The IRONY of ammo stashes.

[Hokkmike]

Seems the more ammo I am able to stockpile for a certain firearm the less I want to shoot it to preserve what I have.

At a recent gun show in Muncy, PA I was amazed at how much ammo prices have increased, $75 for a box of Winchester 7mm08.

It is almost as if the security and joy of having lots of ammo is surpassing the joy of shooting. Bad in my opinion.

 

[rhodester]

Wow, there sure is a lot of truth to that.

 

[anothernewb]

the simple solution to that is to simply stockpile ammunition to the point where you don't worry about how much you shoot. Somewhere about the place where you stop counting by the round and it's easier to think in terms of by the ton.

 

[Hartkopf]

It's a bad feeling to open a 1000 round case of ammo. Worse to open your last 1000 round case.

The best way to open a case is to buy a new case and then open an old case.

Of course due to the plandemic and other forces of evil, you have to be rich to buy cases of anything.

 

[Charlie98]

I feel the same way about reloading components...

 

[Barbaroja]

I feel the same way about reloading components...

I’m with you there. I haven’t shot a revolver or rifle in weeks now trying to find excuses not to go shoot. I’ve packed my range bag a few times only to not go, once I even got the car loaded to go shoot rifles ( handguns I shoot at home) never left the the house.
That said I have been shooting trap every week or two, it’s easier to convince myself to go pop off a few boxes of 12ga shells for whatever reason. Not sure why I’m ok with that but I won’t think about it too hard.

 

[Demi-human]

Like fertilizer, ammunition doesn’t do any good in the bag.
Go put it in the field. They’ll make more.

 

[.455_Hunter]

For many generations of Americans in the past, a box or two of ammo might last years- 1 to 3 rounds fired for hunting season (1 to check sights, 1-2 for actually shooting at game) and 5-6 rounds of revolver ammo fired at the 4th of July family picnic behind the garage with Uncle Bob until Grandma yells to "Cut that out!".

We may be returning to those days again.

 

[someguy2800]

I am at the point now where I have enough ammo and components to hunt and enough to practice to keep proficient for the rest of my life, so I am shifting gears to only buying what I am immediately going to shoot. It will be weird not buying every box of primers I see lol.

 

[Patocazador]

I have quite a few boxes of bullets in weights that I never used. Some I've had for over 30 years. However, with prices and availability like they are, I find I am loading up these bullets and using them.

115 and 130 grain 7mm bullets plus 87 grain .25 caliber ones are now being put to use.

 

[Random 8]

I'm quite the opposite. The more I have, the more I'm drawn to shoot it with reckless abandon. I'm there with small pistol. I got ahead of the shortages, and deep on powder primers and bullets for .38 and 9mm. I've been shooting a lot of that, and a lot of my old stock of 7.62x54R surplus which is nearly inexhaustable.

The turning point for me is when something becomes un-replaceable. I've hit this point with 7.62x25. Due to the nature of the handguns, recovery of brass and reloading are impractical. I'm down to maybe 500 rounds of imported surplus in that caliber. I do still shoot it, but limit myself to a once a year outing.

 

[Olympus]

The problem with ammo stashes are they are just never quite enough. You always seem to need a little more.

 

[Remington1911]

I feel the same way about reloading components...

I just started shooting again, finally scored some LRP and am out enjoying myself. From time to time I come to a road block.....what you can't find X......wait they want $129 for a box of 100 norma brass....ouch.

Then going out I remember just how much fun I had doing this. I also know I am on the down hill run of this hobby, the old bod is going to give out likely sooner than later. I think the same thing about the motorcycle, heck ride the thing now while the knees still work. I keep telling my boy, all this will be yours one day, and remember some of it is junk some is not, look all this stuff up before you sell anything.

 

[Bazoo]

I collect ammo, not guns.

 

[d2wing]

I suppose it's like money. Some folks when they get a pile of it spend it like crazy and then it's gone, and they wonder what happened. And some folks, the more they pile it up the more they want to keep it and see the pile get bigger. Then some of us are in the middle, we never get a big pile to worry about.

 

[Mullo98]

Not in my case. Yeah ammo costs are high and some rounds are harder to find. But what's the point to buy all that ammo not to shoot it?

 

[Eagle103]

You know what they say, the only time you might have too much ammo is when your house is on fire.

 

[someguy2800]

I do have to wonder what percentage of ammo sold in a year actually gets shot vs horded and eventually disposed of. An old neighbor of mine was telling me that the previous owner of his house died with an enormous amount of guns and ammo in the basement. None of his kids wanted anything to do with it so they asked local law enforcement to come haul it all away to be destroyed. I was told they filled a 26 foot U haul truck nearly full with ammo. Its a real shame that sort of hording with little to no use goes on. Hopefully whatever law enforment came to take it all were able to pilfer at least some of it.

My stash of ammo and components is about 3000 rounds of loaded ammo and enough powder and primers to load about 15,000 more, and probably 15,000 rounds of 22lr and 17 hmr. I can easily stretch that out to last the rest of my life if I had to. I know some people shoot that in a year but I have never been one to burn ammo at that kind of rate so I really don't want any more sitting around quite frankly. When I shot action pistol I shot probably 4000 or 5000 rounds of 9mm a year but I quit that when I couldn't source bullets or primers anymore. I would like to just maintain what I have so that if someday my kids or their kids get into shooting that I can supply them.

 

[JJFitch]

Seems the more ammo I am able to stockpile for a certain firearm the less I want to shoot it to preserve what I have.

At a recent gun show in Muncy, PA I was amazed at how much ammo prices have increased, $75 for a box of Winchester 7mm08.

It is almost as if the security and joy of having lots of ammo is surpassing the joy of shooting. Bad in my opinion.

Yup. I've been to a few gun shows as well as gun shops where ammo prices are "astronomical"! But since I've been reloading since the 60's I'm able to keep a "respectable" amount of ammo on hand as well as reloading components. Although I've cut way back in my shooting, it's mainly due to neck issues.

Each of us have to determine what a "respectable" amount of ammo is!

If we were in a Ukraine scenario I'm not sure even thousands of rounds would be enough!

 

[Barnfixer]

I’ve been hoarding my pistol and rifle ammo a little bit but the shotgun stuff goes as soon as I get it! Maybe some new pistols and rifles will fix my hoarding problem.

 

[sharps59]

Other than N-SSA shoots and practicing for them I don.t shoot as much as I would like to. only have 2000 rounds of 22lr a couple hundred of 22 mag and other center fire rounds. maybe 1000 .223. I cast for everything except the 22 and my centerfire rifles. My range is 150 from my home. When at the weekend place seems there are more things needing doing than time allows. That will all change come July when I retire. By August I'll know my what my ammo supply is like.

 

[Newtosavage]

the simple solution to that is to simply stockpile ammunition to the point where you don't worry about how much you shoot. Somewhere about the place where you stop counting by the round and it's easier to think in terms of by the ton.

The simple solution is to reload.

At least, that's my solution. Save for one brick of primers that cost me more than usual, I haven't been affected by the hoarders one bit. Sure is nice to have the range to myself all the time though.

 

[NIGHTLORD40K]

The simple solution is to reload.

At least, that's my solution. Save for one brick of primers that cost me more than usual, I haven't been affected by the hoarders one bit. Sure is nice to have the range to myself all the time though.

Until the range closes its doors because they cant keep the lights on due to nobody shooting......

 

[bfoosh006]

Seems the more ammo I am able to stockpile for a certain firearm the less I want to shoot it to preserve what I have.

At a recent gun show in Muncy, PA I was amazed at how much ammo prices have increased, $75 for a box of Winchester 7mm08.

It is almost as if the security and joy of having lots of ammo is surpassing the joy of shooting. Bad in my opinion.

Its a hard thing to get past, especially when you consider the cost of replacement ammo.

Having spent a long time accumulating ammo bargains... makes the current prices harder to accept.

What skill are you practicing for ? Hunting ? Target practice ?

Dependent upon how much ammo you have accumulated , maybe try to maximize the shooting you are thinking about doing.

Longer distances ? Clean the barrel very well... and see how tight a group you can get at those longer ranges.

Consider a less expense round to fulfill a shooting craving ? A 9MM carbine can be fairly inexpensive. ( FWIW, the trajectory is quite close to a 22LR out of a 10/22 with the same barrel length )

 

[Mullo98]

The simple solution is to reload.

At least, that's my solution. Save for one brick of primers that cost me more than usual, I haven't been affected by the hoarders one bit. Sure is nice to have the range to myself all the time though.

The issue with that is getting the equipment, supplies and room to reload. Then learning how to load properly and safely. That's a ton of upfront cost and effort for some. Who would be better served by just buying a case or so of factory ammo. That's the main reason why I buy factory ammo.