suggested quantity..

[kihnspiracy]

1K of ammo wouldn't even cover my training regimen. I like to have at least 5K on hand for each caliber. Give up the lattes, fast food, booze and buy ammo everytime it's on sale.

[blankstare]

buy a couple of each time comm rifles and then buy 10x the ammo that you want....it goes up in price and demand with time....

i wish that i had bought cases of russian and chinese sks when they first came out....but the wife said no

[brokedownbiker]

Anyone remember $59. Chinese SKS's? How about $5. Israeli gas masks? I can't tell you which direction ammo prices are going, but it's something we need, something we USE regularly so it's something we watch and buy as the price is right and/or to replace training losses.

$59 SKS's..... ah, the good old days! I bought my first one (Norinco's caked with cosmoline) for $89- took it out, shot it, and went back to buy 2 more. The price had gone up to $125, so I only bought one more; wish I'd bought a half dozen or more.

I'm not sure what the right level of ammo is; I know that I decided on a number and have worked toward the goal. I'm mostly there and now just replace it as I shoot it- reloading some occasionally just to keep in practice (I'm the guy at the range who polices up all my own brass and asks everybody else, "Are you going to keep those empty's?). But if I luck across a good deal (and the budget allows) I add a little more. I'm averaging 200 rds. or so per month on long guns and around the same for handguns, unless I am doing some specific training, then the totals climb to whatever I feel is appropriate to accomplish the goal I set.

Like everything else in our failing economy, ammo prices are unlikely to fall (regardless of who is elected) so the time to buy is now- or as soon as your budget allows.

Buy it, use, and replace it- this applies to all our preps, right?

[xdpatriot]

Man. You guys are really gonna think I'm nuts. If I don't have 1,000 rounds of something, I feel like I don't have any. That being said, I think a person would be ok with 1,000 rnds PER rifle. You have 4 aks? 4,000 rnds. Bolt guns too. Shottys, 500 rnds assorted. Pistols, 1,000 rnds PER pistol. 22s. As much as you can afford. Train with it, practice trigger control. Hunt small game. It's kind like everything else. The question isn't do I have enough, it's is there such a thing as too much? If you can afford it and store it, go for it. In my opinion.

[Not_Yet_Prepped]

I have to aggree with Cimarron.

Ammo is mostly for security, and god willing we will need 0 rounds for that. But extended long term WROL you may end up needing alot. Ammo can be used to abtain food (either by hunting or barter) but I feel that I am most likely better off getting decent with traps and more "rustic" hunting, like a bow/arrow and a sling shot. This way you are not using a very valuable resource that may be hard to come by and is my final/most effective means of self protection.

I dont care how good you are at Hand to Hand, You NEED AMMO. 3 guys with bats/sticks and you are over powered unless you have a functioning firearm.

So get as much as you can while you still get your other supplies. If you have nothing to protect then you dont need protection.

[Cimarron]

Jimmy,
Not counting sport/hunting experience, I have a fraction of "survival" shooting experience that some of our other members have. So my opinion may be naive or inadequate at best.

I look at it like this. In a crisis situation ammo would be as much as a staple item as food and water. Food and water for sustenance and ammo for security (there are other items you would put in this list but I wanted to keep it small for simplicity).

We can get a rough idea on how much food we want to have stored, to meet how much we would need to consume to thrive for XX amount of time. But, we can't realy tell how much security (ammo) we will need. Maybe a little, maybe a lot. Several have mentioned a well rounded supply and you can't go wrong with this. You may not even be shooting your ammo but using it in barter.

Get what you can, when you can get it. You may have to swap back and forth between food stuff and ammo as your budget dictates.

Good Luck.

[Bearman202]

Your bumper is going to be dragging the ground, unless you have some serious shocks under that thing. That, and is ammo the only thing you're taking with you? I want to take at least a tent and a sleeping bag when I head out to the woods for a week, to give the whackos time to finish killing each other before I come back and see what's left of my stuff. An even more relevant question: How long would it take to load up the ammo and guns you plan to take? Granted, you're going to see the whatever coming a bit, because you're paying attention, but still, if you start hauling stuff out to the car, the neighbors will probably notice. Nice trunk, though. <G>

[miked2345]

Hey!!! Your Bug-Out Bag got stolen!!! :cool:

[Spock]

The amount of ammo to have on hand came up today. There are several considerations: The biggie being that if you have to bug out, how are you going to take it with you? That stuff ain't light, right?

[Bearman202]

The amount of ammo to have on hand came up today. There are several considerations: The biggie being that if you have to bug out, how are you going to take it with you? That stuff ain't light, right? The other was that having read several of the Bosnian stories, and noting that every single one of them said they wished they had more ammo, I'm basically falling into the group that says more is better.

I put in an order for another 1k case of 7.62x39 this afternoon. Okay, I may have to abandon it at some point, but the real decision maker for me was the comment by another friend that "if nothing happens, you could always sell it to a gun shop or to an individual." I'm getting it at $5 per box of 20. Higher than it used to be, and it will be eastern bloc steel case stuff, but the rifles that I have don't really care. I think they would load and fire a stick if it was in the right caliber. No, it's not match grade, but I'm not match grade any more either. There are things to be said for spray and pray whilst hot-footing it in the other direction. :-) If nothing else, it will give me a chance to keep the bad guy's heads down while those I care about get away. I was getting within 6" shooting off-hand with this rifle, so that's close enough for my purposes. I have another rifle for sniping, and it's right and tight out further than I can see. Different tools for different jobs, right? I need more ammo for that one, but I'm not sweating bulk for it. Essentially, I'm bulking up on the stuff I'm going to use to get back to the more precision stuff. It just made more sense to do that.

[Spock]

2K is a lot?

OK, I guess we could the little nintendo gun deal like a lot of guard units used to do. That would save some ammo right? Yep, and it reflected in the 20 year veteran that thought a 4" group at 100 yards with a Savage 308 bolt gun and springfield scope was good. Or how about the 11B supposed Ranger that couldn't hit a 1/2 IPSC steel at 50 yards to save his soul? I could tell you some stories my friend...

Their is a whole wide world of shooting and training outside of the relatively narrow realm of what is given in the military. You should experience it.

And yes I did catch the personal SNIPE you made at me and yes it did piss me off. This is not the first time you've pissed people off here, suffice to say chill out or it will be your last ;)

well it would have helped if his rifle was zeroed. but when it was suggested that it needed further adjustments when it shot two inches to left at 25 yards it was declared "good enough".

the notion that one doesn't need to store alot of ammo is frankly.....crazy. The notion that one doesn't need a bunch of ammo for training is....crazy. I have read several posts in this thread and I believe I should throw in my two cents.

No one ever got good at anything by sitting around and doing nothing. It takes practice. alot of practice. the notion of "well that's good enough" has never won competitions or wars.

i started shooting really shooting tactical carbines a few years ago before that I was a pistol shooter. here are some of the things I have learned:

1. Most cops and military personnel are not very good shots. some are excellent. a cop I shot with some years back in IPSC actually won the 3 gun nationals one year. However I have beaten several military shooters on a carbine course both active duty and guard. These were shooters who brought their personal m4geries to the competition, setup up with the same optics and using the gear they use for war. one commented the course of fire was actually more difficult than the combat conditions he had been in Iraq. I beat him. and I did it with an AK with iron sights only. no optics. and I am no where near the cream of the crop among civilian shooters. the cop? he burns 50k+ rounds of ammo a year.

2. cops and military win the gun fights they are in because of training and practice. when your opponent is a gang banger with no training who pulls his "gat" points it in the general direction of his target and fires widely without using any sighting method sometimes while running the opposite direction, the amount of training to over come said adversary is not necessarily "advanced" training. On the military side, when your opponent sprays rounds from his ak full auto with the rear sight set to 10 because he thinks it makes the weapon more power full again the amount of training to be victorious may not be that high. all of the shooters I know who are good, every single one, regardless of profession were good because they practice. Cops, Military, civilian doesn't matter. You could give a trained cop a lorcin and he'll still likely beat a gang banger who has a glock. because training is far far more important than caliber, sighting system, or platform.

3. you cannot count on your adversary sucking. to do so invites disaster.

4. minimal training can burn a lot of ammo. I attended a few Appleseed shoots to get a good grasps of the fundamentals. between 3 Appleseed I ran though 1k rounds of ammo.
a decent one day long training session can burn 500-700 rounds of ammo. do that once every three months and there is 2000-3000 rounds of ammo.

5. if you can't hit a target at 50 yards you won't be hitting one at 500 yards. that's not even debatable.

I'm just speaking from experience.

[1Admin]

Matt brought up elections and shortages.

Guys I can't tell you how many times I'd call friends "Hey Dr. Evil is down at the Shot show, they have pallets of x39 for $70. a case"
Reply- "you getting any?"
"Yeah I told him 10 cases, can't really afford it now but it's a good price."
Reply- "I'll wait, maybe it will drop to $60."

Some time later

"Hey I'm ordering some x39 at $125. a case."
Reply- thought you ordered all that when Evil was at Shot a few years ago?
"Yep, I'm just getting a couple cases to replace training losses. You want some?"
Reply- "No, I'll wait for it to go back to $70. case.
"That's not gonna happen."
Reply- "it might, I'll wait."

Couple years later same guy tells me about paying $375. a case for x39 right after the election.

10 cases at $70. = $700. and boy did it suck to drop that $$$ then.
or
2 case at $375 . each a case at the wrong time?

And I enjoy shooting and have a home range not 400 yards from the house.

Anyone remember $59. Chinese SKS's? How about $5. Israeli gas masks? I can't tell you which direction ammo prices are going, but it's something we need, something we USE regularly so it's something we watch and buy as the price is right and/or to replace training losses.

[Irish-Tech]

I think i missed the party.

Jimmy. 1000 of each you will use to kill "zombies" and 2000 of the .22 for hunting small game and such. You really shouldn't ever need that much but if they tax bullets into extinction or PAW hits then it would be nice to have around. ammo can be a barter/black market item in a PAW environment, why not be ready, you can always buy more and shoot the old stuff.

[1Admin]

I'll leave it up to the original poster if he'd like the thread locked. I could care less either way and the interaction between "the Sandman" and others here is officially over ;)

[jimmycthemd]

More levity in an attempt to stall the meltdown,,, NOOOOOooooooo, My LTS dehydrated crackers are - - - Soylent Greeeeeeeenn

Hard tack with some ground spinach or collard greens....pass 'em out and watch the reaction LOL