.50caliber123
I am in a similiar situation as you, many firearms, different calibers, different action types, makes models ect. As far as SHTF you can never have enough ammo! That being said too little and your ineffective, too much and you can't transport it all.
One of the things I have been doing is looking at firearms with the same caliber. I am trying to standardize. For instance I have standardized 7.62x39mm and .308 as my rifle calibers. (id like to go just to .308 but i can't) 12 gauge as my shotgun and currently 9x18mm as my pistol (which will soon changed to a more easily obtainable round) The reason to have multiple weapons with the same caliber is if you have other people you want to arm, I.E. freinds, family ect. Much like the military does, but you also have to take into consideration its availability and effectiveness.
here is my opinion and its similiar to what others have said already I am going to use the terms:
Decomission (meaning use this rifle at the range, have enough ammo for fun)
Reserve Status (meaning stock up as much ammo as you can cheaply, but don't bump fire it every weekend! Shoot enough ammo to stay in practice, but conserve what you have)
Active Status (meaning stockpile as much ammo as you can and shoot alot)
WEAPONS:
Marlin .44 mag : great gun, but its difficult to get ammo for it in bulk. But its tons of fun at the range!
(Decomission)
Yugo SKS/ Mak 90: here is where you have some ammunition commonality, like many have said the prices of 7.62x39mm have destablized somewhat but both of these rifles are rock solid. Be on the look out for 7.62X39mm at a cheap prices at all times!! Horde it up until wolf and other imports get cheap again. These are great SHTF rifles ammo can still be found for them for relatively cheap, just not as cheap as a year ago. Look for cheap 30 round mags for the MAK-90, and buy a 100 pack of stripper clips.Temporarily refrein from shooting these rifles (unless you already have a ton of ammo) and look for ammo for them.
(Reserve Status)
Enfield: .303 is just too dear these days to stockpile this ammo unless you can get it uber cheap. Lots of the British stuff is exstremely unreliable, lots of hang fires and no fires. The rifles design rocks, but its caliber is antiquated
(Decomission)
Mosin Nagant m38: Extremely reliable, ammo is very cheap and plentiful and powerful. Buy spam cans for storing away and loose ammo or commercial for shooting. Spam cans are already sealed for long term storage, (buy a key for opening them). This is your long range rifle. BUY STRIPPER CLIPS FOR THIS RIFLE TODAY!!!!!!!
(Active Status)
K31: excellent rifle the likely most accurate of your collection, ammo is to hard to come by.
(Decomission)
Hipoint carbine: 9mm cheap and plentiful! but unless you live in an urban area or need concealment not very useful. Also the highpoint is notoriously unreliable, I would take an SKS or AK any day of the week. Inexspensive to stock up on but unless you have a 9mm pistol for ammo compatability I wouldn't bother, the gun is likely to break in the field anyway, mags for this firearms are also low qaulity and spare parts are not available from the company. Also you have shotguns which are more effective at close range than this carbine. If you have a ton of 9mm ammo buy a 9mm pistol
(SELL or Decomission)
Ruger 10/22: ammo is cheap buy as much as you want. particulary for cheap practice and small game/vermin.
(Active Status)
Remington 870/Mossberg 500: Both of these guns are 12 gauge, which is good, stock up on a good mixture as guys above have said. Ammo for this is bulky but you have a large selection of different rounds. But definitly buckshott 000 if you can find it, 00 is good too. Slugs are good for longer range shots but you already have rifles it doesn't hurt to have some though. Get plenty of shot for hunting, # 7 1/2 is good for most things and very cheap. Buckshot and slugs aren't cheap, pattern each gun for buckshot and sight in with slug. In other words don't waste the buckshot and slugs at the range.
(Reserve Status)
TOTAL ARMS SUPPORTED:
2 rifles in 7.62x39mm
1 rifle in 7.62x54R
1 rifle in .22 Long Rifle 4 rifles, 3 calibers (2 major)
2 Shotguns in 12 gauge 2 shotguns, 1 gauge (1 major)
Thats not bad at all as far as armament is concerned.
overall ammo would be 2000 7.62x39mm, 1000 7.62x54R, 1000 12 gauge, not a huge ammount but a start and you 4 freinds can be well armed.
STORAGE:
I would have at least a 1000 per rifle for Imediate SHTF defense. More than that is better! But 1000 is a good place to shoot for if you don't have much right now. Buy U.S. .30 caliber ammo cans each one holds 24 7.62x39mm boxes of 20 which eqauls 480 rounds per ammo can. 2-30 caliber cans holds a 1000 rounds of wolf with 2 boxes (40 rounds) to spare. You can shoot the 2 left over boxes as practice. the .50 cal cans hold 36 boxes of 7.62x39mm but have space in the front and are very heavy you can carry one .30 cal can in each hand easily. The nice thing about the .30 cals also is that 480 ronunds is divisible by 30 giving you 16 30 round magazines per ammo can or 48 SKS stripper clips!
Also you can store 7.6x54R ammo in the .30cal cans. 1 .30 cal can holds 11 boxes(220) rounds of Czech silver tips in 20 round boxes. Otherwise buy the spam cans and save them, if you do open some to shoot, you can store the remainder in .30 cal cans. If you do this though color code the .30 cal cans so you don't mix up 7.62x39mm with 7.62x54R when your in a hurry.
For the shotguns I would have 500 rounds per shotgun. Which by the way is 20,25 round boxes! I use .50caliber ammo boxes to store shotgun ammo, which holds 5-25 round boxes and alot of 5 round buckshot or slug boxes. If you can find buckshot in 25 round boxes buy it!!!!!
MAGS, CLIPS, POUCHES:
Now that you have all these arms and ammuntion you need some way to carry it on your person. For the AK 30 round mags are the most plentiful and the cheapest I would stock up on these. I have at least 12 per AK rifle. You may elect to have fewer than that, 12 is alot to carry. I like to have at least 200 rounds of rifle ammo on me when Im on patrol. 7-30 round AK mags=210 rounds. To acheive this you need to carry 6 on your person and 1 in the rifle. Many vest that are available today carry 6 or 8 mags. The russian made TARZAN and M32 are great vests and not to exspensive($100). If you can't swing the 100 for buy 2 East german Mag pouches, each hold 4 AK mags. I suggest setting them up with shoulder straps though they are way to heavy when loaded to carry on a belt and they don't fit on web gear without modification (Unless you have the east german web gear)These ammo pouches are like $5 each or $40 with 4 mags in them! So for $80 you can have 8 mags and two pouches. A good ammount for your MAK-90.
SKS stripper clips, buy 100 round pakage of these ($20 tops) and you have the ability to have 1000 rounds on stripper clips. But don't store it that way it takes up to much space. I use the old tried and true chinese SKS chest pouches. These are $10 or cheaper and they hold 200 rounds of 7.62x39mm on stripper clips.
Mosin clips, I havent seen these in a while but I know one aftermarket company makes them. Most likely stainless steel. Buy many of these but keep in mind they only hold 5 rounds, so you need to carry 40 of them to make up that 200 rounds. I use M1/m14 cotton bandoliers each have 6 pockets and you can carry 2-5 shot clips in each pocket10 rounds in each, for a total of 60 rounds per bandoleer. If you have 3 bandoleer you carry 180 rounds, if you have 4 you carry 240. The guy carrying the mosin though could probably carry a little less as its alot heavier than 7.62x39mm and he presumably is going to only be taking single shots.
Note: ammo conservation is paramount! for both semi-auto shooters and bolt/pump shooters.
lastly the shotgun: For the shotgun I would try to carry at least 100 rounds which is 2-50 round bandoleers, however not the best way to carry shotgun ammo, but you can buy the bandoleers cheaply. The best way I have found Is, if you have U.S. web gear you can fit 25 2 3/4 " shells in each m16 pouch the old canvas type works best, but the nylon ones work too if you cut out the divider straps. 4 of these pouches eqauls 100 rounds and is well distributed by the alice suspenders and pistol belt. Cheap too you can get pistol belt, suspenders and 4 m16 pouches for $20.
Sorry I went on a such a long rant, but I am trying to save you some trouble, the same things I have been going through lately! and If I can pass on any knowledge I have gained then I am extremely happy. Only other thing I can pass on is maybe sell some of the more obsolete stuff and buy a pistol for your own personal defense.
again pardon the length I got a little carried away.
Brother in Arms
What the ..... "OUT!"
