Survival and Emergency Preparedness

Bob wrote: ↑Mon Mar 23, 2020 5:21 pm

chewybaca67 wrote: ↑Mon Mar 23, 2020 1:44 pm When Wallly World used to sell 7.62x39 ammo, I would always get a couple of boxes every paycheck, or every other paycheck. That and .22 rimfire. Glad I did as I got a decent stach now. I reload for it, and have collected about 950 relaodable brass cases, but am limtted on projectiles. Anyway, it's interesting how packed the gun store are, and how unavalable ammo and guns are. My 'Ol-lady of 14 years finally gave me "koodos" for relaoding and having dry goods all these years. Heck, things get really bad I could trade boxes of 9mm hp's for food.

Define "decent" stash?

See ammo check in the defense sub-forum

Probably about 3500 rounds.

I'd consider that a decent stash.

I'm curious how long it will take the ammo market/supply to normalize after this 'crisis' has passed? I would think that the ammo companies have ramped up production like they did prior to the election in 2016 to cash in on the panic.

Still seeing ammo all over the place on Armslist as the bottom feeders are trying to make a quick buck.

3500 ads is 3400 more than you can shoot at people without being shot yourself...

A box of 9mm and a box of buck will last you your entire SHTF life most likely

200 rounds for pistol and 100 for shotgun is enough to stop worrying

at 2000 of anything shooting had better be a hobby and you have more than 30 days food, water meds etc or you made an error somewhere

Bob wrote: ↑Fri Mar 27, 2020 1:06 pm 3500 ads is 3400 more than you can shoot at people without being shot yourself...

A box of 9mm and a box of buck will last you your entire SHTF life most likely

200 rounds for pistol and 100 for shotgun is enough to stop worrying

at 2000 of anything shooting had better be a hobby and you have more than 30 days food, water meds etc or you made an error somewhere

I tend to agree. Your goal is to avoid shooting in an emergency. Of course self protection is paramount. Shooting puts you at danger of you being shot and it alerts others that you are around. Without modern medical care being shot even if the bullet doesn't kill you right away the infection will.

If you consider yourself in the 70th percentile of skilled shooters, that means 30 out of every hundred shoot better than you do, or 3 in 10.

At those odds, on your 3rd encounter, the bullet goes in you, not the other way around...

Fortunately for me, I'm well into the 90th percentile category.

Bob wrote: ↑Fri Mar 27, 2020 1:06 pm 3500 ads is 3400 more than you can shoot at people without being shot yourself...

A box of 9mm and a box of buck will last you your entire SHTF life most likely

200 rounds for pistol and 100 for shotgun is enough to stop worrying

at 2000 of anything shooting had better be a hobby and you have more than 30 days food, water meds etc or you made an error somewhere

Unless we're talking about the Zombie Apocalypse. Then you can't have enough ammo.

I think the point of stockpiling ammo or anything really is to have enough of something for when you can't replace it.

And...after testing some 44 and 357 reloads up at the property this week I came home and reloaded 100 rounds of 357 ammo. I hope to get another 100 reloaded tomorrow and then do a couple hundred 44s. The 44s will be mostly for hunting, who uses 44 mag for SD? I suppose I could load them down to 44 spl levels or load 44 spls. My Redhawk is a beast to carry around however.

The 357s I loaded are pretty heavy loads, again mostly for hunting/bear protection. They were 158 gr SWCs and JSPs. I think the next batch will be mostly for SD i.e., JHPs or LSWCHPs.

The thing is, all the components I'm using, bullets,primers, powder and casings are stuff I've had stashed away for 30 years. Haven't had to buy anything new. I did run out of Win 296 and H110 powder but I have pounds of alternative powders to keep going.

Well I keep an eye on Armslist (for grins) and the prices of guns and ammo (at least in my A.O.) have really jumped up to level stupid. Glocks at $800+ is a good example. Taurus G2's at $450. And everyone and his brother have ammo up for sale at 'Quark' prices.



On the flip side, I think anyone putting up pretty much any working pistol at a reasonable price would have a quick sale.

I just stop shooting for a month or two and do maintenance, etc...

Prices on AL are still stupid overall. Starting to see a few reasonably priced guns here and there but still mostly stupid prices. Unless a S&W Shield 9mm is now suddenly worth $420 when a few moths ago you couldn’t swing a cat and not hit one for $250. Glocks are still $200-$300 more than Glocks are worth.