How much ammo is enough?

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Doublea A

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What is considered enough ammo for the unforeseen catastrophic event that may prevent you from leaving the house for a month? It is unclear, I will rephrase it this way; Psychologically speaking what amount of ammunition will actually make you feel comfortable should something happen that prevents you and your loved ones from leaving the house for a long duration of time.

How much self-defense ammo for the handguns, Rifles and Shotguns?
 
Ammo supply

Personally, I learned a good lesson during the last shortage/over priced era.
PUT SOME AWAY. That said, to start off a thousand rounds for each rifle caliber and 500 of each pistol round put me in a comfort zone. Time and cheaper ammo have slowly ballooned that to closer to 10,000 each of .22 , 5.56 and .308.

Remembering that should the SHTF, ammunition will be a source of cash to sell or trade for other necessities. Probably way too much for the short term scenario you are describing but it's really easy to blow through 300-500 rounds on a good day at the range.
 
Who would want to lay siege to my apartment?

And if we're talking about the "Z" word, I don't have enough skull beef to interest an army of them, just ask the fiancee:D

Anyhoo, I usually don't have more than a couple hundred rounds of 9mm & .45 at any given time, and don't yet own my own shotgun or rifle.

Why would you not be able to leave? Are you shooting at things/people outside? If you're not shooting you won't need much ammo:) If you are, couple thousand for each caliber maybe? I'm not a great shot, might need all of 'em.

And just in case: In before the lock:D
 
How many licks does it take to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZ0epRjfGLw

How much ammo is enough?

I guess when all of the shooting is over and you still have ammo - then whatever was expended was enough.


Other than that - The world may never know.

I think I'd worry more about how much toilet paper is enough.
 
I have about 1000 rounds sitting around right now, I could make that work for a month sitting still. Your scenario sort of works out, but as soon as you go mobile unless by car you won't be hauling more than a few hundred rounds tops.
 
Unless we're talking about TEOTWAWKI, can't you just order some ammo and have it delivered? :)

If we're talking about TEOTWAWKI, then this thread is going to get locked :eek:
 
If the magic number is more than I keep on hand (one box of 50 ;)), then we are all in serious trouble, and I suspect the same is true for most posters here.
 
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I'm a hoarder.

Everytime the wife and or I go to Wal-Mart or Academy or even the LGS, I buy $50-100 worth of ammunition and stack it away.

In those small amounts, the purchases don't hurt the budget and after a while I have a nice stockpile.

I bought a bunch of 45 not long ago and the kid sold me a couple boxes of 45 LC by mistake. So now I need to go buy a gun to shoot it ...

See how it works? :D
 
If I am reading your scenario correctly you will be with out electricity and a source of water and food. They would be equally important unless you plan on going on a severely restricted diet. My area went without electricity for 14 days after the last hurricane and it taught me a huge lesson. We had to keep our generator running due to my Dad's medical machinery and went through 1,000 gallons of propane in only 7 days.
 
Tex beat me to it.

If cannot leave the house, I do not have a "psychological" need for any more ammunition than if I could come and go. My actual need would be far less, becuase I would not be going shooting.

I would, however, need food, water, medicines, and heating fuel....and electricity, which would likely also be a problem.
 
I keep about 200 rounds or so for my rifle at any given time.
If I thought I'de be holed up and in danger the whole time I would probably want about 5X that or so. Depending on what I'm using them for? Am i surrounded by people who want in or flooded? What is the scenario?
 
I'm not a Great Depression baby, but I was around my great aunts and grand parents a lot when growing up, so I have tendencies to "stock up" when I can. What I currently do is shoot for the following quantities, and restock when I hit half this number:
  • bulk ammo
    • several thousand good quality .22 rounds (CCI AR Tactical preferred)
    • a couple thousand 9mm (AE or Fiocchi preferred)
    • around a thousand 7.62x39 for the AK (noncorrosive)
    • around a thousand .223 / 5.56 for the AR (brass, not steel)
    • a couple hundred 12 gauge buckshot
    • a couple hundred 20 gauge buckshot
    • a few hundred .38 and .357
  • precision ammo
    • a thousand match quality .22, Fiocchi preferred
    • 500 or so SD rounds for 9mm, like Rem Golden Sabre
    • a hundred or so SD rounds for .357 or .38
    • several hundred match grade .308
    • several hundred match grade .223
  • supplies
    • not too worried about reloading supplies; that's getting into more of a strategic concern than anything short term
    • solvents and lubricants - one container in use, one spare
    • minimum of 3 mags per semi-auto firearm, 5 preferred
mitchntx said:
I bought a bunch of 45 not long ago and the kid sold me a couple boxes of 45 LC by mistake. So now I need to go buy a gun to shoot it ...
Click to expand...
:D
 
Think of what the army uses.

7 mags 30 rounds a mag is the standard combat load, 6 mags in your pouches one in your gun, that could be easily shot in one engagement. If you are worried about your house being under seige then roughly 6500 round a month for daily action. I keep about 100 per rifle of various bullet types, about one box of each load for small game and bird. I keep two boxes of double ought and 200 for skeet. Then at least 500 at any give time of 22 and pellets.
 
Ammo in reserve

Originally, I kept 1000 rounds of .223 for my scope sighted AR-15 specifically in the event of societal collapse. I have many legit scope sighted, bolt action hunting arms with 40 rounds for this, 60 rounds for that etc. Due to the loss of several dear friends, their wives gave me several thousand rounds of 9mm, .38 SPL and .22 rimfire, boxes of shotgun fodder plus more than 20 partially used cannisters of gunpowder.

Frankly, I won't go looking for trouble but I'm a good shot and I don't spray and pray nor do I hose the foes. Compared to whitetail deer, humans would be easy to hit. I can't imagine any armegeddon-like scenario in which I would exhaust my ammo, leaving the streets in my neighborhood piled so high with cadavers that a bulldozer would be needed to open the streets. Besides, I don't own anything justifying suicidal, human wave assaults against me except perhaps for the food in my house.
 
Hopefuly I would have pelnty of food for me, the girlfriend, the critters, lots of food, the gas bill paid, the electric paid, water bill paid, and the net bill paid. (Not to mention lots of reloading components, and adult beverages.)

If I am stuck at home I would not need much ammo. I go to the range to shoot it all up. If I were for some reason stuck at home for a month. I would probably be killing time on my relaoding bench. If so I would have thousands of rounds of each caliber I reload for. Not to mention prepping up the excess brass I have been putting off doing anything with.
 
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