Ammunition Stock and How Long Will It Last You

Yeah just got more 30-06 from cmp. Not bad on price.

 

I am still buying 30-06 as that is all that is left around here. Some shotgun ammo as well. I have about 12,000 rounds of .22. I thought I was over the top but I guess I'm not. Ill never need more ammo then I have now. KF

 

That's a great thing about this site. You can always read a couple of posts and say, "See, I'm not crazy at all." Ha ha!

I'm with you. None of us will ever have "enough," because you can never know with certainty how much you might need; although, some of the amounts quoted as stocks, or goals, are beyond my current (and foreseeable future) capacity to match, and even beyond my envisioned needs. The run on ammo of the past few months has at least made me feel a bit more secure in my original mode of thinking, in that, "there's nothing wrong with having a little extra."

In most relationships, it seems to me, one spouse or the other is the primary driving force in the prepping lifestyle, and the other spouse either acquiesces, cooperates to a lesser extent, or fights the prepper tooth and nail. There are certainly some relationships in which the drive to prep is the same in both spouses, but I think that it is probably not the norm.

When the ammo shortage (whatever the cause) recently hit, my wife asked me, "Do we have enough of everything? Why didn't we buy more?" She had never said a word to me about my ammo purchases, but had indeed cast sideways looks at me on more than one occasion, when another ammo delivery came, and the charge popped up on the account. Now, she has become a true believer, and I no longer feel that I am being patiently indulged by a loving wife, who forgives my eccentricities.

I'm pretty happy with a minimum of a thousand rounds in self-defense calibers, and a couple of thousand rounds ammo in each of the hunting calibers. That being said, I wasn't where I wanted to be in all calibers when this recent silliness began, and have chided myself for letting my ammo stocks drop in calibers that we shoot fairly often, and being caught short by the buying spree.

Honestly though, I figure that if I need more ammo than my established ideal minimums, I probably don't need more ammo; I need to move.

 

And, we're always happy to help with that.

 

I just told myself this time I was not going to buy at inflated prices and sold instead. I almost doubled my money on my entire collection of guns. I bought higher quality bolt action and lever action rifles to replace all the semi autos I sold. I now have top of the line Rifles in 30-30, 30-06 and 44 magnum. These rounds are not selling at inflated prices and neither are the 20 gauge slugs. They are 4.99 per 5 before the shortage and are still 4.99 per 5. 30-06 150 and 180 grain are still 14.99 to 18.99 depending on brand.

 

The only time a man has too much ammo,

Is when he can't swin through it.

I'm not even up to the top of my big toe.

 

I've seen your big toe, and it's GINORMOUS!

 

Ok now...leaving large appendages aside and returning to the original question....

Enough to provide for a protracted defense, until my demise, or a couple lifetimes' worth of hunting.

 

This is from about two years ago. I've probably tripled since then, and I have enough brass, bullets, primers and powder to load about 2k .45 Colt, 1k .45 ACP, 1k .308, and 2k .30-06. So the short answer is, "Nowhere near enough". Oh, among my sons and I, we have around 9000 rounds of .22 lr. We would have more, but we kept shooting when everyone went nuts because I never dreamed the U.S. would run out of .22 lr.

 

I have pleanty of rocks for my sling shot... and a couple of 5 gallon buckets of dry peas for my pea shooter....

 

Would those be fully jacketed rocks and hollow-point peas?

 

I don't remember... way back when i remember when rocks were a no lone zone....

 

Take a deep breath Doc, I think you are hyperventilating.

 

I'm in a small Hotel in South Eastern Ga. and trying to post with limited interwebz....

 

Luv dem HP rocks when loaded to +P--lol. Picked up 5 30-06 cases that I want to try to load with my old Lee hand loader. Have to see my bud to borrow some powder and the five boolits.

 

As soon as this cold front passes the wife and I are going to sight in all of our new toys. Im excited about all of them. I have never had a .44 magnum carbine. The Thompson center Icon and the Tikka Hunter 30-06's are both very tight grouping rifles and should be a pleasure to shoot. We already shot the two new Ruger SR-22 Hand guns and they are flawless. KF

 

this =>



you'll get the idea.

 

I was fortunate to have a bunch of .223/5.56mm ammo before the crunch, and have been successful in obtaining more, at regular (NOT $1/round!!) prices, since the insanity started. Same with 9mm, even while helping a buddy, who's a new owner of a Glock 19 and 26, to stock his up sufficiently.
.45ACP has been tough to find, but I've had a little bit of luck. Same with .38 special & .357 magnum, for my revolver. So far as .44 magnum goes, I've seen some in the stores, but haven't really bothered stocking up much, as I may see if I can sell/trade that pistol at the upcoming gun show (Ruger Super Blackhawk S/A).
What's really funny, to me, is that at the beginning of the scare, I always saw .40S&W hollow points on the shelves, so opted to buy a Glock 27 (versus the G26 I had been thinking about) for my carry pistol......and since then, .40S&W has been rare as hen's teeth around here! Doesn't it figure?? LOL

I just recently picked up a Ruger American rifle in .308, and have slowly been stocking up on ammo. Once I get a few hundred rounds, it's likely that I'll just look at reloading that brass, once I shoot it, as my buddy (who has reloaded .308 for years) says that he can make his own for ~$0.18/round (versus $1-2+/round for store bought).

How much do I have? Let's just say that I always tell my buddies, when the zombie apocalypse happens, get your butt over to my house, and you'll be good to go!

 

I am no where near where I want to be either. The way I look at it is you have to set small goals like you would with weight loss or running. I consider a minimum standard 1000 rds for each caliber pistol and 1500-2000 rds for each "battle rifle" plush about 500 for shotgun and 500 for each hunting caliber firearm. I am pretty close to that with all my semi auto's but not my hunting or shotgun loads. That being said since this shortage I have not been able to practice like I should so that number is going to go up to allow for practice in event of another normal/quirky shortage. I think 22 is like money or ice cream you can never have enough.

That being said I am going to throw another question into the mix. Are you planning with someone else. For instance if I know my father in law would show up at my house and he has casually mentioned that he keeps 500 rds for his 9mm at his house. His ammo 500 plus mine 1000 equals 1500 rds of 9? Just something else to consider if you plan on having anybody else show up at your door step. Also what ratio of hollow points to fmj are you storing