Pretty well stocked with range ammo but can't decide how much self defense ammo to get. I have about 300 rounds of both 9 mil and 380. If things go downhill how much is enough.

Impossible to know for sure until all the shooting is done.

I usually keep 100-200 rounds of self defense ammo on hand.....rest is all ball/range ammo.

My reasoning is simple....if I burn through all my self defense ammo.....Im in a situation where I dont care what ammo Im shooting at that point.

If you are ever in an extended fire fight that requires that much ammo, so many things went wrong that round over penetration/collateral damage is the least of your problems.

Range ammo or self defense ammo will make no diff if things go south. Either will get the job done. I mean if we are talking end of times.

Yep and Yep!!

I figure on at least 100 to 150 as I like to put several of my defense rounds through whatever defense gun i'm running drills with to verify point of aim with point of impact at various distances. The distances might vary per session. Also my Beretta 92 FS uses the same defense round as my Browning Hi-Power. The same goes also with some of my .45 1911's. With the ammo situation presently going on, extra ammo certainly couldn't hurt. It also is a good idea to put fresh ammo in the gun and magazines which I would then use part of the pulled ammo for the end of the practice sessions. Just the way I do things with my carry/defense guns.
Jim

And, you are probably dead.

Let's see. I've got self defense ammo in .380, .38 Special, .357 Magnum, .357 SIG, 9mm, and .45 ACP. I'd be surprised if I have more than 200 rounds combined. If I've gone through that and I'm still alive I'll be happy to use FMJ range ammo.

I figure one gun full is enough for most self defense. When the law gets there they will take my gun as evidence and if I ever get it back it will not be in very good shape. I also figure I should have more than one gun full in case I figured wrong. Larry

IMO you need to think in the thousands of rounds, not hundreds.

Back in the muscle car days, it's what they said about horsepower:
"If a lot is good, too much is just enough".

As much as you can get.

As much as you can store.

Maybe.

The real issue is twofold. First, how much shooting will you do with the more-expensive-than-range-ammo-self-defense-ammunition? You can't buy 100 rounds and shoot 95 rounds at the range to see if it works in your gun, right? But if you shoot 50 rounds then you've got 50 left and you're good to go for your carry gun or home defense weapon - under normal situations.

And that's whatever platform you're considering, handguns, long guns, whatever your choice is then you need some left over.

That's the casual answer. Simply put, a sufficient amount the day that you need it. And if you're switching off guns and calibers then the number of rounds has to match the guns and calibers.

Simple.

The second issue is different. What are you preparing for? Ignoring "end times" as an unrealistic answer, are you expecting to need ammunition to ward off street rioters at your door? Are you concerned about major civil unrest after November 3rd? Do you expect full bore fire fights in the streets? In the streets where you figure you will be? On your block?

Then the answer is as much ammunition as you can afford. 1000 rounds? 10,000 rounds? How big a battle are you concerned about?

I understand that 200 or so rounds of 5.56 NATO is the usual amount of ammunition for an Army infantryman to carry into the field. If you have 20 round magazines that's ten magazines and plenty of weight. So, if the fecal matter hits the whirling blades and we have a street war going on then I guess you need a couple of hundred rounds on you if you're carrying an AR-type rifle. If that's true, you probably need several thousand rounds hidden at home don't you think?

What if you're going out with a handgun? Let's say a M92 Beretta with a 15 round magazine. Ten of those is 150 rounds available - do you think you're getting into a fire fight with your handgun and you'll need 150 rounds? Okay......worst case fictional scenario, yes. Then I'd figure you need 1000 rounds more hidden at home don't you think?

So, you decide. Do you really expect to get into that big a fight? Are you a prepper with several months of food available? Do you even have two weeks of food available? How much food do you think that you'll need? You. Your family. Your pets. How much?

If you can make that determination then match it with ammunition if you're concerned about civil unrest or riots.

If it's just daily carry and a home defense weapon, well, that's a whole nuthuh smoke, podnuh, and go back to where I started.

Oh, and BTW, since all you're talking about is 9mm and .380 ACP, a couple of hundred rounds for each is a minimum all the time. Range ammo will carry the day if the rioters hit; they don't care what you're loading in your weapons and neither should you.

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Come and take it!!

I figure this little stash should be adequate.

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In Omnia Paratus

No matter what price of self-defense ammunition goes up every year. A case will last me 7 years and it's cheaper at 2020 prices than it will be at 2027 prices.

When I find a good price on a case of my preferred SD ammunition I buy it

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Retired Career Security Guard

I do not believe you can have too much. I have never thought I have enough! Try to do when everything quiets down, by one-5 boxes weekly, when something like we are seeing now happens, it is just another day. Be Safe,

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I BACK OUR BLUE

HA! That depends. I have around 10,000 rounds of ammunition in my closet. How do we define adequate? Adequate for what?



PS:

I do have more than 2 weeks of food, too.

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Come and take it!!

Since your choosing semi auto for self defense, I would start with shooting several magazines of my usual SD ammo choice, to check for functionality. After I prove the ammo, then fully load it +1, and a spare magazine.
Revolvers skip the function proving, and get a cylinder full and a couple of speed loaders or moonclips.

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk

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Slava Ukraini!

I keep no less then a 1000 rounds for each caliber I own and the ability to reload that much more when needed.

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SWHF #595

Always interesting to see what people say is enough. If things get that bad you better have enough for everyone you know because if you have to stop the hordes you will need a lot of fire power and anything that goes bang will be needed.

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Hue 68 noli me tangere

Doesn't matter how much ammo you have if you run out of clean water and food....

unless you plan to use the ammo to get food and water........ by taking or bartering!

Now is not the best time to buy...... after the panics of Y2K, 9/11, and the elections of 2004,08, 12,16 and Sandyhook....... in between I was slowly accumulating ammo for my retirement shooting....... so the pandemic is a bump in the road for my ammo stash.

A double tap of hardball is going to hurt......................

If "things go downhill..." I want a long gun as primary my handgun is backup so a few hundred rounds is plenty

Now lets ask "How many magazines/speedloaders" do you need?

For me, the answer to the question "How much ammo is enough?" is always "Just one more box . . . "

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Wisdom comes thru fear . . .

You will not need more than of a box of each in a "normal" self defense scenario.

If you are thinking TEOTWAWNI. Who cares, you will never have enough.

And, for that scenario, you will need rifle ammo, lots and lots of it.

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Expect the unexpected

The only time you can have too much ammo is when you're swimming....

If it goes south and you run out of ammo don't call for help. Cause it's not coming.

I've got Rice, beans, and lard. Do any of you know what lard is?

I keep all of my pistol magazines loaded with SD rounds, and keep enough on hand to load them all up a second time.

Rifle ammo is a different story. My son went to college and is living off campus, so he took his guns... and half my ammo. I'm feeling a little low right now.

The universal answer: It depends.

Some things to consider...

You want to run enough through your gun(s) to make sure it's reliable and you can shoot it well. Some people say 100 rounds, some say 200 rounds. I've got my own protocol for that.

You may want to consider changing out your carry ammo periodically. Some people do it every 6 months, some every year. I aim for 6 months, but I'm usually closer to a year. I've carried ammo daily for 2 years and that ammo fired fine, so there's that.

How much can you spend? Defensive ammo isn't cheap, especially now, when you can find it. I bought a box or two at a time when I had the money, and now I'm pretty well-stocked.

How much space do you have? I live in an apartment, so my storage options are more limited than someone living in a house. I also have to consider the possibility of maintenance people coming into my apartment, so my storage needs to be discreet.

My suggestion would be to consider these aspects, and within those parameters, get as much as you can. Specific numbers will be up to you.

And if push comes to shove, range ammo will do if you can't get any defensive ammo. Not recommended, but as a last resort it'll do. Good HP ammo is better for self defense, but shot placement is still the most important factor.

Just my opinion.

Jimmie Rodgers, No Hard Times, barrel of flour, bucket of lard. Larry

I like to have at least a couple of hundred rounds of 9mm HP ammo.

Not because I will ever need that much in an actual self defense situation. But because I want to have enough on hand that I can test it in new guns and occasional refresh what is in my carry and home defense guns.

When I buy a new gun for home defense or carry I first run a few hundred rounds of FMJ through it. If it is working well with that I still do not really trust it until I also run at least 100 rounds of SD ammo through it with no failures. I usually carry the same gun for at least a few years so this doesn't happen often. But I bought a P365 in January this year hoping it will replace my Glock 43 as my carry gun and am glad I bought a half case of Speer Gold Dots in 2018 instead of trying to find that 100 rounds today. The 365 started having FTE issues after about 500 rounds and Sig replaced the slide, barrel and recoil spring. It has been working well since but I am going to have to repeat the 100 round SD ammo test so that one gun will end up having 200 rounds of Gold Dots through it before I will carry it.

If I carried a revolver and didn't have to worry about feeding or ejection issues the reliability test would consist of one cylinder of the SD ammo.

I normally have a magazine fully loaded with SD ammo in both my carry gun and the 2.0 compact I have for home defense. About once or twice a year I like to shoot those and replace the ammo. Since I do not have a "rotation" of different carry guns that only adds up to 46 rounds a year if I do it twice but if I only had a few 20 round boxes of HP ammo it would quickly deplete my stash.

If I'm ever in a situation where I'd expect to use more than a dozen or so handgun rounds, even over a prolonged period, I'd prefer to have access to my shotguns or rifles.

Considering that you will probably never need it, one mag full and a refill is probablyplenty. If you’re going to war, the sky’s the limit.

45acp? One.

All of your magazines and speed loaders should be full. Get more if you can.
Jim

I keep 150-200 rounds of Federal HST on hand. If I need more than that for self defense I will go to FMJ or more likely to an AR.

LOL watch a few seasons of "The Walking Dead" and make your own call!!!

Only you would know how much you need.

everything loaded, few extra boxes. I sincerely hope to be prt of the 99.99999% of folks who never have to pull a trigger in self defense.

Yes, Arkansas native here, and it is mighty close to dinner time here.

I have enough ammo of all types that I will almost certainly run out of prescription medication first. I have a decent amount of duty type ammo for my firearms, and if that gets used up, then I have a bigger problem than ammo selection, and I'll go to using the ball ammo.

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NHI, 10-8.

I use the same hand loaded ammo for everything: practice, sd, competition, etc.

So, all my ammo is sd ammo.

I have plenty.

Barney never squandered money on a second cartridge.

If You are talking insurrection, have enough to last until You are overrun. If You are talking 2 or 3 intruders. one magazine or cylinder should be enough. Hopefully You will have something other than a handgun. If not, good luck.

Is this ATF asking ?

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Dogs are better than people.

SOME of us just count the number of "K"s...

One or two rounds, COM should do.

depends how bad of a shot you are

Some of you sound like you could supply these guys for a day.

Average daily ammunition expenditures for the 90th Infantry Division, 1—31 July 1944 (31-day period):

Cal. 30 Carbine - 7,251.52
Cal. 30 Ball, 5 clip (BAR) - 9,855.23
Cal. 30 Ball, 8 clip (M1 rifle) - 27,885.90
Cal. 30 Ball, MG - 30,382.90
Cal. 45 Ball (M1911, M1 & M3 SMGs) - 2,611.39
Cal. 50 MG - 2,627.39

What is this ammo some speak of?

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KM
S&WCA 3110 S&WHF 625