Arg! How much ammo is enough?

[sawchain]

If management of the stockpile interferes with your ability to shoot it, you have enough ammo.

(Why does this sound like a "you might be a redneck" joke?)

[chris]

it depends as others have said. well you if SHTF you can only carry so much and so far. so think that way.

you can think what the military considers a basic load out. now some guys including myself carry a little more than that.

basic load for M4/M16 is 210 rds. 7 magazines. if you have a pistol i'm not too sure since i don't get one. so you could carry 4 to 5 magazines including the one on the pistol. maybe some back up ammo in your pack again weight will dictate on what and how much you carry.

but i have ammo for ranges/classes and i have some for OH SH*T and it is about a basic load on my IBA that i can carry with plates in.

get what you can afford in small increments or save for the gun show and buy in bulk and of course what you can afford at the time.

[rob1105]

just 1 box per person per lifetime that's it no more. The rest of it goes to ME HAHAHAHAHA NO MORE AMMO FOR YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[EchoFourTango]

If you can shoot all in a day with 5 loads left over, then you have enough and can let other people enjoy their hobby as well. Come on people, stop thinking that with a million rounds that one or 3 people can hold off dozens more indefinitly. It just does not work when there are no laws.

[xenophobe]

If it would take you more than a half hour to, lets say, take all the ammo out of your area and put it in a vehicle. Or if said vehicle's suspension collapses... at that point, you have enough ammo.

[Trojan Bayonet]

No matter how much ammo you have, you don't have enough ammo for you and me! Therefore you'll never have enough ammo.

[cmichini]

No such thing as too much ammo.

There's enough ammo for right now, but you'll always need more and there is no TOO much.

[NoJoke]

If it would take you more than a half hour to, lets say, take all the ammo out of your area and put it in a vehicle. Or if said vehicle's suspension collapses... at that point, you have enough ammo.

Then that would beg the question of appropriate bug out vehicles.

I keep my 3500 "gassed" up at all times!

[IGOTDIRT4U]

How much do you shoot?
Do you shoot just for grins and giggles? Or do you shoot to earnestly practice? Do you need full-strength ammo for practice?

I figured that I needed approximately 1,000 per gun to feel "comfortable". That means for some calibers - .45, .38, 9mm, .223 - I'd need several thousand rounds. That's the "base line" stockpile. Some calibers I can stock less of because they are less likely to be heavily used - .44 Mag, .32 Long, .380 ACP, etc. A few hundred of each (250-500) suffices.
Last time I inventoried, "The pile" was 28k rounds, much of that FMJ for practice and SHTF. Hunting/defense ammo is stored separately from FMJ.
YMMV.

Sounds like my stash. Odd balls and specialty ammo, maybe 1-2K each. Hunting or high quality target ammo, same.

All others, eh, can't say. DOJ reads this board...

[Eljay]

Let's put it this way, if you have, say, a year's supply, and in six months it doesn't like there's a repeal happening, you need to start looking into a) reloading, b) road trips to Nevada, c) The C&R/COE exemption, d) sucking it up and buying whatever ammo you can find locally at whatever prices (in no particular order). If you have a two year supply you can give it at least a year before worrying about it.