I keep hearing that but I have yet to see any evidence that this is occuring at all, much less on a widespread basis. It so happens that I mostly use factory ammo in my .45 ACP, but when I carry my Mtn Gun I load my own hard cast Keith-style bullet. If I'm confronted with a threat I'll happily unload the cylinders with a clear conscience. <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

I've heard that .22 LR does not seal as well as centerfire ammo. If I were storing that much I might look into some sort of climate-control system.

Ammo boxes work fine.

Don't get me wrong.....if I had something loaded with only 'reloaded' ammo and a life/limb threat challenged me....I wouldn't hesitate to use them.....I'm just saying that there exists the possibility that you could have a legal problem on your hands. I don't know of any cases where it has actually happened YET.....but you know how sue-happy our legal system is getting.

If factory loads are not available, relaoding supplies will not be available. So either scenario involves stockpiling, and requires a shelter in place plan. Will a survival episode involve expending a lot of ammunition every day, or one round per day for food. i suppose it depends on your choice of survival weapon: a ma deuce has a bigger appetite than a 10-22. Perhaps the best compromise is a firearm you like and as much ammunition as you can comfortably carry, anticipating that you can use the firearm to obtain food, provide security...and to obtain other firearms and ammunition. Or maybe flintlock backup is the right way to go, cuz you can make gun powder (many of us have already, I suspect) cast projectiles and chip flint. a loaded flintlock is lots more useful than an unloaded Uzi. I guess it all depends on your scanario, its duration, and its scope. Remember that Mel Tappan misjudged his firearm-related survival needs.

I suspect that folks who already reload will have a pretty good supply of ammo plus ther reloading supplies. Reloading tends to require some advance planning.

During the crisis is a very poor time to begin learning to reload. But I venture to say that learning reloading is a worthwhile investment in time because it adds depth to the firearms knowlege base you'd have. And, the usual excuse offered for reloading is that it lets you shoot more cheaply. In practice you spend as much money or more on shooting but do a LOT more shooting (which is good).

unimogbert

True, to a point. If you have numerous calibers, stockpiling commercial ammo can take up space. However, if you reload, some of the components, e.g., primers and powder may be used for different calibers. I know it's not always a huge space saver, but here we tend toward numerous small gains adding up to large ones.

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="" />

I agree with you about sticking with the common calibers. I have 0mm and 45 AGP handguns, a 12 g shotgun, and an AR 15 in .223. I have 2000 rounds of .223, 2K in 9mm. several hundred rounds of 45AGP (actually, I have another 1000 rounds, but I found that my XD 45 won't feed it), as around 200 rounds of 00 Buck, and 100 slugs. I'm not done, I intend to have at least 5K rounds of each caliber in defensive ammo. I'm also doing to get a Socom II in .308, which means that's 1 more caliber to stockpile. I will probably add more rifles as I go. I obviously believe that stockpiling is important. But, there may be ammo available that you can use, so having a platform for it doesn't hurt. And, the more ammo you have, puts you in a better position for bartering. Others will want to feed TEIR guns, and won't have prepared.

These are "odd-ball" calibers?? <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Hardly.