Ammo for the SHTF Stash

[No Bananas]

I'm building two SBR ARs
10.5" LMT
&
12.5" Noveske

These two will be fun and for SHTF.
I'm relatively new to ARs and I don't have any ammo built up. I'd like to store 1 or 2K (yes, I'd love more but can't afford it right now) of reliable accurate enough ammo for SHTF. Reliability is #1 here.

Of course both guns will have a 1:7 twist, and I'd love to buy 2K of MK262 or 75 gr. TAP, but I don't have that kinda dough.

What do you recommend? Here is what I'm considering. Tell me what ya' think and if I've left any out:

-Winchester Q3131 55 gr. 5.56. This stuff has shot well in any and every AR I've tried it in. Decent on accuracy, but velcoity is always pretty high.

-Prvi Partizan M193. Can't find any here locally to put through my guns first, but it has a great rep.

-Prvi Partizan M855. Can't find any here locally to put through my guns first, but it has a great rep.

-Prvi Partizan .223 75 gr. Match. Has a decent rep for accuray and reliablity. I wonder how it would do in the SBRs. Hears it's a bit light.

[RWK]

-Winchester Q3131 55 gr. 5.56. This stuff has shot well in any and every AR I've tried it in. Decent on accuracy, but velcoity is always pretty high.

You should want the high velocity in a 55-gr projectile.

-Prvi Partizan M193. Can't find any here locally to put through my guns first, but it has a great rep.

I've shot a few thousand rounds of this ammo. It is indeed built to M193 specs. Good training ammo.

If you're using those SBR's you should really consider a JHP or JSP round for real use. The short barrel really robs the performance of FMJ rounds. If you really like the 75-gr TAP, save up the money and buy it.

Do you really need 2,000 rds in a stash? That's 66, 30-rd magazines! Unless you're digging in for some "Red Dawn" action, that's a lot of ammo.

[No Bananas]

All good points, and thanks for sharing your advice and experiences. 2K sure would be a lot of ammo. The idea would be only some of it saved for a "stash" and a lot would be for pactice and plinking. Thought I would save on a bulk purchase.

For the heavier bullets, I thought that the Prvi Partizan 75 Gr. Match might be a good compromise. Not as accurate or as good a bullet as TAP, but a lot cheaper. I just don't know that much about its performace. If it would reliably cycle in a SBR and I'd want to be getting at least 2300 FPS out of the 10.5" on it.

[markm]

Q3131 - I wouldn't trust this for anything unless it was the only thing available.

Priv M193 - good blasting ammo, but I've heard the bullet won't frag like real M193, and it's not due to lack of velocity.

Priv M855 - I wouldn't take that crap for free based on the problems I've read about it.

Brown box XM193 is a little expensive, but Ammunition to go has it. People claim the black box is a cut below the brown or white box. And there have been accounts of feeding issues with black box on more than one of the gun boards.

[RWK]

Thought I would save on a bulk purchase.

"Save" and "Hornady" in the same discussion is a non sequitur = doesn't belong, makes no sense...

[MisterWilson]

Decent on accuracy, but velocity is always pretty high.

Why do you say that like high velocity is a bad thing?

[No Bananas]

Yeah, that came out wrong. I have a couple hundred rounds of this stuff and it's great. I appreciate the high velocity in 55 gr. (especially for SBR). With the short barrel and 1/7 twist, I just figured that heavier would be better. But Q3131 stuff is reasonably accurate. I wonder how fast it'll get out of the 10.5".

[jhs1969]

I have stashed 2k of prvi m193 and 500rds each of Q3131A and AE 55gr, 3k total and I still feel I'm dangerously low on ammo. I've not had any problems with any of this ammo but then again I don't have as much experience as several guys here.

[Storydude]

Ammo is a better investment than my stocks right now.


Had I the funds 5 years ago and what I know about the Ammo market now, I would have been sitting on 250,000 rounds each of 7.62Nato, X39, .303Brit and 5.56.


Anyone remember Shotgun news SOG ammo deals from 2000?

[A_shizzle]

I would at least try to have a thousand rounds of federal xm193 brown box included in your stash. Its loaded hot and pretty accurate. One of my favorites.