Opened the ammo closet for inventory

1
Nah, not to post it. To have done it, and I did.

Here I am all cleanin' out flotsam and jetsam in the dusty corners of the house, and I decide to open the ammo closet. It appeared a bit disorganized, so this morning I went in there and opened all the boxes and combined them into range ammo and other stuff. Looked OK quantity wise with everything. Stacked the powders oldest in the front. Primers counted. I have on average just over five rounds for each rifle and ten rounds for each hand gun. Some ammo for Keith the 12ga. Arrows good. Sufficient broad heads. String waxed. Knife sharp hangin' on the bug out bag. One car gassed.

So, mulching the plants on the south side house today.

CDFingers
Crazy cat peekin' through a lace bandana
like a one-eyed Cheshire, like a diamond-eyed Jack

Re: Opened the ammo closet for inventory

4
Y'all just don't account for the actual meaning of "average." Or that I'm old and have a basement. And that math is not really my strongest suit. Nonetheless, knowing what I have and that the bug out knife is sharp, well, that's a good thing. Since I'm old, only two thirds of the admonition applies from the Dawn Patrol: "Keep your knife sharp, your socks dry, and keep a sharp eye out for the ladies."

Now, one thing I don't have is at least one magazine or six rounds of copper hand gun carry ammo for each hand gun for the California woods. I won't be carrying a rifle for protection against sabre toothed zombies there, so no need for copper with rifles. But this glaring omission appeared during inventory, which is why we invent. Or reeee, one.

CDFingers
Crazy cat peekin' through a lace bandana
like a one-eyed Cheshire, like a diamond-eyed Jack

Re: Opened the ammo closet for inventory

5
lurker wrote: Fri Jun 19, 2020 11:43 am five rounds per gun! i consider 50 per barely adequate for the ones i don't regularly shoot.
when the zombies come, you'll be sorry, but not for long.
I tend to focus on fewer calibers so have a lot of 22 lr and 9 mm, common calibers. 50 is barely adequate when the zombies, winger wackos, Trumpers...show up at your home. :)
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: Opened the ammo closet for inventory

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lurker wrote: Fri Jun 19, 2020 2:30 pm
CDFingers wrote: Fri Jun 19, 2020 12:28 pm Since I'm old, only two thirds of the admonition applies from the Dawn Patrol: "Keep your knife sharp, your socks dry, and keep a sharp eye out for the ladies."
quit wearing socks, did you?
I thought he just gave up on drying 'em. :D

I understand how averages work. Odds are your ammunition stockpile is larger than mine. It's that denominator what gets ya. Besides, how many are you going to actually carry when you bug out? That's the amount you need to plan for. I expect you're more than adequately stocked.

Take that as you will. :D

Sharp knives are a joy.

Re: Opened the ammo closet for inventory

9
How much ammo to keep on hand is a matter of one's personal philosophy.

A few years ago I went to an out of state firearm training program that coincided with one of the politically induced ammo panics. I had a hell of a time locating enough ammo for the three day course. Immediately after that issue, I began to build my "do not touch" stash. With a little luck, my estate will be dealing with disposing of unused ammo that I bought 20 or more years earlier.

I have firearms in a lot of calibers, some of which are rarely shot. (stuff like .32 S&W long, or .32 short Colt) For the ones that I rarely take out to shoot, I keep a full box on hand. I don't consider myself a "hoarder", but for the same reason I keep money in a savings account, and some cash in the safe, I keep enough ammo on hand so that I can continue my normal shooting routine, through the more and more frequent panic buying periods, without having to pay panic prices or hunt all over town for enough ammo to plink with.

My rule of thumb is to maintain an inventory of at least 500 rounds for the stuff I shoot the most (.12 ga., .22LR, 9MM, .45ACP, and .38 Spl.) These are kept in a separate area and untouched for pinking at the range. I then try to keep enough on hand, on the shelf, to last a couple of range trips; what I shoot, I replace within the next few weeks. I am a tightwad, so I try to buy in bulk when I can catch a discount price. I usually split orders of 1,000 rounds of a single caliber with my son, who is also a shooter. We both shoot a lot, and neither of us reload. (I have too many other hobbies and he is too busy building a career)

Properly stored ammo does not go bad in a single lifetime; mine is stored at 70 degrees F, and under 55% humidity, so I don't worry about rotating stock. I still have some WWII .45 ACP ammo that had decades of attic storage, in humid Florida, and it only has an occasional FTF because of compromised primers.

Re: Opened the ammo closet for inventory

10
I hang out at the LGS a lot, and I've practiced this delivery--may have put it here, even, so I apologize if I repeat for new folks.

Was buying .22LR in the California ammo aisle. An entire Hmong family comes into the aisle: dad, son, grandfather, mother, daughter, and young grand kid. Son has no accent, about 24, says they're stocking up on ammo if there's a panic or something. Asks me how much ammo I keep stockpiled. "Well," I says, "I keep five rounds for each rifle and ten for each hand gun." Son translates it into Hmong, and the family has some discussion therewith. Son asks, "Five and ten--why so little ammo?" I've done this, see, so I let a few heartbeats pass.

Then I go, "I'm a good shot", and I cast a mischievous glance at the son. Two of them laugh, then the son says it in Hmong and the rest laughed.

That rocked. And that's the advantage of being old, that we sort of forget to whom we told what. About that bridge...

CDFingers
Crazy cat peekin' through a lace bandana
like a one-eyed Cheshire, like a diamond-eyed Jack

Re: Opened the ammo closet for inventory

11
Not emergency management issue for me, but rather for training. Cost is a factor to me.

I shoot 9mm and 22lr and just recently got into 45. I was shooting several times a month before the lock down. For awhile I was shooting low and to the left regularly and some days I shot better with one gun or another and it made no sense. I've slowly started to figure things out. But I was going through a lot of ammo. Yeah, private lessons may have helped but that's like $100 an hour and I thought watching youtube videos would be enough, and if not, how different would a private lesson be? Reloading 9mm and 22lr is not cost effective by my calculations, and that's another investment of gear.

I was going to the gun show in San Francisco, which after gas and parking, you need to buy a decent amount to make gun show prices cheaper than the local gun store. North Bay or Central Valley gun shows are even further away. I would see people wheeling out carts with 1000s of rounds, which at first I thought was weird. Black Friday prices or the occasional promotion at Sportsman's Warehouse or Bass Pro Shop can approach gun show prices when you catch them. When I shoot at the range, I go through progressions of a few mags each at 7, 10 and 15 yards on each gun. And 25 yards with my Ruger PC carbine. And I got some "high" capacity mags during Freedom Week in California. So I'm shooting 100s of rounds of 9mm each time I go. Bottom line I ended up buying 1000s of rounds at the gun show or Black Friday sales when I had the chance, and good thing I did, because gun shows are disappearing and Sportsman's Warehouse in Milpitas closed, and Bass Pro Shop in San Jose sucks because it's just so slow to get anyone at the gun counter to talk to you. I used to feel guilty wheeling a cart out of the gun show with 1000s of rounds. Now I don't. And don't know when I'll get the chance again.

As for buying online, I would need to go through an FFL and that has it's own fees. Haven't looked into that yet. I guess I need to. Would welcome any advice on that.

Re: Opened the ammo closet for inventory

12
CDFingers wrote: Fri Jun 19, 2020 10:36 am Nah, not to post it. To have done it, and I did.

Here I am all cleanin' out flotsam and jetsam in the dusty corners of the house, and I decide to open the ammo closet. It appeared a bit disorganized, so this morning I went in there and opened all the boxes and combined them into range ammo and other stuff. Looked OK quantity wise with everything. Stacked the powders oldest in the front. Primers counted. I have on average just over five rounds for each rifle and ten rounds for each hand gun. Some ammo for Keith the 12ga. Arrows good. Sufficient broad heads. String waxed. Knife sharp hangin' on the bug out bag. One car gassed.

So, mulching the plants on the south side house today.

CDFingers
Plus one bourbon, one scotch and one beer!
Those who make peaceful revolution impossible, make violent revolution inevitable.

Re: Opened the ammo closet for inventory

13
CDFingers wrote: Sat Jun 20, 2020 11:30 am I hang out at the LGS a lot, and I've practiced this delivery--may have put it here, even, so I apologize if I repeat for new folks.

Was buying .22LR in the California ammo aisle. An entire Hmong family comes into the aisle: dad, son, grandfather, mother, daughter, and young grand kid. Son has no accent, about 24, says they're stocking up on ammo if there's a panic or something. Asks me how much ammo I keep stockpiled. "Well," I says, "I keep five rounds for each rifle and ten for each hand gun." Son translates it into Hmong, and the family has some discussion therewith. Son asks, "Five and ten--why so little ammo?" I've done this, see, so I let a few heartbeats pass.

Then I go, "I'm a good shot", and I cast a mischievous glance at the son. Two of them laugh, then the son says it in Hmong and the rest laughed.

That rocked. And that's the advantage of being old, that we sort of forget to whom we told what. About that bridge...

CDFingers
Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany visited Switzerland in 1912. As the Kaiser observed Swiss army maneuvers, Swiss President Ludwig Forrer told his guest that “we have the resolute intention of protecting our independence against any attack on this [land], our dearest possession, and of upholding our neutrality against anyone who fails to respect it.” In a conversation depicted on a contemporary post-card, the Kaiser queried what the quarter of a million Swiss Army would do if faced with an invasion of half a million Germans. A Swiss militiaman replied, “Shoot twice.”

Re: Opened the ammo closet for inventory

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rolandson wrote: Wed Sep 16, 2020 1:08 pm The problem ain't how much ya got, it's how much y'all can carry.
We must recall that Heinlein cautions that we only own what we can carry at a dead run.

Now, if mobility is an issue, then good defense is a good defense. I highly recommend trained ninja hit cats. But if there's a perimeter, interlocking fields of fire, deterrent landscaping and a few crocodiles, a family could hold out until they ran out of crunchies for the hit cats.

CDFingers
Crazy cat peekin' through a lace bandana
like a one-eyed Cheshire, like a diamond-eyed Jack

Re: Opened the ammo closet for inventory

19
I probly should not gloat but, prior to last week, I had not shot since before the shut down. I was pretty flush then and had not bought ammo since last summer. Before I went to the range today and did a quick assessment. I’ve got about 3000 rounds of .22 LR, 500 rounds each of .17 HMR and 9 mm, and a couple hundred each of .38 Spl, 357 mag., and .45 ACP. Two or three boxes of .380, and maybe a hundred each of various varieties of 410 and 12 gauge shells.

I went back to the range a couple times in the last few weeks and plan two more this week. I’m cycling through my rifles to check function, sighting, etc but am not burning up large amounts of ammo.
Image

Re: Opened the ammo closet for inventory

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CDFingers wrote: Wed Sep 16, 2020 2:09 pm
rolandson wrote: Wed Sep 16, 2020 1:08 pm The problem ain't how much ya got, it's how much y'all can carry.
We must recall that Heinlein cautions that we only own what we can carry at a dead run.

CDFingers
But Vogt suggests that what we need, we'll have, when we need it.

Now then share some water with me, brother, while we think of three.
Subliterate Buffooery of the right...
Literate Ignorance of the left...
We Are So Screwed

Re: Opened the ammo closet for inventory

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CDFingers wrote: Wed Sep 16, 2020 5:39 pm Share water?

Stranger in a Strange Land.

CDFingers
You win a cookie.

And the Vogt reference ... The Weapons Shops Of Isher

ETA: Weapons Shops Of Isher...
The plot centers around an invisible energy/projectile weapon that instantly appears in the hand of the owner in moments of need, acquired in shops of which the doors will not open for law enforcement or military personnel.

written by a second amendment "enthusiast" (some might say whack job) that devolves into religious stupidity.
Subliterate Buffooery of the right...
Literate Ignorance of the left...
We Are So Screwed

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