starting an ammo cache

I agree with milq. I have a good stock of ammo, but then I shoot a lot. I don't personally believe we'll ever be in a SHTF mode unless there's an unusual natural disaster like Katrina again and that will be localized. At any rate, like he said, 100,000 rounds of ammo will be pretty hard to transport out of town to your mountain retreat 500 miles away. My guess would be a couple of bricks of .22 ought to hold me for basic hunting ammo for quite a while.

I have only a few calibers, so it's easy for me to maintain a decent stock.

CHEVELLE427 said:

I'M NOT TALKING good old boys TRADING ammo for items

I'm saying the ones with guns and ammo will be making a withdraw from the ones that don't have guns and ammo.

get it haves and have nots

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I get it.

But if you think you're going to take food from just any old house because you have a gun you've got another think comin'. What do you think will happen if you come to our house? We won't have any signs on the door saying we're armed.

Could be I'll just wind up with another gun. And a little more meat...

To address the OP's original question, it will depend on several factors. Basics are what calibers do you have or will have, the purpose or at least the possible purposes of your arms. Then prioritize what's most important and needing to stock first, what your low on, what deals aren't worth passing up at least on your primary calibers. A final number is not the most relevant, don't shoot all or most of your stock and build it up.

To buy up to something comfortable, think in cases (usual case size will depend on caliber, 22lr in 5K, shotgun in 250rd, 9, 45, 5.56, etc. usually in 1K, surplus in random sizes). Factory new ball ammo is the cheapest, very realiable and should make anything you own work. Some JHP's aren't so reliable in some guns, let alone being much more expensive to buy in sufficent quantity. But if you can, and you know they work then by all means. There are good deals on very good JHP's out there, even if they aren't the latest and greatest, their still better than FMJ.

The ammo market seems somewhat stable right now, but anyone paying attention to recent and not so recent events knows that the OP's question is a valid one. It's easier and convenient to stock up now, who believes it will stay this way, at least for very long. Last thought is storage.

How much ammo?

Years ago I felt that 50 -100 rounds was more than enough ammo to have on hand. Since the shortages and increase in prices I now stock up when I can find what I want at a decent price. I now have between 1,250 – 1,500 rounds of assorted 38 special and .357 Magnum ammo on hand. Unless we start to see ammo shortages and price increases again, I will not start to replace until I get to 500 rounds. So for me 250 -500 rounds is more than a decent stash.

As others have posted a comfortable supply of anything is like beauty, it’s all in the eye of the beholder.

10,000 rounds for your Mossberg would cost you $5,000 at 50 cents per round.

At 40 rounds per month that would be enough ammo for 20 years!

I would keep only several hundred rounds of shells on hand.

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I'm with W.E.G. on this. All the ammo I stored away has been the best investment I've made in the past 10 years. I shoot a lot, but I'm building up my retirement ammo


Do the math and try to accumulate a year or two worth of your normal usage when prices are low so you can get through the shortages and scares without pain.

I reload and try to keep enough components on hand to last a year at my normal shooting rate. The last shortage didn't reduce my amount of range time. I also have 13,000 .22lr's on hand. You'll have to decide on your own comfort level.
Here's my personal stash level:

Meat Chopper (AK-47) 5,000
Big Meat Getter (.30-06) 500
Small Meat Getter (.22lr) 10,000
Social Work (12ga buckshot, .45 ACP, .357mag) 500 each
Pest Control (.243) 500 rnds
Grins (.38 Spl) A Bunch

I have other calibers but this is my basic SHTF supply. YMMV.

I buy when cheap and stack it deep. No reason not to. You can have 10,000 .22LR's in a fat-50 can.

I just went looking for Christmas decorations Saturday and found (6) boxes, 3300 Federal 22LR I forgot I bought. Still in the WM bag. I guess I have a lot if I can lose 6 bricks and not notice.

It's not a cache until it's displayed spread out on the hood of a Sheriff's cruiser in front of your 'compound' for the media.

I don't know how people can afford (or care to) so much unused ammo. If I really wanted to start saving, I would simply buy ammo, set half of it aside and shoot the other half. Just keep doing that until you start taking ammo boxes off of your own shelves, and by then I'd say you have enough if you don't feel bad about making your collection a few boxes smaller.

Hhmmm....I'm sure the All-Too-Fine boys & girls would be happy to answer the question. They regularly monitor/post on gun forums.--Patrice

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While I'm not going to call them and report exactly how much ammo I have on hand, there are no federal laws pretaining to limits on loaded ammo or components. What exactly do you think would happen if they found out I had 100,000 rounds crated away? What law have I broken? What would be their basis for any investigation? Long story short, I think its paranoid to believe that the ATF is stalking the forum looking for somone who has...in their opinion....too much ammo.

Norrick said:

I don't know how people can afford (or care to) so much unused ammo. If I really wanted to start saving, I would simply buy ammo, set half of it aside and shoot the other half. Just keep doing that until you start taking ammo boxes off of your own shelves, and by then I'd say you have enough if you don't feel bad about making your collection a few boxes smaller.

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It's my guess a lot of high ammo counts are made up of surplus ammo, import ammo or cheap promo ammo.

I only keep 2k of .22lr because I only use CCI mini mag, and most of that was bought when it was $3.50 PER 100 not the $7.00 they get now.

I don't know how people can afford (or care to) so much unused ammo.

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I paid LESS than $21 (Delivered) Per 140 rounds of .308

How could you NOT!!!!!

I keep a couple hundred loaded rounds per caliber at all times,(357,40 45,380) and enough powder primers and bullets for a couple thousand more. I still have a few hundred 7.62-39 from a bulk buy. I could never see the point of having tens of thousands of rounds for each caliber.

I think I read somewhere that the only time you have too much ammo is when your house is on fire.

@Davek1977:

There's no federal regulation about ammo or components, but there are fire code standards that limit the amount of powder and primers you can store in a structure, iirc it's 50# of smokeless powder in a 1" thick all sides wood enclosure.

Fair enough, but my point remains...I doubt the ATF is trolling forums looking for a potential case or person of interest based on nothing but ammo on hand.

Mine: 250 rds per handgun, 150 rds per shotgun, 500 rds per rifle & 2k of .22lr.

500rds of 9mm
2,000 rounds of .22lr
300 rounds of 22mag
150 rounds of .25acp
300 rounds of 12ga #6 shot

That's my cache.

These people that claim to have five figures each of various types of ammo stashed away, they never seem to have a photos of these stashes. It's easy to say you have 50,000 rounds of .xxx caliber, but let's see the photos!

I mostly stock up on .22 ammo when I see it on sale. I have .22 conversion units for my AR-15, Model 1911A1, and Glock 30, so I can practice with the .22s and don't have to stockpile as much .223 and .45 ACP. Other than about 2500 rounds of .22LR, I try to maintain about 200-500 rounds of each calibre I shoot regularly, 100-200 rounds of the stuff I don't shoot as much, e.g. 6.5 Carcano, 7.7 Jap, and sufficient reloading components to replenish the stock when I shoot it up.

The only cache I have is 200 rounds of .350Magnum for my Remington 600 series carabine. It might not be loaded much longer.

These people that claim to have five figures each of various types of ammo stashed away, they never seem to have a photos of these stashes. It's easy to say you have 50,000 rounds of .xxx caliber, but let's see the photos!
__________________

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here's 20K of .308... My couch.

Arm rests are cans of AK ammo.

Couple other pix of a little more...
Blue tupperwear is mags...
I don't take that many pix of ammo.

It's generally considered bad form to insinuate others are liars.

There ya go! THAT'S what I'm talking about! And I'm not insinuating anything. People claim they got something, I'm just saying bring us some photos. If someone's going to say they have it, shouldn't hurt to show they have it.

I've been building my own meager stash, mostly by reloading, but I'll be damned if I know what I'm actually going to do with it all. Sure don't get to go shooting that often.

<edit> Since I'm asking for photos, here's a recent shot of my basement hoard, don't have one of the garage hoard yet, it's kinda buried. Much smaller anyway, basically just an ammo can of each caliber for range use.

I've come to realize that, for a fat old man with bad knees that can realistically only carry two full ammo cans at once, this represents a LOT of trips up and down the stairs. I plan to slowly migrate as much as possible to the garage, once proper storage is built there.

rondog

I child-proofed my house, but they're still getting in!

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Well, if they keep getting in put the little nippers to work toting ammo cans!!