How Many Calibers

[ImprovedModel56Fan]

Only 13. Made a significant effort to go standard some years ago, and mostly stuck with it.

 

[Buford57]

The words 'ammo' and 'shortage' will never be in a sentence together, if 1] you are a reloader, 2] you properly prepared your inventory after Mr Clinton, 3] you cast your own bullets.

This is true. I noticed Saturday I was getting low on bullets (less than 1,000 of a caliber in inventory). I may have to dig out those two 5-gallon buckets of wheel weights I'd been saving.

 

[Gary M]

Only 13. Made a significant effort to go standard some years ago, and mostly stuck with it.

I tried getting down the numbers and it only got worse.
The 16 and .410 are heirlooms. BP is BP and the size or the round doesn't really matter.
.357 belongs to SWMBO and shoots .38 for range use, so might as well have one of those.
22LR is cheap for plinking in hand or long gun.
Could probably get rid of the 7.62x39 but it is paid for and not adding to it.

45 is a recent addition since the 1911A2 pattern was too good to pass up as was the .380 Bodyguard and I already had the PPK/S in the same.

Just hoping I don't see a good deal on .44 mag or .308.

 

[Gamecock]

Yes, the .38 ACP is the precursor to the .38 Super. I shoot it in a Colt Model 1903 Hammer.

I am envious.

 

[DeplorabusUnum]

I count 15, but I only reload 12 of those. I still enjoy shooting them all, so I'm not ready to pare down yet. Enough supplies to keep casting, loading and shooting for a long time.

 

[ISCS Yoda]

The words 'ammo' and 'shortage' will never be in a sentence together, if 1] you are a reloader, 2] you properly prepared your inventory after Mr Clinton, 3] you cast your own bullets.

That might be true but if I was reloading ammunition I'd let you shoot it but I never would. A man's got to know his limitations and I could be a great shooter (I think that I am) but I am also markedly unhandy and I'd just be blowing my guns up one at a time.

So no thank you. YMMV of course.

 

[AJ]

That might be true but if I was reloading ammunition I'd let you shoot it but I never would. A man's got to know his limitations and I could be a great shooter (I think that I am) but I am also markedly unhandy and I'd just be blowing my guns up one at a time.

So no thank you. YMMV of course.

You don't have to be handy to reload. Cautious and careful would be good watch words for reloaders. Blowing up a gun is because the reloader was not careful or cautious. Have seen some folks that blew up guns by using the wrong data, wrong powder and even the wrong ammo in the wrong gun.

 

[Dave Lively]

The words 'ammo' and 'shortage' will never be in a sentence together, if 1] you are a reloader, 2] you properly prepared your inventory after Mr Clinton, 3] you cast your own bullets.

The same can be said of "free" and "time".

 

[BC38]

15 calibers and I reload for 12 of them.

 

[Rvulcan500]

I have 11 different calibers. I'm alittle low on 9mm only 2000 rds but everything else is above.
My wife loves it. Less calibers than I used to.
More to concentrate on qty.

 

[moralem]

Took me all evening to count them all and find where I stashed them.......I am thinking I still may have missed a caliber or two.....I am not very discerning or organized as to what I hoard.
.22
.223
5.56
.270
.30-.30
.30-06
.308
.303
7.62x39
.410
12 gauge
.45-70
.500 mag
.44mag
.45acp
.41 mag
.44 sp
.45 lc
.357 mag
.38sp
.38 SW
.32 acp
.25 acp
.38 super
10mm
9mm
5.7
.50 Beowulf
7.63x25 Mauser
.41 colt
.44 ball


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Bro. Dave]

.22lr;.32acp,.38spc;.38super;357mag;.41mag;.44spc;.44mag;.45acp;
.45lc;9mm;10mm=12 calibers
5.56;6.5crd;7.62X39;7.62X51;.300WM=5 calibers
.410;20 gauge;12 gauge=3 shotgun gauges

In all these years I never really just counted them all to see how many. I admit to being rather surprised, actually.

My dies are for the .41mag; .45acp; .45lc; 6.5crd; .38/.357mag

 

[TX-Dennis]

Only 10 so far.

 

[6GUNSONLY]

Only 14. Two of those - 6.5 Creedmore and .40-65 - I don't have any factory ammo for, but can load what I want any time I want. Everything else I have at least a few boxes of factory stuff, and can load any of those as long as the components hold out.

 

[FlyFish]

I currently have 22 metallic plus 4 shotgun gauges, and reload for all except the .22. Ammo inventory ranges from a few tens of thousands of rounds of .22 LR to a few hundred rounds for the calibers I shoot rarely (e.g., .38 S&W). Probably have components to make up a few hundred to several thousand rounds more for each, with the limiting factor being bullets, which I should remedy by starting to cast my own, but haven't yet.

 

[pharmer]

Rifles: .223, .308
Shotguns: 12ga
Handguns: 9mm, .45acp/Colt, .38/.357, .44mag.
.22lr both long and handguns.
8 total. Joe

 

[Biggfoot44]

If you know how many Calibers ( chamberings) you have ..... You don't have enough .

Back when I had hair , it was entertaining perpetual debates about minimum number of guns/ chamberings you absolutely * needed * to do everything that needed doing . And there are actually fairly definitive consensus answers :

Only One - 12 gage

Only Two - ( pick two from below list)

Only Three - 12ga , .30-06 , .22lr

Only Four - 12ga , .30-06 , .22lr , .38/ .357 ( if primarily a Handgunner , add .38/ 357 , and subtract one of the others to make your " Three" )

Would this " work" ? Yeah ,but it would be boring . ( Whipper Snappers may substitute .308 Win for .30-06 with negligible issues . 9x19 fans think that 9mm can fill the shoes .38/ 357 , but not really .)

On the face of it , Consolidating seems worthy . But the flipside is that during the inevitable periodic times of shortage , those handful of cliche " Consolidated Calibers " disappear from the supply chain very quickly .

Diversity of firearms gives you most flexibility .

While cases are reused , scrap lead can be cast , and push really come to shove , Potassium Nitrate , Sulfur, and Charcoal are common in the regular world .

But Primers are the Achilles Heel , as we are currently discovering .

 

[Ugly Hombre]

12 for me.

 

[diyj98]

I used to have a lot of obscure and obsolete calibers, but after scaling down my collection over the last year or so, I'm down to 9 calibers.

 

[raljr1]

25 for me, 4 shotgun, 3 rifle, one flintlock, the rest handgun calibers.