[LibertySympathizer]

Well, unfortunately I underestimated how long the ammo shortage was going to last, and now I'm stuck with a decision.

Either whittle down the strategic reserves of rounds I wanted to have a minimum of or watch my proficiency start to diminish.

Which would you choose?

[GRIZ22]

Comprimise. Keep some reserves and maintain proficiency.

Once you've learned to shoot well you need not send 500 rds a week downrange to remain proficient. I once heard Schwarzenegger say he only works out 30-45 min a day 3-4 times a week unless he was getting reday for a competition or movie. Shooting is the same.

[hammerklavier]

Buy some Serbian ammo to tide you through.

[Oyeboten]

Shoot less...but make every shot a 'Bullseye'...

[bigfatdave]

Three suggestions:

1-compromise, keep some strategic reserve of defense ammo, and do some purposeful training with range ammo.
2-Look harder for ammo, and buy more!
3-You should have a cheap .22 that mimics your SD gun, if at all possible. I run more 550 round bulk packs of ammo through my mkIII and P22 than I run 50 round boxes through my CC pistol.

[oneounceload]

First, I have seen ammunition of ALL types in stock at all the stores in the area, so you should be able to find plenty. I would also take up reloading so you don't go through this again.

In the meantime, you should be able to cut down some and not lose your proficiency

[Ed Ames]

Go to Walmart (or your favorite local shop), buy a brick of .22LR, and go shooting. Use your caliber converter for your main weapon. If that's busted you can use the .22 pistols you have that are closest to your main weapon in a pinch.

Proficiency has little to do with caliber and everything to do with trigger time. Shooting .22 will allow you to maintain a high degree of proficiency and the ammo is readily available.

[AK103K]

Do you reload?

I shoot about 3-500 rounds a week, sometimes more. I usually reload it over the weekend, or at worst one or two nights during the week, and I'm ready to go again. Havent touched the factory reserve (other than to shoot a new gun) for a long time.

Reloads are not as cheap as they used to be, but still usually less than half to a third the cost of a 50 round box of factory, depending on round an bullet type.

The other alternative is to buy in bulk when you can. That usually cuts the cost to about half of what it costs to buy by the box at a retailer. Thats not as cheap as it once was either, but its still the best way to go when buying factory ammo.

[Ed Ames]

This may be a local issue but.... as far as I can tell....

If someone doesn't already reload, this is probably not the best time to tell them to start. Primers are too hard to come by. You can get powder (though not always what you want), brass and bullets are easy, but primers are still not there from what I've seen. If you've got them already, cool, but someone just starting out reloading is likely to buy a bunch of gear only to find they can't actually load a single cartridge for lack of primers.

[Lonestar49]

Well, unfortunately I underestimated how long the ammo shortage was going to last, and now I'm stuck with a decision.

Either whittle down the strategic reserves of rounds I wanted to have a minimum of or watch my proficiency start to diminish.

Which would you choose?


...

Yep, you're not alone in watching your reserves (ammo) twindle down over the time its been and the_amount you shoot to stay current, weekly.

I found by concentrating, only, on the guns of HD/SD actual use.. Daytime and Night time, that with my Sig P229/40, I started taking just one box of 50 rounds, and shot exclusivly at COM at 16ft -18ft and with the first DA pull followed by SA until mag emptied, that IF all shots where COM, that was it, as my first mag cold shots were consitant and on only 25 rounds max..

Same deal with my Sig P229R CT 9mm nightstand gun.. Except I always shoot 4 - 6 rounds with the laser and ususally head home with 25 or 20 rounds left in the box..

Then the following week, I take those 20 and shoot them with my SA EMP SAO 9mm POA, COM, POI.. and I'm current..

Until the 9mm and 40cal ammo supplies loosens up, where I generally have 1000 rounds FMJ and 50 rounds, per caliber, JHP on hand, I, now, have far less, FMJ on hand, but enough, for "all my hand guns" and shotguns and one rifle, to hold off a small mob, for the 20 mins it may take for the local LEA's to show up after a 911 call during busy times for them IF the County slides off a cliff..

No guarantees, but it is the game plan I live (or die) by, at the moment..

Like I said, IF my first mags cold shots are COM, POA, POI, at 18ft or less, then that is my weekly need to know I'm current/accurate with my 3 main guns for HD/SD needs.

Bottom line is: you can't shoot anybody IF you have no, or run out of, ammo, and there-in lies the fine line of staying current and saving some reserves, week by week.



Ls

[rbernie]

Shooting more 22LR and doing a lot of dry-fire and unloaded practice (drawing from concealment, for example) helps keep the ammo costs lower.

[Southern Shooter]

I know that live-fire time combined with concentrated mental effort is best. But, dry-firing is an effective way of practicing and honing ones firearms skills. Mental imagery in sports and other activities has long been shown to help performance. When I am talking about doing this...it is not just squeezing off dry fire round after round. It is seeing in your mind, feeling the sensations you would experience at the range, etc., etc., in detail as if you are actually there. Set up a target at the house. Concentrate. Make it real. You can even show improvement without even picking up a gun...just see it in your head...experience it. Go through every small detail. Try it....

Check these sites out.

http://www.vanderbilt.edu/AnS/psychology/health_psychology/mentalimagery.html

http://web.rollins.edu/~jdriskell/mentalpractice.pdf

http://www.springerlink.com/content/q182167r218236lh/

There are many, many more sources of information backing up the idea of "mental practice time" as effective means of skill enhancement. I use the technique and it works for me.

[LibertySympathizer]

Yes, I think it is a local issue.

I've been to my local walmarts just about every week, and they are always out.

One employee claimed with the pending possibility that california was going to require fingerprinting for handgun ammo, the california stores were not getting stocked like other stores in the country because they didn't want to send the stuff back to the distribution center.

I'm on several online vendors email alerts, but by the time I get home from work, I have been unlucky and they had already been sold out.

There are a couple of small stores that have some calibers that I don't have a handgun in, and I'm contemplating picking up a handgun in one of those calibers to tide me over. But I'm sure once ammo steadies itself, I wouldn't use that firearm again, so really don't have much desire to go this route.