[CA357]

How much is enough? I don't know, but I sure don't want to run out. Ammunition has been referred to as "ballistic wampum", so what are your and your loved ones lives worth? Ultimately, I'd rather have too much.

However, we have stored many other supplies and provisions as well. If things ever get to the point of SHTF, Wal Mart and the Mall will be closed.

[Glasshartt]

You can never have too much ammunition. Unless you live in Massachussetts that is

[jca1]

I have several types of firearms, most of which are hunting /target rifles just for fun and sport. I see these rifles as having little value in a SHTF scenario except for one to take game so I spend no time or money trying to stockpile ammo for these. Many times I have only enough ammo for these rifles to get through one hunting season.

I have two handgun calibers .38 and .45acp
I have 7.62x39 as a SHTF rifle as of now.

I do stock ammo for these. I try to maintain a supply of at least 1000 rounds of each caliber.

Really I think 300-500 rounds of handgun ammo is good and 500-1000 rounds of SHTF rifle rounds is good.

[Shade]

My Defs.

SHTF1 = complete or nearly complete social breakdown.
SHTF2 = Nuclear, Biological or Radiological attack.

Natural disasters are bad and you have to be prepped for them, I live in part
of tornado alley. Survive a few days at the most and help will be coming.
Not really a SHTF situation.

In the 2 senarios your primary weapons should have common calibers, I
expect several of my friends to be showing up on the farm. .223 Remington,
.45 ACP, .308 Winchester, 12 gauge (2-3/4") and .30-06. Sharing of ammo
will be expected. I am stocking components, lead shot is great to stock as it
can always be melted down for bullets, pick powders that can be used in
multiple loads, example Hodgdon Clays shoots well in 12 ga. and .45 ACP.
Varget can be used in all three rifle calibers. Note I said can be used
(safely), not necessarily an ideal powder.

Also in case we have to fight the government, considering the socialistic
bent of the current admin, sharing a common caliber with the enemy is not
a bad thing.

I will add I do not plan on leaving my farm if it happens. "Too much ammo
is not a concern." I have a fair number of well armed friends and family that
will be showing up here. Cattle is here, chickens, and plenty of wild game.

[Recon 173]

If you're not going anywhere, I would say that storing about 3K rounds per caliber would do you for a long, long time. If you reload, you could mix it up a bit with like a couple of thousand rounds of your reloads and a few spam cans of ammo. That way you could have like 5K rounds per caliber which would be quite a lot for storage purposes.

The other side of the coin would be to plan ahead and have ammo stored at several different locations. This would be for people planning to bug out or move to secondary locations. I would say that about 2K rounds at your starting point would be good and at your secondary point I would then go with like 3 or 4K rounds per caliber stored there.

Now keep in mind that what you'll probably want to do is limit yourself to a select number of calibers that you actually use for shooting and maybe a few rounds for other calibers that you store for trading purposes. So you may have ammo for your 9 mm and .45 pistols that you use and you store say 1 or 2K rounds in .38 special that you plan to use for trade purposes. That might be something to consider too. Storing ammo for bartering. So storing ammo can be a good thing depending on how you do it and where you do it.

[bkt]

Originally Posted by falseharmonix

2000 rounds per caliber is fine if you are bugging where the ammo is. But humping 4k, or 6k, or 8k rounds sounds a bit unrealistic to me if you have very far to get to your bug-out location on foot.

Sure, of course. I keep a few thousand rounds at home, and a few thousand rounds at other locations. My bug-out stuff only has a dozen or so loaded mags plus maybe 100 rounds on stripper clips.

I didn't think this was about bugging out, but about stockpiling.

[quigleysharps4570]

Originally Posted by jpattersonnh

30k small rifle primers and .224 bullets, + 30k Large rifle primers and .311 bullets + 300 pounds of powder? (based on an average of 35gr per cartridge for both) Serious?

A lot of powder for sure.
I've 50 lbs. of blackpowder alone, not counting anything else...a fire crosses my mind from time to time. Wouldn't be good.

[spittinfire]

You need the 1k of 45 acp I'm selling.

[Datam]

Enough that you can ensure salvaging plenty more from the field of fire ;-)

[fireguy]

I have about 700 rounds put up for 9mm, good stuff h.p. +1k fmj
Almost 2k in 5.56.
Around 3k in .22
Only a few hundred in .308.
A couple hundred of buck and slugs in 12 ga. and a few hundred bird rounds.
I also have been picking up slugs and buck for the wife's 20 gauge, still working on getting a supply for that.

I won't be satisfied until I get the 5.56 and .308 built up some more.