Minimum amount of ammo?

[payj]

Now that my AR is done I want to invest in good self defense ammo. I know that more ammo the better, but I can't afford to buy thousands and thousands of rounds.

So my question is, what MINIMUM amount of ammo would you want to have stock piled up? I guess an amount that would make you feel good, maybe not great if things went to hell.

THX

[J Krammes]

For me, that was 2000 rounds. Over the years I have since colected much much more than that. But I was buying Wolf for $55/500rounds for blasting fun... You can fit 1000 rounds in a 50 cal ammo can for a grab and go box. Don't forget about parts and mags.

Jk

[JimmyB62]

Assuming I knew my rifle would run OK with it I'd be just fine with a couple hundred rounds. 1000 would certainly be nice. I'm almost embarrassed to admit what I have squirreled away.

[devildogljb]

me the minimum amount is 1000 but thats just my opinion

[M&P15OR]

I probably should have more but I like to keep 1,000 rounds for my Ar and my Ak and my old .22 semi auto, 500 rounds for my Saiga -12ga shotgun, and 500 rounds for my each of my .357 Colt troopers. With the cost of .223 coming down I should get some more. But I tend to try to keep at least 3 months of food for the entire family and we keep using it and replacing it with fresh forthe perishibles. Also keep alot of water on hand as well as medical supplies since you're talking about if the SHTF scenario.

[matt86]

I cant ever save any. I always shoot it.

[C4IGrant]

Couple ways to look at this.

1. Ammo for generally blasting/Training.
2. Ammo for property/home defense.
3. Ammo for the purpose of bartering (Govt Collapse, US Dollar is worthless).

For me, I like to have 1-3k for training on hand at all times (as I never know when I may jump into a car and go to a carbine class). For a pure defensive load, I like to have at least 1K of that (SPEER 24448 is my current choice).

Bartering. That's a a tricky one. Generally you want ammo that people have heard of, that is reliable and will work in any number of twist rates and chambers. So for me, that would be stuff like 55gr-62gr FMJ or either of the TAP Practice Ammo. I would attempt to head towards 5-10K in this ammo (as you can always shoot it or sell it if you need the money).


C4

[Hmac]

I keep 2000-3000 rounds of rifle ammo around the house in case a training opportunity presents itself on short notice. Same for 9mm and .40 cal. I keep about a hundred rounds of self-defense ammo for each as well, but training is all I need to stock for in quantity around here.

[Elessar]

If you are one of a few sole survivors hiding from hordes of bandits that scour the countryside in a post-apocolyptic wasteland, then several thousand rounds with mags might be a good thing to have handy.

If you mean a normal, law abiding citizen legit self defense scenario, then one 20 round mag is more than enough, with a backup in case of malfunction. Even in Rodney King / Katrina no one even needed this much. I know those Koreans fired off a bunch of pistols, but I wouldn't call those shootings 100% legit self defense, at least from what I've seen.

[DirectAction]

I try to keep approximately 2,000 rds for AK and AR......at least 1,000 for each pistol caliber I own.