quote:

Originally posted by cslinger:
You can never have too much ammo.....until you have to move.

Back in my relative youth, I subscribed to this. Then I had to move. With a medical weight restriction on how much I could lift. Try lifting with a 25# restriction, and then humping it up narrow stairs. Ug.

There are practical limitations too. Where are you going to store it mid-move? And how are you going to store it? Label it without giving away what's inside?

Its easy to preach how much you should have. Or would like to have. Its another to find it at reasonable prices. If you read some of the suggestions here, you're probably well over $50,000 and maybe approaching $100,000. To reach that level, it takes years and years of looking and buying. That maybe doesn't make much sense to the guy with car payments, house payments, and trying to save to retire. Don't leave out the wife bitching, which they do quite well. Might be hard to justify all that dead weight. (not the wife, the ammo).

OK, so you really do need a man cave. Think Mammoth Cave. I have friends who consider reloads akin to witchcraft. They can't believe it when a round actually fires, and they seek to hide behind something, fearing the round and the gun will explode. Of course they don't subscribe to the round counts others here are suggesting. Due to financial constraints.

So its easy to come to the point where you settle into the idea where the numbers that are right for you is a personal thing.

And then when it comes to reloading, most of us have given up on numbers. Sort of. We know, for instance, 9mm come 50 to a box (or if you're extravagant, 25). I have moved past that and don't even consider those storage forms. I reload. Sometimes in (to me), huge quantities. I don't even know how many 9mm rounds fit in a .50 cal box. If anyone knows, please post it here.

Anyway, from reloading multiple cans, I'm guessing 1,000 rounds before the can becomes too heavy. I've not considered the possibility of damage from crushing weight. Now most of it may be aging to the point where it will become unusable. The oldest cans are 25 years old now. Its why I love the posts where some member here or someplace else asks how often they need to rotate their defense ammo out. Its maybe 3 years old and they fear its like milk or eggs and unreliable or spoiled.

And I am a collector of all things. The not so nice term is hoarder, and I do hoard gun related stuff. And when I see a farm sale with ammo, I just buy any in calibers I have. Notice I didn't say shoot. Grumpy old coots (member here) just ignore anything that upsets the more dainty among us.

There was a time when a well stocked closet had several boxes of shotgun shells (of each shot size) along with a few boxes of rifle ammo. Those days are pretty much frowned upon by guys here. Well, I've got bad news for people. A box of 20 centerfire ammo, like .30-30 now costs about $40. Thats like $2 a shot. So sit back and distill out the guy suggesting 1,000 rounds is really telling you to invest $2000 in ammo for just that one gun.

I'll stop now.

quote:

Originally posted by cslinger:
You can never have too much ammo.....until you have to move.

Or hump it uphill, or you're on fire, or need to swim with it.

For me - 1,000 - 1,500 rounds per semi auto caliber.

For my family and friends - still working on it.

quote:

Originally posted by rburg:



... A box of 20 centerfire ammo, like .30-30 now costs about $40. Thats like $2 a shot. So sit back and distill out the guy suggesting 1,000 rounds is really telling you to invest $2000 in ammo for just that one gun.

I'll stop now.

you're doing it wrong

https://www.sgammo.com/product...50-grain-ammo-x30306

https://www.sgammo.com/product...t-fiocchi-ammo-3030b



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I think guys like to horde ammo because it is easy. Staying physically fit, attending advanced firearms training, and other types prepardness would in all likelihood have a higher return if you were put in a situation that excess ammo mattered. That said, if hard times were to come, I think ammo would quickly become a source of currency. Once the balloon goes up, you would not likely be able to get more without just taking it. I could see where it would be more valuable than gold. So where or not you can hump a 1k rounds of 5.56 would not be the limiting factor. Keeping it secure might be an issue, assuming you can, I think the more ammo you can squirrel away and keep rotated without the kids eating Top Roman the better.

What KSSS said. I have enough for 5-7 years, but right now I am buying defense type ammo when I find it cheapest. .22LR and .22WMR are very high on the stock up list. I particularly like the .22WMR, both for hunting and defense, one can carry and stash a lot of it in a small space.
I have excellent rifles and handguns in both as well as the seemingly obligatory .223/5.56mm and 9mm. I also stock 45/70 and .357 SIG (really a souped up 9mm).
The 45/70 is a very flexible round, it is also the only one I reload for. I can make a round that bangs less than a .22 or will stop any animal anywhere-or be used as an anti material round, yes I have a stock of those types of bullets also.
For personal SD or HD it is unlikely that you will be defending a mass attack with rapid mass fire, better IMHO to be able to pick off an attacker at very long range, that will discourage most group attacks.

Having multiple calibers of firearms is a nice safety measure for when you might have to get by with ammo that won't go bang in a 9mm or a 5.56. I have been fond of the Glock conversion barrels, for just that reason. A $300 .40 Glock with a $100 9mm conversion barrel and a $100 .357 Sig barrel is a good investment. "Options are good" is what the Obama years taught me. Shoot what is available and cheap.

Bruce

quote:

Originally posted by ruger357:
50,000 practice rounds and 25,000 defensive rounds.

Did you put a common in the wrong spot. Do you actually have 25k rounds of defensive ammo sitting at home or what you wish you had? That would be $15,000 worth of gold dot 9mm.

they say to invest in precious metals. well I have , lead, copper and brass! I have a lil over 94k rounds from .22 to 5.56 to 7.62

It depends what is important to you.

Nobody should put their financial situation at risk by stocking ammo; some of us have the means and desire to stock up deep, especially since ammo prices never seem to go down.

My ideal stash is 10K x 556 / 9MM, 5K x 308, 20K x 22LR, and then 1-2K of the 'others' (45/38 for me). Mix of legit just practice ammo and some other milspec M193/M80, etc.

For 'defensive ammo', I like 500-1000 on hand at any one time; when I hit 500 it's time to buy another 1-2 cases.

Not included is numerous loaded AR15 / SCAR 17 / Glock pistol mags - those are loaded and left alone, kinda like a fire extinguisher. Use only if you need to.

9mm i keep around 2k.

40, 357 sig i keep around 500 rounds.

.308 i keep around 1000 rounds.

223/556 I have 3k.

I have 10k in 22lr. I don't even own a 22. Picked up a bunch while i was looking for 9mm and 556 during the Obama admin war on gun owners. Thinking about buying a Ruger precision 22 to fill the empty 22 spot in the safe.

I buy a box or two every payday so i am storing ammo more than i am shooting it.

I kind of went a bit overboard with ammo stocking up a few years back. I now cap it at 2-3k for my AR, M1 carbine, as well as 9mm and 45. With three 9mm's I probably should pick up another 1-2 k. But I only have one 45 now so I'm likely done buying for many years. I also have 5-6k of 22LR and only go through about 1k per year.

Just don’t brag to your friends and neighbors when you achieve the proper inventory.