Stockpiling Ammo

There is a law in Sweden or Finland or some such place that. I think Finland. That limits how much ammo you can have in your home. How dare they! Don't they know that being armed is a human right, and that a firearm is useless without ammo? The limit is some 12,500 rounds or some other very high number. Well that’s not so bad...

Stockpiling ammo is a tricky little situation. You probably should rotate your ammo out over time, even every 5 years. The problem here is that most ranges, not just Clark Bros., has an in-house ammo policy. You fire only ammo you bought at that premises. Fine for a small supply of ammo. You buy 5 boxes this month to take home and keep, but you shoot the 5 boxes of the same brand you bought at the range last month. Or last years. But then your stockpile is 5 boxes, or one session’s worth, whatever that amount is.

So you’re expecting zombies and want more than 100 rounds in the house, but you are not sure if the zombies are coming in 10 days or 10 years? How should I stockpile ammo for the eventuality of the Stuff Hitting the Fan and not have a few hundred (or thousand) rounds go to waste for lack of a place to shoot them? I still have to think on that. That’s a head scratcher on ammo rotation. I gotta find a range that’ll let me fire anything. (I haven’t yet) Or you can buy some rural acreage and plink away (I can’t afford that yet.)

But that’s not the only thing to think about.

What about a house fire getting to your big stash?! That’ll kill have the neighborhood! Well, no. Cooking off bullets outside a gun chamber and barrel is not a good idea, safety wise, but the bullet won’t jump out of that cartridge with the same threat if it is outside a gun. The velocity and force of a bullet come from expanding gases pushing it down the tube. In the open air those expanding gasses dissipates in all directions as soon as the bullet unseats from the brass. It makes a bang, it is not a good idea to have near you, but if you are in the next room your chance of metal fragments hurting you are minimal. It’s not like your 1000 rounds of ammo will go off like 1000 separate rifle shots, killing all your local fireman, if your house burns down. That said, store your ammo properly.

There is cheap ammo out there that have so-called corrosive primers. My impression is that these are from Warsaw Pact surplus. I don’t know if the primer cap will corrode away is left lying around or if chemicals in that type of primer will corrode my gun parts and barrel. Either way, they sound like no bargain, even if free. I will avoid them.

I’ve mentioned before that I am trying to keep current and future gun purchases coordinated so ammunition inventory is simplified. If I got a lever gun that shoots pistol cartridges, I’d get one that fires the same .357 rounds my revolver does. If I get a bolt action rifle, I won’t get a 7mm or a .300 or one that chambers for .270, I’ll get either .308 or .30-06. Fortunately, those rounds are highly thought of and effective and I won’t be itching for diversity.

And a good quantity of ammo ain’t cheap, and it isn't getting any cheaper with the rise in prices of commodities (like brass) pushing ammo costs up, and anti-gun types trying to neutralize our second amendmendment rights via the backdoor by more government regulations on ammo. I can probably find deals at gun shows and such. Cheaper than Dirt is a catalog supply house that has decent prices, but I bet it’s cheaper to buy at a gun show. Plus, it is illegal for them to ship me ammo in my county, anyway. Another slightly cheaper route (or can be) is hand loading. I need to investigate that. The cursory review of hand loading in my materials so far is “NEVER HAND LOAD.” Ok, that is a bit much, but every time I see something online where a gun had a massive failure, the story always begins with, “so I took my gun to the range with some new hot loads I had just whipped up at the bench” and ends with, “The doctors sewed my fingers back on ok, and luckily I can still see, but I will always have little bits of once molten brass tattooed in forehead. The gun was a total loss.” Everything I’ve read about the Garand warns off hand loading, too. Too many slam fire and separated brass casings result from the abuse a semi-automatic rifle gives a worn reloaded cartridge. Now, I’m not totally down on hand loading. I’m enthusiastic to try it if I can get some really quality instruction and shoot what I make out of a future bolt-action rifle or the revolver. No super-loads for me though. Consistent, accurate, high quality, and cheaper than I can buy, loads would be my intention there. I try to save my brass now for that possibility.

And in the event of a SHTF scenario, .22LR becomes currency that you can trade goods for. So lots of .22 is always good, even if you don't have a .22 (I will get one, don't worry.)