How much Ammo should I keep on hand?

[lucifermonkey]

Prices will rise due to inflation, panic, election cycle, or whatever.

Ask yourself, do you think your ammo will be cheaper after the next election?
If Hillary wins? If they ban online ammo purchases?
5 years from now? 10?

 

[edslhead]

"If Hillary wins?"

You shouldn't talk like that.

 

[mjbskwim]

At least 20 of every caliber you use and more for the guns you train on for self defense or hunting
As much as you can get away with buying otherwise
Or buy at least a single stage press and as much reloading goodies for your calibers as you can get away with
I think ammo will always be the thing 'they' try to control first

 

[mjbskwim]

"If Hillary wins?"

You shouldn't talk like that.

"when" not "if"
Sorry to be the one to break it to you

 

[IronMonster]

"when" not "if"
Sorry to be the one to break it to you

Ouch, that hurt.

 

[xlsbob]

I load and stock a large reserve for my rifles and pistols that I shoot most often. For the collectors and occasional shooters in the collection 400-500 rounds ahead is plenty. 100 rounds of 300 win mag lasts me a very long time, 100 rounds of .223 maybe an hour or so.

 

[RLS]

I think you should have as much as you can afford to for all calibers you own without having to sacrifice in other areas.
You never know what the next shortage will involve.

 

[etrain16]

Like others have said, I try to keep some on hand that I don't touch. I don't quantify it, I just kind of get a feel for what seems right to keep in reserve depending on the caliber and how often I shoot it. Right now, as ammo is available and fairly reasonably priced in some cases, I just try to keep an eye open for deals when the money is available, and stock up. After SH in 2012, I found I wasn't as well prepared as I thought. It took a long time before 9mm was readily available again and found I had to limit shooting/practice for quite a while.

Now I'm newly investing into reloading. I'm starting to build up a store of bullets, brass, primers and powder so I can support myself a bit better if we hit that territory again. Remembering, of course, that all the reloading components were hard to find too.

 

[ConcreteJungle]

I keep an emergency stash set aside but I rotate it out as I buy new ammo to keep it fresh. About 300 rounds per caliber in the emergency stash.
On average I keep 1000-1500 rounds of each caliber on hand except for .223/5.56 and 300blackout since i reload them. I keep enough reloading components on hand at all times to churn out 1500 rounds.
There's been times when I've had 3000-4000 rounds of a particular caliber on hand because i found deals, so i stocked up. Up until 1 year ago I was shooting 100-200 rounds per week so I was always buying ammo. Man, that got pretty expensive. I might shoot 100 rounds a month now...i know i need to shoot more but it's all i have time for now-a-days.

 

[chemist]

Time to brag:
When Federal .22LR was on sale for $11 a bulk pack, I'd virtually clean out the local Big 5. They laughed at me at the time, but nobody's laughing now. It just seemed ridiculously cheap, especially for something that keeps basically forever. The operative motto is, "These are the good old days."

Don't get caught wishing you'd stocked up - if you can afford it, that is. At some point in our lives we find ourselves with more money than time left, so don't you youngsters ever complain about having too little of the former. I'd trade everything to have the years back.

I don't see the need for massive amounts of pistol calibers, except maybe as trade items for a prepper. Rifle calibers are the ones that will be the most useful in a collapse situation, so I need to add a line to ZA_Survivalist's list:


>There will be another panic.
>There will be a ban on online ammo sales.

>Imports of Russian ammo will be banned.

 

[Medic!]

The question is. How many guns? And how much ammo should you tell people you have?

 

[chemist]

duplicate.

 

[bluesurf]

The question is. How many guns? And how much ammo should you tell people you have?

I just wish I actually had some guns and ammo to tell people about. Too bad for me.

 

[jbett98]

If your worried about how much ammo to have on hand, I would recommend only owning single shot firearms.
It will force you to become a better shot and one box will last all year.

 

[Joe13]

The question is. How many guns? And how much ammo should you tell people you have?

I have none of both but want to get into the hobby...

 

[Joe13]

If your worried about how much ammo to have on hand, I would recommend only owning single shot firearms.
It will force you to become a better shot and one box will last all year.

Not worried and I live in WA so no FA guns for me.

Was mostly just curious what the average might be; going into it knowing there would be a range from not much to there isn't such a thing as too much

 

[Flopsweat]

One million rounds

 

[scrandall01215]

The question is. How many guns? And how much ammo should you tell people you have?

I don't!!
Stacy

 

[The Heretic]

It depends on the gun and the ammo.

I have a LOT more FMJ ammo for centerfires than I do defensive ammo. The FMJ ammo is for practice and as a fall back for the defensive ammo should I run out. I do make sure the gun will run with the defensive ammo, and generally that the FMJ ammo is the same power level and bullet weight as the defensive ammo.

That said, I need to stock up on defensive ammo for my rifles. I have enough hunting ammo, and if SHTF I would load my mags with that, but it isn't enough in most calibers I have.

For defensive handguns the same is more or less true, but I am much less worried about the amount of defensive ammo I have because the defensive handgun is a last ditch weapon, not something that I will shoot with a lot in a SHTF scenario - it's purpose being to fight until I can get to my rifle, or when I run out of ammo for my rifle or close in combat, which means the fight won't last much longer.

So for most of the centerfire chamberings I have, at least 1K, some 2 to 3K rounds. For some, like the .44 or .357 Mags, not very much - several hundred.

The ammo I have the most of and is the most useful and that I shoot the most; rimfire ammo. Somewhere approaching 10K rounds (I hope).

 

[Deebow]

Enough. That's how much.