A realistic loading question

[Beekeeper]

Some time ago I asked this same question and got a lot of (I think) unrealistic answers.
I need something to take my mind off of my wifes medical condition for a while.
Since my loading bench is on wheels I can position it where I can watch or hear her.
Would like to spend the time reloading ammo!
So the question is how much do you really have on hand(in reloads) that you use as your baseline for having enough.

10000 rounds isn't even realistic for me ( or anyone else that I know) so how about some ideas.

Old man needs project to keep from going crazy.


beekeeper

[RobS]

Too many possibilities for your general question and having more information will help a lot. As an example shooting my 375 H&H I wouldn't need all that many rounds but for my 45 auto and revolvers that is a different story. Also how often do you plan on shooting and how many rounds do you shoot when you go out etc.

[HollowPoint]

I say just go at it until the "Re-loading" itself starts to make you go crazy.

It's a win-win situation; except for the "Crazy" part. It takes you're
mind off of circumstances and you get a pile of loaded ammo in the process.

I'm sorry to hear about your wife. Life is a wonderful thing but, illness of
any kind can sure mess up a good thing.

HollowPoint

[PS Paul]

For me, in .45 Colt and .357, I try to keep as many loaded up as I will shoot in one range seesion AND that same amount again. I try to only shoot 300 to 400 rounds at any range session, but that usually takes a few hours. For rifles, I only load them as I shoot them, so very few loaded right now, but I will load up 20 to 40 of any given caliber a week ahead of time. Sometimes less.

I just got a few new moulds though, so right now I have close to 800 rounds loaded up in two pistol calibers(!), but the weather has been horrible and I have not had opportunity to get to the range. and I've been casting a lot of boolits on those days off. It's gotten out of hand, so the sun is out today and I'm headed to the range in one hour.

I have A LOT of components on hand at any given time, so the need to load up every last piece of brass I own is not necessary. I also share some of that ammo with employees who shoot, so I always try keep some extra on hand. I'm a generous boss.
Hope that helps. I don't think what i do is a ridiculous amount on hand, but right this moment is a lotmore than normal for me.
Paul

[JesterGrin_1]

As said nobody can really answer that question for you. As it is a personal preference. But there is nothing that says that you can not load as much as you wish to keep busy.

For myself since I do not plink and only Hunt. I usually load 50 rounds of rifle when I get down to about 10 left and for pistol around 100 if I get down to around 20 rounds. But my usage is pretty low.

But I foresee soon that since I am going to show my Niece how to shoot I will have to start working on more ammo in .38SP and .357 Magnum.

[Centaur 1]

Beekeeper, sorry to hear that your wife is ill, I'll say a prayer for you both. My rule of thumb for ammo is to try and keep enough for three range trips. If I average 100 rounds per trip, I like to keep 300 on hand.

[ncbearman]

Sounds like you reload about as much as I do. And I do it as a hobby. Not preparing for the apocalypse :o although if I keep going I might be ready. Anyway, how bout either 500 or 1000 rounds for each caliber you own. Start with your favorite firearm/rifle and go from there. Take your time and enjoy the process and you will be surprised how fast the ammo can fills up. Good luck and I hope you have alot more time with your wife. I know I would miss mine dearly.

54486

[mdi]

When used as "therapy", I load until I run out of components. Then as added therapy, I research/shop for more/different components, mebbe buying, mebbe not. In my situation, I cast bullets which has an added bonus that I can keep casting, remelting and casting more...

[I'll Make Mine]

I'd find 500 rounds of .357 Magnum to be all I can see any reasonable need for -- probably 250 rounds for each of my primary loads (which will change once I'm set up to cast .358 boolits, assuming I can come close to duplicating the performace of my existing jacketed loads), and 200 rounds of 7.62x54R for my Mosin would be more than I'd usually shoot in a year. If you shoot a lot more than I do, you might want larger numbers, but I'd say loading more rounds than you'll shoot in a year is likely running toward the obsessive side.

Then again, if there's a realistic possibility you may wind up in a situation where you can't reload, but can still shoot, loading all you can store and transport is the way to go.

[Dale53]

I live in a climate controlled house (as most of us do). In a good year I will shoot 5000-7500 rounds of .45 ACP alone. I shoot a lesser amount of .32 S&W/.32 H&R and .38/.357 Magnum, .44 Special/.44 Magnum. There is absolutely NOTHING wrong with loading up a years supply of each caliber you use. Many, many years ago I promised myself that I would NEVER be out of ammo when someone calls unexpectedly and wants to go shoot.

Properly loaded and stored (with full load data) my components are just as "at home" in loaded rounds as they are in their original boxes. The only limitation is the amount of empty cases you have on hand.

I am retired now, but when I was working I had a high stress job. After supper hitting the loading bench I could FEEL the personal pressure leave. I would get up from a session of casting bullets or loading with a relaxed smile on my face.

You and your wife are in our prayers.

FWIW
Dale53

[prs]

I keep several hundred to a couple of thousand rounds per caliber I actually use. Have none on hand for some dust collecters I own. Load what ya got or until yer tired of it.



I was on flight from Chicago to Alanta quite a few years ago. As I boarded, there was this Texan in the window seat next to me. He had the hat and boots and nice western like business suit. He talked a lot. Told about his spread and and his special breed of cattle, Limousine or some such a special good kind as he told it. He eventually needed to draw a breath of air and asked me if I had any lang back in West Virginia. Yes, I have a nice place. He asked if I ran any stock. Yes, says I, depending upon the time o' year I have from 100,000 to 300,000 head. Holy kripe! How big a spread you got, he asked? Oh, 'bout 20 acres more or less. Why you gotta be josh'n, them cattle wuold be stacked 20 deep on that litle speck o' dirt, he quipped. Nah, says I, they fit rather neatly in 10 or 12 hives............ He could not keep a staright face even after we disembrarked that plane.

I gave-up bee keeping when the gov'ment started forcing us to put all those chemicals in the hives.

prs

[SciFiJim]

Beekeeper, The answer is not "how many rounds loaded", but how therapeutic and fulfilling was the time spent. If you wind up with a bazillion rounds, so what? According to you OP, it is the process not the result that matters. If you got NO rounds reloaded but only played with the components and the time was well spent, then it was a success.

Prayers for you and your wife!

[303Guy]

I used to load 40 303 Brit rounds for the coming shoot and 40 for the 44 Mag. I probably had no than 50 223 rounds loaded for varmint hunting. More recently I would load up maybe 20 to 40 22 hornet rounds for a more voluminous varmint hunt plus some fun shooting. That was with j-words. Very recently I would spend time casting different weight boolits for paper patching then spend time patching and testing for fit in the chamber and case. I spent a lot of time doing that and very little time actually shooting them! Patching is much slower and far more fun. I don't have any revolvers any more but I'm sure I would have tried paper patching for the 44 mag. In fact, I know I would have!

[whopist]

Sorry to hear your wife is ill.
Reloading might be just the thing for you. In my case I load as few as 5 each to as many as 200 each. This is all based on my personal situation at the time.
There is no minimum or maximum amount to load.

Example1:
Purchased a revolver chambered for 38 Smith & Wesson (38 short not 38 Special). Ammo is not readily available, so I purchased Lee dies and 100 pieces of unprimed brass. I loaded up 5 rounds and went out the back door to see what I had. I did this several times over the next week or two. When I got close to what I was looking for I started loading 20 rounds at a time and now 2 months later I’m still at 20 rds, but thinking about loading a box of 50 next time.

Example2:
9mm is my go to cartridge. If I have some loaded up when I decide go shoot, I grab them and head out. If not, I pull out my reloading log and decided what I would like to load. Gather all the components and sit down for a reloading session, whether it is 20 rds or 50, never over a 100.


You seem to want to fill in some idle time with something productive. I can get out my stuff, (work in my wife’s laundry room) and load 5 rounds in 20 minutes or 50 in 1 hour. Your time may vary. Three 50 round boxes of ammo on the shelf for any given caliber is a lot for me.

Hint: You have to shoot to reduce your inventory!

[SciFiJim]

Another thought occurred to me. Because you might/will need to to leave it for a while to care for your wife, please build in safeguards to the reloading to protect you from double charging the brass.

[quack1]

My wife had a series of strokes and was in and out of the hospital and rehab for over 3 months before she died. In that 3 months, and after she died, I loaded in order to take my mind off things for a while. I simply loaded for a caliber until I ran out of brass, then started another caliber. I also was able to shoot now and then, too, so that freed up more brass. I don't have more than 500 cartridges for any caliber, and for some, only a couple hundred. My suggestion is load as much as you need to keep your sanity. Also, if you get a break from caring for her, go shoot up some of that freshly loaded ammo. Shooting works as good as loading as a mind easer.
Good luck.

[SlippShodd]

I say just go at it until the "Re-loading" itself starts to make you go crazy.

It's a win-win situation; except for the "Crazy" part.

HollowPoint

I'm kind of in HollowPoint's camp here. I started acquiring components and when that got out of hand, started loading them until they were gone and started all over again. As others have said, it depends on the caliber/gun combo for me. I have enough '06 ammo to last me the rest of my life 'cuz I don't shoot that much of it. My hunting and varminter calibers have typically 100-150 rounds on the shelf, my SHTF calibers got a little out of hand and I ended up with 3500+ each of .45 ACP and .223, my "varietals" (44 mag, 38/357) have 500-1000 of various loads at any given moment.
It's whatever you're comfortable with and have the components available for loading.
Storage becomes an issue eventually...

mike

[williamwaco]

My real number is about a three months supply but In your case, I would be inclined to say "all of them"


.

[HighHook]

Once I develop a great load I fill every case I own.

[Gibson]

Some time ago I asked this same question and got a lot of (I think) unrealistic answers.
I need something to take my mind off of my wifes medical condition for a while.
Since my loading bench is on wheels I can position it where I can watch or hear her.
Would like to spend the time reloading ammo!
So the question is how much do you really have on hand(in reloads) that you use as your baseline for having enough.

10000 rounds isn't even realistic for me ( or anyone else that I know) so how about some ideas.

Old man needs project to keep from going crazy.


beekeeper

I can somewhat relate to your situation.

However, after reading your question multiple times, I have concluded that you are looking for an arbitrary number. The answer will be different for most everybody. If I had 1k rounds for each caliber I shot put back I would think it reasonably adequate. However, for semi-auto pistols and rifles, I suspect more.

However, I do not have such. I'm lazy and worthless.

It seems in your situation I'd load, and load, and load. . . You will be in my prayers. I don't know you and I'm fairly wicked so they may not make it 'past the ceiling'. But I'll send them.

God bless you both.

[warf73]

I reload 500~1k for my 40S&W at a time, normally 1k but it really depends on my boolit/bullet count. The 357 is normally in lots of 250~500 it also depends on the boolit count on hand. The wife is getting a P238 for xmas so I know I'll be busy for while getting her a supply of ammo in the next few weeks.
This past Wednesday I needed to reload .204 Ruger for our jack rabbit trip to western Kansas. I normally do this on the 550 but wanted to do it with my son so I tore down the 550 set up and set up the LCT and the Uniflow for the 204 run. Wednesday morning after I got off of work(7am) I woke my son up and we began reloading, just doing lot runs of 100 rounds take a small break to eat or get drinks. We both had a great time and got caught up on stuff going on in his life and wanting to see what direction he might take when he goes off to college next year (17 year old senior) it is always different every month lol. We ended up with just 500 rounds and it took us till almost 1:30pm it was completely relaxing for me and I got to spend time with my son doing something we both enjoy doing, other than shooting what we reloaded.

So to answer your question it really doesn't matter how many rounds you reload just take your time and relax, if you end up with 1k of everything you reload for so what. Just make sure what you do reload that you lable it so you know for later.

[nwellons]

I try to keep all my cases reloaded and that is enough to handle my monthly range trips for 2 or 3 months. When I cast, I try to keep producing until I have at least a 6 months supply but end up with enough for a year in some calibers.

As you already know, it is a great way to relax and focus on one thing.

[Wayne Smith]

Beekeeper, there is really only one answer in your situation. How much brass do you have? Load all of it. Then you have to go shoot.

[M-Tecs]

Sorry to hear about your wife.

I do most of my reloading/casting in the winter. I have a 30/40 that I haven’t shot in five years so the hundred rounds I have loaded is more than enough.

I normally shoot 4,000 to 6,000 rounds a year at prairie dogs so I like to have at least 8,000 rounds loaded in the spring. For me I want no less than a year’s supply for my normal usage.

Between the prairie dog loads and handgun I have what some people would call an unrealistic number but it works for me.

For my competition rifle loads I do all the brass prep in the winter and load the prep’ed brass as needed.

[41 mag fan]

Oh my...I must be one of those crazies....I got boxes upon boxes, (same size as ammo cans) stacked all over all loaded up. i love to reload as much as I do shooting.
I just did 2500 on the 40, before that 6k on the 45. Now i'm getting geared up to add another 10k on the 223 and 20k on the 300AAC once i get my load I like.
Guess I'm a hoarder

[trixter]

I have a 30-06 rifle, and about 100 pieces of brass, I load up 10 of several 'Test' loads and need to go to the range and find the 'right' load. Realistically I will shoot about that 100 in a years time. For my .45ACP, I have about 1,000 pieces of brass. Most of them are loaded and stored. I also mine my local club's bullet trap and get casting material so I also cast. Keeps a fella busy. My wife passed in 9 of 2011, and it has helped me cope, along with a lot of good friends, and a lot of time on my knees.

[rsrocket1]

If I have 3x the number I typically shoot in a session, I am reasonably comfortable. That means about 500 for my autoloaders and 300 for my bolt action and revolvers. That way if I skip reloading after a session or even two, I don't worry about being caught short the next time I want to shoot.

The best thing to do is to ensure you aren't caught short before going out to shoot and frantically loading on the night before. I'll bet most loading accidents occur because of haste or lack of time to do things at a steady reasonable pace.

[Harter66]

For me I like to keep things full when I can, I had a 9mm w/1/8rnd ,6/15s and 2/13s. That's 120 plus a reload so I kept about 300 around for it. I had companion guns in 38/357 and another 38so I kept 150 38s and 250 357s around handy. My 45 Colt kept 100 of each of 3 loads,after I nickel and dimmed that much brass. These days a tired 06' and a sloppy 7x57 have 50 or so rnds each on hand. I kept 150 rounds on hand for a 7.6 2 x 3 9 as it had a 10 and a 40 rnd mags. Used to be some safe queens that would share ammo so there was extra for those.

I'd say fill up some little 30 Cal cans w/pistol ammo you will shoot "soon" to start. Then work w/2 complete reloads on hand or 2 boxes as appropriate to the tool in question. That's me though.

You have my thoughts and a prayer for you and your wife.;

[MtGun44]

I try to keep about 1/2 or more of a 50 cal can full of .45 ACP loads, don't always make it - like now!

Bill

[375RUGER]

It doesn't bother me to load until I run out of brass or boolits or j-words for a given cartridge. I have done that for 243, 45 acp and 44 mag many times.
Enough? Maybe. Too much? Not even close.

If I were to put some number to have at all times-I would like to have minimum of 1500 of all my pistol loads.
I would like to have at least 2500- 308s 223s and 22-250s
and 500 of all my other rifle cartridges
and 1000 12ga.

[rintinglen]

When my parents were ill, I bought a Lee hand press, dug out my 38 and 44 dies and would sit and size, or flare or re-prime while I sat and listened for them at their house. It took my mind off my troubles. I'd powder charge them and seat boolits in the evening when I could pay more attention. I have an RCBS turret press, a DILLON demi-progressive, but the slow steady cycle of that little press was a great time passer.
These days, I try to keep a years worth of shooting on hand.
Bless you and keep you and yours from harm.