Ammo Stockpile Question

[Josey Wales]

How much lighter are the aluminum caseslike the ones on the Blazers ?

Is it worth carrying those in place of the heavier brass rounds ?

I for one would not shoot steel cased if there is a SHTF situation. You had better hope you have the parts (eg:extractor claw) to replace it if yours goes south.

 

[zombiehunter]

How much lighter are the aluminum caseslike the ones on the Blazers ?

Is it worth carrying those in place of the heavier brass rounds ?

I for one would not shoot steel cased if there is a SHTF situation. You had better hope you have the parts (eg:extractor claw) to replace it if yours goes south.

If you're stocking for SHTF and don't have these spare parts, you're doing it wrong.

 

[OH IT'S KINO]

I don't want to hijack this thread, but I have a question along the same lines.

To answer the OP, I'm mainly concentrating on stocking up on my brass cased 9mm ammo, for use in my handguns and soon-to-have 9mm AR. I have a ton of 22lr and I plan on increasing it, and I plan to start stockpiling my .223/5.56 soon. I buy 12ga rounds less frequently but have a small stockpile. I don't buy anything I consider less than 99.999999% reliable (basically no steelcased stuff).

I was wondering if people just bought the most reasonably priced relibable ammo for SHTF, or if they splurged a little bit and bought better defensive ammo. My thoughts mainly go towards 115gr vs 147gr and/or FMJ vs HP (talking about 9mm). I'd be interested to hear y'alls thoughts.

 

[Jstevens56]

I've just started my stockpile. For the most part I have federal brass for my 9mm handgun as well as a little bit of hollow points in various brands. I have various .22, stuff is cheap enough that I don't mind paying a premium. My 12 gauge I have sporting loads but plan to start stocking slugs. As far as steel case goes I refuse to shoot it in my glock, doesn't run as smooth as brass IMHO. When I get my AR I may or may not run steel in that.

 

[zombiehunter]

I don't want to hijack this thread, but I have a question along the same lines.

To answer the OP, I'm mainly concentrating on stocking up on my brass cased 9mm ammo, for use in my handguns and soon-to-have 9mm AR. I have a ton of 22lr and I plan on increasing it, and I plan to start stockpiling my .223/5.56 soon. I buy 12ga rounds less frequently but have a small stockpile. I don't buy anything I consider less than 99.999999% reliable (basically no steelcased stuff).

I was wondering if people just bought the most reasonably priced relibable ammo for SHTF, or if they splurged a little bit and bought better defensive ammo. My thoughts mainly go towards 115gr vs 147gr and/or FMJ vs HP (talking about 9mm). I'd be interested to hear y'alls thoughts.

Valid points/questions. I stock whatever I find/can afford. I have hundreds of rounds of brass pistol stuff mostly because it's all I could find when I started (Obama '08). Now that it's more reasonable I experiment. I've found that my guns shoot the "crappy" steel stuff 100%, unless I do something dumb like not lube or clean my middle of the road AR for 300 rounds then it will start hiccuping. That's more then gun than the ammo IMO.

If you ever need to shoot at someone I really doubt 32gr is going to make much difference one way or the other. If you're not firing suppressed then I'd stay with whatever you shoot regularly and KNOW where it's going to go. If you're shooting suppressed then go with the subsonic 147gr ammo.

As for the .22lr, if you can carry all your .22lr you don't have enough. I have 2 .50cal ammo cans that are full of it and then every other box of mixed ammo has at least a brick and then 50 round boxes filling in any holes. You can EASILY fit 5k into a .50cal can, this stuff is going to be worth its weight in gold/silver should anything big and bad ever actually happen. You're going to use it to train, teach, plink (boredom will still happen), hunt small game, and barter. Think of how many thousands of rounds you've put through any of your centerfire guns and then think about how you won't be able to do that after the SHTF. You're going to have family, friends and neighbors that you didn't expect to have to train or teach and you're going to need probably 1500-2000 rounds for each one just to get them acceptable with a rifle and handgun.

Also, don't discount it in a firefight. If you're wife is picking off squirrels with head shots, that .22lr is going to put one hell of a cramp in someone's day

 

[OH IT'S KINO]

^ Good call. That makes sense.

I think I'm just going to stick with what's (more) readily available. I probably WILL store subsonic 9mm ammo, for potential surpressed use, but I'm not going to worry about FMJ vs HP. In my mind, a bullet is better than no bullet if SHTF, and I'd rather have twice as many of them. Sounds like I'm going to stick with 147gr 9mm FMJ, .223/5.56, some 12ga, and a BOATLOAD of 22lr. I've already got about 10k rounds... want to go for 100k.

 

[Jstevens56]

100,000!? I would say you can never have too many rounds but 100,000? Looks like you are going to be a retailer after SHTF. Haha

 

[Inigoes]

100,000!? I would say you can never have too many rounds but 100,000? Looks like you are going to be a retailer after SHTF. Haha

what's in a number?

Better to have, than not need

than need, and not have

 

[jmcgonig]

I'd go with quality. If you are truly talking SHTF and you think you are going to need hundreds/thousands of rounds to defend yourself you probably won't be alive that long IMHO. Now if you are talking 22 for small game or other hunting go at it. I'm just thinking that if SHTF I certainly don't want to be involved in a daily gun battle.

 

[matt.ruszala]

I'd go with quality. If you are truly talking SHTF and you think you are going to need hundreds/thousands of rounds to defend yourself you probably won't be alive that long IMHO. Now if you are talking 22 for small game or other hunting go at it. I'm just thinking that if SHTF I certainly don't want to be involved in a daily gun battle.

Good point. I think I'll follow that lead. I'm getting defensive weapons together. I'll have to get a good .22 for hunting if the SHTF. I guess it would be best to buy the best for the .22 ammo.

 

[Indiana Jones]

As far as extra parts, do you guys recommend just extractors and small parts, or entire new BCGs? I guess I can order the small parts of the bolt online?

 

[Jimbob2.0]

As far as extra parts, do you guys recommend just extractors and small parts, or entire new BCGs? I guess I can order the small parts of the bolt online?

I would get a couple extra LPKs, small bolt components etc and just get an extra upper. I plan to archive an extra upper and a couple extra barrels, not for SHTF just for politics since its not impossible for me to wear out an AR barrel in a year or two.

 

[retrorichard]

I keep about 1.5k of 5.56 and same for 308. I reload so i have the material to make more.

 

[Name Taken]

I have a spare BCG I keep as well as firing pin and retaining pins for my AR.

For what I consider my major defense calibers I'm trying to aquire two firearms in those calibers.

 

[Inigoes]

Just contact lx1x, he reloads

 

[Indiana Jones]

So it's as simple as dropping in a new component or BCG? It doesn't matter if the BCG is new and the gun is pretty used? Just confused, once I had a guy say that you can't swap BCGs from one gun to another. Any truth to that?

 

[lx1x]

Just contact lx1x, he reloads

lol, i do but the problem is, i shoot more faster than i can reload. . i do need to start stocking up.

 

[MauiWowie]

I don't buy spare parts for my AR's I have spare AR's for my AR's

 

[lx1x]

I don't buy spare parts for my AR's I have spare AR's for my AR's

lol smart man!

 

[Gaius Baltar]

if you know how much you have, then you don't have enough... )

first, buy what you can afford. some members can afford large purchases, and others buy a box of ammo, here and there.

second, KNOW what to feed your firearms. doesn't make much sense to have a stockpile of ammo that makes your gun choke (no pun).

third, fmj vs jhp. this is tricky because i have both, and prefer to use jhp in my handguns, and both for my carbines (9mm and .40). if you shop around, the price difference isn't that much, unless you buying the top notch stuff (which is usually 20ds or <).

finally, try to focus on your "primary firearms" if you are stockpiling. imo, it doesn't make much sense to focus on your fun gun(s).

++++also, remember one is none, and two is one, when it comes to this.