry about it.
 
I usually buy ammo by the case or multiple boxes and only have a few guns so when the case is empty I know I shoot that many. If I every get more guns in the same cal I would probably have to start writing a log.
 
The reason you fix it before it's broken is so that it doesn't break or malfunction when you need it, and/or so that the worn out part doesn't cause damage to other parts because it's not properly doing its job.

As far as the potential for installing a defective part--that's always a possibility. A gun should be tested thoroughly after any modification or parts replacement. That should go without saying.

Parts are parts, as a ex auto mechanic of 20 + years I have installed many a bad part out of the box, with its new replacement bad as well. I have helped a friend with his M/C with carburetor problems install 3, yes 3 defective carburetors one after the other new right out of the box. Odd, yes very odd, BUT my point it does happen.
With all my experience with mechanical things, cars, M/C's, 18 wheeler s, and firearms at any given time something can and will fail when least and unwanted expected.
My point is even new parts installed with the thought of preventing a future problem can fail. Chances are slim but are still there. We never know when something will fail is all I'm saying.
Good intentions can have the same effect as neglect with regards to parts failure.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top