How much Ammo is “Enough”?

[375 Ruger Fan]

You can't have too much unless you're swimmin'. Between Y2K, the scamdemic, and ban scares every few years, it seems prudent to never stop stacking ammo.

I have 600 cases of .495 A-Square

I am up to about 800 cases for .375 Ruger since Hornady won't make cases available.

If the ammo manufacturers think I will EVER go for another "new/greatest thing since sliced bread/better/modern/improved cartridge again, they are about as sane as a male slicing off his gear to become a female. I waited 10 years to try to insure the .375 Ruger was gonna have legs before I took the plunge. Now Hornady plans on making cases available every 4-5 years!?!? Sure - $85/20 rounds for loaded ammo is out there. Lesson learned on my end.

I bought a 375H&H just to always have access to this bore - will probably rent a reamer and open it up to Ackley Improved - better ballistics, no impact on ammo availability.

I still keep salting away: .308WIN, 358WIN, ..30-06, 35 WAI. Hopefully, multiple Central American countries will vie for my widow's attention trying to buy up my ammo stores after I hit the pearly gates.

@USMA84DAB when I read your post, “800 cases of 375 Ruger,” I started doing the math in my head: 20 rounds per box, 10 boxes per case, so 20x10x800 =160,000. Then I concluded you meant 800 pieces of brass (I think).

 

[coreydb]

Since Obama, America experienced a significant paradigm shift in ammo availability and sales. More importantly, the weaponization of the Federal law enforcement agencies and what they consider hoarding for potential terrorist activities. I agree with all of you. Hunting for survival has multiple contexts.

 

[Rafiki]

It depends. I take the max allowable (11lbs) split between the rifles I'm taking I've always taken some back even after the non-game shooting that always happens in camp (zeroing and just fun). My special issue is that my DG rifle is an odd caliber, not available in the US and certainly not Africa. Those rounds are heavy so I need to pair them down some. In any case you are limited by the regulations so you would be well advised to weigh your ammo before check-in because somewhere in your travels someone will.

 

[Flbt]

A good friend is the fire chief of our town, he asked me to load some rifle rounds for him and came over to watch. As we walked into my basement loading room he said that he would have to flag my house for firefighters to stay away from the center north wall.

He may of been joking, I'll have to ask him the next time that I see him.

They were not joking here.
I sat and watch my house burn down.
And honestly I didn’t care it was mine
But my aunt that had a big point in raseing me had died a few months before.
I lost all the old family photos including tentyps and all my uncle and all of my grandpa guns colt new service 45!and fox 12 ga that my grate uncle used when he was sheriff
My grate grate grand dads Wesley richerson 12 ga and a few more colts from back when tobacco payed
Another grate uncles bring back Walther pp nazi marked 32 and a change over polish vs Radom it had the good backalight grips and good finish but did not have the hold open
So best game guess it was one of the first when the Germans make the war time cuts in its production

My grandpa 1886 in 33 win that he helped do way with the panthers and bear that were pest to farmers.
My first duty 686 and my ruger p89

You know the absolute irreplaceable stuff. That’s what hurt.

 

[Sabre]

@USMA84DAB when I read your post, “800 cases of 375 Ruger,” I started doing the math in my head: 20 rounds per box, 10 boxes per case, so 20x10x800 =160,000. Then I concluded you meant 800 pieces of brass (I think).

I did the same at first, but I settled on him meaning 800 boxes of ammo. As opposed to cases.

 

[Sabre]

I think the correct answer to how much is "enough" is a lifetime supply. That will vary per person on what they think their needs are based on age and how much they shoot.

In the case of a truly bad event happening, the most useful round possible will probably be .22LR for long term use. For defense, probably 5.56.

In a perfect world, I would have an absurd amount of 22LR with a suppressor, and plenty of variants like the CCI Quiet. I would have an awful lot, but less than 22LR of 5.56. And I would have what I feel like would be a lifetime supply of a moderate caliber like .308 for hunting for the rest of my life if things remain relatively stable.

Yep, it's a bit bonkers, but ideally, that would put you in a position where you wouldn't have to worry about ammo shortages anymore. .22LR is really not hard to stack enough of it to last you a lifetime. It is cheap and very small.

 

[Sabre]

As an aside: It's always funny to me when, on the news, some report comes up that says something like, "This madman had 5 rifles and 800 rounds of ammo in his house".

 

[Rimbaud]

The only time that you can have too much ammunition is if you are on fire, or drowning.

 

[franzfmdavis]

Some people ask why i have more ammo than other supplies…its nice to know I don’t have to explain that here.

 

[NDWoods]

I always want minimum 2 year supply of every caliber. I was never quite there with 9mm when I was shooting a couple of times a week but once a month now I am fine. I have a lifetime supply of 22LR and 17HMR, and at least 5 years of 45ACP, 5.56, 6.5 Creed, and 300 PRC. As I have recently added a couple of new large calibers I am now building those up as well. All shotgun ammo is 2 to 5 years or more.

 

[Mtn_Infantry]

For defensive weapons: 5.56mm/223 (10,000 rds), 300 AAC (2500 rds), 7.62x51mm/308 (5000 rds), 9mm (15,000 rds), 357 Sig, 40, 10mm, 45 ACP (6000 rds combined), 38/357 (1500 rds), 12 gauge (500 rds OO buck, 250 rds slugs, 20,000 rds 22 LR. Most all in metal 50 Cal containers and various battle backs.

I started acquiring much of the above when Obama was president. Having moved several times since then, including a couple out of state moves, I can’t tell you how much a pain in the ass transporting this ammo and guns have been, it’s one helluva workout. Moving taxidermy was also a major pain too but only a dozen mounts and a bear rug. Hands down the hardest part about our moves and the most labor involved was moving my guns and especially my ammo and an overloaded 26 ft. moving truck and several loaded up vehicles. This also includes much of the below listed ammo, the rest I acquired the past two years at home here.

In my various hunting rifles using factory soft point, various premium bullet factory ammo including some less common cartridges: 270, 280, 280 AI, 308, 30-06 (300-500 rds for each), 7mm Rem Mag (300 rds), 300 RCM (140 rds), 300 Win Mag (300 rds), 375 H&H (140 rds), 375 RUM (400 rds), 416 Rem Mag (200 rds), 416 Rigby (240 rds), 458 Lott (140 rds).

Recently sold 30 guns and lots of ammo that went with them which helped to finance my last African hunt and covers my upcoming 2026 African hunt or I’d have even more!

I do have some reloading dies and components too although I don’t reload anymore but I may start up again.

I’ve moved several times as well and have felt the similar pains. Even across town had my girlfriend asking questions that still haven’t been answered to this day.

 

[SaintPanzer]

I have a very simple rule that dates back to my machine gunner days:

If you know how much ammo you have, you don't have enough ammo.

 

[Sabre]

Some people ask why i have more ammo than other supplies…its nice to know I don’t have to explain that here.

Guns and ammo are the magic supplies that unlock all other supplies

 

[Ridge Runner]

Interesting topic and I think a lot of it depends on your age and where you are at in life as well. As an avid reloader for many years, I have a lot of ammo loaded but also have a lot of components. Unless I start shooting, a lot, I will never shoot what I have if you combine all of the calibers I load for. So for me, I have enough to last me a lifetime.

I have said that, "I have enough ammo to last me a lifetime", a whole more than once. And that was before I joined this forum and was manipulated by many an enablers. LOL.

As like some have mentioned in various posts, I too cut back on my firearms for different reasons. It all worked fairly well. Then it started, first a super good deal on a pair of firearm, then accompanied a fellow archery club member on his quest for his first shotgun; I walked out with a nice O/U 28 gauge to his matching O/U 12 gauge.

Suddenly I'm back up in numbers of rifles, handguns, shotguns, and muzzleloaders. Since these big calibers have expensive taste I just had to repurchase all that reloading equipment, accessories, and massive amounts of m components and this was before the scammer virus of 2019 - 2020.

Yeap, maybe for a couple of years you might be comfortable with your amount of ammo. But then the son(s) and/or daughter(s), and/or the grandchildren, maybe even the great grand kids will want at least one or one more hunt using one of your firearms to make the outing much more memberable. Suddenly all that remains are a few odd boxes of ammo on the shelves and a mountain of spent brass begging to be reloaded.

 

[Ridge Runner]

It depends. I take the max allowable (11lbs) split between the rifles I'm taking I've always taken some back even after the non-game shooting that always happens in camp (zeroing and just fun). My special issue is that my DG rifle is an odd caliber, not available in the US and certainly not Africa. Those rounds are heavy so I need to pair them down some. In any case you are limited by the regulations so you would be well advised to weigh your ammo before check-in because somewhere in your travels someone will.

True. I have yet to be checked-in to my flight without my ammo being weighed.

 

[HWL]

Every year before season starts I reload 20 rounds .300 Holland & Holland ammunition with my Lee Loader. When I am able to shoot more than 15 deer/chamois with, it was a good year. When I shoot more than 20, it was a very good year and I had to reload again.

HWL

 

[odonata]

I am primarily a hunter who has a fondness for the classics. Other than my Wilson Combat AR-15 in 300 HAM'R that I use for hog hunting (which I have 310 rounds of 130gr Speer Hot-Cor for), the other ten chamberings I shoot were all designed before I was born. Shooting left-handed limits my choices unless I'm willing to build one like my Ruger MkII in 458 Win Mag (I'm down to two boxes / 44 rounds which is my lowest count).

For the more common rounds like 6.5x55 and 30-06, I have around 200 rounds each. For some of the less common chamberings, I have 247 for my 9.3x74r and 174 for my 405 Win since I often grab it whenever I see it. The most I have is 366 rounds of 303 British (mostly 150gr Hornady InterLock SP) for my 1885 & No. 1 falling blocks.

So I have ~2000 rounds of centerfire ammo (excluding 9mm, rimfire & shotgun). Whenever I start running low, I usually buy another case. I downsized drastically when the kids went off to college so I currently have limited space & I'm not reloading at the moment.

22-250, 6.5x55, 275 Rigby, 300 HAM'R, 303 British, 30-06, 9.3x74r, 375 H&H, 405 Winchester, 44 Mag, 458 Win Mag

 

[Ontario Hunter]

I reload so rarely buy rifle ammo off the shelf. I try to keep no more than 200 rifle primers on hand and buy shotgun primers a thousand at a time and use them up before buying more. Hoarding is a big part of the problem with supply and I'm not going to be a contributor. Rifle powder I will buy by the pound and use it up before buying more. Shotgun powder I would prefer to buy in larger jugs but pretty hard to do that these days. I don't spend much time at the rifle range so rarely have more than two boxes loaded. No shortage of empty cases for my 30-06. Never have more than a box loaded for the 404J. I have one box of good Hornady brass for it and almost two boxes of RWS crap. I'll use RWS for preliminary range work and save Hornady for Africa. Hoping to pick up one more box of good brass. Right now both 30-06 and 404 shoot 4350 powder which is convenient. I shoot a lot of trap/skeet/clays so typically have three or four flats of bought ammo on hand supplemented by reloads as needed. I don't reload for wingshooting. Buy it as needed.

 

[ACE (in CT)]

Buying ammo “as needed” presupposes availability. That’s how most of us got to where we are today.

It’s a crappy feeling realizing that what you need isn’t available, or even it is available but cost 2 or 3X what it was last time.

Some Powder and Primers are often scarce as well. For a long while 20Ga Remington AcccuTip slugs were almost impossible to find, the prices they were going for was nuts.

Back during the Obama years, I was in a small LGS and while chatting with the owner he told me he couldn’t get ANY 22lr at all. I happened to mention I was pretty well supplied and told h8m I had seem 500 round boxes going for $80-100 on Gunbroker. I had paid about $24.99 for what I had. He did a pretty good business teaching Pistol Permit classes and was out of business without ammo. He had a S&W 22A (semiauto pistol) in the case marked $199, I asked “why so cheap?” He told me it was only used a couple of times to teach classes and had a broken firing pin. He hadn’t sent it back to S&W yet for repairs. I pointed out that 2 boxes of ammo at Gunbroker prices would be a fair trade, he laughed at me, then we settled on 3. That was $75 out of my pocket, he was back in the teaching game, he mailed it back to S&W for me, they did the warenty work for free and mailed it. Back to me a week later. Everyone was happy!!

 

[mdwest]

Some people ask why i have more ammo than other supplies…its nice to know I don’t have to explain that here.

in late 1999 when everyone was wound up over the Y2K bug and believed it was going to end the world, I had a neighbor that went nuts.. she literally had multiple 55 gallon barrels of water and multiple 55 gallon barrels of gas in her garage.. she bought a couple of hundred pounds of rice, had enough canned goods to last at least a year, etc.. stacked up all inside her house..

mid December I thanked her for doing all of the Y2K prep for me and my family..

It kinda pissed her off..