Just checked my ammo locker:

5300 rounds of 22 LR
500 rounds .45 ACP
250 rounds of .38 special
600 rounds of 9mm Luger
210 round of .410 shots
150 rounds of 16 gauge

So, am I a lightweight?

500 rounds of 7.62x54R because I can't get to the range enough.

I bet I'm in the 18k-20k range. I often load even though I can't get to the range. I know I recently bought my 20th box of 1,000 primers and then there's all the store-bought crap sitting around. Mostly steel stuff I can't use at the indoor range.

I just got orders of bullets in of 1k in 223, 1k in 44s, 1k in 38 I think have about 15# of various powders.

If you know exactly how many of what you have, you don't have too much.

That's comparable to what I have in most calibers, with the exception of my two milsurp calibers, .30-06 for the M1 Garand (over 1200 rounds) and 7.62x54r for the Mosin-Nagant (800 rounds).

I try to keep more of those on hand because who knows when the supply of cheap surplus ammo will dry up? Also, it has kept safe and sound (I hope) in sealed cans for 40 years, so a few more years shouldn't hurt.

Plus, the cans look cool stacked up in my garage. Like a real Doooooooooomer!

Too little, honest.

A couple of boxes of .45 ACP FMJ, Two boxes of .45 Federal Hydrashok, and about 120 rounds of 7.62x39.

Enough to get out of zombieland in a hurry. There'll enough enough ammo laying around then.

Xela

i keep very little around...just enough to facilitate the next trip to the range or maybe a little more if I stumble on some at a good price.

seriously, what does one say to the fire department if they have a ton of ammunition stored in a house that happens to be burning?

"You guys might want to hang back and let the 50,000 rounds of 5.56 cook off before you go in there."

My stock swings between 0 and 1000 for any given pistol caliber except .38 which swings between 500 and 2000. I usually start loading when I'm getting low on something and then leave the press set up for that caliber until I'm out of empty brass or I really need to load something else. My press is in the living room and i just crank out a couple hundred when I get a free hour.

Rifle stuff generally gets loaded in 20-40 round batches and I rarely have much stocked until I have settled on a load I really like. Even when I'm not doing development, I rarely have more than 100 rounds of any rifle caliber ready to go.

I keep a 1k minimum of each primer size I use and buy powders 8 pounds at a time. 1-2k bullets for each handgun caliber. I buy rifle bullets 500 at a time for target stuff.

I keep 50-100 of each caliber I need, mostly to facilitate the next range trip, and I have to store them in locked containers.

I have a couple pounds of Pyrodex and a couple hundred lead balls of various calibres for the smoke wagons.

I only stock what I need for practice plus a few rounds for self defense. A couple of hundred rounds of each caliber.
A lot of people think that they will need lots of ammunition becuase they think society is headed for ruin and damnation. I'm a little more optimistic about the future. War destroys. Man did not develop civilizations by destruction. They did it in spite of wars.

My fairly large (by my needs and expectations) stock is dictated by my reloading cycle and hazmat and other shipping charges.

If I bought ammo, I'd probably not stock more than couple of boxes.

Xela wrote:Too little, honest.

A couple of boxes of .45 ACP FMJ, Two boxes of .45 Federal Hydrashok, and about 120 rounds of 7.62x39.

Enough to get out of zombieland in a hurry. There'll enough enough ammo laying around then.

Xela

The thing i don't think a lot of people realize is that in zombie land, you can't carry 10,000 rounds of 5.56NATO with you, AND 2000 rounds of 9mm.

Which is why my bug out bag ... well okay I don't have one, I'm a very bad ex boy scout. But if I did it would only have like two or three mags ready to go, with things like fishing line and hooks, knives, a soda can, grain alcohol, and maybe some matches or a flint and striker. Oh and a sharpening stone, a needle and a box of floss. and some rope.

Agreed,which is why I stock rimfire and .410. Easy to carry a lot. Does it work on zombies? I dunno about the .22 but the 000 buck groups pretty nicely and packs a punch from a light pump gun.

All counts are approximate.

Other than .38 wadcutters (500) which no gun store sells.
400 .357 158rg
200 rounds of 9mm + 60 SD crap
200 .380 + 40 SD crap
48 .45 colt.
Some .22's maybe a few hundred.

The range charges too much for ammo.
We hate to buy the same day we shoot on ladies day at the range, so we stock up a bit.
It all fits in 2 very heavy GI ammo cans.

I keep finding 12 gauge shotgun shells and .223 and .762x39.

I Got nothin' to shoot them out of, but the LGC buys used loose ammo.

Also we have 3 106mm recoiless rifle rounds but don't have a 106 to shoot them out of.
2 Pineapples with handles. trip wires, etc.

Edit: Empty Pineapples



1 K-bar for when we are out of ammo.

When all else fails - we have a sharp stick.

I keep less than 1000 rounds of 223, 9mm and 22lr around.

Any more feels unrealistic and borderline crazy paranoid. After all, if SHTF, what are the odds that I will go though 1000 rounds of anything before I get shot down myself? I ignore zombie stupidity, if SHTF and I am shooting at people, they are likely to be shooting back. And just how much can I carry if I have to move? I have about 500 rounds of 223 in bandoliers, the rest in ammo cans. There is only so much I can carry on my body, and cars will not last if things get bad enough that I am shooting a lot (congestion, lack of fuel, conspicuousness, breakdowns, restrictions).

If you plan on fighting the government, just remember that they have unlimited ammo, and weapons that make your
fancy 308 look like a Nerf dart gun.

The only reason that I see for having large amounts of ammo is because you got a really really good deal, or because you have no life and spend all your time reloading.

Too much according to the wife

Depends if I have JUST been shooting or are JUST ABOUT to go shooting. Also, depends on sales/specials. Next time Federal .40 shows-up at my Wal-Mart, I'm buying as many 100 round boxes as I can afford -- it's $4 cheaper per hundred than WWB!

But I'd say about 500 rounds of .22 and 200 to 800 rounds of .40. Since my indoor range doesn't let me shoot anything but FMJ, I usually keep the defensive stuff down to 100 rounds.

My pistols take both calibers and my carbine shoots .40. I hope to get a .22 rifle soon and bump-up my .22 stock accordingly and adding some .22 JHP to the mix.

Awake wrote: ...The only reason that I see for having large amounts of ammo is because you got a really really good deal, or because you have no life and spend all your time reloading.

Reloading is my leisure activity, dammit!!!!

Bucolic wrote:5300 rounds of 22 LR, 500 rounds .45 ACP, 250 rounds of .38 special, 600 rounds of 9mm Luger, 210 round of .410 shots, 150 rounds of 16 gauge

Simmer down wrote:I bet I'm in the 18k-20k range..

So this begs the question:
How do you store it?

Some in cans, the stuff I use a lot, like the 22 target, is shelved. All are in a secure locker in a dry and dehumidified basement. no I won't tell you where I live... ;-)

Simmer down wrote: Reloading is my leisure activity, dammit!!!!

Yep.

I keep my ammo in the kitchen cabinet between the mop closet and the dry goods.

Bucolic wrote:Some in cans, the stuff I use a lot, like the 22 target, is shelved. All are in a secure locker in a dry and dehumidified basement. no I won't tell you where I live... ;-)

as long as you don't live next door, that's cool...or simmer for that matter.

I can just imagine what 75 hundred to 20k rounds going up in a house fire will do....bet it's impressive!

I have some in metal ammo cans, some in 10# bean cans, large coffee cans.

I've read good and bad about the metal ammo cans in a fire. They are saved from ignition or they act like a contained bomb. I haven't read anything about bean cans.

Interesting post. Some of you are as stocked up as the right wingers. Some also handload- might be a lot cheaper if you shoot a lot. As for me, I just stack four or five boxes of 9mm and the same of .38 Special on the second shelf of my fire safe, all that'll fit to the bottom of the top shelf. I don't get to the range that often. Guns are hidden all over the house though. I'm not really paranoid and it's a safe suburb with good police but you never know- we're getting older. The basement is glassblocked and we have two locks including a deadbolt on our steel exit doors- you have to use some common sense. Don't know if a home invasion will ever happen around here (they tend to get executed when they're caught)- this isn't Texas where they even crash through picture windows (!)- but if anything ever happens they're going to get a BIG surprise.

Hey, I work with a guy who has an AK and also a Saiga semiautomatic shotgun with a 20 round drum- he's REALLY prepared!

Best,
Bill in Cleveland

The most ammo I have in one caliber is 30-06 - I bought two 250rnd spam cans when I bought my M1.

Other than that I have a box or two in most of the calibers I use - though not all. Including a bulk box of 500 rounds of .22lr that is probably half empty, I am guessing I have less than 1,000 rounds.

You can never have enough ammo so i don't have enough... but I have enough. I learned to make do with very little ammo, so having some 5,000 rounds (.22lr not counted) I know I am doing about 200 times better than in 1992.