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Some people say that you should have 1K rounds of ammo per gun and 10 magazines per gun. Others say 1K rounds and 10 mags per caliber. Which is it better? Some of you guys on here have 9+ of the same handgun, so you're stocking 9K rounds of .40 and 90 mags? That seems a bit unbalanced.

Then at the same time having 1K rounds and 10 mags for 9 Sig's (one guy on here I'm using as an example from another thread) seems too little.
 
How much do you shoot? Are you prepping to practice or to Boogaloo? Or to bug in, bug out?

If Just for Practice, store as much as you possibly can. Years worth

Boogaloo, thousands and thousands of rounds.

Bug in, how many defensive gun fights do you expect to survive. Probably only a handful. A couple thousand rounds total is probably good.

Bug out, how much can you carry?

My advice, standardize to "systems" that use similar mags and ammo.

Example: 9mm HK pistols can basically all take VP9 mags. Buy cheap and stack deep. Same with small frame double stack glocks Same with ARs. You can have a PDW, RECCE build, competition gun, and DMR amd they can all use the same mags and ammo. Again though, buy cheap and stack deep.

TLDR as much as you can afford!
 
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For us, on magazines, it really depends:

  • Primary carbines and/or those likely to face a ban? So many magazines we had to develop a storage system.
  • Large automatic pistols? Between six and ten.
  • Pocket pistols? A little less, maybe three to four.
  • Everything else, meh, enough to have fun.
Ammo is a lot more fluid.

YMMV.
 
My real concern isnt SHTF anymore, rather firearm/mag bans and ammo BGC's.

If SHTF in America, half the nation is pretty much dead and the world as we know it is over. If 1k of ammo per caliber can't get me out of a jam, Im a gonner anyhow.

Id say 10 mags is good. 15-20 is better as you can sell highly prized mags and drums post ban and make a profit (if that is your thing).. USGI/metal over polymer mags for long term.

Buy now before Oregon passes insane laws or WA passes more insane laws
(even though we fight and vote against them, both are extreme liberal states). Also buy before the election.. there always seems to be a mini panic pre election.
 
Not really sure the point of the OP post. It's completely situational. If you're swimming, zero. If you're in a bunker in the middle of WWIII. Millions.

In general, my advice is that ammo and mags are cheap today, but evidence and history show the prices can spike quickly based on external events and politics. So, buy as much as you can afford, justify, and store. Guns are useless without ammo, and mag fed guns don't work efficiently with bad mags or without mags.

If for some reason the supply chain shut down tomorrow, and lasts indefinitely, are you okay with what you have? That's not an impossibility. In 2008, it practically did with skyrocketed prices. In 2012, we saw that again. You couldn't get mags or ammo for any reasonable prices and shelves were bare. 20 years ago when the AWB happened, a lot of guns and magazines were not available at reasonable prices.

And right now we are facing a global pandemic on the coronavirus COVID19. A quick study of historic pandemics *could* demonstrate this - if jumps to out of control levels - would shut down commerce. Not saying that to start a panic, but just be realistic. If we saw significant infection in the US without a antidote or vaccine, we could rapidly see panic here. The serious illness rate is over 15%, and death rate 100x that of the common flu, at around 1-2%. By comparison, this death rate is about the same as the Spanish flu, which killed over 50 million people in 2 years in the early 1900s.

That has the potential to shut down or hamper commerce.
 
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Just buy it when you can and it's on a good sale.
You'll know when you have enough, it's about at the point where you get sick of moving cases around and start finding boxes you never knew you had...
 
For any pistol I'd consider "defensive" in nature, I generally keep 5 or 6 magazines full of defensive ammo. Maybe 2 or 3 times that much defensive ammo in boxes. So thats about 250 rounds of 9mm or 40, or 150 rounds of 45. Then anywhere between 1000 and 2000 rounds of fmj.

For shotguns, all I shoot is 12 GA, so I keep a couple bandoliers of slugs and 00 buck, and a couple to-go bandoliers of a mix of shells. I also have a couple 100 shell boxes of #7 1/2 and a few 25 shell boxes of #6.

Defensive rifle, I probably keep 30 to 50 loaded magazines and a few thousand rounds more in loose ammo.

I never keep much more than 50 to 100 rounds of ammo for each hunting rifle.
 
Just buy it when you can and it's on a good sale.
You'll know when you have enough, it's about at the point where you get sick of moving cases around and start finding boxes you never knew you had...

Thats a great description. When you can't count em all cus you keep forgetting where you stashed some. You're good.
 
As much as you can afford of all of the above.
Equally important is kit redundancy. Having multiple firearms that can use the same mags and ammo is a good idea. If you have ten different 9mm pistols, and ten mags for each, great. But if you have ten of the same, and they all can use the same mags, and those mags also fit in any PCC you may own, better.
Also, saves you the trouble of having to keep stock of parts from a variety of manufacturers.
YMMV
However, knowledge of different platforms and how they function is important as well.
 
For me it greatly depends on the gun. Any time I buy a new to me pistol I try to have at least a handful of mags. For the more common one at least a dozen. With me being big on PCC's and all of them using Glock mags I have lost track of how many G17 mags I have now. Same with ammo. After the last great panic I keep around 20K .22 ammo all the time. 9mm is second with at least a couple K all the time. Other stuff not nearly that much. Do keep dies and supplies for all my stuff though so if it gets to where I can't buy I can roll it again.
 
I carry different calibers, and I carry more then one hand gun many times, so it's a bit more mixed! I "Like" to have 1k worth of full pop 10 mm and at least that in 9 mm, and a little less in .380/9mm makrov. Fighting rifle is split, 5.56 is around 2K worth of mixed M-193 and M262 in loaded mags, where 7.62X51 I keep around 1200 loaded in mags, mixed 60/40 between M-80, and Winchester Powerpoints, with a few specialty loads in 10 round mags or in boxes! For precision Rifle, it's ether in 10 round Mags, or kept in self made "Battle Packs" and ready to go! Total round count I think ( last check) was around 1600 worth for the two rifles, which are of different calibers!
Outside of those, it's what ever I have on hand for each caliber, and I made sure after the last ammo run that I had enough ammo for each so that I never get caught out again with out being able to find/afford needed ammo! Ultimately, the Above fighting stash would cover me for most needs, but some of the hunting rifles in less common calibers not so much!
 
We are past done talkin because our voices are being ignored in Olympia and Salem.

If you're not already stocked up the you best get a move on.

You think our legislators are upset that Trump is president, just wait to see them when he gets re-elected...:eek::eek::eek:

Best be ready...
 
Not really sure the point of the OP post.


It's completely situational. If you're swimming, zero. If you're in a bunker in the middle of WWIII. Millions.

The point is to clarify the term and whether it makes more sense to go per gun or per caliber. I thought that was a given based on my post. Not sure why people come up with bizarre scenarios like swimming or WWIII bunkers.:rolleyes:
 
My real concern isnt SHTF anymore, rather firearm/mag bans and ammo BGC's.

If SHTF in America, half the nation is pretty much dead and the world as we know it is over. If 1k of ammo per caliber can't get me out of a jam, Im a gonner anyhow.

Id say 10 mags is good. 15-20 is better as you can sell highly prized mags and drums post ban and make a profit (if that is your thing).. USGI/metal over polymer mags for long term.

Buy now before Oregon passes insane laws or WA passes more insane laws
(even though we fight and vote against them, both are extreme liberal states). Also buy before the election.. there always seems to be a mini panic pre election.


Yeah that's my concern, not SHTF. You're not going to survive through 20K round of AR engagements right. But it's nice to have some on hand in case they make it more expensive and difficult to get a hold of. CA already passed ammo BG checks, it's coming here soon.

Without ammo you have an expensive club. Without mags you have a fancy single shot gun.
 

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