Primary long-term focus: ammo or guns?

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Ammunition.

I have the revolvers of choice, all the same caliber. For those, I am 'old-school', i.e., wadcutter and semi-wadcutters, in standard pressure, only.

(You folks can have all that fancy stuff out there.)

I own a 'pre-plus-p' semi-automatic, so all of my pistol ammuniton, must be of standard pressure, to prevent any ammo mix-ups. I have the historical record of a certain gun guru now passed (ave'!), upon a particular brand and design ammunition that I can still acquire for this older pistol, and it functions in the newer design model, as well.
 
I typically try to buy at least a couple boxes of the calibers I shoot most (.45 ACP, 9mm, .357 Mag/.38 SPL) every other week (payday).

These days though, I'm more concerned about replacement parts (springs, pins, etc) for the guns I plan on keeping, so the internet (Midway, Brownell's, TGS) have become good buddies. Midway had a little sale on the Ed Brown bag'o 1911 parts for cheap, stuff like that ...
 
I absolutey need to add one gun this year; a 22 LR / Magnum revolver. It probably be a Ruger Single-Six Conversion. Contrary to the repeated whining on the forums I expect 22 LR ammo to become widely available again and in my area 22 Magnum ammo has always been available at LGS.

Otherwise some ammo, reloading supplies and a few more magazines.
 
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A couple years ago I had many "very" nice pistols, revolvers, shotguns and rifles. I had to sell them all when times became tough. I'm slowly replacing them with less pricey but good quality firearms and in less quantity. Now, I'm concentrating on just a few of the calibers/platforms that I feel are the best choices for my area and my current/future needs. I won't be buying anything fancy ever again... I'll never need them. I only care about serviceability, accuracy, longevity/reliability and filling certain criteria.

I have FAR more invested in ammo than in firearms.
 
I need to double up on some guns, and quintuple my ammo. So, for the foreseeable future, I'd have to say "ammo". ("Ammo" would include reloading supplies.)

Woody
 
Both.

But I think I am more concerned with ammo than the average.

Unfortunately it is expensive so I still have a small fraction of what I'd like. And I spend money on more guns. I mean, I got three guns last year and two of them were pretty redundant with what I already had...I probably should have just got some spare parts and more ammo with that money instead.
 
I think I have all the guns I want, or at least all that I can reasonably spend time with. Saving up for if/when .22LR becomes available at a reasonable price. Meantime I'm slowly going through a stockpile of BP and substitutes.
 
I probably should have just got some spare parts and more ammo with that money instead.
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Or, unload one and buy a good press/powder/bullets/primers if you aren't set up already

I wanted to have all the bases covered. Had multiple .22's and .22 center fires, a .25-06, 7 mag, 300 WM, 44-40, 45-70, shotguns, SKS, AR's, maybe 15 pistols, etc. etc. A safe absolutely full. Time to renew my homeowners insurance, and I had to contemplate paying the $830 rider to cover the extra insurance on the guns.

Stuck me that over half hadn't been fired in at least the past few years, and some never. I'd rather have half as many and actually use what I have.
 
redneck2 said:
Or, unload one and buy a good press/powder/bullets/primers if you aren't set up already

I wanted to have all the bases covered. Had multiple .22's and .22 center fires, a .25-06, 7 mag, 300 WM, 44-40, 45-70, shotguns, SKS, AR's, maybe 15 pistols, etc. etc. A safe absolutely full. Time to renew my homeowners insurance, and I had to contemplate paying the $830 rider to cover the extra insurance on the guns.

Stuck me that over half hadn't been fired in at least the past few years, and some never. I'd rather have half as many and actually use what I have.
Click to expand...

I like them too much to unload them. It's just easier said than done to get ammo ammo and more ammo.

I don't have the problem of not shooting half in years. The new ones I got last year have all been to the range this month and one is my new daily carry. I have barely over a dozen firearms.

I have a press and currently reload .38spl + am about to start .357, and am working on everything I need for 300 blk as that will be my next rifle.

But I sold 4,200 rounds of .22lr last week to finance the 300 blk reloading stuff.

Hopefully my current drive being all about reloading will end up with with a bunch of components + die sets for more of my cartridges
 
I continue to buy both. Most of the guns I buy now are just duplicates of what I already have(other than the 35 Rem I got last week)so ammo purchases continue as available. With the past year driving my decisions I have upped the quantities of ammo I INTEND to keep on hand.
20k 22LR is not enough.
4k 9mm is enough.
1k 45acp is enough.
2k 38 is enough.
250 357 mag is enough because I can shoot the 38.
40 caliber is new to me so 2k is my goal.
.223 I have more than I can count.
5.45x39 I have 4 cases.
7.62x39 I have probably 3,500 rounds.
Most of my bolt hunting rifles I only keep a couple of boxes other than 30-06 where I have some military ammo that is about 70 years old.
 
Ammo is all I ever buy now. I also buy NRA memberships for all the new shooters I can, because without them, it won't matter how many guns, or how much ammo we have.
 
I have loaded many thousands of .32acp, (as well as many other calibers)on a Lee Classic single stage press, and it is no more tedious than any other round.
 
Honestly, I don't shoot the guns I already own often enough.

Several .357 Mag revolvers, 9mm and .380, two 1911's, .22 pistol and revolver, and a very nice AR.

My plan is to keep reloading to feed the centerfire guns, and buy .22 lr whenever I can.

OTOH, I would jump on a great deal on a reasonably priced 12 GA shotgun to keep under the bed ;)
 
Not much of either.

I have a family and in spite of inflation our living costs are climbing far faster than income. I have less $$ available for any kind of shooting stuff, plus it costs more.

I wouldn't trade my family for anything this earth can offer, though.
 
Ammo. I'd be okay with just an AK, a G26, and however much money I have in other guns, in ammo.

But, alas, I still buy guns for which I have little to no use, other than to stare at and use to send lead into dirt.
Warp said:
I like them too much to unload them. It's just easier said than done to get ammo ammo and more ammo.
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Actually, this sums up my feelings.

I don't have a particularly diverse range of calibers, I think I have 7 or 8 different ones, and I've got cans full of each. But I just have several guns for each one that, while I rarely shoot them, I'd miss having or regret getting rid of.
 
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Guns and reloading components. I have brass, bullets into the hundreds/ thousands depending on caliber. Just need the powder and primers to push them all. If I lose my 30-06 I can pull the rounds and load up some 6.5x55 instead
 
When I buy a gun I like to make sure I'll have ammo for it for a good while no matter what. So when I buy a gun I'll start off by buying the ammo I need for testing. I don't load and I'm too old to start now. I was a .22 and a 7.62 x 39 shooter for years and neither was worth the effort to reload if not downright impossible. I was also into shotguns a lot. I went through various stages with calibers and I'd end up selling a lot of ammo with the gun if I sold it. Some guns just didn't make the grade for me and they're gone now. But the vast majority of my shooting was always either .22 or 7.62 x 39 or shotgun ammo (mostly 12 ga. but a lot of 20 ga. too).

Once I got to where I could afford better guns I started by collecting a lot of ammo again first to find out what my gun liked and then to stock up. I bought several calibers in handguns and rifles and the next thing I knew I had a pretty good amount of stored ammo. My wife's relatives all vowed to move in with me if the country every went to pot because they said I had enough ammo to hold an army. Not for long but maybe a while I guess. ;)

I should have started reloading many years ago but shooting just wasn't my #1 hobby at the time. My money went on ATV's, computer equipment (before it was cheap), cars, sound recording equipment and various guitars and keyboards, etc. etc.. I go through hobby's fairly regular but I've been a pretty constant shooter for many years. I just shot either my .22's or my SKS (or my AK when I had it). So reloading doesn't make sense for everyone.

To be honest I'm too old for reloading to ever pay off now. By the time I master the art of getting it right I'll be too old to shoot it. I still have a lot of ammo to shoot up anyway. I spent a whole lot of money on ammo for a few years there. I've stopped doing that so much because I don't need to do it any more. I have ammo. I even have a good sized stash of .22 but I worry about how long it will take to replace that so I don't shoot that as much as i would like to now. I'm either going back to shooting my SKS's or my shotguns this year unless something breaks on .22 ammo. Shotgun ammo has been available through the whole panic. And 7.62 x 39 isn't much more expensive now than it was 2 years ago. But I have more of that than I'll ever shoot probably. I decided before the panic to stop buying so much and not shooting it.

So after taking the long way around my 2 cents is to put money into ammo. Your guns aren't worth a nickel without it. I've seen shortages where I could have made a lot of money selling ammo that I had stored but I would rather just sit on what I have.

Of course all that ammo is at the bottom of a lake now. It's still there but it's soggy. I should have known it was a bad idea to store ammo on a boat.
 
AMMO and more AMMO

The guns I have will fulfill my needs and yes new guns are always fun but my focus is still on AMMO.
 
This probably won't happen and I understand, but to really put this in perspective what we would need to know is:

1. Average monthly/annual round counts
2. Anticipated monthly/annual round counts
3. Total ammunition stock on hand (or detailed list of all components)
4. Number of firearms + firearm type and typical usage for each cartridge

Otherwise it's really hard to say that three different people mean the same thing when they say they have a "lot" of ammo or that their focus is on ammo.

I've talked to people who say they don't need any more ammo because they have [half whisper lean in voice]over 1,000 rounds of 5.56[look side to side] and I've talked to people who say they aren't really comfortable with their ammo on hand because they only have 5,000 rounds of 5.56.

Just as examples.




So let's try this...no real numbers...how long could you shoot at a comfortable (not restricted, but let's call it careful and not wasteful) rate with the ammunition and components you have on hand (without adding ANYTHING, no "just need the primers", strictly what you have)

1-6 months
7-12 months
1-2 years
2-5 years
6+ years
 
So let's try this...no real numbers...how long could you shoot at a comfortable (not restricted, but let's call it careful and not wasteful) rate with the ammunition and components you have on hand (without adding ANYTHING, no "just need the primers", strictly what you have)

1-6 months
7-12 months
1-2 years
2-5 years
6+ years
Click to expand...

Using this equation makes pretty good sense. If I shoot "comfortable" amounts and don't wind up letting everybody "borrow" my AK with two full mags that always gets handed back empty it looks like this.
With 22 LR using several "trainer" guns I have a 10 year supply. In reality it is about a 2 year supply because we tend to do mag dumps pretty frequently. If I restricted it to bolt rifles and revolvers it is about a 20 year supply.
9mm I have 1.5 years so I need to bump that a bit.
45 I have 4 years supply because I only shoot two guns in that caliber.
380 I am way short, probably only 6 months, because I haven't found ANY locally in the past few months. I need to alleviate that with an online purchase.
Everything else I am in the 2 year range based on normal to slightly restricted usage.
 
My focus is generally oriented toward ammunition and components. I usually buy a couple boxes of ammunition for my centerfire rifles (mostly for the brass) once a month or so. I also buy components for handloading. If nothing else, I figure things are cheaper now than they will be in the future. I'm even shopping/budgeting for a shotshell press.

That being said, there are still a few firearms I'd pick up if the price was right. These are mostly for my wife and daughter but ..... Rossi Ranchhand as a "youth" firearm?
 
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