How much target ammo vs HD ammo?

[The War Wagon]

I have a couple dozen range mags (all 7 rounders), and several dozen defensive mags (8 or 10 rounders). You should have enough defensive ammo to reload them ALL at LEAST 5x over.

I do, anyways...

[audiophil2]

I am in the minority of guys that only use ball ammo.
I practice with ball so I know it works. Hp Is inconsistent in reliability to feed.
My ball ammo is fresh. I know guys with hp that is very old.
Every guy that has told me hp Is better has always refused to shoot themselves with my ball loaded guns.

I can go to my range and instantly shoot my carry gun them load it up with the same ammo all day and carry it home with even fresher ammo. None of my carry ammo is more than a week old in my mags.

Hp has better damage but both are lethal. You can't die more with hp.

[heidad01]

"How much target ammo vs HD ammo?"

Well, it depends on how often your home gets looted and/or needs defense from invaders!

Jokes aside, I take it that by "target ammo" you mean just regular ammo and not the bunny fart stuff they use for fast shooting.

I use regular Nato ammo. Those are a bit to alot hotter than the commercial off the shelf, depending on brand.
If it is not marked NATO, they usually skimp on the powder load which gives slower fps with same bullet weights.

I think I have bought a box or two of the so called HD or hollow points. Dont remember ever shooting any because they are 4 to 5 times the price of regular 9mm and .45 acp ammo.

Nato rounds are spec'ed for war, so they will do the job just fine on occasional dirt bags.
Besides, it is easier to keep and shoot one type of ammo and not having to keep up with the super duper stuff that is marketed every other week.

Where you hit the target is what counts in HD, far more effective than using hollow points and just grazing the BG with a mag dump.

[rodralig]

Yes, that is just my defensive HP rounds.

I got late into the game with shotguns, the platform that I am least proficient with...




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[Snoopy47]

I think there several trains of thought on the quantity needed.

1) The amount you need on hand AT THE READY for that bump in the dark. That initial contact short span fire fight. You shoot once and scare them away.

Rounds needed 1 or 2.

2) That bump in the night where you shoot, and they shoot back, and decide to fight it out. Last one standing wins. Now it's not a matter how much you stock pile, it's a matter of how much you have in the gun and and in magazines. You also need to get to a rifle at this point to defeat any drywall concealment they might be using. So now we are talking Combat Load.

3) Just around the corner from us now, the Apocalypse. What you stock pile is all you ever will have, and will never be replaced except by scavenging. In this case, how much money do you have and how much storage space do you have?

Most numbers folks are throwing out there are for scenario #3.

[The War Wagon]

Handgun rounds are fine - RIFLE rounds are better.


Yes, I have LOTS of loaded pistol mags. I have MORE loaded rifle mags. EASILY accessible (to me) too.

[Calif Hunter]

For 9mm, I buy bulk FMJ ammo and lesser amounts of defensive ammo. I have been loading .45 ACP ammo a lot longer and have 1000 handloads with HPs and twice that in FMJ or lead bullets.

Since I passed my .223 varmint rifles and ammo along to my son, I have mostly FMJ with a few lead-free loads for called coyotes with my Mini-14. Probably 1000 rounds of 5.56 FMJ.

[BB1776]

Great thread topic! I have wondered the same thing myself.

For handgun ammo I would say about a 5:1 ratio. I don’t go shooting as often as I would like (mostly because I have to drive so far to get to a range) but I typically shoot at least one mag of the good stuff each time I go out.

[LoadedM333]

My self-defense ammo currently:

9mm- 900-1K, used to have over 1.5K but sold 500 to member here.
10mm-200
.40S&W-300
.45ACP-300
.357mag 100
12g- 60 of 00 buck.

I shoot a mag or two of defense ammo when I go to the range(once a month). Yes, it's very expensive but need to check for proper feed and feel of the ammo.

[BucDan]

.45acp Ball ammo stopped Nazis in WW2. At least that's the justification, which does has credibility.

In the end, any type of ammo will be ok as long as it cycles without issue.

[ds272]

I picked up a couple thousand pulled 9mm 147 grn HST bullets and reloaded them as close to factory specs as possible. I shoot a few each time I go to the range, but specifically shoot them in defensive training classes to mimic the factory loads that I carry.

[LTC-J]

A truck load of factory defensive rounds. I haven't counted in a long while but I'd guess 1k for each caliber of handgun I own. As for regular ammo... many Ks.

Whenever I do training classes, I run at least one mag of defensive rounds through my gun...often 50-100 rounds. Only a fool doesn't run their defensive rounds through their gun periodically to ensure the gun still likes it.

[mikeyr]

I buy 3 boxes of defensive ammo a year, shoot 2 and keep one to use.

The rest of the stuff, I reload as cheap as I can, but I want to function test my HD ammo regularly.

[plumbum]

Ammo?
People have more than one bullet?!

[EuroDriver]

I keep 2 boxes of HD JHP rounds at home and another 2 at the office, plus 2 extra loaded magazines on each HD weapon.
FMJ I hoard up on whenever it is on sale. So in total, I have:

130 rds JHP at home
130 rds JHP at work
~1000 rds FMJ range ammo in various calibers (atm)

I'm just ordinary city folk though. Like Loaded M333, I pick up some extra HD JHP once in a while to cycle through the barrels at the range.