How much Ammunition can I have?

R

Rick686

Inactive
I spent the last hour surfing through Texas Firearms laws and still I cannot find the answer to my question?

Just how much Ammunition can I HAVE?
A bit of History if I may.

I am paranoid and here is why...

My home burned completely down. The Firemen just stood by and watched because I had a gun cabinet and hundreds of rounds of 38, 9mm,44mag.22cal,410, 12 ga,308, 7.62X39 and 28 ga. My wife and I were going dove hunting the following weekend.so I had several boxes of shotgun shells stacked up in my gun cabinet. Less than half of my ammunition burned in the fire because I had them in my celler.
The ignorant Fire Marshal grilled me as to why I had so many rounds in my home, what was I plannning to do with them? he also wanted the serial numbers of the guns that burned up and he said I QUOTE " while your at it I need the serial numbers of ALL of your guns" These stupid ignorant ner'do wells asked if I had permits for my shotguns?? These are the guys that are sworn to protect us and they don't have the sense GOD gave a goose! They sent a burned simple Universal 30 cal carbine to the FBI because they saw the "safe/fire" selector and it looked strange to them hoping it was illegal. A pure waste of time and resources.
SO I am wondering how much ammunition I can own and store, also I load and shoot Black Powder. How many pounds is it legal to own? Since I got back into reloading, I plan to load and stock up as much as I legally can. And enjoy the sport/hobby to its fullest.
 
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As much as you can afford! :D

Which isn't a whole lot in my case these days. :mad:

I can't believe you'd get that kind of treatment in Texas of all places. I'd always figured Texas had some pretty common sense rules and people when it came to guns.

But I've never heard of any legal limits on ammo. I dunno though, I suppose if you had 500,000 rounds they might kinda keep an eye on your activities.:eek:
 
How much ammo can I have

Everyone I have talked to thinks these guys were from some Northern State who transferred in. They are out in the open now down here and I tell everyone how ignorant they are, even their own. Several Sheriff Deputies live near me and I talk to them when I meet them at our cluster mailbox.
 
Check your local regulations - some MAY have an ordinance regarding quantities - doubtful, but ya never know, especially if you're in a development with a HOA
 
OHHHH!! I guess that could be true. I forget about those pesky things like HOA and city ordinances where civilized folks live. Not everyone lives in the sticks like us hicks do.
 
How much can I have

No HOA, I live in the woods away from most prying eyes. I need to reply to something I replied about. I shoud have never said "Some Northern State" I should have said some State where gun laws are real tough.
I just haven't found anywhere that says how much I can have...... Been looking and looking. Rather go with Federal laws, then I can tell the state to go dig sand since Federal law superceeds state law.
 
When I last bought metallic ammo, I bought .22 by the case - that's 6250 rounds per case, (and it was only $99 each). A few of those, and my loaded shotgun reloads (my cabinet holds over 600 boxes for all my gauges), I'm looking at close to 30,000 rounds just between them.......Is that too much? not in my view - just like going to Sam's Club or Costco - ya buy in bulk to save money
 
How much storage space do you have and how much do you have to spend. That will likely answer your question.

Not sure what business your gun serial numbers are to the fire marshal. Don't believe a fire marshal has anything to do with enforcing gun regulations - assuming any exist that require you to have registered any of your guns.
 
I would have told the fire marshall to get the $*^) off my property if his firefighters weren't actually fighting the fire, and if they didn't promptly leave, called the cops for trespassing.

The fire marshall has a right to know if there are incendiary hazards on the property, but he has no right whatsoever to inventory your firearms or anything else.
 
Rick,

You might try looking under your county's fire codes or municipal ordinances to see if there is a limit. Typically there are limits on black powder and smokeless powders and keeping more than that requires a permit.
 
How much ammo can I have

Thanks, I'll research that in the morning.
I feel a lot better, After reading the thread...I only have maybe a thousand rounds all together. BUT...I'm remedying that by getting back into reloading. Only couple pounds of black powder
Thanks to everyone
 
"Why do you have so much ammunition?"
I like to shoot . It is a better investment than saving cash. And you never know when I may need it to defend myself from tyrannical government bozos...Like a Fire Marshal who won't fight a fire!
 
There's a limit? If so they should have to tell someone without our having to dig for the info.

I figure a few K per weapon is about right. This will go up when I go back to reloading.
 
Except for a few very restricitive places

There are generally no legal limits on how much ammo you can own. There are places with restrictions on how much ammo/powder you can store in your home (or in a single location), and these restrictions are generally found (where they exist) in the fire codes.

There are often restrictions on flammables, and gunpowder is a flammable solid. Very seldom are these restrictions enforced on private dwellings, but they do exist in some places. Those places also have restrictions on how much gasoline you can store at home. That 5gal jerrycan might just be a violation, although usually they are overlooked.

Your fire marshal asking for the ser# of the burned guns and all your guns was way out of line. As well as being a jerk to boot!
 
I don't live in Texas, but if some yahoo fireman stood by and watched my house burn, then confiscated a firearm, one huge lawsuit would be in order!
Do the firemen know that ammo that explode when heated aren't any more dangerous than aerosol cans? Wish I still had it, but I read an article about ammo "cooking off" in a fire; mostly cases split or bullets just "popped" out and no overly dangerous "explosions".
 
I would have told the fire marshall to get the $*^) off my property if his firefighters weren't actually fighting the fire, and if they didn't promptly leave, called the cops for trespassing.

The fire marshall has a right to know if there are incendiary hazards on the property, but he has no right whatsoever to inventory your firearms or anything else.
Click to expand...

While the FM was out of line for asking some of the questions he did, you need to understand that once you house is on fire, that property is a crime scene, and he is investigating the potential crime. The firefighters and the fire marshal have probable cause to be there. The arson investigator that works for the FM office is a LEO and has arrest powers in every state that I am aware of.

I don't live in Texas, but if some yahoo fireman stood by and watched my house burn, then confiscated a firearm, one huge lawsuit would be in order!
Click to expand...

Which you would lose. There are many reasons why a fire department will "stand by and watch" your house burn, and nearly all of them have nothing to do with firearms or ammo. There are entire books written on the subject.

As a certified firefighter, fire officer, and safety officer, I could explain many of these issues, but this would take this thread far off topic.

While asking for a permit for your shotguns shows a lack of understanding of firearms laws, asking for a list of the guns in the home is part of a standard arson investigation technique. People frequently claim to the insurance company that large amounts of valuable property was lost in the fire, so as to make money from the insurance. We frequently ask for an inventory of valuables lost in the fire, so we can catch people trying to commit insurance fraud.

Since this is an ongoing investigation, I can't see why they would tell you that they sent a carbine off to the FBI "hoping it was illegal" since 1) they usually don't discuss such things during an investigation, 2) the ATF is who the arson investigator works with anyhow, so why drag the FBI into things?

If anyone wants insight into it, I will answer, but sheesh this thread is full of invective and hyperbole. Ease up on the tin foil.
 
Most smaller jurisdictions have adopted the International Fire Code. It exempts from regulation small arms ammo packaged in accordance with Department of Transportation regs, 1 pound of black powder, 20 pounds of smokeless powder and 10,000 primers. Of course individual jurisdictions can modify this.
 
I would do my most animated grab my belly and fall to the ground rolling as I laugh when the fire marshall asked for serial numbers to my guns.... That info is for me and my insurance adjuster if I had insurance and chose to claim them...
Brent
 
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