Minimum ammo requirements?

[96thTallarn]

+1 on what elittle posted.

[sclead]

I'm new here so I hope I don't tick anybody off. I think that as far as ammo goes you could not have too much if you filled a warehouse. If things go very off the rails, and it looks more and more like it will one day, very quickly what you have is all that there is going to be. I know we all think that there will some trade or what not out there but I can tell you from what I have seen that it don't work that way. Maybe eventually but when things come apart the first things that folks will be going for is food and guns and ammo.
I will confess that I got around a bit when I was younger, some of it as a shooter. I have been in countries when the government has fallen and all the supply and and power and so on just went away. I can tell you that the really nice couple next door will be the first ones to turn on you when they discover you have food and water. Watched it and it was not pretty.
Now, me, because of my getting around when I was younger have a lot of ammo and kit tucked away. i.e. I have more than 100k of 308 ammo packed in vacuum bags. Yes that's right that is a lot of ammo. But what a saw really drove it home for me. What do I mean? Well if you have some gold and silver tucked away that is a good thing for when things settle down again. But, the things that matter in the short haul, hopefully really short, is clean water, food, and good guns so you can keep that clean water and food. Next you will see as people grown for desperate that those that have held on and are trying to hold on have no use for gold or silver. You can eat it and you can't defend yourself with it. So back to lots of ammo. It will trade for just about anything when things are bad i.e. man trying keep family fed and is out of ammo, what do you think he or she would give for 10 more rounds? It sounds crazy sitting in our nice warm places in our nice safe lives but you don't really believe that either or you would not be on this forum.
So, get some quality guns, learn their wear points and have those replacement parts and after that make a budget and just keep buying ammo. I know there is always limited room. Well here is a hint. 4" pvc pipe with vacuum bags of bullets in it go in the ground or storage really easily.
The point of the vacuum bags is that ammo degrades over time, the bags slow that waaaaay down. In fact a test was done years ago and packed in a vacuum with no air or moisture to get at the ammo they figure it will last for about 100 years.

[rice paddy daddy]

Seven or so years ago I started looking forward toward retirement and living on a fixed income. Every payday I would buy $10-$20 worth of ammo. At age 62 I am still doing it.
I have been shooting and collecting firearms for 50 years and have "a few." I stock ammo in twenty different calibers and gauges. I take an inventory once a year in the fall so I can see my weak areas. I honestly don't know how much I have on hand right now. Not counting 22LR, thousands of rounds, for sure.

[Davar]

The amount of ammo I need depends on how old my son will be when TSHTF. Right now he's pretty little, but if the PAW lasts for say 10yrs I'd need to stock up ammo for him as well. I agree that every weapon needs to have an allowance of training ammo per year. For me this is where casting and reloading comes in handy.

[lungs]

if you don't reload, you are no survivalist. So no storing of much ammo is required, other than a few thousand .22's. The only reason that many .22's are in the "armory" is I buy them by the 5000 rd 'case". If shtf, there will be no practice shooting, because the noise will call in your killers. until then, you can buy all the .22's, and all the reloading components you want, so why bother to have much of it? gold coins are a far, far better place to put money that you won't be needing for 5 years or more. They are far easier to sell, travel with, etc, than guns and ammo are, that much is certain.

[Triple-sod]

if you don't reload, you are no survivalist. So no storing of much ammo is required, other than a few thousand .22's. The only reason that many .22's are in the "armory" is I buy them by the 5000 rd 'case". If shtf, there will be no practice shooting, because the noise will call in your killers. until then, you can buy all the .22's, and all the reloading components you want, so why bother to have much of it? gold coins are a far, far better place to put money that you won't be needing for 5 years or more. They are far easier to sell, travel with, etc, than guns and ammo are, that much is certain.

That

[Klayton]

if you don't reload, you are no survivalist. So no storing of much ammo is required, other than a few thousand .22's. The only reason that many .22's are in the "armory" is I buy them by the 5000 rd 'case". If shtf, there will be no practice shooting, because the noise will call in your killers. until then, you can buy all the .22's, and all the reloading components you want, so why bother to have much of it? gold coins are a far, far better place to put money that you won't be needing for 5 years or more. They are far easier to sell, travel with, etc, than guns and ammo are, that much is certain.

Wait I am not a survivalist because I do not reload??? how does that work out, some sort of unwritten survivalist code I don't know about???

[MustangGal]

Wait I am not a survivalist because I do not reload??? how does that work out, some sort of unwritten survivalist code I don't know about???

I wouldn't worry about it too much lungs and his obnoxious "opinions" didn't go over too well. He is banned, but I bet he is still obnoxious - just not here
.

[Pop_45]

I think reloading will be a valuable asset in the PAW. It would be easier to reuse the case and store the components to make more ammo, then it would be to store the same amount of ammo. However, not being able to reload does not make or break the idea of being prepared.

[Patriot Prepper]

There are many places online that give numbers of how much ammo to store. I was wondering what everyone here thinks. I know/believe that you cannot have too much as the ammo you buy today will cost less than the ammo 5, 10 or 20 years from now. So when you look at it, if you are a regular shooter you are saving money buying today instead of waiting until you need it.

The minimum numbers I keep on hand is/are:

MBR---1000 rounds per rifle
.22 rifle/pistol---2500 rounds
Shotgun---500 rounds per shotgun (mix of varying loads 00 buck, slugs, dove/quail load, etc)
Pistol---500 rounds per pistol (mix of ball and JHP)

Again, these would be minimum numbers. Just wondering what others are thinking.

It's just my opinion but I think you need a lot more.

I suggest as a minimum for the main battle rifle about 10,000 rounds. The .22LR at least 25,000 (it's really cheap). Shotgun at least 5,000 rounds. Handgun at least 2,500 rounds. Keep in mind, if you aim towards those figures, even if you don't quite get there, you will have more than you have now. Always, just do the best you can do. Ammo will be like cash and used for barter.

If nothing ever happens, then you spent more than you needed to. But if the SHTF, the ammo you stock may be the only ammo you ever have. Consider how much ammo you need for a lifetime of survival, then you will start to think the minimums I presented are not that much. Just do the best you can, but don't get caught up into ever believing you have enough. Almost everyone will be running short of something. I think ammo and other supplies are worth more than gold.

[shooter]

Patriot You have got that right!

Just some additional food for thought on shotgun ammo. I currently have more than 1,000 rounds of 12ga for each adult member of the family in slugs and buck shot.

Look at #4 buck to supplement the 00. Most of the standard 2.75 inch 12ga loads hold 9 pellets (.34 dia) of 00 where the same 2.75 inch load of #4 buck has 27 (.24 dia). The 00 buck load weighs 485 gr where the #4 load weighs 567 grains or about 16% more lead. In this part of the country you can find the #4 on clearance once a year.

We have at least 1,000 rounds of regular hunting (6,7,8 shot) for each person in our group. If you are shooting something other than 12ga, these "Other" gages are not as common thus the limited supply now, when SHTF I think they will be VERY hard to come BUY. I have put up 500 rounds of 20ga as "Barter/Trade" material.
We have put back 1,500 rounds of ball and 500 rounds of HP for each of our 1911 pistols, when I purchase an additional case of new ammo the oldest case goes into the "Training" box I have read several other posters are doing the same thing.
Like some others have noted I have no upper limit on 22 LR and have more than 20K on hand. I have 10K in CCI stingers and MiniMags put back, so lately I have been buying what ever "Value Pack" is on sale at the big box store.
Even if you don't own one, I would recomend puting some 380 auto back in the "Trade" bag we went almost a year here in central texas where you could not find ANY 380 for sale, just a thought.

We are putting our focus on ammo for our main battle rifles (MBR) I am putting reloading componets in storage this month, next month it will be more 308. If I had 15K per person in storage I would still buy more of it (We have been blessed and live full time at our retreat) for the same reasons sited by many others before me with rifle ammo I don't think you could ever have to much, UNLESS YOU HAD TO MOVE IT!

Putting ammo up for storage but I would not store more than one basic load out (about 300 rounds) at the expense of training. You Must (IMHO) get at least one professional training course under your belt, and allow enough funding for regular full power training or your stores may not be able to do you much good.

[ComputerGuy]

I have a lot of catching up to do.

[baldsith]

I agree with Patriot Prepper and Patriotic Sheepdog....I have 8k for MBR, 3K for bolt guns, 10k for .22lr, 2500 for MHG and 1500 in shotgun...I need to work on MHG(main handgun) and shotgun. #4 buck is a good addition also ....I think alot of people under estimate the 12 gauge. We have 14inch remingtons with turkey barrels for cruisers. I can personally tell you 100 yard slug shots are accurate. It is a good all purpose weapon and should be considered important in your bag O Tricks. When I first started I had a lot of odd ball cailbers so I traded around to get what I needed. Buying a box or 2 every week or month and eventually you will get there without knowing it and it wont hurt the pocket book!

[errn]

Weeeellllll,
I've read and read and all I've retained is get all the ammo you can afford and can store!

If you reload, so much the better.

Practice as much as you can.

Pray you don't need your preps.

thanks for listening, errr, reading,
don

[protus]

buy cheap,,stack deep errn.