How much ammo is enough?

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How much ammo is enough

I ask a vet friend that question and he told me that you can't have too much ammo when their coming through the wire. Since he survived 'Nam I took that as good advice and load for everything I have with no intention of worrying about having too many rounds. Ammo stores quite well.
 
I have a few thousand rounds on the shelf in the various calibers that I shoot...I'm fairly comfortable with where I'm at, but I do recall what it was like when you couldn't get any...so I'll probably stack it a bit deeper...that and I'm accumulating components to reload for my most used/needed stuff.

So as to the question of how much is really enough....How much will your floor hold before it collapses? One round less than that! :)
 
xxjumbojimboxx said:
Most useless object in existence? That's a bit of a stretch.

They make excellent clubs when unloaded. Some have bayo's on them.

Theyre still valuable to someone who may have the ammo for that gun.

Useless? I think not!


I just realized that after my last purchase I have over 10k 7.62x39 rounds. I still don't feel as though I have enough... I'm going to be around for a long time. If some puke Democrat decides I cant have ammo anymore I'd like to know I had enough for the rest of my life.
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Although I appreciate your sentiments as I have a deep regard for guns as a very useful and valuable tool, that usefulness is pretty much shot in the azz (pun intended) with no ammo.

An empty gun is a mediocre club or slashing/stabbing instrument at best. Other, far less expensive objects or tools or indeed purpose designed weapons are far superior. Yes, if one has ammo that changes the equation dramatically, because them the gun can be deployed as designed. But no ammo and it reverts to useless for all intents and purposes for pretty much any purpose beyond perhaps investment or as a collectable. Hence my philosophy on the need to have ammo.
 
you guys all approach this from the standpoint of self defense. my only defense purpose is killing rattle snakes.

i shoot for fun. doesn't anybody else just like shooting?

of course, i need lots of ammo for backyard shooting
 
I'm with you on the main thing is fun shooting.

Definitely practical tools of much varied description and use, but the majority of the shooting I've done is because I enjoyed it.

I've shot snakes with a variety of things, from 22 birdshot (not great), 22's, 38 and 9mm birdshot (pretty good within 5-10 feet), 44 and 45 birdshot (one rattlesnake shot with 44 birdshot was in my house). I also use round ball exrtra-light loads in rifles to shoot snakes with great success and little noise.

Shovels, rocks, the butt of a Winchester carbine (tap them gently on the head a couple times), all work also. They dont hold up well when driven over either.
 
i'd be scared to get close enow to kill a snake with a shovel.
2 days ago, i turned the corner of my garden fence n saw this huge rattler where i had walked minutes ago. i screamed. the snake struck, but at the fence. he hit it higher than my waist. if he had bit me that close to the heart i might not have just been hospitalized. i might have died. i didn't even know they could do that.
i ran around to the front door, loaded a mag for my ruger 22/45 n went back coming the other way. i planned to empty the mag into him but i had loaded thunderbolt, the worst ammo ever, so it jammed on the second shot. luckilly, my first shot hit him in the head.
not bragging about marksmanship. i didn't even use the sights n he was 5' away.
terror makes me shoot good.
 
That was a large snake!

The ones around here are about 2 1/2 feet on average, with a few getting longer. The supposed rule of thumb (rule of snake?) is that they can strike about half their body length.

Keep in mind, after killing a snake, by ANY means, they can still bite for quite a while afterwards, like a half hour or more. I usually step on the head, cut it off, and bury it. Touching the snake can amke it strike, even after shooting them in the head. I've had headless snake bodies mstrike at a shovel after cutting the head off. The head tried to bite the shovel blade when I messed with it.

I've had a lot of unpleasant snake experiences. Been very close to getting bit on several occasions. Had a dog get bit in the face once also. I dislike rattlesnakes. They get no sympathy from me. Fortunately I dont see them often.
 
mal, i took no chances. i reloaded with good ammo n came back n shot him full of holes. he was dead but he jumped around anyway.
you can shoot them all day long n they'll move.
i never saw one strike before. now i'm scared to go outside with out a gun. i'm carrying my 22/45 in a big old purse cause i don't have a holster.
the problem is, it will probably take an hour n a half to get it out n chamber a round.
 
I want enough so that I can keep shooting through the panics/shortages without having to pay stupid prices or stand in line to buy ammunition.

So I figure my usage levels and calculate how much I need to stock based on the longest panic/shortage I can remember. It turns out to be a lot of ammunition.
 
I know lots of people who pick up milsurp ammo cheap because it is finite and typically cheaper than reloading. You also don't know when the BATF will swoop in and try and reclassify something as AP. I just picked up surplus when it could be had on the cheap.
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It is not totally insane to prepare for a potential problem with civilization. Good grief doesn't anyone read the news? Do you not understand how close we came to complete collapse in 2008? It would have made the Great Depression look like a church picnic. Seriously. If you think it can't happen you're living in la la land.

That said I don't buy ammo in anticipation of such things. I've bought up lots of 7.62 x 39 simply because it was cheap as heck and fun to shoot. I had every intention of shooting all of it or almost all of it anyway. It just got away from me because everytime a birthday or something would come up and when my kids would ask me what I wanted I'd tell them to order me another 1000 rounds of 7.62 x 39. Heck I still do that. I buy what I want so it's hard to find something to tell the kids to get me. But ammo is always a choice and it keeps me from thinking too hard about something I might want and whether they can afford it or want to spend that much blah blah blah. So I ended up with way more 7.62 x 39 than I will ever shoot mainly because I bought a bunch of other guns to shoot. I didn't shoot the SKS nearly as much after that. But my yard is still practically paved with steel 7.62 x 39 cases. So it's obvious my intention was to shoot up all that ammo. I just don't think I'll have time to get around to shooting it all now. Oh well. My kids can shoot it up or sell it or whatever. My birthday was a couple of weeks ago though. I got a case of Black Hills .223 with my kids and my wife going in together and getting it. Both my kids make lots of money BTW. They can afford to buy me stuff I may not actually need. Truth be told I already had a bunch of .223 ammo and I'll likely never get around to shooting all of it either.
 
How much is enough is roughly the same as "how high is up?" Different people have different needs and even the needs change from time to time. My little rule of thumb is (One year's use) + 20%.

I figure if the ammunition supply is interrupted for more than a year there are going to be larger concerns anyway.
 
As much as one can afford to have on hand. At one point between the last two shortages, I figured, "I don't need all this 22lr ammo" and sold a good amount of it. Never again.
 
Officers'Wife said:
How much is enough is roughly the same as "how high is up?" Different people have different needs and even the needs change from time to time. My little rule of thumb is (One year's use) + 20%.

I figure if the ammunition supply is interrupted for more than a year there are going to be larger concerns anyway.
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That's why I believe in having enough ammo to take you to the end of your life and beyond.

If you can afford it, it would be nice to have ammo you can spread around to your neighbors who lack foresight - so they can help you protect the rest of your ammo. Sounds tongue in cheek, but it is a serious thought.

Woody
 
At first I kinda stocked up on ammo because if I had a gun, it needed a couple of boxes of ammo with it. That way I could go shooting without having to go buy ammo first, just replace it after. Then after the last ammo shortages, I stock up to carry me through it. I view most of my guns as fun guns. I shoot mostly for fun. I do however have a small supply of ammo for defense purposes. I don't stock up for anticipation of a breakdown in society per se, but certainly my fun ammo(FMJ) can be pressed into service for that if I had to. I have 16 guns in twelve calibers, so I might have 3000 rounds total. Not a whole lot compared to some here, but enough to get by.
 
^ ^ ^ True, one can load pretty fast on a progressive, though with my Dillon 550, I think I load about 300 per hour. I'm very deliberate in my loading, and look into every single case for powder level, and keep check on primer seating depth. If theres any glitch, the rounds on the plate get carefully checked and/or re-run to get them exactly back to perfect as I can get them in the lineup.
 
Let's see, A Girl to pretty ? Nope !

A Car to fast ? Nope !

To much money ? Nope

To many Guns ? Nope !

To much ammo ? Nope !

Just my opinion, but what do I know.
 
It's never enough. Figure what you'll shoot the rest of your life. Then multiply by two.
 
you know, zu, people underestimate modern airguns. i bot a vantage 1200 for $63 n have successfully used it for hunting. got a bunny at 15 yards. one little 10.5 gr pellet dropped him on the spot.
not a head shot either. i was aiming for the heart but actually got a spinal cord hit. he spazmed for 2 seconds but was dead instantly.
 
I have enough of every caliber that I own to shoot normally for at least two years at my current level.
For 357 mag that is 200 rounds.
For 30-06 that is 100 rounds.
For 9mm that is around 6,000 rounds plus the components to reload another 8-10,000. 9mm is my go to round for SD and HD with multiple carbines and pistols.
22 LR is close to 25,000 rounds on hand right now but I have definitely reduced how much I shoot it. Not because I am worried about running out but because my situation has changed and I can't shoot every day like I did a couple of years ago and 22 LR is a training round for me.
I bought 100,000 rounds of 223 just a little over 2 years ago and turned some of it when prices and availability were stupid. I sold it at half the "market" price and tripled my money.
 
I had/have A LOT of .22lr, thankfully. I've been able to supply myself and family with all we want. Some weekends we will go through a 1,000 rounds. I've also been able to supply several friends, including a local Boy Scout troop.

Like most people I talk to I still cannot walk into Walmart and resupply. When that changes, you can bet I will be restocking my supply. I'm just thankful that for several years I bought a brick or two every two weeks.

I also had the foresight to stock up on reloading supplies. I went through the primer crunch back about 1992 and pretty much learned my lesson then. I've been able to reload and shoot all that I want and supply my family. I don't supply reloads to non-family.

How much is enough? I used to think a two-year supply was adequate but now I'm thinking 4 to 5 years. That would be between loaded ammo and supplies to reload as needed.
 
Rather than wonder how much is enough, consider a replacement ratio. Might that be 2:1, 3:1, 5:1/etc? I guess it depends on how committed to that caliber you are. Pretty straight forward to get a case for baseline, then for every 100 you shoot... Buy 200, 300, 500 more and just keep an eye open for deals. This way you are always compounding a little surplus. The volume grows and if you decide to get out of a certain caliber or sell a platform, sell it off to the gotta-have-its on gunbroker and you'll probably do fine.
 
It depends on the world around me. If all that is wrong is that we are not making enough ammo, or people are panic buying for fear of some new legislation, that's one thing, if it's a doomsday situation that's entirely something else, I would need to know the reason before answering.
For me to be buying a lifetimes worth of ammo, as one fellow mentioned, I would need a good reason.
And many survivalists don't believe in investing that much in ammo, as the initial problem will not stay at that level for too long. probably a matter of weeks .
I know we don't do doomsday here, nor do I, but what other reason would anyone be buying that much ammo other that a fear of not being able to buy more at some point? If all around me changed, so would my thinking and needs. The priority would be, staying alive until the initial situation was resolved, which would be more of avoiding contact with people unless absolutely essential.
 
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