Ok, my wife and I were talking this morning when I said I was gonna hit up Academy and see if there was any ammo available; and here is what we were discussing.

Ammo shortage or not... How much ammo is enough for the average person who shoots for fun (plinking)... competition...self defense...and hunting.

OK...guys and gals, think this one out. Go slow with it.

Here are some of my thoughts.

"MY" 2 go too fire arms are a .22 and a 12 gauge. With those 2 calibers, I can kill any animal in North America, and defend myself and property. Now, I do have others...but I want to focus on just those 2 for the sake of conversation right now if I may.

If my goal is to have enough ammo for ALL of my .22's and 12 ga's , to both hunt with, and use as defense....how much ammo do I need.

Well, if I kill pigs and deer every year for the next 30 years..taking 5 animals a month, average of 3 shot per...misses, follow ups, etc. Thats 15x12 months=180 rounds per year, X 30 years = 5400 slugs.

If I target shoot an average of 100 shots per month, thats 1200 rounds per year X 30 years = 36,000 rounds (mixed slug and shot)

If I take 300 bird,duck,goose,squirrel, per year, times 2 for my misses, ok, maybe 4....thats 1200 rounds of shot per year X 30 years = 36000.

so, barring any shoot outs to defend the homestead....seems to me, that a active hunter might need as much as....

36000 rounds of shot for flyers
36000 rounds of mixed for targets
5400 slugs for bigger animals

Now, thats for 30 years...77,400 rounds of ammo, or about 3100 boxes. slugs can be made from lead shot using molds....so, buying shot shells sounds fine.

What do all of you think about my math? Get you to thinking?

Ok....22lr is easy for me, gimme 2 bricks per month for the rest of my life. 30x12=360X2=720 bricks of .22lr

Any of you ever try to quantify your ammo needs like this? what did you come too?

100 Hundred Billion....



You can never have enough.

Just don't let the MSM know. They think 400 rounds is a stockpile.

There is never enough ammo

+1

I can't quantify it based on exact practices but I feel when I have a minimum of 7500 22LR, 1000 9mm, 1000 .223 and then a couple of hundred each of some odd ball caliber stuff I'm not in the market to buy anything unless it's a heck of a deal.

Clearly no deals out there now and in the near future and in the meantime I'm not buying and not shooting unless they come for mine.

+2.

Just ask Academy.

Im thankful right now that ive got 300 rounds of 7.62x39 150 12 guage shells, 100 .22, and 15 savage 250 lol.

Ill stock up once the crazy is over, but atleast i now have rounds for all my guns.

I never hve enough components on hand to satisfy my handloading goals. Nor do I have enough .22lr or 12 ga to feel I have enough.

I've never heard anyone say "Man I went hunting, shot my limit and was forced to carry ammo home." Like gasoline, having some isn't an issue. Running out can be a huge problem. I like to have at least 5K .22LRs on hand. Every other gun at the very least 100 for each one. Not each caliber, each gun.

Maybe we should ask the folks in Syria? They seem to need it right now.

well lets see.
I have about 2000 22.LR -Not enough by the way
1200 .40 rounds might be enough but want more.
600 12 gauge rounds enough for now but need more slugs.
about 300 .308 -need more
and for for my two other rifles 300 win mag and 30-06 less than 100 each caliber.
I have about 250 rounds of .223 want 10K rounds.

I have a friend who wants to have 10-20k rounds of each caliber he has guns for.

Consider barrel wear and maint / repair to the firearms – should be part of the thinking….

never can have too much

If you are a hunter and not a competitive shooter 100 rounds for each caliber rifle should be more than enough. For 22LR maybe 3 to 5 thousand for plinking.For handguns maybe 2-3 hundred each. More than that and you are wasting your money or you are a nut job like the preppers.

While you are at it you guys better start stocking extra barrels, too:

Now, some generalities of useful barrel life, based on factory loaded standard ammo:

.223 Remington (3,000 to 4,000 shots)

22/250 Remington (2500 shots)

.270 Winchester (3,000 shots)

7mm Remington Magnum (1,500 shots)

30/30 Winchester (6,000 + shots) He says "God only knows, never saw one shot out!

30-06 (4,000 to 5,000 shots)

.300 WSM (2,000 shots)

.300 Weatherby (1,000 to 1,500 shots)

.338 Winchester Magnum (2,500 to 3,000 shots)

An interesting side note: gunsmith Melvin Forbes told Petzel he saw something like 3,000 rifles come in for rebarreling, but only found 3 that were actually shot out. The other 2,997 were due to neglect in not cleaning or improper cleaning.

Moral of post - don't overheat the barrel while shooting (should be able to keep hand comfortably grasping barrel), use the slowest powder that provides adequate accuracy, be knowledgeable of proper cleaning techniques and clean when accuracy tails off.

Idiots.

I usuall try to keep 1000 rounds or so. Setup the loader when I run low. This assumes you have the components to be able to load up another 1000. I do not do this for .44 mag though.... shooting 1000 rounds takes me quite a bit longer than when shooting .223!

+3 on never enough!

How long is a piece of string?

Only one correct answer to that questions... MORE. Same answer for guns and magazines as well.

I just wish I could find enough to go shoot my new toy....can't see paying $1 a shot right now when I know this madness will eventually end.

Time to take up reloading...

I have a safe full of .22 rifles, so 5-10K rounds, AT LEAST 1k per caliber, for my semi, 500-1000 rounds of ammo or brass for my bolt, lever guns. AND brass,projos,primers and powder for ALL of my firearms!!! Its not me, but all them hoarders!

After seeing some of the answers on this thread, I decided to start an ammo business.

You can never be too rich or too thin, or have too much ammo.