Ammo Stockpiles

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I do know that everything has a "shelf live", but I don't know what it is

I guess the military doesnt really know either, so the Pentagon decided to destroy $1.2 Billion of small arms ammunition and missiles because they couldnt determine where it was in terms of shelf life. Weird because most plants fulfilling military contracts stamp the heads with manuf. Date. I wish they would just sell it to us. Auction off pallets or some such thing...

If the military cant even keep track of it's own ammo, and we are buying $15Billion a year, I have a hard time believing they (the guv) could keep track of civilian stockpiles...lol
 
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Back when 223 was going for a buck a round I was already reloading. You would think your ammo expenditure might stay the same or thereabouts if you could manage. For me, I loaded and shot 54 rounds of 223 in 2013 even though I had components for thousands. What 223 I had bought beforehand was never touched. Couldn't bring myself to possibly lose a shiny new 223 case. I no longer store more than a couple hundred loaded rounds.
 
I guess the military doesnt really know either, so the Pentagon decided to destroy $1.2 Billion of small arms ammunition and missiles because they couldnt determine where it was in terms of shelf life. Weird because most plants fulfilling military contracts stamp the heads with manuf. Date. I wish they would just sell it to us. Auction off pallets or some such thing...

If the military cant even keep track of it's own ammo, and we are buying $15Billion a year, I have a hard time believing they could keep track of civilian stockpiles...lol

The various nations of the world cycle ammo by age. I have Hirt. EG, SA and Venezuelan from the 80s which still goes bang.
Once military surplus ammo was sold as surplus which we all enjoyed. However, then our tax dollars paid to have it destroyed which the UN was glad to hand out.

Based on superior firepower, the military could care less about civilian stockpiles. The reason is simple, they have a bigger hammer.
 
I am first and foremost a reloader. Some of my guns have never had (and most likely will not) commercial ammunition fired in them.

I did stash ammunition back in the ‘90’s when the Clinton Administration FBI was killing unarmed mother holding a baby in her arms and the FBI and BATF shot and burned to death 70 men, women and children. My stash was relatively small as I had two kids to raise. Medical issues, job loss and bankruptcy along the Great Ammunition Banic kept me from buying much in the way of commercial ammunition. Reloading my own kept me shooting but was limited since powder and primers were not available at the time.

The election of President Trump has been a big help in driving the price of ammunition and components down while greatly increasing availability. I have been slowly replacing my Clinton era stuff with fresh ammunition along with adding powder and primers.

As far as long term storage life of ammunition (20+ years) I have kept it in US Surplus Ammo Cans indoors with temperature range between 60 - 70 degrees. All of it looks brand new (no discoloration or tarnish) and it all shoots fine.

I like the sound of 1,000 rounds per GUN but that is pretty expensive with a lot of guns and high quality JHP’s. None the less it is a goal I likely will never completely meet with commercial ammunition so loading my own is the most affordable route for me.
 
I try to keep enough on hand that I can continue shooting through a typical panic-induced ammo shortage without having to go out and waste my time standing in line to pay ridiculously inflated prices.

How much I consider to be enough depends on how much I shoot that particular caliber. In some calibers I have only a couple hundred rounds or so. In some calibers I have a lot more than that.
 
I got inspiration to grow my "pile" over the past year or so. I did electrical work in a home where the owner could have put a Libyan warlord to shame based on what I saw in the crawlspace. I thought I could do the same, just takes time and money....
 
I DID move - across country. The back of my pickup had everything the moving company wouldn't take - 50K in primers, 60# in powder, about 100K rounds of ammo from .22lr to 12 gauge, PLUS gas cans, chemicals, etc. Quite a fun trip. The moving company DID take about a ton of lead in the form of bullets and shots

When we made our move the back end of the Tahoe, third row seats removed was full of stuff the movers wouldn't touch, ammo, powder and primers. We moved 45K of .22 LR alone.
 
I like to reload so I have plenty of ammunition. I have enough components to get me though a lot of trips to the range with friends and grandkids. I store everything in metal ammo boxes and have found these magnetic ammo can labels on eBay. They are great. When I empty a can I can just switch labels with no mess or fuss. image.jpeg The only store bought I have is .22 ammo.
 
300 rounds in calibers I don't really shoot regularly - 30-30, 30-06, shotgun slugs etc. just as SHTF backup, does not take much space; realistically this would last for many many years if I needed to take up hunting. Good for possible trade also. Self defense.

1,000+ rounds in calibers I shoot, .38 .32 ACP, 9mm - try to keep it over 1,000 - but, look for good deals so - don't have that currently; this would last a very long time in self defense use, and honestly - if I lived in a world where I went through 3,000 rounds of pistol ammo in gunfights I would not expect to survive.

More .22 than anything else, I just buy a 500 brick anytime I order ammo, just to have it and save on shipping costs. Maybe 3-5k rounds - have not counted it recently. Again, the idea is this is what is left after all the above ammo is used up, just to have something left. If I was ever to get to needing it - I would already become adept and setting snare traps for game and such - so, good to have, but - whatever stockpile you have or don't have is based on where you live and what possible scenarios you think are even remotely possible.
 
I got inspiration to grow my "pile" over the past year or so. I did electrical work in a home where the owner could have put a Libyan warlord to shame based on what I saw in the crawlspace. I thought I could do the same, just takes time and money....

A crawl space isn't a temperature controlled space. How did he keep it from going bad( for lack of a better term)?
 
A crawl space isn't a temperature controlled space. How did he keep it from going bad( for lack of a better term)?
There was a dehumidifier down there but that's about it. I'm sure it gets relatively cold down there in the winter but it stays cool enough down there in the summer. Stacked up on rows upon rows of short two tier metal shelving units.
 
There was a dehumidifier down there but that's about it. I'm sure it gets relatively cold down there in the winter but it stays cool enough down there in the summer. Stacked up on rows upon rows of short two tier metal shelving units.

Which brings up my second issue, if I don't know you (really if you aren't my wife,certainly not if you're some random contractor in my home) you are not going to see my ammunition stash.
 
Which brings up my second issue, if I don't know you (really if you aren't my wife,certainly not if you're some random contractor in my home) you are not going to see my ammunition stash.
We are reputable, I dont think he thought much of it. I doubt he envisioned the electrician coming back with a dump truck to clean him out. Besides even if I was a crook I wouldn't want to trespass on this guy. He didnt really have much in the way of choices unless he wanted to do some DIY wiring....
 
Every time I order or buy ammo my wife says "do you really need that?". My answers go something like "it's not a question of need, someday, if the situation arises you'll wish I had more".
I really don't keep count but the spare area of my safe is full and I have large boxes full on the shelve in 2 closets. In the case of a zombie apocalypse I will probably be dead before I run out of ammo.
 
Till you die and someone else is left to clean up the mess.
Which reminds me. I need to make an inventory ledger and leave it with my things so my wife would know amounts, approximate values of things if something should happen to me. I would hope she would keep most if not all but should she need to sell off some or all I wouldn't want her to get skinned alive by somebody looking to take advantage....
 
I keep an inventory spreadsheet so I know what I have, but more importantly, where particular calibers and loadings are within my storage area, and even more importantly when I bought it.

That allows me to take advantage of good deals when I find them without having to worry if I already have a ton of that caliber/loading or forgetting that I'm low on a particular caliber/loading.

When I want to go shooting, I can immediately put my hands on the ammo I want to take with me.

When I go shooting, I know I'm using what I want to use and not leaving some stuff I bought years ago to languish while shooting up newer ammo.

IMO, the difference between hoarding and keeping an inventory on hand is having a decent tracking system so you know what's going on with your stockpile and using that tracking system to manage your purchases, storage and use.
 
I'm pretty well set with .22LR, .380, 9mm., and .45ACP, along with .223 and 7.62x39. Could use some more .38 Special. .38 Super, and .357 Magnum ammo. Shotgun shells (12 and 20 gauge), are also in good supply.

Most of it is stored in metal or plastic ammo cans while I use heavy duty cardboard boxes for empty cases and other reloading components.

I do an inventory check and update every 3 or 4 years though I haven't really bought any new ammo (except for some .22LR), for some time now.
 
I keep an inventory spreadsheet so I know what I have, but more importantly, where particular calibers and loadings are within my storage area, and even more importantly when I bought it.

That allows me to take advantage of good deals when I find them without having to worry if I already have a ton of that caliber/loading or forgetting that I'm low on a particular caliber/loading.

When I want to go shooting, I can immediately put my hands on the ammo I want to take with me.

When I go shooting, I know I'm using what I want to use and not leaving some stuff I bought years ago to languish while shooting up newer ammo.

IMO, the difference between hoarding and keeping an inventory on hand is having a decent tracking system so you know what's going on with your stockpile and using that tracking system to manage your purchases, storage and use.
Good call. This is kind of what I was poking the hive to find out. I will start pressing my own ammo soon but as it is I probably have enough ammo that having a system like you've described would probably help keep me organized and probably allow me to shoot more possibly.

As it is now, I'm basically hoarding. I need to get it on paper so that I can just consult my ledger to keep track of what I bought, shot and need to replenish. It would probably also help me keep track of round counts out of my guns.

Some guys know their exact round counts out of each gun, I could only give a pretty close guesstimate, I think having an accurate round count is sort of important, I just gave up on it after a while, I dont know why.
 
We are reputable, I dont think he thought much of it. I doubt he envisioned the electrician coming back with a dump truck to clean him out. Besides even if I was a crook I wouldn't want to trespass on this guy. He didnt really have much in the way of choices unless he wanted to do some DIY wiring....

I'm picky. I would have moved that ammo you never would have seen it
 
I'm picky. I would have moved that ammo you never would have seen it
It would have been a very big chore to move these quantities. I think, and this isnt to say professional tradesman dont have the capacity to be shady. Of course they can be, but usually somebody whose chosen a life of hard 40-50hour work weeks, years of study and schooling, etc... generally aren't the type of people going around stealing from people. But yeah, I get your point. I wouldn't invite people in to get a look at what I got and I'd be very cautious about workers in the home. OpSec 101
 
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