Reading this thread https://www.m4carbine.net/showthread.php?173826-How-often-do-you-get-out-and-quot-shoot-the-gun-quot got me to thinking about the people that say that they don’t have the money/ammo to shoot more. I know some people that have an AR and only keep a few mags worth of ammo at home with their rifle, but take about 6 classes a year and shoot every week. I also know some that sit on tens of thousands of rounds per weapon and never train. Obviously there is a happy medium here.
Lately I have lucked into a few classes at a great price. This has caused me to dip into my “reserves” and I’m feeling that paranoid feeling like I don’t have enough ammo and I need to chill out on classes and training for a while till I can get my stash stocked back up. Still do lots of dry fire and low round count range day though. I’m down to about 1000rds 5.56 and 1500rds 9mm. What about y’all what’s y’all’s happy spot?
I agree. But I consider most of mine as a “rainy day fund” for whenever the next panic is so that I can continue to enjoy shooting. Not to go all Rambo/red dawn.
Set a performance goal, identify required resources, train and practice to it. Evaluate results. Start over.
Same for purchasing. Look at what you know you know you’re going to do (above), add a buffer for unplanned opportunities, add 12-18 months of supply to maintain that activity. That gives you not only what you need now, but covers the extended order periods/low supply, or your backstock for your disaster prep.
Be honest with yourself and realistic in your goals. The “more! more! more!” cycle many are in isn’t productive.
Train.
I’m in the embarrassing camp of I’m going to have to turn most of my ammo stash into training ammo because it’s been sitting the better part of a decade, and the environmental controls on it haven’t been totally up to scratch. I’ll start replacing it once I burn through a couple cases.
Make really efficient use if training time and resources. Incorporate dry fire, holster/manipulation drills, and inclusion of timing and precision elements so you’re having to push hard whenever you’re burning through ammo – but don’t hesitate to use ammo for training as long as you have your minimum stash set aside and still have comparatively easy access to replenishing it. Skills are perishable, ammo less so. Having enough to ride out panic buys is arguably worth more economically, so that’s what I base my decision making around - but I also wind up hoarding too much ammo that I should be using to stay up to speed and developing as a marksman.
Shoot and train. Or train and shoot. Whichever. If you are worrying about stockpiling, my advice would be whatever you are shooting or training with, to buy, just a little more than you need and stash it away. Figure out your own personal ratio and stick with it. Eventually you will get yourself a nice stash. I have a good bit stocked away, and also shoot a good bit, between me and the old man this year we have likely burnt through 15k rounds, or more, though mostly reloads. I am trying to stock a decent buffer of ammo and components though as well as burn through ammo that has been stashed for a couple years and replace it with new/better ammo. That said, all the ammo in the world ain’t worth a damn if you can’t hit anything, shooting skills are perishable.
I do both. I keep 6000 - 8000 rounds sitting around, replace a case every time I shoot a case. Shoot the oldest rounds first. Currently, my oldest ammo is about 18 months old.
For several years, I operated underling the following rules: for every two rounds i buy, one gets stored, and one gets shot in training. I also rotate the new ammo, by shooting the old. So when i buy a cane of a thousand rounds, it gets put in the back of the ammo shelves, and 500 rounds gets puled from the front of the shelf for shooting/training.
This helped me get through the lean ammo scarce times without too much concern.
That sounds like a pretty solid ratio. I’ve been slowly stockpiling ammo at my parent’s house (with the other half of my collection) while I’m stationed in Hawaii. Hopefully by the time I get back, I’ll have a solid stash. Right now I have over 11,000 rounds, but that’s split amongst seven calibers and almost half of it is .22lr so I don’t have much of each caliber. I had goals for each caliber but they were just random numbers, I think I’ll give this a shot at some point.
I keep 2k of 5.56 and 2k of 9mm always on hand. Before a class I pick up another 1k of each, sometimes I come home with some extra which I use for practice at local range. All I have is two 9mm pistols (vp9’s) and two AR’s (BCM middys), so I think I have enough.
I don’t have a ratio or method. I mostly shoot when I have the time. My finds don’t allow a lot of training, so I train a bit, and stash a bit.
Mind you, my “stash” is probably what a lot of people would shoot in a course over a weekend.
I try to balance my training and stashing when possible, but life gets in the way a lot.
I usually keep about 5K each of 5.56 and 9mm and about 1K each of .38 Spc, .357 Mag and 12 Gauge for my stash and shoot as much as I can when I can.
I haven’t had a lot of time lately so training has gone to the way side, but I have been stocking up training ammo for when I do have time so I can get back up to speed.
I really don’t think one could have “TOO MUCH” ammo. It’s very easy to sell, shoot or trade ammo already- if anything happened that sent the country/region/world sideways it would be even more valuable.
Other than rimfire you shouldn’t have any issues finding ammo to shoot.
You may not be able to find the super cheap surplus battlepack stuff of a decade ago but ammo is out there.
if you buy in bulk or find an FFL with some decent prices its available
Ammo does you no good just sitting there
Shooting is a perishable skill and life is too short to die with an ammo fort.
What I keep on hand for myself doesn’t really count. I have “my” stash and then I have my FFL stocks of ammo.
If I run short on the personal side for an upcoming school or whatever, I pull off the FFL stuff and bill myself
Couple thoughts:
If you are not a cop or military how many people have you had to shoot in your lifetime?
How many SHTFs have you been in? Fire (house and forest), Flood, Hurricane, Sunk boat, car broke down, uninvited person in home, close encounter with bear, close encounter with venomous snake, lost job…been cold, wet, hungry, ill, with no hope…
For me, I have shot a couple people and I have been in a lot of what would be called SHTFs, but the percentage of shooting SHTFs are very very small. If you are prepping for EOTWAWKI, then you better have all your other shit nailed down because shooting is not nearly as big of thing as most people on gun boards think.
There is no reason why you can’t practice and be proficient, as well as buy a durable good and put it in long term storage to hedge against variations in price and availability, both simultaneously.
I’d argue that’s the actual objective, and doing either is only being half-assed.
To my shame, I belong in the “doesn’t train enough” camp. My “stash” of ammo is relatively modest, but I have enough to get through the next panic. I set aside a percentage of my ammo (about 10-20%) for training, and replace it as I use it- which works out to about quarterly, so I know I have enough to last at least a year, and probably two or more since I would most likely shoot even less if I couldn’t get ammo readily. But I know a lot of guys who burn through what I would use in 3 months in one weekend, so I’m not hoarding ammo with the fantasy of being Rambo or anything even close.
However, I think the intended use of your firearm also drives how much you should train and how much ammo you should keep stored. Self-defense vs. hunting vs. plinking comes to mind.