How many rounds should you have stored away for a caliber?

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_Muad'dib_

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I recently took my CCW class and the instructor said that for each caliber of handgun you own, you should have no less than 5k rounds of ammo. He said that 10k would probably be better. Would ya'll agree? If not what would you recommend?
 
I look at it a little different. My suggestion is simple. Any gun I hardly ever shoot needs to have 2 boxes of ammunition on the shelf. For the ones I do shoot I want to have 1 years worth of ammo for it on hand. This should get me through any dry spells of ammo availability.

If you only shoot every other week and only 50 round of range ammo you would then want to have 1,300 rounds for that gun on hand. If you shoot less you need less. In my case I need to try to keep about 25 cases of 9 mm on hand plus 5 cases of .22. I have the .22 covered and I'm working on the 9 mm.

Nobody says you need it right away and after all it is only a goal. If ammo drys up again I can still shoot a reasonable amount for a couple of years easy. Maybe just a little less.
 
Your instructor is a pessimist. He must be assuming that the stinky is going to hit the fan hard and no more rounds will ever be available. In that case, he is correct 5-10k per caliber. A more reasonable number would be 500 minimum and 2-3000 goal amount. Sure, stuffing the closet with 5-10k rounds for each caliber would be nice, but that can be spendy.

If you are a heavy user of rounds, like someone that is in competition, you should have 2-3 months worth on hand. That could also be 5-10k for some folks. But, if you using that much, you probably reload and have that much in components on hand.
 
5000 bullets lying around just in case the world ends? Must be nice to be made of money. I usually keep a hundred or two 9mm on hand, maybe a brick of 22. I'd like to have more but in the grand scheme of things spare ammo is pretty low on the list of priorities. There's that whole food thing to worry about
 
I think your instructor was wearing a tinfoil hat under his ball cap.

It's never a bad thing to have some ammo available, but having 5k of ammo is a very pricey propostion....for one caliber.

Most of us have more than one caliber, so multiply that by "however many" and his model would quickly become unsustainable.

I try to maintain 1k of .22LR. Everything else, if I can keep 50-100 loaded rounds I am way ahead of the power curve.

*edited to add: I reload my target ammo, and have "almost enough" components :)
 
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I feel like in the event of total breakdown in society, a 22 lr will be the most effective bullet. It can kill anything up to a deer and it is very easy to tote around 1000 shots.
 
It depends on how much you shoot. Because ammunition & components shortages happen from time to time and can sometimes last for several months, I figure that it's smart to have a year's worth of ammunition/components on hand based on your projected usage rate.
 
At 30 cents a round (unless you reload) that's inventory worth $1500 to $3000. Sounds a bit over the top to me, 1K rounds would seem to be more than adequate.
 
I keep every gun fully loaded with HPs and If it's not double digit capacity, usually a full spare mag for each too. Plus somewhere between 50-1000rds of centfire practice ammo (depending on caliber.)

Honestly......if you need more than a box of ammo to handle a defensive
situation, you need more back-up not just more ammo.
 
If your budget can handle it and you have done a reasonable test of the ammo before getting so much it isn't a bad thing to have on hand.

I shoot close to the same amount of .22 ammo as I do 9 mm. The other guns I have are .32 acp and shotguns. I try to keep things to few calibers. The .22 and 9 mm get shot nearly every weekend and the others hardly ever any more.

When people were complaining for over a year about not being able to find ammo to use at the range I was still able to shoot nearly every weekend. Their loss and my gain. Once the stock reaches the level I want to have I will shoot it for about 6 months before I start to restock again.

I like to have 1/2 case of 9 mm and at least 500 rounds of .22 when I hit the range. If I shoot it all that's fine. If not then it was available just encase. I do remember when I could only afford to shoot a total of 50 rounds once a month. So now I'm trying to make up for those times I guess.
 
If you reload, it's easy to have that much ammo available. I've got about 40,000 primers of different kinds, and probably a mininum of 1000 bullets for the calibers I shoot a lot, plus plenty of brass for each caliber. 2-3,000 rounds of 22LR, and about 500 22 Mag. I couldn't afford to have that much factory ammo, but you don't need tons of factory ammo, except for actual carry, and maybe a box of 50 to run through your gun accassional, to be sure it is functioning correctly.

EarlFH
 
In my first 4 months of ever owning / firing a gun I went through 4000 ish rounds. Now at the 9 month mark I probably go through 300 per month. On hand I have ~ 1000 rounds with about in the same in empty cases. ( mostly 38 with about 300 rounds of 357 )

This winter will be bulk reloading time, if I come across more cases I'll reload them regardless of what my total loaded ammo count is. It's more of a time between reloading than having a pile of ammo sitting around.
 
5,000 of each would be nice, but I would have to do some structural work on the house.

25,000 rounds of 22 though sounds like a nice starting point and is my minimum;)

Best scenario is the reloading route. Shoot and save. Then you can have various components and can make what is needed. So I keep saving brass. Maybe this winter I will take a couple of afternoons and churn out that 3,000 rounds of 9mm and 2,000 of 380.
 
so is having about 25k rounds of .22 a bad thing then?
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Lightweight.;)

Knowing the price of ammo will go up. Not a bad ideal to get 5k rounds.
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I still have some packs of 7.62x39 ammo that have "$49.99 per 500" stickers on them. Similar with my 22 rimfire stocks. Really came in handy when 22 rimfire was totally unavailable during the shortage.

5,000 of each would be nice, but I would have to do some structural work on the house.
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That's what a basement and industrial shelving is for.:D Put anything on the bottom in dry-boxes so if you get a little flooding you won't loose anything. I'll have to get 12" of water down there before any of my ammo starts getting wet.

I feel like in the event of total breakdown in society, a 22 lr will be the most effective bullet. It can kill anything up to a deer and it is very easy to tote around 1000 shots.
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Exactly. Though I highly doubt it will get to that point, 22 rimfire will be the last round available and the first round to re-enter production. 22 rimfire can be produced on equipment based on 1860 era technology. Modern center-fire calibers require much more technologically sophisticated equipment. One can easily stock up on 10K of 22 rimfire for well under $500.

This is another reason why I like pistol caliber carbines. The ammunition is significantly cheaper and it is easier for a person with limited funds to get a respectable stock of ammo. That and it offers ammo interchangeability with ones handgun. Who knows which one will get used more, the handgun or rifle? With ammo interchangeability it doesn't matter because it will work in either one.
 
it's like money
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I try to keep 200 or 300 rounds of each handgun cartridge I shoot in storage and that's about as far as I go. I don't stock pile that much for my rifles but I do have any where between 50 and 400 rounds locked up for my long guns.

When I go to the range, I try not to dip into my reserves but if I do, I try to replace them.

As far as 5000 rounds in storage? I think its a bit overkill but hey, it's your cash.
 
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