Ammo stockpile

Due (in part) to the rising costs of ammo, I have heard a lot of people talking about stockpiling, or how much ammo they keep on hand, etc. I usually keep around 1600 rounds in the house – I have a system set up that determines how much ammo I keep, based on what firearms I own and how often I shoot them.

Right now, based on the system I’ve set up, I should have a minimum of 1,670 rounds of ammo, if all the different calibers are at their appropriate levels. Now, for the non-gun people, I’m aware that 1600 rounds seems like a lot, but it’s really not. Especially when compared to some people.

The criteria I use for determining how much ammo of a specific caliber I keep is as follows.

For firearms chambered for .22 Long Rifle, I keep 200 rounds per gun on hand. Since I have 4 guns that shoot .22 LR, that equals 800 rounds.

Firearms chambered in .22 Magnum have 150 rounds per gun on hand, so that equals 300 rounds, as I have 2 .22 Magnums.

I have some guns chambered for calibers that I don’t shoot very often, usually these are my C&R guns, or guns that chamber rounds that are relatively expensive. In this category you’ll find my .32 ACP, my .45 ACP, and my .45 Colt. For those guns, I keep 50, 50, and 20, respectively, per gun in my inventory. Since I only have one gun chambered for each of those calibers, the sum total of my “low volume” calibers is 120 rounds.

Finally, I have my high volume calibers, which are 9mm and .38/.357. I shoot these more than other calibers, I keep 150 rounds per gun on hand for those.

As you can see, my “stockpile” is heavily slanted towards rimfire ammo. I tend to shoot rimfires more than anything, because they’re a lot of fun, and not expensive to shoot. To some people, 1600 may seem like an obscene amount of ammunition – to other people it probably doesn’t seem like nearly enough. Your mileage may vary, of course.