How much self defense ammo is "enough"

[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.

 

[Doug M.]

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.

 

[Rpg]

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

So, all my ammo is sd ammo.

I have plenty.

 

[k22fan]

Barney never squandered money on a second cartridge.

 

[dave1918a2]

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.

 

[mdf9183]

Is this ATF asking ?

 

[HorizontalMike]

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

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

 

[CA Escapee]

One or two rounds, COM should do.

 

[4WHLDRFTN]

depends how bad of a shot you are

 

[shocker]

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

 

[kmyers]

What is this ammo some speak of?

 

[geekeye]

a couple more considerations:


1) static defense is nearly impossible over an extended period of time. if your home comes under attack, you might be able to repel them once, but if they are determined, they will be back. so think about an escape route, and how much ammo you can reasonably load into your vehicle in a short period of time (and still have room for everything else you want to take with you). put that much in cans and set aside.


2) surviving a single gun fight is hard, let alone a series of them. think about armor. also think about what happens if you survive an attack but are injured. even a relatively minor wound can become infected and kill you days later. make sure your first aid kit has tourniquets, chest trauma pads, and plenty of disinfectant.


3) if at all possible, organize with your neighbors and make a plan to work together.

 

[Goldstar225]

Depending on what handgun the ammo is for, I prefer to have 50-100 rounds of defensive ammo on hand.

 

[bushmaster1313]

Q. How much self defense ammo?
A. Not much

What you need is to run enough of your favorite self defense ammo through your weapon to make sure its operates flawlessly. Then practice with whatever as long as it has approximately the same recoil.

What you do not need is a lot of self defense ammo--a box or two should be plenty. Here's why:

a) the chance of your being in a self defense scenario is small
b) the chance of you needing more than one magazine in a self defense scenario is small
c) No matter how much self defense ammo you have, the odds of surviving enough self defense scenarios to use up a box of ammo are very small

There is good reason that some of the expensive self defense ammo is sold in small boxes with only 20 rounds.

 

[hostler]

I only have about 100-200 rounds of "self defense" ammo per caliber, but I've been trying to keep 3000-4000 rounds of ball ammo in each caliber. These days I'm wishing I had a lot more but I'm too cheap to buy at these prices (check that, I did order 400 rounds a few weeks ago for decent price, it's been on backorder).
If the SHTF I'll be carrying ball ammo for the same reasons the military uses it, cost, reliability, durability, barrier penetration and wound depth.
My thoughts on how much ammo I need to stock have changed. I used to think I needed enough to get me through an election or pandemic or zombie situation or the occasional riot, lately my thoughts tell me I need to keep enough stock to get me through the rest of my life because they won't come after our guns until they've come after our ammo first (keeps them from being shot).
I'm only 55 so I've got some buying to do.

 

[ISCS Yoda]

I'm only 55 so I've got some buying to do.

Yes, you do! get to it!

 

[Racer X]

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

I keep a bare minimum of 1K rounds of 9mm NATO ball at all times. It doesn't exist unless things get bad. Right now I have about 2,500 rounds. And maybe 3 boxes of 9BPLE +P+ hollow points.

And about 300 12 guage spread between 00, #4 buck and slugs.

Maybe 10K rounds on .22LR for food gathering if need be.

Seattle is getting weird, and the politicians here would rather fight and point fingers than fix things.

 

[cracker57]

I only worry about practice ammo, not sd. a few boxes of sd ammo is all one needs, practice or training ammo a different story never enough. train so your shots count and you don't need as much as those who spray and pray.
Carry on.

 

[rwsmith]

Ammoologists.....

What is this ammo some speak of?

Ammoologists say that they have evidence of ammo being available for purchase in the distant past.

To answer the question. I keep enough 9mm and.38 'defense' ammo to fight several home invasions or a long shootout. After that it's reloads, which doesn't bother me a bit. I have a 9mm carbine with a large mag. Several pistols with 17 mag capacity, plus some smaller ones. And an SKS if things get serious. Of course after the first encounter your name is mud and you are hauled off to jail, so I don't anticipate strainingmy ammo supply.

 

[TTSH]

Like almost everyone else here, my "range ammo" stash is way more than my "self-defense ammo" stash. By the strictest modern definition of high performance self-defense ammo, I have only 175 rounds to my name, all in 9mm. But if you want to start including .357 Magnum semi-jacketed hollow points and similar... which I would personally count as more than adequate for self-defense... the numbers go up a bit.

The truth is that I don't feel a great need for super-expensive high-performance self-defense ammo. I know that goes against popular thought, but I'm okay with carrying plain old "range ammo" most of the time. But I'm just an old man with few enemies or daily threats. I'm not an ex-cop who put away a lot of bad dudes either.

 

[lkabug]

What's enough?

If you had to use your firearm in a self defense situation and walked away.... you had enough. If the bad guy walked away, you didnt have enough.