Looking to store up a little ammo...

500 rounds is not going to get you through even a reasonably dire strait.
Click to expand...

:eek:

How many for an unreasonably dire strait? Just wondering. We, sir, lead very different lives. :)

Seriously though, as another gentleman previously stated (more or less), today's ammo can sit on shelves for years and years without going bad. I simply keep mine cool and dry. I don't gas mine, not necessary in my opinion. But, I suppose it can't hurt... unless someone gases himself. That would be embarrassing.
 
Before you buy any .308, take a cruise through here -

http://www.rifle-company.com/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?t=431

Bookmark the page because he keeps updating it. Shipping is extra, except for ammoman.com

Another great resource is here -

http://gun-deals.com/

If you enter your zip they will give you estimated shipping, which can make a real difference.

I would suggest buying a 500 to 1000 rounds of military surplus from a western country, then adding or reloading soft point hunting ammo after you have found some your rifle likes.

- Mike
 
I'd buy what you can afford now, a little more later, then even more. Store cool and dry and "rotate stock". My plan is (eventually) have ammo cans full with the calibers I have, just grab the oldest one when I go shooting, an empty one for brass, after enough shooting, a new empty and a reloading project. Should have no problem with long term storage.
 
Reply to daddycat.

If you plan to store steel cased ammo DO NOT PURGE WITH NITROGEN. Nitrogen can cause the steel to become brittle and cause a major failure.
It is called nirtogen enbrittlement. This reaction has been found to be cause of several missle failures.

If I were storing ammo for a long period of time I would:

Find a good GI can with the seals intact.
Place a good quality desicant and oxygen absorber in it. These can be purchased at most of the places who deal in long term food storage.
Locate the full can in a dry place with a stable temprature and out of the sun.

Stored this way the ammo should stay good for your life time.

I routinely shoot WWII 303 ammo which came from a middle eastern country. It is accurate and I have not had any failures.
 
"My question is...say I wanted to store up 500 rounds of .308"

That is not that much ammo. Buy it as you can afford it and store in plastic or metal storage boxes. Surplus military comes in cans already and battle packs too. If you buy it all at one you save on shipping.

If kept in a dry and temp consistant place it will out last your kids lifetime. I have been hording for over 30 years. Ammo never goes down in price. It keeps up with inflation. Then some.
 
Yeah, 500 rounds may seem like a goodly amount. Then again, I started a thread a while back about "How much ammo is enough?" Got some interesting replies....

http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=470291

I'm working at restocking my ammo shelves, which I let get somewhat depleted. As a base supply I'm looking to have on hand on the shelves 1000 rounds for each handgun. Now it may be different bullet weights and styles like .38 Special in RN lead, JHP, FMJ, etc. I pick up a couple boxes or maybe a bulk batch when I can. Yesterday when I was at Cabelas and they had American Eagle 158 grain round nose lead 400 round bulk pack (8 boxes in a GI ammo can) on sale from $165 down to $155 and I had a $20 Cabelas Club coupon for $20 off my next purchase so I got it for $135. They went on the shelf next to the other .38 Specials, which include 125 grain JHP, 130 grain ball, and 150 grain lead. This is just what I want to accumulate for on hand shooting and does not include long term cached SHTF supplies, which will obviously take longer to build up and some testing to find what shoots best for me in my guns.

Can you ever have enough .22 LR? Not when you can easily run through 500-1000 rounds in a day at the range with three kids... It's cheap enough that picking up a brick or two is affordable and you can try out a lot of different kinds of ammo from different makers to see which one each of your .22s likes best.

For rifles it depends on which ones I'm stocking for. For my oldies I want to have 100 rounds each. I have a thing for old military bolt actions, a couple of which are old enough that they are considered C&R guns. I have a couple of SMLEs that I wnat to keep the brass fired in each one seperate so that if I reload at some point I will have brass that is fire formed to that rifle and can neck size only. This is a particular issue with these rifles. Fro my hunting rifles I think I'd like to have maybe 500 rounds each, so for instance .30-30 I'll probably split that between 150 grain and 170 grain loads. For what I call "Modern Military", .223 and 7.62X39, I would like to build up to at least a couple thousand rounds of each at minimum as they seem to go so fast when playing with steel plates....

There are other threads discussing ammo cans and storage methods, use of purge gasses, oxygen absorbers, and dessicants among other things. One of the basics of ammo storage is to keep it cool, dry, and away from large or rapid temperature changes.

100_6547.jpg


I'm getting there...
 
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hey daddycat how many darts do you recommend to have on hand beings I see a board on the bottom shelf lol
 
Six, three of each color... lol That's one of those newfangled electronic dart games that keeps score for you and everything.

My garage is what my dad used to call "Ten pounds of apples in a five pound bag..." I used to have more "stuff" (camp stove, flourescent light bulbs, hardware, etc.) on the lower shelves until I started sorting the ammo better. Now it's handgun ammo on the top shelf (and cleaning supplies), rifle ammo second, bulk (.22 LR, .223, 7.62X39) third and shotgun ammo and saved brass fourth. Lower two shelves are still "stuff" shelves for now. Maybe reloading components at some point or if I get more of what I call "Modern Military" (.223, 7.62X39) then it will go down there. This is just arranged so that if I go to the range on the spur of the moment I can just grab a couple boxes of whatever and throw it in the range box.
 
My recommendation is to buy in bulk to lower your cost per round. Take into account shipping and handling, tax, etc. Better to invest in the smallest "quantity" discount you can get now and just buy less frequently. Once a month or quarter vs. a box at a time.

Regardless, I don't think any investment in ammo won't be worthwhile and I wouldn't give any consideration to "bad batches" if you know what you are buying to begin with.
 
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