how much ammo?

[AzShooter1]

Fill up a 5 gallon ammo can so it's easy to carry and get a can for each caliber. At least it will be easier to transport.

A few hundred of each caliber and perhaps a brick of two of your favorite .22.

Get a small Lee Hand Reloading Tool and load as you need it. Then you can get away with less loaded ammo but you still need to pack all the components.

 

[MedWheeler]

You should have enough firearms and ammo on hand that would make the media, if they got wind of it, say you have an "arsenal of weapons" and a "cache of ammunition"..

 

[jrdolall]

You should have enough firearms and ammo on hand that would make the media, if they got wind of it, say you have an "arsenal of weapons" and a "cache of ammunition"..
__________________

I get messages from FB friends all the time when some local media reports on ammo and guns confiscated during some drug bust. The "cache" will have like 5 guns and maybe 100 rounds of assorted ammo. I guess I have a "super duper cache".

 

[pcgunner]

The wife and I are currently preparing for this SHTF scenario and discuss it regularly during our reloading sessions...

We're by no means hard core preppers, but you never know seeing how the world is falling apart at the moment

As far as on hand, we feel comfortable with about 1000 of each caliber - going to the range we easily shoot at least 1k in various calibers (we usually bring 4-6 hand guns at a time)

That being said, neither of are able to carry that much ammo along with all the other stuff we've prepared for bugging out...

Our back packs are loaded, among other things we have some food prepped (dried, dry) a little water, water purifier, bows and arrows each, and 3-4 mags loaded with ammo for 2 guns each + 20 rounds of rifle ammo.

Her total weight to carry is about 25 lbs in a back pack, shoulder and mine about 30 lbs (we're both over 40 and not in great shape).

 

[Inazone]

Treat plinking ammo as its own category, not tied to your "stockpiled" ammo . . . even if it's the same caliber, bullet type, etc. If you aren't already doing so, keep a written inventory and start tracking how much ammo you're actually going through. At minimum, you should restock (by purchase or reloading) whatever you use as you use it. In my opinion, reloading components should be counted as exactly that, not as actual available ammo. I keep track of caliber and bullet type (FMJ, JHP, etc.) on both ammo can labels and in an inventory list. The "special occasion" types don't need to get updated very often, as I only use that stuff for testing function in a new firearm, not routine practice.

I don't reload, but I am keenly aware of what I have and how quickly I burn through it. I'd just started shooting 5.56 shortly before Sandy Hook and was building up a supply of it, but was mostly buying 9mm just prior to each upcoming range visit. Well, it wasn't until the shelves were nearly bare that I found myself down to my last couple hundred rounds of 9mm. Friends who do reload were struggling to find components. "Never again," I told myself that day, and now I restock regularly, plus adding a box or two "extra" of each caliber as funds allow.

As far as bugging out is concerned, I keep a few rifle mags loaded in a sling pack, along with a handgun and a couple loaded mags for it. I also have a couple of strategically-placed loaded mags for my CC gun. Everything else is locked in a safe or in ammo cans behind a locked door. Having recently entered the world of parenthood, bugging out is a daunting prospect, and there would be much less room than I'd prefer for guns and ammo, even with the benefit of a vehicle.

 

[JSH1]

I have 5 years worth of 22 LR and 1 year of centerfire in factory ammo. Centerfire I buy in bulk when I see a good deal with free shipping. The 22LR was almost all purchased locally in the past 6 months because it is easy to pay $20 here and there when I see it.

Reloading I have enough components for 2000 rounds with the exception of bullets. I'm new to reloading so I want to try different bullets to see what my guns likes before buying in bulk.

Bugging out would be bugging back in. The disaster to prepare for here is a massive earthquake that would devastate the Portland metro. I work in downtown on the other side of the river and all but 2 of the bridges are expected to collapse. We have been told not to expect to cross the river for at least a week and cars will be useless. So that means swimming the river and then a 20 mile hike home. No guns or ammo planned in that scenario, I would do better with a kayak and a bicycle. Clean drinking water will be the bulk of what I'll be carrying in my pack.

Once my wife and I are home we have to decide to stay or go once I-5 opens and all the collapsed overpasses are cleared. The state of the roads and radius of damage will determine if we take the campervan (comfort and more space but only 600 mile range) or the Prius (smaller, less rugged, but 1500 mile range on 30 gallons of fuel). Either way we take two revolvers and about 200 rounds of ammo. If we take the van I'll throw in a 22 rifle and about 1000 rounds of ammo. With either vehicle priority goes to water, fuel, and food over large quantities of ammo.

 

[Sniper66]

I'm going to be like Davey Crockett and go down swinging my heaviest gun by the barrel after I have expended every round I own....and that's a lot.

 

[OilyPablo]

The nice thing right now is I have a healthy supply of commercial ammo in the multiple calibers I shoot. Safely sealed and secure. Not a big deal. But now that I have ratcheted up my reloading activity level I feel quite comfortable when the next banic hits.

 

[another pake]

Oh boy, oh boy

...to save money

My beloved wife of 48 years; a saintly woman who complains rarely but remembers everything, walked into my man cave/ reloading room the other day. She looked around the room slowly. He eyes moved from the gun safe to the bench, to the supply shelves, to the stacks of ammo boxes and equipment and around to the many various projects that no longer fit into the safe.

As she sat down in one of the two leather library chairs in front of the big screen she asked,

"So what are you planning on doing with all the money you've saved by reloading those whatchamacallits?"

 

[OilyPablo]

Wow. Are we married to the same woman? Amazing.

 

[IlikeSA]

I am still building my component collection. I have approximately 300 rounds of brass for .357, either loaded or waiting to be loaded, uncounted amounts of 38 special brass, 45 acp (all loaded with a bad load, debating if I want to pull it or shoot it), .40 cal brass which I dont even shoot but was given, 30-06 which I rarely shoot and dont load for, and factory 9mm because I dont shoot it often and dont reload it either.

I usually go to the range with 100 rounds and shoot for an hour or two. I like to take my time and view it as a way to decompress from stress. I'd like to shoot competition but don't have the time.

 

[jeepmor]

For rifles that I shoot often, I like enough on hand to take for an extended range session or camping weekend dedicated to shooting without having to reload before I depart. Usually this is only 100 or so centerfire pistol rounds and 50 rifle rounds. Unless I take the AR, then like 200 rifle rounds.

Unless it's 22s and sage rats, I don't go through a whole lot of ammo when I go shooting. I plink and get that cap gun bang, bang, bang bug satisfied, then I focus on trying to make the smallest groups possible.

I derive far more satisfaction from precision shooting and tight groups than I do making a large pile of brass. My last range trip I rolled up 20 rifle rounds with a new recipe. On that trip, I got a couple of touching near cloverleaf groups, my best handloads I've ever produced. That's where the satisfaction is for me, not the quantity, but rather the quality.

 

[plodder]

I'm wondering how much handgun and rifle ammo do you usually have on hand? I was thinking maybe throwing 200-300rounds of handgun and maybe 200 of rifle in the bag with ammo cans ready to roll also.

I'm not too concerned with Bug Out situations, but you'd need to add a couple of zeros to your planned inventory before I would start getting comfortable. But I have a few firearms that consume ammo at prodigious rates.

 

[Ignition Override]

XX thousand rounds.
It won't cost any less after retirement in '17, unless those UN/Brit/European "arms control" Dummkopfe stop paying or requiring multiple countries to destroy low-cost surplus military ammo, and huge heaps of it are suddenly exported to the US. There's about .001 % chance that will happen .

Also, the next ammo panic could last longer than the previous, and one of the 'nib" Saigas is a .223. I just put approx. 1,500 rds. of it in ammo cans; not nearly enough (.223).