outlander,

I do not stock any ammo for something I do not have. What I do is have all of my firearms in calibers that are readily accessible and easy to find. If SHTF goes TEOTWAIKI and I have to scavenge for ammo, I can find it easily. I won't list some of my scavenging ideas here, but I do have some that would not be considered common, normal or would be normally thought of.

IMO, stocking ammo you won't be able to use is just a waste of space and added weight. Face it, ammo is heavy, and with the stocks I keep for my guns, my load is heavy enough.

_________________
Hope for the best, but plan for the worst.

NRA Certified Instructor for Basic Handgun and Personal protection in the Home.
V.F.W. Life Member
NRA Member
U.S. Army Veteran

If you are going to stockpile ammo for an emergency, how do you know how much ammo will last
you through the event? What do you use as a guage? Have you ever been in a fire fight? Will
you (under stress) rip through a 30 round mag of ammo and not even realize it? I would recommend
that what ever you feel is adequate.....triple it! And if you can double that! I know that ammo is not
cheap right now, but what is your life worth?

_________________
Retired Navy SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape) Instructor
certified pistol, rifle, shotgun, home defense Instructor
NRA Life Member
Survival & Disaster Preparedness Instructor

Yes I have been in a firefight before, and I know how fast I can burn through ammo.

I keep a minimum of 500 rounds per gun on hand at all times, with enough supplies to reload 5,000 more (when I can get the primers anyhow). This is also why I streamline my caliber choices. My 2 main rifles are 223. With the supplies I have, I can reload for either of these guns. I have preferred reloading recipes that I have worked up for each gun, but they do use common components, and these reloads do work well enough in an emergency to where I can shoot them in either gun. My pistols are 9MM and 38/357. While the bullet diameters are slightly different (.002"), in a pinch, if I ran out of one, I could use what was left of the other to still have ammo for that gun. I know it is not the best thing to do, but it has been tested, and it does work.

With my 22's, I keep 10,000 rounds on hand to feed my 2 rifles and pistol for this caliber. I know it is not the best round in the world, but if I am trying to keep low key, I can get small animals for food and keep noise to a minimum.

My Shotgun is a little different. I only keep 500 rounds for it. To me it is a last resort defense gun that will be used if someone gets too far inside my perimeter. I do keep a mixture of buck shot and game loads in case I would have to use it to hunt.

What I referring to in my last post was not keeping ammo for guns I do not have. Some were talking about using it for barter and trade. I will not do that for two reasons. First, If I am on the move, I will have enough weight to carry without carrying unnecessary, expendable supplies. This applies even if I am traveling in a vehicle. Second, Trading stuff like ammo to someone may just give them the ammo they need to decide to take the rest of your supplies.

_________________
Hope for the best, but plan for the worst.

NRA Certified Instructor for Basic Handgun and Personal protection in the Home.
V.F.W. Life Member
NRA Member
U.S. Army Veteran

Just wanted to add my vote to never trading ammo unless you absolutely/positively know and trust the other party. From my perspective, stockpiling ammo I'll never use for hunting or defense is just wasted money and storage space better suited to other supplies. If you want to add barter items to your storage list, there are a lot of good threads on this site detailing tons of items more suitable for that purpose ... personally don't believe ammo should be one of those items.

I do have tons of brass for calibers i don't have. It was free off the ground at the range or sandpit.
I clean, deprime and bag it by caliber. Some of it can be run through a full length sizing die
to make usable brass for a caliber I do own. The rest is trading material.

_________________
Retired Navy SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape) Instructor
certified pistol, rifle, shotgun, home defense Instructor
NRA Life Member
Survival & Disaster Preparedness Instructor