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How Much Ammo Stores Do You Maintain

7K views 31 replies 26 participants last post by  Sgt_C 
#1 ·
Just out of curiosity I would like to hear some input on others about how much ammo you keep on hand. My wife seems to think I have an ammo hoarder thing going on. I currently own 9 different firearms in 5 different calibers, .22, .380, .38 special, 9mm and 12ga. Just for grins I took an inventory of my ammo last night...no easy task by the way...and found out that I have over 11,000 rounds with .9mm being the most plentiful at 4750 rounds of various loads. My wife is a little concerned that in the event that we had a house fire then the entire neighborhood would have to vacate the area.
 
#5 ·
Im not sure What a good SHTF number of rounds per firearm would be.
I try to aim for 1000 rounds for each firearm I own and enough reloading supplies powder primers and such to reload each caliber at least 10 times or more till the brass wears out. I also hoard lead.
I try to keep factory ammo for when it really counts... sort of like a fine wine. I load a round for each gun that I consider the best round for that specific gun. Once I know how that load handles I then make a light rather inexpensive round for plinking and other practice shooting to keep material cost low and save wear and tare on the gun.
My goal is roughly enough rounds to last the life of the firearm before re barreling and such.
I keep a couple .22's around with a few bricks of ammo but they really arent my thing. Ammo is cheap and versatile and they are a good gun that my elderly mother can handle comfortably. Most of my ammo is .300 win mag or .45/.454 ammo because thats what I have and what I practice with an if SHTF thats likely what ill be using. I can see a day the bullets run out (in general) I dread that day lol. So I treat my ammunition as if someday I will have the only bullets left and use them sparingly. I have trouble wrapping my head around spray and pray, it just seems so wasteful.
BTW I dont know what its like globally but anywhere within decent driving distance to my location lead seems to be turning to gold. Its getting harder and harder to find and people are on waiting lists to get buckets of wheel weight lead. Remember those things tire shops couldnt pay to get rid of at one time. I would suggest learn to reload and if you do any amount of shooting invest in building a good lead trap and save every scrap you can ! Actually no... dont learn to reload... that way theres more lead for me lol.
 
#7 ·
Contrary to what your wife thinks, your house will not explode. Gun powder is a propellant and NOT explosive. If you ever had a fire you would hear rounds cooking off but you wouldn't have an explosion where you'd need to evacuate the neighborhood.

With that said, I try to keep enough rounds for my firearms to be able to shoot monthly for a year without having to buy any new. How many is that? Sorry won't divulge that info, but take that for what it's worth. :mrgreen:
 
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#10 ·
Goal is 1,000 rounds for each and 3,000 for .22
For the Shotgun I'm setting the goal at 500 #7 and 500 00-Buck and an additional 250 in slugs.

Same way if you have a 30-06. You should have probably about 2,000 rounds but not all the same size and weight. Some small fast varmint bullets and some heavy ones for bear.

When I get an AR/AK platform I'll want 2,000 for that as well. I think you can use up ammo pretty quick in a defensive maneuver.
 
#18 ·
You can never have enough ammo, you can never have enough ammo, you can never have enough ammo.

Start with what you think you might need and set a time goal to get it in, the shorter the better.
Once that goal is reached, set another. I think it needs to be done rather soon.
If the shtf on a national scale, what is in hand is all there will ever be.
I don't mean on an individual scale but nationwide.
There is no magic number on rounds. Where you live and population density have a bearing.
I see where guy are amassing huge numbers of pistol rounds, unless the have a smg they are going in the wrong direction.
I think 10-1 ratio of rifle to pistol is more that adequate, perhaps even that is still to much.
A pistol is not what you want in a firefight, it is a last ditch weapon.
Ok, you sidewalk commando's can argue the point with yourselves.
Whatever you have for a long gun is what you need to feed the most.
It should be a semiauto intermediate cal. Box mag fed type.
Bolt and lever guns are not adequate in todays social threat scenario.
Most combat vets will tell you that and so will any swat leo.
 
#27 ·
I have "some" ammo.
We live in a rural area, and it's pretty much a given that every house has firearms and ammo. I have talked to local firefighters, both county and volunteer, and their policy is during a house fire if ammo starts cooking off at the level of more than just a few boxes, they back off and let the structure burn.
I doubt if my house insurance policy would cover that scenario - I have never asked my agent, the less he knows the better I like it.
Accordingly, except for a small amount of ready ammo, everything else has been moved out to my barn.
I would suggest that anyone who stores ammo in their dwelling to purchase a fire rated safe. You can get one big enough to hold a good quantity for just a couple hundred bucks.
 
#28 ·
The ammo we keep on hand is roughly what we would shoot is 2-3 months of regular range visits. Nothing sits on the shelf for too long here.
 
#29 ·
I stock 5 calibers primarily (5.56, 7.62 NATO, 12 gauge, .45 ACP, and .40S&W), and have ammo on hand for a few others (7.62x39, .303Brit, .243, etc). When I first started packing away ammo, I was told 2000 rounds for a main combat rifle, or 500-1000 for a shotgun or pistol were minimum numbers to have. I have long since surpassed those in virtually every caliber, but I continue to add more. My opinion? You can never have too much.
 
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