What's your minimum ammo stock?

[tourproto]

Before the last ammo drought, i only kept about 1 ammo can per caliber on hand. Obviously varied based on caliber, 500 rounds for .45apc and 2K rounds of .22lr.

I literally ran out of some calibers during the drought and had to pay exorbitant prices just to be able to do a little practice.

Now that prices are back to reasonable levels, I have become a squirrel and lets say that I have significantly increased the ammo I keep on hand. Not a lifetime supply, but based on my pattern of usage, enough to get through a couple of election cycles. It hasn't been an inexpensive endeavor, but IMHO, a necessary one based on the political climate.

Seems so sad that I feel the need to do this. But I guess we keep 6 months of food on hand (don't have to worry about water because we have a natural spring on our property that we can bottle if needed and water purifiers as well) so since this is also a necessity, just makes sense to keep reserves on hand.

 

[rick benjamin]

Late '70s, Friends and I thought TEOTW was at hand, gas-rationing etc.
Bought a case (5000 rounds) .22LR Blazers for $90.
Began (obsession) hobby pickin-up brass, reloading, bought a chrony chronograph.
Kept couple hundred of each 30.06, 308, .223, .45, .38, 12 and 20 gauge. Reloaded extras.
35 years later, .223, .45, 9mm cases of 1000. Still pickin-up brass.
Added slugs and shot for shotgun and black power.
Have just about finished the case of .22LR Blazer from about '78.
My little voices hound me to buy a box whenever politicians lie,
keeps my disposable income at a manageable level and the garage shelves sagging.

 

[Ura-Ki]

Eleventy three, nice round number! Lol
Somewhere between a pocket full and a pickup bed full is my number! Currently a little more then a pocket full!



I have no set minimums, but do consider a good "on person" load out to be the absolute minimum i would have close at hand!

 

[2A-Jay]

During the Ammo Scam in Oregon, the only 2 places in Roseburg you could ever find Pistol ammo was Walmart and Bi-Mart. Had to be waiting at the gun counters when they brought out the days load of ammo. you could only buy 1 box of a particular caliber per day, and there was never any 22lr available. .40S&W was rarely available. Full Shelves of Center Fire Rifle and Shotgun ammo. Good thing was Reloading components were readily available at Bi-mart and Cabela's.

 

[DivCurlGrad72]

I took a very simple approach that reduces the problem to a function of one variable: N = number of months I expect not to be able to purchase any ammo. I'm sure this is what is behind many of the numbers quoted in this thread, but since no one explicitly stated it, I thought it was worth posting.

I'm assuming a half dozen or so boxes of "fresh" critical defense ammo is enough for things like conceal carry and home invasion scenarios. The following practice ammo stock would cover everything else.

The easy part: based on past history*, compute the average number of rounds I shoot per month for each caliber = avg_cal_1, avg_cal_2, etc.

The hard part: coming up with a good number for N. Right now I'm using N=24 months, which is just a guess, and has no rational basis.

Then, total number of rounds needed on hand at any time is of course simply

no. rounds cal_1 = N * avg_cal_1
no. rounds cal_2 = N * avg_cal_2
etc.

So the question can be reduced to: what is a good value for N?

EDIT: Looking back at old threads, I see someone else had the same idea here.

*I maintain a spreadsheet where, for each firearm I own, there is a record of date, place, and number of rounds shot on that range visit.

 

[Ura-Ki]

During the Ammo Scam in Oregon, the only 2 places in Roseburg you could ever find Pistol ammo was Walmart and Bi-Mart. Had to be waiting at the gun counters when they brought out the days load of ammo. you could only buy 1 box of a particular caliber per day, and there was never any 22lr available. .40S&W was rarely available. Full Shelves of Center Fire Rifle and Shotgun ammo. Good thing was Reloading components were readily available at Bi-mart and Cabela's.

That was pretty much how it was in my A.O.
What ever store i happend to be at had a 1 box limit and zero .22
One nice thing for me was running 10 mm and .44 mag, not many folks were buying it up, at least the first year!

 

[KKG]

My stash has a minimum of two cases of .22 Rimfire Target stuff and at least two more cases of other kinds - Hunting, Plinking, Suppressed etc.

plus or Minus a half case for any other pieces of hardware. At the rate I'm currently shooting it should be enough for now.

 

[Hawaiian]

I have a bunch. How much is that? I have no idea. I will have to go count it one day.

 

[fournines]

I'm always looking for more, regardless of what I have. I own somewhere around 80 PMags, and still chase the sales to get more....


Minimum? I don't get what that means....

Minimum Yeah I don't know what that means......I've lost count.

 

[Phrank]

One more box. Always one more box.

 

[billstaf]

My ammo supply stays pretty constant as I usually immediately resupply after a day at the range.

7.62 x 39 - between 1200 to 1400 on hand. 270 in 9 loaded Pmags
5.56 x 45 - Between 1200 to 1500 on hand. 210 in 7 loaded Pmags
9mm x19 - Normally around 400 or so for a couple of carry pistols. All of it is 115gr range ammo right now
22LR - At least 1000 on hand. Don't shoot as much 22LR as I used to. Should probably buy a bunch more while it is cheap.
A few boxes of .380ACP, A couple boxes of .357Mag, About 25 #4 shot for the old 870 12 ga.

I suppose that I had better start laying in more ammo as it looks like the Dems will be trying to go after guns again soon and prices always rise when they do that.

 

[jbett98]

You should be surprised when opening a cabinet and finding a couple of thousand rounds you forgot all about.

 

[Heyjoe]

10,000 each of the regs.

2-500 each of hunting type.

50,000 22lr.

No less.

 

[Wrust911]

You don't state what you need it for. That's like asking how much cash should I have. I think a good worst case scenario to determine a minimum would be two years. Two years of a complete break down of society as you know it. No availability of ammo, food or anything else you rely on. You need ammo for practice, training, combat and to barter with. I think anything less than 100k rounds is not a minimum.

 

[partsed]

I need to buy more. Think I'll start a go fund me page....

 

[bimmerstuff]

More....

 

[DuneHopper]

OK i'll come clean I have about 75,000 22LR and I don't even have one.
Just waiting for the next drought to triple my money, works better then investment funds .

Seriously though 22LR is a great investment and always seems to run out .....great for bartering for sure.

Apparently some people are taking me serious? No I do not have 75K in ammo, if I did I wouldn't post it here of all things. That and I lost all my guns in a boat accident anyways so what would i do with ammo anyways

 

[Mooseman]

Apparently some people are taking me serious? No I do not have 75K in ammo, if I did I wouldn't post it here of all things. That and I lost all my guns in a boat accident anyways so what would i do with ammo anyways

I'M shocked............

 

[arakboss]

6 digits is comfortable. Below 5 digits and it's panic time.

 

[OregonTJ]

I have about 2000 rounds of mixed calibers. Don't really have a minimum, I shoot 5.56, 7.62 and 9mm the most.