A Loaded Question

[Beekeeper]

Was asked at the range how much loaded I keep on hand.
My answer was only what I shot each range day.
Seems I am not with it aparantly!
Person stated if I had empty brass it should be loaded and stored.
Ha,
For me that is about 10000 rounds and I surly do not need that much loaded ammo around.This is California by the way , you know the nanny state.

So how much do you keep on hand for each rifle?
Cast?
Jacketed?


beekeeper

[frankenfab]

I posted a picture of my ammo storage here once, but I have since lost it all in a horrible boating accident.

[Beekeeper]

Come on man you don't even own a boat!
I'm serious as to what someone thinks is a good amount to have on hand!


beekeeper

[rmatchell]

I keep a few hundred for each firearm. Not to much over that just enough to be sure i wont run out when we have a family get to gether.

[GRUMPA]

I only have a few hundred of each cal I shoot. I live SOooo remote it isn't funny, there's no reason for me to have 10,000 of anything other than dollars within arms reach. I don't see the need for a buzzilion rounds on hand, I have yet to be invaded by the rabid Jack-O-Lope herd around here.

Since we all roll our own, to me there's no point to it.

[mdevlin53]

I probably have 20-40 for each rifle i own and in some cases i have several rifles in the same caliber so the number goes up for them. I like to keep most of them full but that all depends on how often i get to go to the range as i can sure shoot them faaster than i can load them Having said that i do like to keep a few cases empty just in case i see something intersting while reading the posts and would like to try.
LAST THOUGHT YOU CAN NEVER HAVE ENOUGH .22 lr as they seem to dissapear as fast as i can buy them.

[rromeo]

I don't know for sure. I generally have 500-1,000 rounds each of .38 and 9mm loaded. I have a bunch more of calibers I don't load.

As far as I can tell, California has no laws about ammunition, although some fire codes limit how much powder you can have.

[fcvan]

I have a lot. Each caliber I shoot, I have a lot. Empty brass is of little value, loaded brass is of greater value. I can't go out and buy a pallet of ammo but I can load a bunch of ammo a little at a time.

I reloaded heavily many years ago and then kind of got out of the habit. I was able to keep shooting for about 18 years before that which I had loaded had become depleted. Once I started shooting .40 S&W I knew it was time to get back in the habit.

4 years ago, my brother and I set up the gear at his house. I would mold up a bunch of boolits and those would get loaded. It took a while to load up the brass we had shot and collected in .40, maybe 2500 rounds. Then I started getting bulk once fired brass. It took a while to get those loaded.

My brother and I started building up supply for us, and his daughter and son in law. I made the mistake (ha ha) of buying my wife a Glock 23. She's a shooter. And a scrounger. She generally picks up at least a coffee can full of brass every time she goes out, mostly 9mm. Great, more brass in another caliber. AT least the .40 is all loaded.

What to do with all of that 9mm brass. The only 9mm weapons I had was a S&W 639 and a Marlin Camp Carbine. The carbine sat for years kind of ignored so I bought some new Wolff springs and a new recoil buffer as the factory nylon buffer has a reputation of turning to dust. Good thing I bought a new one, the factory buffer disintegrated when I removed it.

Lone Wolf makes conversion barrels to take Glock 40s to 9mm. 2 barrels for brother, 2 barrels for me (we both have G22s and G23s), one for the wife, and many 9mm magazines all around.

Dad is a S&W enthusiast to say the least, mostly .41 Mag. He enjoyed shooting my 1911 in .45, but it wasn't a S&W. He is currently baby sitting the 639 so we have to keep him in 9mm. Lots of ammo loaded up, feeding lots of shooters.

Geez, I have a 1911 and so does my brother. Gotta keep the .45 fed. At least that is all loaded, well, except for the brass I picked up the other day. It is sized, primed. and boolits sized, ready to go. I also found some .38 Spec.

Geez, another caliber. I had all that loaded until brother decided to buy 2000 bulk once fired .38 brass. At least that is all cleaned, sized, primed, and boolits are sized and lubed. He can finish those off. I have to deal with the .223 brass I keep finding. So far, I've got a 5 gallon bucket of 556 and a 5 gallon bucket of .223 cleaned, sized and ready for boolits.

Why did he have to build an AR? Why did I let him talk me into building one for myself? Why does the Mini 14s shoot cast boolits so well? Why did Dad decide to let me work up cast boolit loads for his Springfield 03 A3? Why did my brother have to get another M1A in .308? Why did the wife have to inherit a 30-30 and a 32-40? Why did she decide that .44 Super Blackhawks are cool?

So many calibers, so little time.

WAIT! I'm retired :) And I love casting boolits. Frank

[mpmarty]

I don't count rounds but I know I've got several GI ammo cans full of de-belted 7.62 Nato and a couple each of 7.5X55, 10mm and 45acp. A few bricks of 22lr also of course and enough powder, primers etc to reload all the above that's reloadable.

[Texantothecore]

I keep about 50 to 100 loaded, many times less than that.

I don't have large amounts of brass and I frequently end up reloading at the range after I run out.

[Crawdaddy]

I posted a picture of my ammo storage here once, but I have since lost it all in a horrible boating accident.

What a coincidence, I lost mine in a flood while living in the desert!

OP, as much as possible.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[runfiverun]

i have an everyday load for almost every gun i own.
and generally some specialty type loads for them also.
the amount can vary because i often share ammo between guns,and some i have to keep separate.
so it will vary from between 300 to a couple of thousand per caliber.
or just a few [50-100] rounds for the ones that are hard to make/get brass for.

[brnomauser]

I was able to keep shooting for about 18 years before that which I had loaded had become depletedfmfd I can hardly comprehend this - that must have been an absolutely insane amount of ammo...

I like to do it in batches - so I keep all my same-headstamp brass in one batch. Load them all up then shoot them all so I don't get confused with number of times fired. That means I have a max of about 50 per cal - right now I have 20 30-06 and 0 45-70 loaded. That will change in the next couple of days...

[MikeS]

I try to keep all my brass loaded. I'm thinking that rather than keeping the loaded ammo sitting on a shelf, that I should find some kind of case to keep it in, so if I were to ever need to grab it and leave quickly that the ammo would be ready. Or maybe I should keep say 1000 rounds in a bag ready to go, and keep the rest on the shelf where it is now.

[runfiverun]

ammo cans are pretty good at holdng ammo.
i keep a couple full of 223 ar rounds and one of m-14 rounds and one 9mm and two of 45 acp's.

for everything else [the shooting stuff] gets stacked up in taped up usps boxes [holds about 1-k 44 mag/223 rounds] or plastic mtm 50-100 count types on the shelf or plastic storage containers same as the empty brass goes into.

[Moonie]

I'm currently out of rifle ammo, nothing, shot the last of it over the weekend, going to be reloading quite a bit in the near future...

[oldgeezershooter]

I always try to keep one round handy!

[frankenfab]

On a seriuos note, I have 2 Dillon 550Bs. A 30 cal ammo can will hold 500 rds. of most all pistol ammo, and a 50 cal. will hold 1000. I usually buy 500 or 1000 rds. of Starline brass and finds good load, then load it all up. A gallon ziplock is placed in the can to hold the empties, and that lot of brass is kept together. So, a minimum of 500 rds. for all pistol calibers.

I keep smaller amounts of brass in plastic boxes for experimentation with different boolits and loads.

For rifle, 100 rds. minimum, though I do keep 500 or 1000 rds. for certain calibers.

[Sensai]

I keep a few hundred for each firearm. Not to much over that just enough to be sure i wont run out when we have a family get to gether.
I had to laugh when I read that. My first thought was " yeah, some of my family get togethers get a little rough, too".:-P:-P:-P

[garym1a2]

I see no need for more than a few thousand of each. In the future when you devlop a better load or better boolit or your tastes change I would hate to be stuck with 10,000 of a load that does not shoot as well as my new load.

Besides, primers, powder and boolits store better than loaded rounds.

[pdawg_shooter]

No less than 500 for each rifle. Several thousand for most of them. Never know when those zombies will show up!

[429421Cowboy]

I only have around 500 pieces of brass for our .44's, plus the ammo we keep in reserve. Ususally we load al the brass we have at once then shoot it up till we can sit down and load it all up again.
We do keep ammo in reserve for everything we own though, as well as loading supplies.
Rifles, it is all hunting ammo, we load no "practice" loads, we practice with what we hunt with and i always keep 100 rounds on hand for each rifle.

[Jal5]

Probably about 200 rounds for each caliber that I reload plus 22LR bricks.
243, 270Win;9mm;9x18Mak;32ACP;38spl;357mag

Joe

[Jim]

My ammo inventory ranges from "I need to load some of that." to "I need to shoot some of that."

[popper]

100-200 for standby, HD. I am still experimenting, so I load as I go. Powder & primers are easier to move out if needed. Now when I get my underground bunker built ---

[375RUGER]

as much as I can

[**oneshot**]

I keep enough on hand to keep me shooting between rainy days, come winter I restock my brass with fresh powder and endcaps.

[rintinglen]

I have at least 200 pieces of brass for every gun I own except the 348 Winchester.

For a rifle, 200 good cases will last the life of the barrel, even with barn burner loads. For a handgun--more is better. I have hundreds of 9mm's, 38's and 45 's. Only a couple hundred 45 Colts, but over a thousand 44s. I reload more than I shoot, but I have help shooting up what I load. I try to keep it all loaded. Empty brass is of little value when the zombies are knocking at your door...

[Silvercreek Farmer]

I like to keep some empty brass on hand so I can try a new load without having to pull bullets or shoot up my loaded ammo when I am not in the mood to shoot that particular load.