How much ammo is too much ammo? And who gets to say?

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How much is too much.
That’s way too subjective a question.

I have thousands of rounds but I also have several calibers.
A lot of ammo is military surplus sold in large quantities.
Other is hand loaded in bulk as this reduces the cost of loading.

For me “How much is enough”?
When I run out of room to store it I guess I’ll have enough.

Who gets to decide how much in enough?
Well to me; the guy with the gun to my head gets a say in how much is enough but I just don’t see that happening – LOL!!!

Oh, oh let me add that according the our own Gooberment I am a home grown terrorist because I have lots of ammo, guns and food for more than 5 days.:rolleyes:
 
Judging by all the hoopla about ammo in a house fire, you'd think the barrel served no purpose. That ammo is going to "explode"... Without the barrel to concentrate the pressures, ammo is little more than glorified fireworks.
 
The empty shelves at the big box stores and even some gun shops has just got to get your attention and looking at your supply.

If this was happening to toilet paper, don't tell me you wouldn't buy up the big 24 roll packages more often than usual.

At first I poo-pooed the panic but then watched the supply dry up. Who wants to be down to two boxes of 8 mm or 7 x 57. Some of the oddball ammo may not be run for years as the ammo companies produce the high volume items.

As far as hunting ammo on some calibers a 10 to 20 year supply would be prudent, depending on oddity.

I don't shoot much, so a ten year supply would be a weekend for some, but I'm not going to complain about someone elses use and thinking that everything will just get back to normal is not worth the risk for me.
 
I don't know if a ammo dump in the middle of a residential neighborhood is acceptable under the Homeland Security's Act or not. I know I would be suspicious of such individual/s. {I'm pretty sure Local L/E would be also.} If arrest's were made. Just the attorney fee's to straighten out a situation in/out of court would worry me alone. Those who choose to store such material at their residence. That's your prerogative.
 
When I grew up there used to be a saying you would hear frequently : "It's a free country". It was generally used to express the idea that while I might not agree exactly with what somebody else is doing it is their right to do it as long as nobody is tresspassed against. I don't know what has happened to that saying and that attitude.

I have a number of unusual personal foibles of which firearms are just one. I kinda take pride in my differences - I had no problem when some Air Force general was quoted referring to the Marines as "an extremist organization" (I'm a former Marine) .

If somebody were to tell me that me owning two or three dozen "ASSAULT WEAPONS!", 7 to 8,000 rounds of assorted ammunition, or a huge pile of handguns was unusual/strange/questionable it would only make me smile and chuckle to myself. Nothing they can do about it personally and I dare them to try.

"Too much" is only when your basic needs, or the basic needs of people you are responsible for, are not being met.
 
How much is too much ammo?
Any reasonable amount is not too much. How much is reasonable depends on the what the owner feels is reasonable for his circumstances.

Who gets to say how much is too much?
Each person gets to decide that on his own, since each person decides how much is reasonable for his own circumstances.

Of course, that's not the end of it.

As in any society, the above applies right up until what one or more members of the society decide is reasonable has a sufficiently negative impact or potential negative impact or perceived negative impact on the OTHER members of society that those other members determine that it is in their best interest to devise and enforce a legal definition of "reasonable amount of ammunition". And if they have sufficient power/numbers to make it happen that's precisely what they do.

Then the law says how much is too much.
 
I like having adequate ammo in all calibers for the guns I own, as well as adequate reloading supplies for 45 ACP, since that's what I shoot most.
 
you probably got some on here claiming to have thousands when in reality only have a box of 20 and others keeping a low profile do have thousands upon thousands. ;)
 
Well all I can say is I wish I had stocked up on more of everything, particularly .22 lr and reloading components. Two reasons I did not- 1. only so much money to go around. 2. thought I could generally buy more when needed.

Never dreamed that .22 would be in such short supply. Now, for the first time in 43 years, I am even running short on free lead for casting and I recently heard that a smelting shutdown is going to make buying lead a problem.

Guess if all else fails I can replace the artwork on the walls with my guns and set around enjoying their artistic value.
 
Too much is when keeping and acquiring ammo interferes with the necessary functions of life.

For instance, do you buy ammo instead of pay rent? Then probably you have too much and need to reorganize your priorities.

Just because it's ammo, doesn't make hoarding any more attractive than those poor folks on A&E.
 
Too much ammo is when stacks of pallets fall over and spill onto your neighbors property.

Seriously, as stated above, as long as it is within your discretionary budget and balanced with other priorities who cares? Or why should anyone care?
 
Just because it's ammo, doesn't make hoarding any more attractive than those poor folks on A&E.
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Just because you have a lot it's like hoarding on TV? I think huge piles of ammo are much more attractive than huge piles of trash and old newspapers - though only slightly more useful EOTWAWKI when you might trade ammo for paper for sanitary reasons :)

But I don't get why it is hoarding to buy ammo in any quantity you want to buy it in.
 
I think it is too much ammo when it becomes likely that you will die before using what you have and there is no one to leave it to.

The shortages of the last year or two have changed the entire perspective many of us have about how much is enough. I used to feel OK with a brick of 500 22LR, and only when that box was almost empty would I stop at the store and buy another brick. For awhile now I have gotten into the habit of always asking about 22LR when at the gun store and buying whenever they have any. I happened to count up my stockpile last night, after shooting about 200 rounds at the range. I found I still have almost 3,000 rounds on the shelf. Now that 22LR is becoming accessible again, I plan of not buying until I drop below 1,000 rounds.

For the other four calibers of hand gun that I shoot, I probably have about 500 to 600 rounds on hand for each caliber, and even with the shortages that is enough to let me sleep comfortably at night.

I think that the way things are moving, ammo shortages will soon be a thing of the past and most shooters will no longer even think about stockpiling ammo but will feel confident enough to just buy what they plan on shooting for the day and not worrying further about it.
 
In England we are limited by certificate on how much ammunition we can have for any caliber we are entitled to posses. I don't see this as a bad thing. I'm allowed enough to get me through about a year of shooting at any given time and I can to up to my limit as and when. If I get to do a lot of shooting then on renewal I can ask for more and this is shown by my purchase history.

To stock pile is selfish against people who enjoy the same hobby when stocks are low. Unless you are a crack speed loader and the zombies are coming when are you going to need over 1000 .22lr? If you have a lr mini gatling fair play but you can only pull the trigger so many times. On full bore there is a fair amount of reloading done here if you are a serious target shooter or have different needs to factory loads. Once the primer is in it is counted as loaded. Other than that people buy ammunition in small quantities as they need it.

An Air rifle is enough to bugger some one up but we don't have this need to have personal defense weapons in the home. Last place I lived that needed that was a 3rd world continent and even then thousands of rounds was over the top. .22 WMR is a handy round for PDW and will turn someones head or heart on its arse. Gang bangers have wacky weapons and our gangs have hand guns, but they are not often used and then only in house. We don;t have the same home invasion laws as you but if someone came into my house in the dead of night then I will give my all to ensure my brood is safe and do what is needed, but that doesn't include sleeping with arms reach to a firearm like when I was abroad.

Different places , different ideas- and I couldn't afford the plaster work after letting loose with a 30 round mag !!!!
 
In England we are limited by certificate on how much ammunition we can have for any caliber we are entitled to posses. I don't see this as a bad thing.
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It is a bad thing, but hopefully you will never have to deal with any of the reasons why it is a bad thing.

Europe was the epicenter for the only two world wars our planet has ever seen. Ireland has had and on-and-off civil war for many decades. Since then, England has had a huge influx of foreigners, many of whom have not assimilated and some of whom hate western civilization. But the boldness of your intolerant immigrants pale in comparison to what is going on on the other side of the tunnel in France. Is it possible that in the future the nation formerly know as "France" might not try to wage an invasion on your land?

But, if that doesn't concern you, England is also well stocked with bold gangs and thugs who know that they can attack unarmed people at will, that the laws will protect them, and that such attacks are quite profitable. If I were a poor, immigrant teen living in the slums of London, why wouldn't I organize with other thugs and simply take what I want from you, your friends and your children? Who's to stop me?

Perhaps your luck will hold out, and you will die an old man in your sleep softly slipping away after a long and happy life. However, it is certain that your country will see horrific armed conflict again at some point in its future. Your leaders have ensured that the civilians would be utterly defenseless in the face of an armed invasion, terrorist attacks from within, or during a natural disaster.

You might say "we have a well equipped military and police to handle such situations". To which I would ask "Really?" Sort of like our well equipped police in New Orleans during the riots and looting following Katrina? Where the Mayor out-right lied to the people about the size and capability of its police force. Yes, lied to his electorate! This is but one example; but one that happened in my country, during my life just a few hundred miles away from where I live.

Being kept unarmed and poorly supplied with ammunition by a ruling government is not a good thing.
 
And thank God we have a Constitution which doesn't give the government the authority to say how much ammunition we are allowed to buy. I guess Shipwrecked has accepted the concept that the government can regulate his ability to shoot and defend himself for his own good, and being the government they MUST know what they are doing! Learn from history; where governments control arms and ammunition and know who has firearms and who does not, inevitably at some point the arms are confiscated. Look what a handful of desperate Jews did in the Warsaw ghetto with a tiny collection of firearms. Imagine if the general Jewish population had possessed arms at a similar level to ownership in the U.S. I doubt that it would have been quite so easy to round them up and ship them to their death in the camps.

I also question the statement about not "needing" guns for self defense in the UK. Violent crime is approximately 500% of the U.S. rate, while admittedly gun homicide is far lower. The UK also has had numerous cases of homeowners using deadly force to protect themselves or their family members and then either being prosecuted for doing so, or losing their entire home or farm in a civil suit by the aggrieved home invader who was injured or killed.

Despite the hoarding, and or re-selling of ammo during this recent period of shortages (and when did it become a crime to buy a product and re-sell it at a profit to willing customers?), the free marketplace works. I have a lot more faith in the market than I do in the government.
 
How much is too much?

people ask this all the time, and everyone has a different opinion. Often the question goes something like this...

when are you going to need over 1000 .22lr?
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This kind of question automatically imposes the idea that having more than you "need" is a bad thing. That it is greed, or gluttony to have more than what someone else decides you "need". You are being asked to justify having more than "need".

In some parts of the world, it is customary for most people to shop for food daily. In other places, weekly. People in more remote locations may only go to market monthly.

People who go to market every day or two might think the fellow who shops for a month at a time has more than he needs.

Now, what happens to that fellow who shops every couple of days when he goes to the market and the shelves are bare? He goes hungry. Often because he's hungry, he's upset, and blames those who still have food for his own hunger. Its not right, but it is a common thing.

people ask "how much do you need?" I ask back, "how much is enough, if you cannot get more?"
 
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