Well used paper target (March 8, 2013)

I practice during the week at Personal Defense Handgun Safety Center (PDHSC). I bought a Gold Membership after a bit of nudging by a past shooting partner. We don’t shoot together any more but he was the #1 reason I’m shooting competitions today. He encouraged me to take several classes, we shot our first IDPA match together, we practiced together about once a week on the action range at PDHSC and he made me aware of the Gold Membership.

The Gold Membership is currently $275 for one year. That includes unlimited range time in one hour increments. Current range time is at $20 a visit. Without the Gold Memberhship, if I shoot once a week, the cost the for a year would be $1040. If I shoot twice a month, the cost would be $480. For me, the Gold Membership is a great deal.

If you shoot in a lane, the additional cost is $1 per paper target. I like targets with lots of options so I can move around, transitioning from spot to spot. If you shoot in the action range (call in advance, on the same day, to reserve this range) the cardboard targets are $2 each. Since you shoot solo on the action range there is an additional cost of $5.

Cardboard target with one “paster” under the head shot. Note steel plates in the background.

You can “paste” brown sticky squares over holes in the cardboard targets and use them many, many times. At a match, 6 squads of 10 shooters will shoot most targets twice each for over a 100 rounds per use.

The last cost for practice is ammunition. I stocked up after I bought my first 9mm gun. I like shooting, I want to improve and I never wanted the cost or scarcity of ammunition to prevent me from shooting. New shooting friends also predicted that the fall 2012 election results would affect pricing and availability. In the short time I’ve been shooting I’ve seen 9mm Luger rounds go from $12/box to “a deal” at $20 a box (a box is typically 50 rounds) for practice rounds.

Since I typically use 100 rounds at each match and at each practice session I buy in bulk. That’s hit and miss at the moment but I’m hoping the supply and demand will even out in a few months and it will become easier to find. I’m hoping more that the prices don’t continue to rise.