Pricing people (especially youngsters) out

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RJD

RJD

Well-Known Member
A quick trip to HighLodge today for some sporting clays with my lad who is at Uni and also very proud of his first ‘proper’ part time job.. He wanted to pick up the bill as a nice gesture, he is 19 soon and keen to stand on his own 2 feet… the look on his face when for 80 sporting each was nearly £70, even allowing for the fact that Dad had bought cartridges was something to behold… with fuel costs being as they are (saw 1.99 at Shell on a12) and everything else there was no way I could let him pay..

Makes me think though, how much longer will shooting survive with so many people giving up (my local gunshop is only surviving by fees for disposals) and general costs through the roof plus the costs of cartridges, clays etc going insane… Not withstanding the socialists quick win of making everyone poor and The blue hair brigade banning everything (except un checked illegal invaders)..

With all of the ‘shooting organisations’ (in no way supporting shooting or organized) being so spectacularly useless, how does shooting recover?

On top of the move to new toxic metals …
 
The sad truth is I really do not know as you have very thoughtfully and succinctly outlined the undeniable key issues in play.

If I could turn back the clocks to the late 60's and early 70's I would as this was a golden era for hunting & shooting even through we had little appreciation of it at the time. I say this fully mindful of the undeniable economic challenges for those who undertook manual labour for a living.

K
 
It is really insanely expensive for them, I would love the organisations to lobby to be able to charge international visitors £20 per day to shoot in the UK (a pittance if you are taking £1k flights or a £1k trophy) and that money was ring fenced for opportunities for younger guns. Even if it was a pool for a tag draw, simulated game etc.
 
Have I got this right?
Around 44p per clay
Plus around 30 p per cartridge
That's 74p a bang .
Expensive clays .
 
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cheap by the oxford gun clubs charges ,you can only afford their prices if you and your wife drive rolls royce /range rover etc
 
Was talking to a mate about this recently - apparently the exodus is massive in the 20-40 year old age group which is why when you go to Bisley it’s either middle aged to retired folks, or cadets being paid for by the military.
 
Trying to think back to what it was when I was a similar age, would probably have been 25-30p a clay and perhaps 20p a cartridge, so 80 clays would have been about £38.

If you’re paying 45p a clay now and a cartridge is 35p that’s £64.

However, minimum wage then was about £4.70 p/h, it’s now £10.85 p/h for an 18 year old, so an 18 year old’s wage has likely gone up more than the cost of clay shooting - at least before SGC costs are factored in.
 
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Wow
When I started I shot good old baikal records 2 quid a box noisy bloody things but worked great on clays and just about everything else I could chuck at them
I’m sure it was about 3/4 quid for 25 clays too
 
andyk said:
Trying to think back to what it was when I was a similar age, would probably have been 25-30p a clay and perhaps 20p a cartridge, so 80 clays would have been about £38.

If you’re paying 45p a clay now and a cartridge is 35p that’s £64.

However, minimum wage then was about £4.70 p/h, it’s now £10.85 p/h for an 18 year old, so an 18 year old’s wage has likely gone up more than the cost of clay shooting - at least before SGC costs are factored in.
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Compound the increase of everything else in those 20? Years and then compare…
 
RJD said:
A quick trip to HighLodge today for some sporting clays with my lad who is at Uni and also very proud of his first ‘proper’ part time job.. He wanted to pick up the bill as a nice gesture, he is 19 soon and keen to stand on his own 2 feet… the look on his face when for 80 sporting each was nearly £70, even allowing for the fact that Dad had bought cartridges was something to behold… with fuel costs being as they are (saw 1.99 at Shell on a12) and everything else there was no way I could let him pay..

Makes me think though, how much longer will shooting survive with so many people giving up (my local gunshop is only surviving by fees for disposals) and general costs through the roof plus the costs of cartridges, clays etc going insane… Not withstanding the socialists quick win of making everyone poor and The blue hair brigade banning everything (except un checked illegal invaders)..

With all of the ‘shooting organisations’ (in no way supporting shooting or organized) being so spectacularly useless, how does shooting recover?

On top of the move to new toxic metals …
Click to expand...
It doesn't. It will eventually be legislated out of existence indirectly. E.g bans on shooting pretty much everything, quarry wise. Lead ban. Deliberate crappy FLD service. The obvious biggest one on the horizon is the increased restriction on shotgun ownership with the section 1 stuff. Reduced ammo limits. Air weapon license like Scotland. Stuff like that.

Just the point where they ones who can still be arsed all die off. Then your deer shooting will be professional contractors pretty much.

I'm surprised foxing is still allowed to be honest. Probably won't be for ever.
 
RJD said:
A quick trip to HighLodge today for some sporting clays with my lad who is at Uni and also very proud of his first ‘proper’ part time job.. He wanted to pick up the bill as a nice gesture, he is 19 soon and keen to stand on his own 2 feet… the look on his face when for 80 sporting each was nearly £70, even allowing for the fact that Dad had bought cartridges was something to behold… with fuel costs being as they are (saw 1.99 at Shell on a12) and everything else there was no way I could let him pay..

Makes me think though, how much longer will shooting survive with so many people giving up (my local gunshop is only surviving by fees for disposals) and general costs through the roof plus the costs of cartridges, clays etc going insane… Not withstanding the socialists quick win of making everyone poor and The blue hair brigade banning everything (except un checked illegal invaders)..

With all of the ‘shooting organisations’ (in no way supporting shooting or organized) being so spectacularly useless, how does shooting recover?

On top of the move to new toxic metals …
Click to expand...
Shotgun ammo is easy to build and you will save a lot of cash , allowing more shooting for the lad - heck let him do it for you and you both save . Personally for life . Clay Grounds are facing a lot of new higher costs themselves . nearly all our steel shot etc is made in China etc , The UK needs to Drill in the North sea , make its own steel again etc etc .
 
It's always been this way. Hobbies are expensive. You take them up when your parents include you and they pay. Then you get older and have to stand on your own two feet and life is tough and you have other things like the opposite sex, marriage, kids and a career that takes you away. But then the kids do as you did and fly the nest. You now have disposable income and time so you go back to what you like to do.

Another example: I like to ride motorcycles. Did it as a young feller but then I got married and my vehicle had to lug a family of five about and there certainly wasn't enough dosh for me to have a bike. But now? I can indulge myself with the shooting I do and motorcycles and going to rugby games. Life is good.

So fear not if the folk you see engaging in your preferred hobby are old. Probably, so are you. It doesn't mean that hobby is necessarily dying out. Although with shooting related activities, there's other influences coming in to play more these days and that is the worrying thing. But even so, individually we aren't going to change much, so endeavour to see your glass as half full. The ship might be slowly sinking, but we might as well enjoy the life we have now because worrying about the future won't change it.
 
Yes, shooting is expensive, it always was, except for maybe a bit of hedgerow bashing.
The big difference nowadays is that wages haven’t kept up and everything costs more. Theres a lot less money about to spend on hobbies.
 
Dunwaters said:
Yes, shooting is expensive, it always was, except for maybe a bit of hedgerow bashing.
The big difference nowadays is that wages haven’t kept up and everything costs more. Theres a lot less money about to spend on hobbies.
Click to expand...
This - I recall paying for clay shooting being very expensive when I was late teens early twenties, hedgerow bashing and ferreting were the value alternatives and probably still are. I am delighted that I spent more time doing that.

To the OP it is this challenge that hopefully will encourage your lad to look at other ways to shoot and be exposed to the countryside.

Even now I can barely accept the cost of clay shooting (even though I can easily afford it). It’s expensive and not even that much fun, and over in an hour or two.
 
ashray said:
cheap by the oxford gun clubs charges ,you can only afford their prices if you and your wife drive rolls royce /range rover etc
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Hello, That has always been the case with Oxford Gun shop and Clay shooting, We had a lovely Clay Club in Oxford back in the day and was affordable for every one
 
RJD said:
A quick trip to HighLodge today for some sporting clays with my lad who is at Uni and also very proud of his first ‘proper’ part time job.. He wanted to pick up the bill as a nice gesture, he is 19 soon and keen to stand on his own 2 feet… the look on his face when for 80 sporting each was nearly £70, even allowing for the fact that Dad had bought cartridges was something to behold… with fuel costs being as they are (saw 1.99 at Shell on a12) and everything else there was no way I could let him pay..

Makes me think though, how much longer will shooting survive with so many people giving up (my local gunshop is only surviving by fees for disposals) and general costs through the roof plus the costs of cartridges, clays etc going insane… Not withstanding the socialists quick win of making everyone poor and The blue hair brigade banning everything (except un checked illegal invaders)..

With all of the ‘shooting organisations’ (in no way supporting shooting or organized) being so spectacularly useless, how does shooting recover?

On top of the move to new toxic metals …
Click to expand...

well said, been trying to get the same message across for sometime, you look at the HO statistics for age of licence holders and the majority are what, from memory, fifty plus.

Yes some of all ages will shoot like you the occasional nice “big” day out or be very fortunate to be able to afford say one a month or more but I wonder how the attendance is and has been over say the last five years at the premier grounds like West Kent in my area.

Smaller clubs look to have reasonable attendance where the prices are somewhat less.

My bet is it can only get worst when lead shot is banned , cartridge prices will very likely increase and possibly some of the fibre wads only smaller ground will close. Then the likely loss of the .410 and may be 28gauge for juniors.

Plus the cost of gun licences, GP reports and general pain in the process.

No wonder grounds in Kent like greenfields closed, more future money in building houses and several gun shops have closed.

The future despite what some orgs may say is not looking good, oh but game shooting must be sustainable 🤮
 
Last edited:
Dunwaters said:
Yes, shooting is expensive, it always was, except for maybe a bit of hedgerow bashing.
The big difference nowadays is that wages haven’t kept up and everything costs more. Theres a lot less money about to spend on hobbies.
Click to expand...

have to disagree with you shooting was not always expensive, a tin of air gun pellets or even 50 shots at the local .22lr club was very affordable by the working man. As was a round of clays at the local club.
Golf club membership and a round of golf was more expensive than being a regular clay shooter.

It’s expensive today, due to the spiralling increase in components due to covid and the wars. That has shown how vulnerable the supply chain is due to very few manufacturers of propellant and primers. Then high oil prices pushing up the plastic components. Increase in all raw material and energy costs.

The u.k. once had three propellant manufacturers we now have none.
 
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