Thinking of adding other calibers to the corral due to (gasp) panic buying.

lsudave said:

It's one of the reasons I like to keep a few guns in 9x18 around. The CZ 82 is a great pistol, and the other makes are all solid designs. Before all this crap started, 9x18 cost about 11-12 bucks per box of 50, and I could find it easily enough if I looked. Online had places, and the local Academy had stocked some Monarch (which was Brown Bear, I believe).

Haven't checked Academy recently. But I did get a case of Silver Bear for about $210 online the other day. In other words, the price hasn't moved.

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I own a Bulgarian make because I appreciate the elegant simplicity of comblock service sidearms, but I shoot the cz82 more. Very nicely designed and in general better gun. A cz82 is my usual sidearm while out hunting small game.

brewer12345 said:

I own a Bulgarian make because I appreciate the elegant simplicity of comblock service sidearms, but I shoot the cz82 more. Very nicely designed and in general better gun. A cz82 is my usual sidearm while out hunting small game.

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There's the benefit. The CZ is a nice gun, and 9 mak is as useful as 380, for practical purposes. Slips into the "good enough" range. And you can feed it cheaper than a 380, and right now cheaper than a 9 Parabellum.

I never worry about finding ammo an any shelf for any of my guns. I’ve got probably 50 guns that have never ever had a factory made cartridge in it’s chamber, and a bunch more that had only a few. Of course, I’m a handloader, bullet caster and have been for about 55 years. I do a bit of wildcating and forming brass for lots of stuff I own. I am old school, I’ve got 35 Whelen, 30/06, 270, all the same piece of brass. I can make 257 Roberts with it too. I’ve got several 308s, 7-08, 260 Remington Improved, 243, and a 243 based wildcat 22. All same family of cases. It’s simple to make 22-250 put of it too. I’ve got several 223s, 222, and 17 mach IV, same basic case. Can make 380 from them too. Several 45 ACP, can be made from 308 or really any 30-06 head case. 9 Makarov can be made from 9 Luger, have several 45 Colt and Schofields, yada, yada, the list goes on and on. I did just order a 400 Cor-Bon barrel and dies, yup, fits my 45 ACP case family. Yes, I’ve got a bunch of components for all of them as well as heaven only knows how many 22lr and shotgun shells in 5 sizes. Been building my reserves for over 55 years, not likely to run out of anything in the foreseeable future. When ever I see a deal on powder, primers, bullets, brass, you name it, I buy some. After a while, it adds up! I like it that way!

Depends how much you plan to shoot.

Take a grand, for a nice round number. That gets you about 3000-3500 rounds of 9mm. Is that enough to “weather the storm”? Depends. If you shoot a few hundred rounds a month, maybe. If you shoot 500 or a thousand, maybe not. This scenario allows for greater stores, but (potentially) reduced abilty to purchase moving forward.

Take that same grand and buy a Glock and 1500 rounds of ammo and you’ll have less stored, but (potentially) a much easier time restocking moving forward.

All of that said, I don’t think it’s crazy to think that .40 may not be terribly easy to get this time around if we have extended shortages as many people are aware of what happened last time and if 40 is potentially cheaper and actually available, it may start selling much better too.

The best answer is the same answer we always give. Buy both, and buy a lot.

I suppose that might be a work around but I'm curious why a person that has the money to buy more firearms doesn't have the money to have purchased enough ammo to get thru the shortages? My neighbor has cases of 5.56 and 9 mm, probably 10K of each. I don't have more than a few hundred rounds for the firearms I have but I reload. I could reload 2K tomorrow for everything in my safe if I felt the need. I have the components on hand to do that, and more. Besides, the odd ball cartridges are stupid expensive.

I've tended to take the opposite approach. Unless you have a ridiculous amount of discretionary income, there is a limit to how much ammunition you can buy per paycheck. At the end of a year, I'd rather be sitting on several thousand rounds of two or three calibers than a few hundred of a dozen calibers. No matter the caliber, counting on finding it during a panic is not a sure bet.

I've settled on 7.62X51, 5.56X45, .45ACP, 9mm , .22LR and 12ga. Yes, it's a rather boring selection, but it fits everything I need.

I have defensive pistols in .40 S&W, 10mm, and 9mm. I started beefing up components for the 9mm a few months ago as it became my primary EDC. I neglected the .40 S&W and 10mm stock.

I just went on a couple of my fallback online suppliers of bullets and they are both out of .40/10mm bullets. I have plenty to last through the shortage, I hope, if it's less than a year. I'm good for 9mm for at least a year. Maybe two.

EDITED TO ADD: I have plenty of primers, but decided to check for them anyway and the only thing you can find anywhere are shotshell primers. At least in my preferred CCI flavors.

Looks like the shortage is in full swing for reloading components, now.

CoalTrain49 said:

I suppose that might be a work around but I'm curious why a person that has the money to buy more firearms doesn't have the money to have purchased enough ammo to get thru the shortages? My neighbor has cases of 5.56 and 9 mm, probably 10K of each. I don't have more than a few hundred rounds for the firearms I have but I reload. I could reload 2K tomorrow for everything in my safe if I felt the need. I have the components on hand to do that, and more. Besides, the odd ball cartridges are stupid expensive.

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It depends on the variables.

“Money for more firearms” could mean 500 or 5k or 50k. If it’s closer to 500, you’re talking about a relatively small amount of ammo, 1-2k rounds. Will that be enough for a shortage? Depends on how long the shortage is and how much you shoot.

Thomas Mayberry said:

IMO the better course of action is to take the money you would spend on the additional guns (calibers) and use it to stock up on ammo for the guns you already have when the ammo is plentiful and less expensive.

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Or into reloading equipment and components. Much easier to keep a shelf of powder and primers and bullets than cases and cases of ammo, in my opinion.

dodo bird

If you want something in a convertible maybe consider a 1911 in .38 Super (I'm a big fan of it, especially in a Commander size gun). Gives you the .38 Super which you can go from mild to wild with a bit of selective handloading and also convert your gun to a 9mm. with the simple addition of a 9mm. barrel assembly and 9mm. magazines.

I will say if you have a bunch of calibers and you bring a lot of them to practice with you won't go thru as much of the popular calibers. At least thats been my experience with my range outings this year. Bring 50 rds of 38spl and 50 rds of 7.62x25 along with 9mm, .40 and .22lr, those extra rounds can take up a bit more of your range time.

Omaha-BeenGlockin said:

The panics are why I still keep a .40 around.

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Back in late last year during the great Walmart fire sale when they were ending the stocking of many calibers I scored over 2000 rounds of .40 at $7 per 50 rounds, because many didn't bother with it while stripping away all the 9mm and .223.

JR24 said:

Or into reloading equipment and components. Much easier to keep a shelf of powder and primers and bullets than cases and cases of ammo, in my opinion.

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+1
For the cost of one or two guns you could buy a good reloading setup. Get primers, powder and bullets in bulk before any shortage hits and your good to go for a long time. 5k of small pistol primers 8lbs jug of Win 231 and some 9mm bullets, add some time and you will be shooting for a long time.

Its not for everyone but it works for me.
WB

CoalTrain49 said:

I suppose that might be a work around but I'm curious why a person that has the money to buy more firearms doesn't have the money to have purchased enough ammo to get thru the shortages? My neighbor has cases of 5.56 and 9 mm, probably 10K of each. I don't have more than a few hundred rounds for the firearms I have but I reload. I could reload 2K tomorrow for everything in my safe if I felt the need. I have the components on hand to do that, and more. Besides, the odd ball cartridges are stupid expensive.

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I always get a kick out of folks that buy guns without the means to enjoy them.....whether it be ammo or access to a range.

My methodology exactly.

I reload for 30+ calibers. I do keep a couple hundred factory HD/SD loads on hand for my CCW pistols. At any given time I have probably around 5K loaded in match/practice ammo (9mm, .45ACP and .223). I normally have enough components on hand for 10-20K in 9mm and 10K in .223. In addition, I have enough bullets to load a couple hundred for each caliber I own.

Powder & primers have "potential" depending on the need, they could be made into multiple calibers as long as I have the projectiles and brass on hand a few hrs on a press provides what I need. Before we get to these periods of uncertainty, I start buying projectiles in bulk whenever I find them on sale. I maintain a stock-age that would cause the liberal media to have a melt-down. Basically one of their "Arsenals & an Ammo plant" type lines.

Getting another gun is cool, but having the ability to shoot what I've got, whenever and how much I want, is way cooler IMHO.

This = Capacity:

I think it is a good idea to diversify myself. But I also understand why folks would want to consolidate down to a few calibers.

Sometimes in life less is more, but the way I see it I am in America and more is more! I like things like .41 magnum and .480 ruger.
I enjoy introducing new shooters to .32 acp and love hearing them say "that wasn't so bad, I like it". Then at the end of a session Let them shoot the model 57, throwing 210 grains at 700 fps downrange. In that big ole N frame it is a total powder puff load and the folks always end up smiling.

No matter what you do I would listen to the reloaders (I run .357 up to .500). Although I don't fear it anytime soon, check out H.R 5717. When government is talking about a 50% tax on ammunition, if you want to pull the trigger and not cringe thinking about the economic impact, you should probably be thinking about components going forward and not commercial cartridges.

Happy 4th everyone!

No additional calibers for me. I already have .45 Schofield, .44-40, .32-20, 7.65 Nagant (wierd Russian revolver caliber) and several percussion revolver calibers to feed. I "panic bought" a large box of .45acp recently (last box Academy had) .... but I think I'm really ok with the common modern caliber ammo I already have.

I think the 3 must have calibers for panic situations are the following:

7.62x39 - Every wanna be survivalist and panic buyer in this country pretty much uses an AR in 5.56 at this point. That means there is always going to 7.62x39 available. it would literally be impossible to out shoot the world's ability to produce the stuff. Remember low quality 7.62x39 (Wolf, Tula, Red Army, ertc...) is basically quality. Meaning it goes bang every time. Stores for 3000 years in the Arabian Desert. Stays somewhat on target out to around 300 yards. Has been tested in serious social situations all over the world in the past several decades.

40 S&W - I am not a manufacturing expert by any means. However watching all this unfold a few times leads me to believe all the major manufacturers are tooled up to produce way more of this than the public can buy. Probably has to do with the Feds, State and Local LEO's all using massive quantities for 30 years and then abruptly dropping it for a state of the art 120 year old German caliber. 40 S&W doesn't seem to fluctuate in price and it is known for being a highly effective caliber, regardless of whether or not the bullet being fired is now considered "obsolete".

357 Magnum - You can use 38 Special and 357 Magnum. You will likely always be able to find one or the other if not both. Highly effective and proven in a myriad of situations. Not much else needs to be said regarding it.

All good suggestions.
If you`re just looking for an excuse to get another gun/ammo/combo then a good .38/.357 revolver and the same lever action carbine would be hard to beat. While not exactly uncommon, there`s much more of a demand for 9mm and .22 while you can usually find at least some of either .38 or 357. Perhaps a little pricey but you`ll be able to pass them down to a loved one. Ammo wise for any caliber...online may be your best bet.
That being said, I have an 1894c and 686 and they`re some of the last guns I`d part with.
There`s an old saying about "cold dead fingers" which we won`t go into but...well, you get the point

I like to try to stay in a small set of cartridges I already own. For me that's just easier to store in a small area, and keep track of. I started reloading and storing components for those same cartridges. In theory anyways, it is a simple system that reduces time and money and risk of running out of ammunition. I also don't have, but mostly have at least 2 firearms to shoot each cartridge again for redundancy. Eventually I'll have 2 or 3 firearms per cartridge.

If I had extra time and money, you can bet I'd slowly just keep collecting until I had at least one of just about everything, but - that's not how things are playing out currently. That and I have some other non firearms related interests/hobbies I'm investing disposable income into.

If you want more, and can get more, get more. Why not?

dodo bird said:

So far .40 S&W has been my non mainstream cartridge. It usually seems to be on shelves when I don’t want to reload. Keep the ideas coming!

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Sort of depends. Local shop that I go to normally has two or three pallets of 40 cal Police Turn in ammo for sale (50rnd boxs of 180grn Gold Dots for $17.00 a box). Last time I was there they were cleaned out. Prior to the WooFlue you could pick up the Police turn in guns cheap. Extra mags were reasonable and ammo was cheap. Made them a solid deal in my book. Prices have gone up and supply has gone down a bit as of late though.

I do like that the 40 with a barrel change and a different mag you can shoot 40S&W, 357Sig and 9mm. If you get the conversion kit you can do 22Lr. That's 4 calibers with one gun.

Just my thought on it
WB

It seems to me that in tough times standardization would be more important than diversifying into more calibers. Pick a handful of standard calibers and stock up on those.

Typically when the Fed's settle on a cartridge, there is always a shortage. In this case it it 9mm. Given this and the already existing popularity of the 9mm, civil unrest, and political gun grabs, there are going to be shortages.

I would look at the 40 S&W, 45 ACP, and a good 5.56 carbine. Add a tactical shotgun, training and practice. Something else you can get into is reloading.

Now you're ready.