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How much ammo is enough for you?
- Thread starter PaulR
- Start date
What Bfatz closet looked like. And more.
Jsfitzgerald85
NES Member
All the ammo in the world....+1
scatter
NES Member
I have only one more year until I get to quit worrying about which idiotic, incomprehensible Massachusetts laws I might run afoul of at any given time. It can't come soon enough.
As to the OP question, I miraculously maintain my center fire stock at exactly the legal limit of 10K rounds at all times. There's no way I would have any less, and of course I can't have more.
I tried to get it to the right part of the video but couldnt get the video to link up right, thats why i posted the actual link right below it. That movie was hysterical!
Jason Flare
NES Member
Here's something for MA residents:
Legislation was proposed by State Senator James Timilty, chair, Public Safety Committee. He’s filed a bill which would require storage facilities to check for a valid ID, maintain a registry with the renter’s vital information and allow police to have easier access to bins.
The bill would allow LE, without probable cause and with no warrant, to go to any storage facility and demand a list of all tenants.
I don't know what happened to the bill but some of the leadership of the Massachusetts Self Storage Association did not want to speak up for or against this bill because MASSA had an unrelated bill in committee at the state house at the time and did not want to jeopardize that bill.
This was back in February of 2012.
Legislation was proposed by State Senator James Timilty, chair, Public Safety Committee. He’s filed a bill which would require storage facilities to check for a valid ID, maintain a registry with the renter’s vital information and allow police to have easier access to bins.
The bill would allow LE, without probable cause and with no warrant, to go to any storage facility and demand a list of all tenants.
I don't know what happened to the bill but some of the leadership of the Massachusetts Self Storage Association did not want to speak up for or against this bill because MASSA had an unrelated bill in committee at the state house at the time and did not want to jeopardize that bill.
This was back in February of 2012.
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That is really expensive!
I just bought a mega bulk pack, 1000rds of 9mm. I felt guilty. I dont feel so bad after reading this thread.
- Joined
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Seeing noone is bothering to give a reasonable answer, allow me to try.
The answer will depend on a lot of things. At a very bare minimum you should always have on hand the amount of ammo you us in a typical shooting session. If you regularly burn off 300 rounds of .45 at the range then you should have at least 300 rounds of .45 on hand. On the other hand, if you have a .700 Nitro Express rifle that dislocates your shoulder every time you fire it, the minimum number of rounds to have on hand would be "one".
If you're in an area that might be cut off from help in case of a natural disaster, then you should have at at minumum 1000 rounds for your main defensive weapon if it's a semo-auto or 500 rounds if it's a shotgun, in expectation that you'll be out of reach of help for some time. That will last you a long, long time since at most you'd only need to expend a few hundred rounds as the bodies of rioters and looters piled up on your lawn will discourage any future mischief.
That only covers what you normally shoot. If you practice with the cheap ammo but normally load it with defense ammo for home protection, cut the figures above in half and keep that amount of defense ammo on hand. Thus, I keep a box of 25 rounds of 12 gauge bird shot for popping clays and ten rounds of buffered 00 buck for defense.
It's not a good idea to stockpile ammo by the palette, as many people here are aluding to. That's because ammo manufacturers are constantly coming up with new loads and offerings, and you don't want to be stuck with a pile of older ammo when a new and improved load is coming out. I found that out the hard way with all those bricks of .22 LR I squirrelled away.
This is what I myself do. The opinions of those who aspire to have so much ammo they need a forklift to haul it around may differ.
The answer will depend on a lot of things. At a very bare minimum you should always have on hand the amount of ammo you us in a typical shooting session. If you regularly burn off 300 rounds of .45 at the range then you should have at least 300 rounds of .45 on hand. On the other hand, if you have a .700 Nitro Express rifle that dislocates your shoulder every time you fire it, the minimum number of rounds to have on hand would be "one".
If you're in an area that might be cut off from help in case of a natural disaster, then you should have at at minumum 1000 rounds for your main defensive weapon if it's a semo-auto or 500 rounds if it's a shotgun, in expectation that you'll be out of reach of help for some time. That will last you a long, long time since at most you'd only need to expend a few hundred rounds as the bodies of rioters and looters piled up on your lawn will discourage any future mischief.
That only covers what you normally shoot. If you practice with the cheap ammo but normally load it with defense ammo for home protection, cut the figures above in half and keep that amount of defense ammo on hand. Thus, I keep a box of 25 rounds of 12 gauge bird shot for popping clays and ten rounds of buffered 00 buck for defense.
It's not a good idea to stockpile ammo by the palette, as many people here are aluding to. That's because ammo manufacturers are constantly coming up with new loads and offerings, and you don't want to be stuck with a pile of older ammo when a new and improved load is coming out. I found that out the hard way with all those bricks of .22 LR I squirrelled away.
This is what I myself do. The opinions of those who aspire to have so much ammo they need a forklift to haul it around may differ.
This.
Asking "how much ammo is enough" is kind of like asking "how much nookie is enough?"
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Golddiggie
NES Member
Then you're in the system for having a lot of ammo/mats on hand.
GM-GUY
NES Member
View attachment Bullet list.pdf
This is my list - I use it to be sure not to get too carried away on my ammo purchases - a lot easier than looking thru ammo boxes for a count.
It's an Excel sheet that I made into a PDF for posting.
It auto-calcs for me, the numbers at the bottom are totals of Rimfire, Centerfire and Shotgun, the numbers to the right are what I would like to get to round it out when money, availability and qty remaining allow.
This is my list - I use it to be sure not to get too carried away on my ammo purchases - a lot easier than looking thru ammo boxes for a count.
It's an Excel sheet that I made into a PDF for posting.
It auto-calcs for me, the numbers at the bottom are totals of Rimfire, Centerfire and Shotgun, the numbers to the right are what I would like to get to round it out when money, availability and qty remaining allow.
Currently I have 1K+ .223; 1k+ 5.56; ~700 45 SCP; ~800 9mm; 300 12ga; ~200 7.62x39; ~200 .30-06 Ball. Last year before the craziness I was lucky enough to have about 1500 rounds of 9mm, which was not very much since during practice and competition I was shooting about 300 rounds a month. But due to family issues and changing responsibilities I wasn't able to shoot regularly again until this summer. But in between I was still able to shoot with that small stock. I like to have enough so I can shoot for fun for a couple of months and not have to go buy ammo if I am busy. I am rethinking time frames and will slowly start stocking more and figuring out how to make room for more.
I don't expect any technological advances in 7.62x54R or 7.62x39 (or even 5.56) any time soon, so I don't expect pallets of those calibers will become obsolete. The rounds that this may apply to are more likely hunting or PD ammo, which are too expensive to buy by the 1,000.
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I have always told my wife when asked this question i would like a stockpile of 2,000 rounds of every caliber for every gun, so if i had 3 guns that shot 9mm I would wants 6,000 rounds then another 6,000 of ammo that would be for general range use
Sorry, but this is kinda bogus. For practice ammo (the stuff you're going to use the most of) things aren't going to change much. Not to mention, for some platforms it's pretty much all you're going to feed the gun anyways. For example, if you have Garands, not having a crap ton of Korean or Greek surplus is just insane cost wise. Same thing with types like M193, M855 ball, etc.
Even people who laid in cases of crap like the original Hydrashoks or Win Silvertips aren't suffering a huge loss... that stuff is kinda worthless for
carry now but even from 20 yrs ago it's still good enough for practice ammo.... so it's not really a huge downside. It still goes bang, it still puts holes in things. Can't beat that.
-Mike
Garys
NES Member
This. I buy as much as I can afford at any one time. Right now, I'm looking for 9mm target ammo. I'd like 500, but would take 1,000 if I could find it at the right prices.
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