How much self defense ammo is "enough"

[vonn]

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.

 

[BAM-BAM]

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?

 

[Muss Muggins]

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

 

[Kurusu]

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.

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.

 

[SRG]

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

 

[littleriver1]

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

 

[1911haulic]

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

 

[cyphertext]

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

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.

 

[ContinentalOp]

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.

 

[tops]

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

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

 

[Dave Lively]

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.

 

[dmn57]

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.

 

[scattershot]

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.

 

[mikerjf]

45acp? One.

 

[jimbo728]

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

 

[Bozz10mm]

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.

 

[BAM-BAM]

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

 

[Laketime]

Only you would know how much you need.

 

[LCC]

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.

 

[nbedford]

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

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