Ammo Stockpile

Until recently I have been focusing efforts and money towards food stores, general gear, etc. Now it's time for me to take a serious look at having the ammo to defend my supplies from those who may be less prepared and most inclined to try and steal mine.

So, for those of you who stockpile ammo for your handguns (I have the long guns taken care of already) what type of ammo do you stockpile FMJ or JHP? Also any tips of retailers that can help make this part of my orverall plan cost effective?

Have some of both on hand, and stay away from Wal-Mart and Acadamey sports for your ammo. They have good prices at times but the quality is inferior. I have been told by a supplier who says the manufacturers save money when selling to them by cutting powder. I don't know if thats true or not but I have more misfires when using ammo from them.

Stock whatever shoots the best. If you want the best price, reload.

My stock of 'good' (read: expensive) ammo is fairly thin. I've got a couple of boxes of Cor-Bon DPX for my .45 in addition to my carry ammo. However, I buy practice/plinking ammo in bulk, so I've usually got quite a few rounds of FMJ .45 and .223. At the moment, actually, I've got over 1000 of .45 and 500+ .223 since I just stocked up, but as time goes by that'll dwindle to a few hundred of each before I feel the need to buy another case.

If the SHTF, I wouldn't feel undergunned shooting ball in either of these calibers. The 55 grain .223 FMJ fragments and does some serious damage and .45 ball is a reasonably good stopper. Pretty much any military rifle caliber is going to be effective, even shooting ball (since that's what they're designed for, after all). Pistol calibers are another matter. I wouldn't feel confident shooting ball ammo out of anything smaller than a .45. There are quite a few failure-to-stop stories with 9mm ball coming out Iraq and Afghanistan. These smaller calibers really need JHP to be effective.

A bigger stockpile of DPX for both guns is on my list, but it's pretty pricey.

You might try Streichers. They carry all the Federal Tactical goodies at reasonable prices. I stocked up a while back and they were as cheap as anyone else I was aware of. The bad news is that prices have gone WAY up since I bought from them.

http://www.streichers.com/ProductList.as...;s=ItemPriceASC

I would recommend you spend some time in whatever gun shop in your area has a good reputation. Make some small talk with the owner or manager if possible. Don't expect the 18 year old part time help to have a vast experience base. Try to have the discussion with someone that actually has a significant interest in long term storage.

You are trying to learn and get some recommendations that actually work! You don't have to learn the hard way. The inexperienced clerk might, for example, recommend that you get into reloading to save money. The fact that the brand:model of handgun you have is known to be unreliable and unsafe with reloads will not be in his experience base.

The inexperienced BIG BOX clerk may knee jerk to "WOLF BRAND" ammunition because you used the "CHEAP" word. The fact that it may ruin your weapon is not of his concern. HE DOESN'T HAVE ONE!

Think about your questions carefully. Ask the question that will get you the information you are looking for.

i.e. - "...what type of ammo do you stockpile FMJ or JHP?..." My answer to this is - BOTH! My magazine for a bear in the tent has FMJ:JHP:FMJ:JHP:FMJ:JHP.................. My magazines for the next time someone hollers "HOLDUP" is Federal Hydroshok.

JHP - expansion, shock, damage
FMJ - penetration

I always equate ammunitions and defensive firearms to parachutes, brakes and heart surgeons - don't use a CHEAP one! If you ask for a CHEAP parachute, don't be surprised by what you get.

Now that you have the ammunition, storage is your next topic of interest. Ask your new friend about humidity, corrosion, chemical vapor, temperature and vibration.

Discussing one's stockpiles (of any kind) in public, as the internet is, is akin to discussing the amount of gold coin one has sewn into the cuffs of your shirt-tails whilst upon a pirate ship.

That analogy eludes me.

I visualize a 60 year old Marine fondling an M204 while gleaming over an M60. He sits on the upper deck of the recently boarded pirate ship. He is surrounded with a cache of black tipped belts of 7.62x51(Black Gold). His reputation precedes him. No one takes his gold.

I don't think gatormba was exactly revealing the location of some gigantic treasure. I find it hard to imagine someone tracking him down so that in the event of a SHTF they can drive across the state/country to try and grab 500 rounds of 45 ACP.

The folks known to be in possession of 500 rounds each of .45 ACP and 7.62 would be the exact ones that I would leave alone during SHTF.

Exactly, I was simply wondering what type of ammo people accumulate for the situation, not necesarily how much a person has.

And I agree completely...those people I know that have ammo are the ones that I will be avoiding...they have the ammo for a reason and I don't want to be that reason!

The folks announcing that they have an "arsenal" are the ones who will find their arsenal attracting attention. Suffice it to say that although I post here under my real name, don't assume for a moment that your alias in any way protects your anonymity. All I'm saying is that the internet is PUBLIC and what you "say" on the internet is equivalent to standing up at a town meeting and saying it out loud. YOU might think it's a great idea to announce your armaments and so forth, I can assure you that there are many people who would take your announcement as a threat. I personally think that's idiotic, but there ya go.

The idea that anyone would go to the trouble of tracking down someone on the internet for a few hundred bucks worth of ammo is, quite frankly, ludicrous. I think you're being paranoid.

Let me put this another way. It's not about the ammo.

Let's imagine a guy named "Joe" wants to run for the school board.
Let's imagine that "Joe" is running for a seat held by by "Bob" and the campaign runs ugly. Happens all the time, in communities of all sizes.

Now, folks in Bob's camp start looking for something - anything - that they can use to make Joe's campaign fall apart. With a little Google searching, and a little IP address matching, some smarts and perhaps a little subterfuge, you connect Joe with some email addresses, some web sites, and then you eventaually connect Joe to a username on a forum (say....this forum). No, it's not that hard. Yes, I know how to do it, and I have traced people from their internet postings when they posted threatening and harassing messages on an "anonymous" forum on iVillage where my wife was a frequent poster. And the guy was arrested, and went to trial, and he was fined and served some time. So I know how it can be done.

Now perhaps Joe has posted about his Ruger 10/22, and how he's looking for a new high-capacity magazine for it that won't jam, and he's looking for a cheap place to buy good ammo, because he's down to his last few hundred rounds of .22!

Now, run that same story through the filter of the hysterical, misinformed press with a "confidential source" from Bob's campaign:

HEADLINE: School Board Candidate Found Seeking Assault Rifle Parts & Ammo In Internet Chat Room

The Daily Hysteric has learned that Joe, a candidate for a seat in district 19's hotly contested school board elections, has been posting messages in a survivalist web site seeking high-capacity magazines for an automatic rifle he owns. Our sources confirm that Joe is an avid firearms enthusiast who has amassed hundreds of rounds of ammunition for his automatic Ruger rifle and several other assault-style weapons he owns. Incumbent school board candidate Bob laughed off suggestions that he "watch his back" stating that "while Joe and I have some pretty deep disagreements over how the school district should run, I doubt that he's dangerous to me or anyone else on the current school board." Joe could not be reached for comment at press time.

That's what I'm talking about. It's not paranoia, it's a realization of just how things are taken out of context and can be used to mix things up.

...and you don't even need to be as high profile as that. Many employers are googling the names of job applicants to see what turns up. Some of my usenet posts from 15 years ago still show up when I google my name. I try not to post anything I might be ashamed of at ANY time in the future.

The Google problem is exactly why I don't post using my real name. Sure, someone could figure out who I am using an IP address, but that is a lot more trouble than a simple Google search. Furthermore, it would require access to the logs from the equipped.org server. A potential employer is not going to go around to every forum on the internet where I might have posted and try to get access to their logs.

As far as the school board example, someone could find out what sort of weapons I own a lot more easily than tracking down my posts on the internet. All they have to do is come down to the range and watch me shoot. Hell, if they ask nicely, I'd probably let them fire off a few rounds.

Weren't a couple of hunters just busted for shooting 2 deer on opening day, in a state that only allows 1? Seems there were post(s) made on the net bragging about the getting of 2 deer. I understand a state DEC officer also read that same forum, and investigated.

with the introduction of prposal HR1022 to reinstate the brady bill you might want to consider doubling your stock pile, or as much as you can staying away from the ammo I told you about earlier.

There are a lot of them that will leave you alone till your backs turned.

Quite frankly, I don't think HR1022 has much of a chance of becoming law during this session of congress (perhaps after '08, depending on how the election goes). I just don't think there are 60 votes for it in the Senate. Of course, gun control measures are highly sensitive to current news, one nasty shooting could change the equation quite quickly.

If you are concerned about it, I think it would make a lot more sense to pick up extra magazines (and perhaps a black rifle or two) than more ammo. HR1022 doesn't have anything to do with ammunition, but it will ban a broad spectrum of rifles suitable for personal defense, along with any magazine over ten rounds. So if you've got your eye on an AR or AK, or if you have one already but don't have a good (read: lifetime) supply of magazines, now would be a good time to buy.

always practice with the ammo your gonna carry. different brands, types, and wieght shoot different. take a gun and put it in a vise and try different ammo, and you will get very different patterns. I know it's more expensive but it will help you hit your target when TSHTF.

Chase my IP down and you'll find that around here you can't get elected to the school board unless you're Pro-2nd Amendment!

All kidding aside. The thought that some folks in some of the blue states want to call a brick or two of .22 LR an arsenal is absolutely laughable around here. I had a friend some time ago tell me he needed to pick up more ammunition. (He was serious.) I gave him a hard time about it and we started counting what he had on hand. When we got to 110k rounds we quit counting. I would love to know what he had on hand when he was "stocked up".

I've kind of been following this thread with interest for a while. Just out of curiousity, what kind of situation are you stocking up for? And what environment are you in? Generally speaking, large city, small town, country? North east, south? How long are you planning for?

Honestly I have been surprised at some of the paths that this thread has taken on since I first posted it. My personal planning is set up for three time periods, short term (0-2 weeks), intermediate term (3-8 weeks) and long term (8 weeks +). I live in a fairly small town that is on the outskirts of the largest metropolitan area in the state.

The most likely senarios would involve short term and maybe intermediate term situations (Katrina style situations) Currently I am a little farther away from the coast now than I was prior to Katrina but will most likely be heading back closer in time. I'm certainly not building an arsenal by any means but my family had first hand experience with Katrina in New Orleans and Mississippi and it does not take very long for those who were not prepared and stocked up with food, water, batteries, etc. to start trying to take it away from those that did prepare.

The longer term and much less likely senarios would involve things such as a bird flu (or similar) epidemic or a terrorist attack on one of the five nuclear power plants that my state has in it.

In a perfect world the ammo will end up being shot at the range by my kids one day but since our world is not perfect I will continue to make plans to protect my family from "any and all threats both foreign and domestic."

Well, I can't help you as far as where to buy inexpensive defense rounds, since I shoot .22 all I really buy is the ten dollar bricks.

You might want to worry about over penetration. If your neighbors are nearby you don't want rounds passing through the walls and hitting your neighbor's kids. Just about any ball ammo will go through walls. Most walls are just a two layers of sheet rock or siding and maybe insulation. I have personal experiance with 9mm ball going through exterior walls, and I've heard stories about even .22 going through interior walls (as much as people poopoo .22). So you might want to consider finding something that your weapons will shoot that won't go through the walls. Expansion may cover this (I'm not familiar enough to say for sure), and they make special rounds that are essentially tungsten powder that fragment on impact and won't penetrate walls. Especially important in the city, but even in the country you don't want bullets to go into your kid's rooms. Thats my little piece of advice. I'll let others debate the subtleties of stockpiling ammo. Most people who own guns do some level of stockpiling if only so they can avoid running to the store on the way to the range.

Try www.ammoman.com he sells good quality at very fair prices. I would keep 100 rounds of good quality HP and 500-1,000 rounds of FMJ depending on how much you practice. When you get down to 200 FMJ reorder. It appears the prices are going to continue to rise so I wouldn't wait too long. Quite honestly I can't forsee a scenerio that would require more than that. If there is more than one person in the house that would be helping you defend your home than I would add an additional 100 rounds of HP for each additional person. If there are going to be multiple guns in use, I would try to be redundant so that you use the same ammo and magazines in the multiple guns. I hope that this helps.

A few points.

Large stores of ammo for a handgun is not all that critical. After all, you use your handgun to get you back to your rifle.


Wolf is not the big ol evil ammo the internet makes it out to be. Funny how the critics of Wolf become less vocal as surplus stocks dry up and brass cased ammo continues to get more expensive.

Ammoman is okay and chances are you will get what you order. BUT, if you don't, you may be out of luck as Eric ie Ammoman is not the friendliest guy when his company makes the mistake.....they are not know for their customer service.

YMMV

I like cheaperthandirt.com Fairly quick, good selection.

As for the kind, I'd buy a box or 2 of several different kinds, and different manufacturers. See what your gun shoots best. I found my 9mm takes Remington with less misfires than Winchester, but that the Winchester groups a little tighter. Still... even the Remington would do the job.

Don't go overboard with ammo, even if I hold more than I really need I don't believe that there is any need for that.

I have participated in a few wars and at first I would carry so much ammo that by the time we went into combat I was to tired to really put up a good fight...... what to do?

I would carry only 30% of what I just to carry and then I would take the ammo from the fallen ones from either side.....and the same for field equipment.

It seems silly to have 5000 rds of any ammo if you can't take it with you ... and thats a lot of money tied up in one thing.
Seems prudent though to have 500 - 1000 rds ... at least in the weapons you are likely to grab-n-go with. More for the .22 since its so small and inexpensive.
Given the funds ...I'd love it to all be something like Cor-Bon DPX since that stuff performs so well ...but in the grand scheme of things ... one should be able to get by with any quality product.
And hey ...if you are gonna take a gun ...it should have ammo, otherwise its really just an expensive rock.

to:martinfocazio

I was watching a Ron Hood video about his home prepardness a while back. Early in the video he discusses the idea of "should he really show everybody his own stashes?" He debates this idea with the educational value of showing the viewers how he preps his home. Then a few minutes later his camera is running around the house showing the locations of all his stuff; 2 cases of MRE's under his bed, bed lockers, living room blanket lockers, closets, kitchen cabinets/pantry, basement stock room, BOBs, weaponry/ammunition, etc.

I was a little perplexed that would deliberately indicate all his hiding places when he could have simply have given examples of places and not give out his secrets. All during his house tour though, I couldn't help but think that he was only showing his small potatoes stuff and that in the back yard he has a huge cache of materials that he wasn't letting on to. This is the same guy who spent min. $200k on a bomb shelter after he got back from Vietnam in the '70s, then sold it, and now wishes he still had it.

The whole idea of stockpiling several months supply of anything is a bit mind boggling to me. Never mind the "logic" or rationale for the stockpiling. I guess it takes a different mindset than what I have. During the Cuban missile crises there were plenty of people who created their own bunkers; during the Y2K craze, stockpiling hit another peak and post 9-11/Katrina you still find this urge for independent self preservation.

I saw a link to a starvation experiment article a while back. One thing that caught my eye was that during the experiment, the subjects took to hoarding whatever foodstuffs they could get their hands on, a few even took to "cheating" on the experiment. This food hoarding sometimes continued after the experiment was over and the subjects returned to good health. So I am curious as to the psychological conditions that set off this impulse.

What I am saying is that stockpiling foodstuffs and arsenals, etc. is more than just a good prepardness reasoning. Being prepared with supplies is always a good thing but realistically what are the chances of requiring a 12 month stash? There is also a irrational, more complex emotion going on in the background of people's minds. Fear. Fear of being attacked. Fear of not being able to defend oneself. Fear that is spawned from previous events like the cold war or 9-11 or a major catastrophe.

A female friend of mine walks around all the time with the fear getting raped. To the point of it being an irrational fear. Being a guy, I don't relate to this intimate thinking. In fact I can honestly say I don't an irrational fear of anything (except ladders). Likewise growing up on the Canadian prairies, knowing that my country has never been attacked or been the object of planned nuclear attack or that we haven't had a local major catastrophe in many many years, it's possible I may be lulled in a feeling of being safe all the time.

"

unfortunatly most of here in the Middle part of North America do not have that choice, Nor dose most of Europe.

"Being prepared with supplies is always a good thing but realistically what are the chances of requiring a 12 month stash?"

Unemployment. Food and toilet paper tend to come in handy.

sue

By the way, many of you are holding ammo and wisky in order to "trade or barter" with them........ DON'T DO IT.....they will trade with you and then drink the wisky and come after you for what you have by using what was your ammo.

To tell anyone that you have something to trade with is like waving a red flag infront of a bull(by the way the bulls are color blind).

You really don't know how long the "emergency" will last or what will happen so that everything that you have is like gold.

In Cuba the emergency has been going on for 45 years and if you were to find a good nail on the street it would be like finding a silver coing and if you were to have a bottle of aspirin that would make you a doctor.

"TO BE READY IS NOT"...Ponce