How much ammo is enough?

T

thedaddycat

New member
Just curious as to how much ammo anyone willing to respond thinks is enough to have on the shelves. I was at my dad's recently and he gave me some rifle ammo that he had from a long time ago. How long ago, you ask? Well, let's just say that the price tags on boxes of Remington .30-06 were running around $5 a box... most still factory loaded but some had the fired brass in them (he did not reload).

Now for him, having a couple hundred rounds bought on sale back then lasted an entire lifetime of sighting in and hunting. I realize that if you shoot more often than once or twice a year like he did, that stock would be long gone in short order.

Also, if you have decided that having a "just in case" stock of ammo in a couple of desired chamberings comes under the umbrella of normal preparedness, how much is sufficient? I think these would commonly include .22 LR, .223, 7.62X39 and .308 rifle ammo, .38/.357, 9mm, .40 S&W .44 Mag and .45 ACP pistol ammo and 12 ga. shotshells in your choice of shot, 00 Buckshot and maybe slugs.

So just for the sake of having an interesting discussion, how much ammo do you think is enough?
 
Stored in the house....never too much. It may become the currency in the future.
As far as carrying on your person.......
The only time you have too much ammo is;
A: If you are drowning.
B: If you are on fire. :)
 
Anywhere from a box or two - to - enough to end a war in a third world country....

IMHO - it's a personal choice based on need, personal finances and on the current state of social affairs.

I happen to think we're headed for some serious social unrest in the not too distant future - maybe next Summer or the one after.
W/that thought in mind, I will be adding to my supply of 00 buck and not buying as much ____(undecided @ this point).
 
If you like to shoot, have disposable income, and are pre-disposed toward owning more than you can shoot in a week, month, or year, there is no limit to the amount of ammunition you might accumulate.

For me, I keep quite a bit of 22LR ammunition available so I don't have to go to the store in hopes of finding the variety(s) I want to shoot that day. The truth is no local store stocks what I keep on hand.

I keep enough centerfire ammuniiton on hand to meet my needs for at least a month of serious shooting.
 
Since I paid the house off in 1997 I've discovered that it doesn't matter how much ammo I buy - because the more I buy the more I shoot.

I've already made a dent in the 3 cases of 9mm I bought a month ago. And I wasn't running low on 9mm when I bought it.

John
 
I begin to feel comfortable at 1000 rounds of any caliber. Not .22 though, you needs lots more of that stuff.

If I am under 1000 rounds I am in accumulate or reload mode. If I am over 1000 rounds I may still accumulate, but the pressure is off.
 
I am in the process now of reloading 30.06 and currently have about 1500rds but want 1000 more then i would feel safe with that but otherwise on the high powers at least a 1000 more is ALWAYS BETTER lol
 
I'm a real freak in terms of ammo....


I generally have, at most, 10-20 rounds of any given rifle caliber made up and maybe 100 handgun. I have components for a few hundred of each but only because buying in larger quantities is cheaper not because I think I "need" them.

Even 22, I *might* have a 550 round box around but if I happen to have shot them up, I might not have 20 rounds in the house.
 
When it breaks through the floor into the basement then you know you needed to distribute the weight a little more evenly.
 
twobit said:
Stored in the house....never too much. It may become the currency in the future.
Click to expand...

I agree with this. Ammo is a commodity, like a precious metal. The difference is that, except for a few specialized industrial uses, gold and silver only have ANY use if people have a surplus of the things needed for securing the necessities of life. Ammo can be traded, used to feed your family by taking game, used to protect your family defensively, or used to project power during uncertain times.

Personally I feel that 1000-2000 rounds per handgun caliber, 5000 rds per semiauto rifle caliber, 10,000 rounds of .22, 200 rounds for each collectible gun caliber with nonstandard ammo, and 500 rounds of long range accuracy ammo is a minimum.

That means 20,000-40,000 rounds for most of the hard core shooters I associate with, and is a reasonable and attainable goal that most of us agree on.

My ex wife bought AOL at $130 a share when I was buying M44 Mosins and Turk Mausers for $39 each, I was also buying 1440 round cases of Chinese 7.62x39 ammo for $80. and 750 round cases of South African .308 for $180.

We argued about our investments alot. I told her to buy oil company stocks and she thought I was wasting monEy on something that no one would ever want.

Her AOL stock is trading at $14 a share and my guns and ammo are worth several times what I paid for them.

On top of that, if there ever was a significant economic upheaval like the '29 stock market crash or the collapse of the Euro (imminent I think) my ammo will still be worth alot, either for my use or barter, but the stocks would be worth little to nothing.

I'm not saying invest all your money in guns and ammo, but it is a good hedge. I wish I would have bought gold in 1999 when it was still under $200/ounce, but that's hindsight...
 
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Hi my name is Tomas and I am a ammo hoarder. I have a problem with not having enough ammo lol
 
Well the discussion so far is pretty interesting. It seems like there are a couple of common sentiments being put forth:

1) If some is good and more is better then too much ought to be just about the right amount.

2) There's no such thing as too much.

3) For anything less than too much, refer to 1 and 2 above....

I was out of shooting for several years and didn't buy much of anything to restock the ammo shelves. Then again I wasn't using anything either. Then a couple of years back a friend started getting into shooting and I gave him the brass I had when he started reloading. Even though I didn't reload I saved all the brass from rounds I fired. One thing led to another and now I'm back into shooting again.

I was out cleaning the garage up and decided to do an inventory of the ammo shelves while I dusted them off and neatened everything up. I have a full case of the Russian "Junior" .22 LR along with several bricks not in a case any longer and a handful of boxes from opened bricks. I think I'll shoot some of it up with my kids as they have started to show an interest in shooting. That adds up to about 10K of the Juniors which on the surface seems like a lot, but when you can easily use up 500-1000 rounds(or more) in a day of range fun with three kids it doesn't really go that far....

I also have a few boxes for each of my older military chamberings which don't get used for much except for "Old School Day" outings. I guess I'll have to do some restocking for handgun chamberings and some of the other rifle rounds... Except for .22LR I am woefully short of what chack and friends consider acceptable minimum stock. I can already hear it from my bride, "Why do you need more of _____ (fill in whatever ammo I'm getting at the time), you have a bunch of ammo out there already."

With that said, where do you guys recommend getting decent ammo for a reasonable price. I'd prefer non-corrosive reloadable brass cases, which I know cost more. Maybe for filling the shelves some of the steel cased like Herters would be OK to start with but with long range planning and possibly reloading in the future brass is the only way to go.
 
This is a conversation that is bound to get really weird.

personally, here is my absolute minimum:

4-5 range visits for each firearm, and not having to reload in between trips.

4-500 for every handgun, 1-200 for every rifle. up to 100 defense or hunting rounds for each weapon. A couple bricks of .22 lr, and several hundred hunting hollow points.

That's not even remotely what I have in my basement; I probably have over 1k pistol rounds for each, and it's hit or miss on my rifles. Regardless, If I was shooting more regularly, this would be the minimum.
 
Counting all ammo, .22lr to magnum center fire to shotgun and handgun, I have about 10K rounds on hand. I’m seriously considering doubling that….. :D
 
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