How much ammo do you need?

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I try to buy 200 rounds for every hundred I use. If not in the caliber I shot (because of availability), then in a caliber I have.
 
i prefer to think of it in 'minutes' instead of 'rounds' these days

for 308 for example, i have around 3.5 minutes of ammo (which translates to about 2000 rnds) and am looking to buy components for at least 10 minutes
for 223, i've got maybe 12 minutes (but then, i go through 223 a lot faster)

edit: i've got at least a day's worth of 22lr, but that's because it takes so dang long to load the mags
 
How much ammo do you need?
A lot, a whole lot.
I have a home range and shoot on the average of 4-5 days a week.


I give new shooters and friends ammo, 22, 38, 9mm, 45, .223, etc.
Not counting thousands of 22LR and a bunch of .223, in not too many months they have put a big dent in just these three cans.
45and38reloads.gif
 
wow all these numbers are INSANE.

10k rounds... lol.

50 rounds of SD ammo for each caliber of pistol is more than anyone is LIKELY to shoot in anger. more for testing, familiarity etc.

That would be a minimum.

And for a civilian to go thru a vests worth of .223 in a bad situation, it had better be ACTUALLY the end of the world.

I keep 10 30 round mags. And that, honestly should last a lifetime of "SD incidents."

I am talking completly statistically for the world as we know it now living in the USA.

The rest is just whatever you need for fun, practice and hunting.

Personally I stock up on 22lr pretty deep. its cheap, its fun and its great for hunting small game.

The rest is simply whatever you can afford.

But 1000 rounds per pistol of SD ammo is.... a little much.
 
2000 rounds .45acp
2000 rounds 9mm
200 rounds 12ga OO and OOO buckshot
2000 rounds .223
2000 rounds .308
2000 rounds .30-06 (garands)
3000 rounds 7.62x54R
(I have 30 M44 nagants to arm my friends so I don't have to protect their arses if heck broke loose)

Plus .45LC for my cowboy guns, and even balls, powder and caps for my cap&ball revolvers.

It is nice to finally be able to find ammo reasonably priced again. I need to double my stores and start shooting again lol.
 
I bought a gun in a new (for me) caliber a week ago. First stop was to get 100rds for it. UPS dropped off another 1000rds or so this afternoon.

BUT....

I have portability on my mind right now. I don't want more of any one type of ammo than I can (somewhat) comfortably lug with one hand, up and down stairs. That 1000+ rds weighs out at about 35lbs, which is on the heavy side for my current mood, but tolerable. I probably average 20lbs or so for each type of rifle ammo, up to twice that for other types.
 
Yeah, that is what I failed to mention in the initial post. I know what I would want to have, and I know what I would get all costs aside. But in regards to how much do I really need, it's another story.

I didn't want to stock up and have some just sit there that never even gets used. I guess you could rotate it out, but it's the same in theory.
 
100 ea. and 1000 .22. All these survivalists who think they need more are not thinking. Anyone who is going to need to use more than 100 rnds. in a SHTF senario is not going to survive.
 
Ummm... isn't that pic from AIM Surplus, CTD, J&G, or some other online retailer?:scrutiny:

Nice pic anyway.:what:
 
For what?

Combat - how many, how long, what quarters.....ad nauseum. What kind of campaign are you running here?

TEOTWAWKI - You burrowed in or out seeking new safe ground through hostile country?

Plinking - As much as you can afford I gather.

I think W.E.G. has it about right if we all had our druthers.
 
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I'm down to under a thousand rounds of everything. I need to get more money to acquire more ammo just to be on the safe side.
 
All these survivalists who think they need more are not thinking. Anyone who is going to need to use more than 100 rnds. in a SHTF senario is not going to survive.

Interesting perspective, coming at the end of a year long ammo drought that left people who only had 100rds on hand unable to go shooting at all without depleting their entire store of ammo. :rolleyes:

A more realistic perspective is that 100rds is a pleasant afternoon at the range, solo. You need a bit more to bring friends along. So if I've only got 100rds on hand, I've got to buy more before every single range trip. That, in turn, means I've got to pay the retail price of the day... no shopping, no bulk discounts, no ammo at all if the store is out. That's just dumb.

It's just ignorance to have only exactly what you need on hand. You don't buy a single roll of toilet paper even if a roll of toilet paper lasts through several uses. Why would you only buy enough ammo for a single use?
 
Right now I have enough bird shot to last 2ish years. I'm down to 10 rounds of slugs. .22 short I have 250ish right now. I'd like that to be 1000ish (I have 2 guns that shoot it.) I have 2000ish 22lr right now. I need to find an affordable 22lr brand that works well in all of my guns and get about a 30 cal can full of that brand. In 30 carbine I have 15 rounds at the moment (eek) but I have 500 rounds arriving from the CMP next week. I'd like to get 30 Carbine up to about 2000, but it's so expensive now.
 
100 ea. and 1000 .22. All these survivalists who think they need more are not thinking. Anyone who is going to need to use more than 100 rnds. in a SHTF senario is not going to survive.
I'm definitely not a survivalist, but I do have a fair whack of ammo. Very little of it is SD stuff. It's for plinking and range fun. This weekend took my son in law and his dad to the range and we went thru 350 rounds. Nice to not even think about it.
 
For my center fire guns I usually have 100-200 rounds on hand at any given time. The one exeption to that is my match gun I usually have 300-600 rounds on hand for that one just so I only load once a month for it. I load all my own centerfire metalic cases and my practice ammo is my SHTF ammo, semi-wadcutters and round nose for the handguns and fmj & SP for the rifles.

For Rimfire I usually have 50-100 rounds of CCI hypervelocity HP's for coyoties and maybe a brick of plinking stuff. For the shotguns I only keep a box of 25 #7 shot and a box of 25 #4 shot for my .410, the 12 gauge has 25-50 rounds of #7 1/2 shot and 10 round of oo buck also 5 rounds of #4 shot.
 
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It depends on the gun's purpose and situation.

That said, everyday dynamics have changed.

How much do you think you should have if ammo or supplies dried up? Is it enough to do what you want to do?

If you knew you couldn't easily restock, how much would you practice with your current supply?

The OP asked for specific numbers, not ambiguity.

Serious handguns need 500, serious rifles need 1000 rds each, MINIMUM.
 
100 ea. and 1000 .22. All these survivalists who think they need more are not thinking. Anyone who is going to need to use more than 100 rnds. in a SHTF senario is not going to survive.
Looking at a SHTF scenario ammo isn't just for shooting. Forget Silver and Gold, chances are a couple bushels of corn will cost a brick of 22LR.
Probably all my neighbors have guns but few, if any, have more than a few boxes of ammo. I figure about the time I need it I could get a horse for a thousand rounds of 9mm.
 
for SD ammo i try to only get the stuff i like (speer gold dots) an i get it whenever possible...which is not too often around here. for hunting ammo (12ga slugs, 30-30, and .22mag) i try to keep a pretty good stock (at least enough to sight in and still hunt every year for about 3 years).

funny story actually; i showed up at a friend's house to sight in this year and brought 2 boxes of winchester 30-30's. he made the comment "dang you brought a lot of ammo!" i just blew it off and got down to business getting sighted in. when we were both done i made a comment to the effect of "i think i might try to pick up a couple more boxes before the season starts." no big deal to me but my frind just looks stumped and says "how much ammo do you have?" i told him i proble had 130 not counting what i brought with me. his mouth almost dropped and he just couldnt imagine why i would ever need that much ammo. i explained that i dont like to run out and that i am very particular on what i hunt with and i cant always find it so i buy it when i can. he still just dosent get it. i asked how much he has and he looks at the box in his hand for a second and then says "bout 7. that should get my three deer for the season." true, i too could get by with less than a box of ammo but i really dont like that feeling that i might not have enough.

oh well....to each his own!
 
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