How much of your ammo is self defense?

[CDW4ME]

Just curious, seems like FMJ is hard to find but self defense styles are easy to find online and my local stores. Just wondering how much everyone keeps on hand that's self/home defense. For me I have a box or two each for each caliber, so maybe 100 rds each or so. I wonder how much do you really need?

 

[WheelGunMan]

Every round I own has the potential of being used for self defense. Any FMJ can leave collateral damage from over penetration.. but so can clothing choked hollow points.

 

[Trey Veston]

I have about 500 various XTPs and Speer Gold Dots for reloading in 9mm. Double that in plated or jacketed varieties. Just ordered another 250 of the RMR MPR HPs. Have about the same in .40 S&W/10mm bullets. Another few hundred loaded of each, plus a few factory boxes of target ammo. Enough, but not enough.

 

[guyfromohio]

I have enough to keep my magazines full and replenish every time I go to the range. Any range trip I do starts with emptying the loaded rounds into the target. This ensures fresh ammo in the guns and regularly tests function with the ammo I carry. It’s a vague answer intentionally, but you could use that math to see what you should have on hand.

 

[JDeere]

Just a couple of boxes for carry purposes. Of course I would not hesitate to carry my fmj range ammo as it will take care of business just as well. I don't buy into all of the hype about which SD ammo is the best. Marketing at it's finest. FMJ has been taking care of business well over a hundred years.

 

[John Joseph]

Enough of it to fill my magazines and speed loaders.
Any more than that I consider a hedge against inflation and ammo drought.

 

[Zaydok Allen]

I think it's obvious that any ammo can be used for self defense if no other ammo is available. I believe the implied meaning of the OP's question is how much of your ammo was specifically loaded or purchased to be employed as SD ammo and not for training, target practice, competition, or any other recreational shooting activity.

 

[FFGColorado]

Just curious, seems like FMJ is hard to find but self defense styles are easy to find online and my local stores. Just wondering how much everyone keeps on hand that's self/home defense. For me I have a box or two each for each caliber, so maybe 100 rds each or so. I wonder how much do you really need?

My HD or EDC are either Glock 17, Glock 26(with G19 15r magazines) and a Glock 42..I keep 2 magazines loaded with HD ammo for G17 and 15R(2) for Glock 26 and 7/8R(1 each) loaded for G42...so about 50R of 9mm and about 30R of 380..'defense' ammo..Rest is FMJ(quite a lot, actually)..plus a revolver loaded and 2 rifles+ shotgun..

 

[huntsman]

According to my inventory I have 1K+ JHP, 2K FMJ spread out between 5 calibers

 

[illinoisburt]

More than I hope I will ever need.

^^^^ THIS! ^^^^

Funny, I've shot several thousand premium rounds over there years and have had exactly zero bad primers.

It seems like I've been seeing a lot more dud centerfire in the past 10-12 years from domestic producers. It's odd that I can only recall a few bad primers on new production imports and I've shot a ton of the steel crap 9, mak, 223, x39, and 45. That's not to say some of that stuff didn't have other issues with cycling or soft rims, but less than a handful didn't go bang. I cannot say that about the current winchester and remington bulk. At least 1 or 2 duds per hundred lately and plenty of mis-loaded (bullets backwards, stuffed too deep, folded case mouth). Given bulk is cheaper and occasional junk is part of the game I can sort of live with that, but any duds from a premium ammo would be extremely disappointing. That should be subject to better QC given the price and expected end-users.

 

[JR24]

It seems like I've been seeing a lot more dud centerfire in the past 10-12 years from domestic producers. It's odd that I can only recall a few bad primers on new production imports and I've shot a ton of the steel crap 9, mak, 223, x39, and 45. That's not to say some of that stuff didn't have other issues with cycling or soft rims, but less than a handful didn't go bang. I cannot say that about the current winchester and remington bulk. At least 1 or 2 duds per hundred lately and plenty of mis-loaded (bullets backwards, stuffed too deep, folded case mouth). Given bulk is cheaper and occasional junk is part of the game I can sort of live with that, but any duds from a premium ammo would be extremely disappointing. That should be subject to better QC given the price and expected end-users.

I noticed much the same with cheap ammo starting in the panic back in ... 13? When I found out my 220 was sensitive to bullets loaded to long. One of my boxes had 20% that wouldn't feed in my Sig's magazines.

Didn't load at the time or it would have been very easy to fix.

Even had a few core lokt primers go dud sighting in my rifle last year, but that ammo was who knows how old and it's not exactly premium ammo.

But I haven't had a bad round from HST, Gold Dot, or Golden Saber yet, though I have noticed Golden Sabers are prone to setback, which isn't ideal.

 

[Jammersix]

...and not for training, target practice, competition, or any other recreational shooting activity.

Well, then none of it. All of my ammo is both.

 

[Ernie Bass]

All of it, and I have a lot of it. But something tells me I do not have enough.

 

[tubeshooter]

Not much. Maybe 3 or 4 boxes in my main carry caliber, and another box or two in another caliber.


Hopefully it's much more than I need, as some people have said.

 

[Ed Ames]

Looking at the big picture it’s probably about 50% utility (defensive) ammo, 50% training/plinking ammo.

But that’s a bit misleading.

I’ve had guns where 100% of the ammo they shot was JHP ammo designed for SD applications. They never fired anything but what I would use for carry. If I had less than 1000 rounds of defensive ammo on hand for one of those guns, I’d restock.

I’ve had other guns where I bought one box of defensive ammo just to have and the vast majority of what I bought/loaded/shot was lead or FMJ. In some cases, I never even bought the one box of defensive ammo....if I needed to use one of those for SD I’d take my chances with ball. If I had less than 1000rds of practice ammo for one of those I’d start shopping for more.

That’s disregarding the guns that are not ideal for self defense (.22s and the like).

 

[hso]

Enough for 4 people. That's about 20% of total ammunition I keep and I keep cases, not boxes.

 

[MikeInOr]

Despite all the ammo debates on the internet I have no qualms using FMJ for self defense if need be. I have many thousands of rounds of components on hand with about half of it being FMJ. I usually use the FMJ for target practice and plinking but would have no issue using it for self defense if need be. I find all the internet discussions on the effectiveness of round X vs round Y by knowledgeable arm chair ballistic scientists who have never shot anybody (me included) just silly!

On a side note I have never really suffered due to an ammo shortage in anything but .22lr and couldn't ever really tell if there was an ammo shortage at any particular time unless I hear about it on the internet.

 

[skeeterfogger]

All of it.

 

[RetiredUSNChief]

All of it, if need be.

Dang! This is EXACTLY what I was about to post! Good thing I read the comments first!



As for the OP:

I have maybe a couple hundred rounds each in .45 ACP and 9mm.

Untold thousands in several calibers which aren't "self-defense" rounds.

My carry magazines are kept loaded and, once in a while, I'll cycle them through my guns at the range and reload them with fresh afterwards.

 

[Mars5l]

Believe me I know you can use FMJ for SD and expensive hollow points for range ammonif need be. I haven't used any if my SD at the range yet, my CWP was approved and is on the way then I'll have to decide on what to carry and what to load it with. I think im going to keep SD ammo limited to more common calibers. I have a M57 that shoots 7.62x25, all I have for is it is FMJ, I've come across JHP for it but decided I probably don't really need or will ever use it as a SD/HD firearm.

 

[CapnMac]

In the spirit of the question, about 20-25% is specifically SD ammo, since I insist on practicing with the carry ammo. The rest is more economical FMJ for just the fun/practice of it.

 

[Hangingrock]

I function test the commercial self-defense ammunition in my EDC. Other than that its my reloaded ammunition for range usage.

 

[buck460XVR]

All of it, if need be.

^^^Yep.

Everything I have could be used for SD, even the hunting rounds for use in dedicated hunting revolvers. While there may be a few rounds of factory in there somewhere, the majority is hand-loads. Everything I have has been shot and tested to be accurate and function in the guns they are intended for. Whether for SD/HD or hunting, for the most part, everything I practice with, is what I actually will be using. IMHO, for the little bit of cost difference, I see little advantage in reloading so called dedicated "practice" ammo. As for the hunting ammo, it works just as well on 2 legged varmints as it does on 4 legged ones.

 

[WestKentucky]

I’m going to estimate that somewhere between nine of my ammo and all of my ammo is self defense ammo. None of it was bought specifically for that role, but almost all of it would work for that role. Also most of my ammo is Just whatever I have reloaded, usually with a mind towards hunting. Most of the ammo I use for hunting would be good for defensive roles as well, with few exceptions like frangible 9mm and black powder 16ga.

Up until recent history there has been no “defensive” ammo, there has simply been a variety of ammo. What cops use has kinda over time became a loose description of defensive ammo, with recent development of novelty type defensive stuff (think G2Rip), so what really is defensive ammo? Is the description for defensive pistol ammo different than defensive rifle ammo? How about shotguns, low recoil buckshot is generally accepted as the gold standard for defense, but that’s also a good round for deer hunting in places where shots are expected to be moving and close.

 

[230RN]

Since I don't want to just "burn up" the recommended 200 rounds in testing expensive defense loadings, I start out by keeping a defense round in the chamber of my EDC DAO carry gun.

That way, at least for the first round, I don't have to worry about feeding or extraction or anything. It just goes bang and all the next rounds up are good old reliable FMJs.

Of course at range sessions I'll load up a magazine of the defense rounds and take note of any problems.

As I get more confident of the defense rounds in that cheapskate way, I'll go a step further and fill the carry magazine with defense loads but keep FMJs in the spare mag, ready to drop the first and slam in the second.

My oft-stated theory is that a man without a spare mag is like a man without a mistress.

I realize this isn't everyone's cup of tea, but for me it is a practical compromise in terms of balancing expense with reliability testing, especially since I don't get to the range all that much any more.

Terry, 230RN