How much ammo??

[jbrooks19]

I'm just curious...How much ammo does the average prepper currently have in their stash?

[Slippy]

When you think you have enough ammo, you're not even close! Keep going.

[Denton]

I believe cases of ammo can make very nice furniture.

[1moretoy]

I'm not sure what everyone else has, but if you purchase it with a credit card and pay it off at the end of the month it should help your credit score.:gossip:

[jbrooks19]

When you think you have enough ammo, you're not even close! Keep going.

Slippy!

I'm looking for numbers here my friend.. lol

[1moretoy]

Most aren't gonna say in an open forum.

[jbrooks19]

Thats fine. I will.

400rds of 00Buck 12ga
90rds of 000Buck 12ga
800rds of 7# 12ga
200rds of BB 12ga
50rds of BBB 12ga
1200rds of 55gr .223
50rds of 94gr 9x18mak
900rds of .22LR

I don't understand why a lot of people are scared, shy or whatever about posting answers like this on a public forum?

[1moretoy]

Look at the bottom of the main page where it says x # of members and x # of guests are viewing. Most of those guests aren't really guests.:spy:

[jbrooks19]

Look at the bottom of the main page where it says x # of members and x # of guests are viewing. Most of those guests aren't really guests.:spy:


Oh, well.....In that case. Now that i think about it. I did loose almost all of mine in a boating accident... Except 10 rounds of .22LR

[Slippy]

Slippy!

I'm looking for numbers here my friend.. lol

Seriously, there is no magic number.
What can you store? What is your disposable income situation?

Like smitty or RPD (or another wise old sage) said... "you know you have enough when you stumble upon a case of ammo that you forgot you had."

[Arklatex]

Look at the bottom of the main page where it says x # of members and x # of guests are viewing. Most of those guests aren't really guests.:spy:

The guest viewers can't see the flop house posts can they?

[Nightshade]

watching walking dead makes me think I need more. Also makes me want to get a crossbow

[1moretoy]

The guest viewers can't see the flop house posts can they?

Yes

[Pauls]

I suggest that you have at least three years of ammo. If you use 500 rounds for gun "A" a month then you need to have 18000 rounds for gun "A". Duplicate that for every gun you have.

[Just Sayin']

I can't store ammo worth a crap. I buy it and end up shooting the stuff. That's what it's for, right? I might have a years supply around the house. Maybe that's why I'm always broke.

[Chipper]

Maybe the question should be changed to how long do you expect to live and be able to defend yourself??

[1moretoy]

Ok "guests" Mr. UPS just dropped off another box just for me:squintfingers:

[shootbrownelk]

Look at the bottom of the main page where it says x # of members and x # of guests are viewing. Most of those guests aren't really guests.:spy:

It's more than likely O'bummer & Crazy uncle Joe!

[Arizona Infidel]

The answer to the question is, Not enough.

[omegabrock]

i have maybe 50 rounds .22
20 rounds 12ga
and 60 5.56...but it's only 55 grain

[Ordnance21]

I'm just curious...How much ammo does the average prepper currently have in their stash?
Ok, take what you think is a good number # say 2500 rounds and double it and then double it again and add a little ever month to replace what you shot and you still don't have enough. that's how much I have.

I'm not being a smart a**, I really do have that much. YOU CAN NEVER HAVE TO MUCH AMMO

[RWalls]

I just added 200 rounds of 9mm. Cheap Winchester target 115gr FMJ.

I use to buy ammo all the time till last year. I have a lot of ammo. I don't have enough ammo.

If prices ever get to what I think are "reasonable" I'll buy more to store.

Honestly I don't know how much I got. I know 1,200 rounds will fit in a .50 cal ammo can. I know 3,100 will fit in a 40mm grenade can.

[Kanman]

Most preppers will not tell exact numbers for ammo, just like not tell exact numbers for preps of food and other stuff. Let's just say when you think you might have enough, buy a whole lot more.

[Nightshade]

pay for your ammo in cash...

[machinejjh]

It will never be enough.....

[TJC44]

Must be nice to live in a state where you can just call up, give a cc #, & Mr. UPS delivers.

[Slippy]

Must be nice to live in a state where you can just call up, give a cc #, & Mr. UPS delivers.

That sucks TJ,
What hoops do you have to jump through for ammo?

[Imaexpat2]

Seriously, there is no magic number.
What can you store? What is your disposable income situation?

Like smitty or RPD (or another wise old sage) said... "you know you have enough when you stumble upon a case of ammo that you forgot you had."

I cant agree more with that statement. I try to look at it from the stand point of I have enough commercially loaded ammo and reloading components when I reach a point where barring a long drawn out war, Ill have enough to last the rest of my life time and probably be able to pass on several cases worth to those coming behind me when I am no longer here. I remember too the days of old, not that long ago when a case of 7.62x39 could be had even in California about as cheap as I could buy a couple bricks of 22 rim fire. If I knew then what I know today, I would have ate Ramen Noodle for the rest of the month and bought a pallet of it while the getting was good! My point here is it aint getting any cheaper no matter what caliber is your preferred caliber of choice. There is no better time to score than the present time, right now! Its only going to get more costly, more regulated and harder to come by for any price. Think about this as well...we are now 20 months into the last ammo shortage and 22 rim fire is still hard to come by in bulk packs of 500 rounds and the price has about tripled at a minimum from 2008. Think about that for a while and then ask that question...

That being said, while I often reveal more info about myself and my abilities than I probably should, I will not post the exact numbers of what I have on line ever. What I will say though...is if the LA Riots come to my block, I guarantee you by the time I make it through the first 20 round magazine they will be beating feet looking for a newer, much more lucrative looting grounds that more importantly are much safer to loot, burn and pillage! Cuase my block aint going to be that block anytime in the near future unless you got Close in Air Support or Artillary Support backing you up!


"you know you have enough when you stumble upon a case of ammo that you forgot you had."

That's about the point where you can start thinking about the possibility of you might have enough.

[Inor]

If you combine all of the calibers, I have well more than 10K rounds and well less than 100K rounds, and none of it is more than 2 years old. My rule of thumb is keep on hand what you shoot (or want to shoot) in a 2 year period. The only exception to that rule is .22LR. Buy as much of that as you can find and then look for more.

[Kanman]

That's the problem Inor, finding 22lr anymore. Not an easy thing to do, unless you want to pay an outrageous amount for it, which I refuse to do.


If you combine all of the calibers, I have well more than 10K rounds and well less than 100K rounds, and none of it is more than 2 years old. My rule of thumb is keep on hand what you shoot (or want to shoot) in a 2 year period. The only exception to that rule is .22LR. Buy as much of that as you can find and then look for more.

[Imaexpat2]

Don't let it get you down shipmate, I am right there with you on that! Its pretty depressing I know. But I will wait for it to come down to a more reasonable price before I buy anymore or I will start shooting mild 357 reloads in place of the rim fire. Hellen Keller cant see it...and neither can I!

[Slippy]

That's the problem Inor, finding 22lr anymore. Not an easy thing to do, unless you want to pay an outrageous amount for it, which I refuse to do.

I have a different philosophy on .22lr. I cost average and have been doing that for a lot of years. I've posted before about cycling through some boxes of older ammo and cursing the cost differences from yester-year vs. today. That being said, since we keep shooting .22lr...we keep buying.

I have my long term stores and rotate when I can but the real "cost" to me is the "opportunity cost" of not having .22lr to shoot or store.

I've found great deals over the years and also paid more than I ever thought I would in the past year...but we have it.

If it costs me $9 to shoot 100 rounds of CCI .22lr when a few years ago it only cost me $2 so be it. I'm not saying I like to throw money away but the "real cost" of shooting a couple hundred rounds is still pretty damn low.

[jbrooks19]

When you compare the cost of 500rds of .22lr to the cost of 500rds of almost any other caliber it is still by far the cheapest even at $40 or $50 a brick. I don't like the cost but, its still cheaper than any other caliber.

[jbrooks19]

I don't remember when .22lr was $5 a brick like some of you (I'm a young punk) but i do remember getting 2 500rd bricks of CCI Blazer on sale at Dunhams for 2 for $30, man i wish i had bought more.

[Montana Rancher]

I feel the right amount of ammo is the amount it takes to survive your first 2-3 firefights.

If you win, there is extra ammo and firearms you will aquire from the aggressors.

Adding those stores to your own will only grow as you engage and defeat other aggressors.

Of course if you lose, then the point is moot.

My suggestion is to win, not to store ammo. The 2 are not exclusive but not inclusive either.

[dsdmmat]

...........YOU CAN NEVER HAVE TO MUCH AMMO

well there are two cases where you can have too much ammo: 1) you are on fire 2 You are in a sinking boat.

[omegabrock]

I feel the right amount of ammo is the amount it takes to survive your first 2-3 firefights.

If you win, there is extra ammo and firearms you will aquire from the aggressors.

Adding those stores to your own will only grow as you engage and defeat other aggressors.

Of course if you lose, then the point is moot.

My suggestion is to win, not to store ammo. The 2 are not exclusive but not inclusive either.

that's assuming you don't win because they ran out :biggun:

[jbrooks19]

that's assuming you don't win because they ran out :biggun:

That is true.. I say, stock as much as you can afford with out pissing off your wife/significant other.

[Smokin04]

Too easy to answer...

Not enough.

[Just Sayin']

I feel the right amount of ammo is the amount it takes to survive your first 2-3 firefights.

If you win, there is extra ammo and firearms you will aquire from the aggressors.

Adding those stores to your own will only grow as you engage and defeat other aggressors.

Of course if you lose, then the point is moot.

My suggestion is to win, not to store ammo. The 2 are not exclusive but not inclusive either.

MR makes a really good argument here, that you don't have to have a busload of ammo.

Some things that I don't often see mentioned here is the sheer logistics of a lot of ammo. If you have a secure location or bunker, and having to bug out is not in the cards for you, then it won't matter if you've got thousands of rounds squirreled away. On the other hand, if you're like me, and the plan is to stay in until it is no longer tactically safe to do so, then you have to consider the weight of all that ammo versus the rest of the gear, food, etc. that you will be trying to transport with you as you bug out.

My wife has never complained that we have too much ammo, but a reality check came for her when she picked up a 50 cal ammo can that contained 8 bandoliers of 5.56. She had never considered that it weighed that much. Most of my "go" ammo is loaded into the 30 cal Plano plastic ammo containers. Each one contains 2 bandoliers of 5.56, 50-100 rounds of .40 S&W, 20-30 rounds of 12 ga. and however many .22 subsonics I can fit in. Even these are a bit heavy, but also contain enough ammo for the weapons we would be leaving with to keep us in action for a while. Carrying 1 or 2 of these cans is not an excessive load.

When added to the gear and food that we would leave with, it's manageable.

I'm pretty confident that the majority of us are not going to be able to hole up in a bunker or other fortified structure, so I would suggest planning on being able to carry what you need in realistic terms. Otherwise, you'll just end up being a supply depot for someone else.

[Sparkyprep]

I, on the other hand, have no intention of going anywhere. Everything I have worked for, and love is here. I will stand my ground, until something so catastrophic happens that my land is no longer worth fighting for. My plan for survival is here.

[Just Sayin']

I hear you Sparky, and wish that it was at least an option in my case, but it's not, unless I want to be planted here too. I'm not gonna count on the folks coming to do me that honor, so we've planned to be mobile and out of sight as much as possible.

[dsdmmat]

I, on the other hand, have no intention of going anywhere. Everything I have worked for, and love is here. I will stand my ground, until something so catastrophic happens that my land is no longer worth fighting for. My plan for survival is here.

I have a river behind my house and I live in a small village. Most of the neighbors are alright the ones that are not probably won't last very long. There is only one main road and one secondary road that leads to my village so it is quite possible that the avenues of approach can be covered with 3 check points should the need arise. I still think that my plan would be to pack up for my in-laws place and burn everything left behind. Their place is not too far away and it is more easily defendable. With the entire family collapsing on the one property we would be able to hold out and survive better.

[rice paddy daddy]

I don't know how much I have off hand, enough that I keep it out in the barn though. In case the house catches on fire.
I do a written inventory once a year to see what holes in the stock need to be filled.

[Tachammer73]

I don't know how much I have off hand, enough that I keep it out in the barn though. In case the house catches on fire.
I do a written inventory once a year to see what holes in the stock need to be filled.

This raises a very good point, I know that I myself have ammo for different firearms in at least five different locations and other than cursory glances in passing I have no idea how much there actually is in each.

Thanks RPD I need to do an inventory to identify gaps just as you have said

[rice paddy daddy]

This raises a very good point, I know that I myself have ammo for different firearms in at least five different locations and other than cursory glances in passing I have no idea how much there actually is in each.

Thanks RPD I need to do an inventory to identify gaps just as you have said
I stock ammo in 22 different calibers and gauges and have at least one firearm in each. The written inventory is something that comes naturally to me, being a lifetime warehouseman. It's what we do.

[jbrooks19]

I need to add a more common handgun caliber to my inventory. My only handguns right now are in 9x18 and its getting hard to find locally, especially any JHP rounds.

[dsdmmat]

I need to add a more common handgun caliber to my inventory. My only handguns right now are in 9x18 and its getting hard to find locally, especially any JHP rounds.

I found that it was a lot cheaper and more advantagouse to her ability to practice to buy all the stuff to reload my 1st wife's .380.

[ekim]

I need to add a more common handgun caliber to my inventory. My only handguns right now are in 9x18 and its getting hard to find locally, especially any JHP rounds.

I to have a 9X18 handgun but I have other calibers also, but I CC my 9X18. Any more I buy that ammo on line in bulk to cut cost. I just wish I had gone with a regular 9mm instead so I could have a carbine to match though. Trying to decide if I should just sell it and the ammo and go with the 9mm! Maybe then I could justify an Uzi!

[rice paddy daddy]

I need to add a more common handgun caliber to my inventory. My only handguns right now are in 9x18 and its getting hard to find locally, especially any JHP rounds.
Try finding 32-20. I found seven 50 round boxes of Remington 100 grain JSP's at a yard sale and bought them all.
45 Colt is also hard to find, in anything other than a wimp-ass "cowboy load". But my 45 single actions are my favorite of all my handguns. I wouldn't try to concealed carry them, a hog leg with a 7 & 1/2" barrel is hard to hide.