My 2 cents:

Reload for practicing, stockpile the commericial and surplus.

Right now you can get tremendous deals on 7.62 x 54r and 8mm. Therefore, I also have several Mosin MN91/30's, M44 and M38 (7.62x54r)as well as a Turkish Mauser and a CZ24 in 8mm. I have 3k rounds set aside for the AK's and SKS's but prices has more than doubled for that caliber. .308/.223/9mm/45acp are other standard calibers that should be stocked and reloading components too. And 22's.

Think of all the odd ball calibers that will be laying on the floor in a SHTF situation: 7.62x54r, 9x18, 8mm, 7.62x25mm that you could scoop up and used if you had a weapon that used it. Now I know that your local Wal-Mart won't have these calibers but gun stores and pawn shops have a tendency to buy surplus calibers.

Regular military ammo cans with seals still intact are your best storage option. That is why they were used that way originally. Just make sure to check that seal. You can get just about any size imaginable to store stuff in.

Those 1 pound powder bottles will fit in ammo cans nicely for stockpiling powder. Just keep the primers in a different can, ha-ha.

Defending yourself with reloads is not a good choice. Always keep your home defense weapons loaded with commercial rounds. It will be used against you in a trial. Nothing could be worse than the criminal getting more rights than you because you used a handloaded round and somehow violated his civil rights to be a thug. We all know that anything we make is far more evil than just using a commercially made round. Now, in a SHTF scenario, all bets are off. <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />