Ammo Stockpiles

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That's about right.... 1¢/round for promotional grade 22 ammo.
Actually, in the '60s that was for the name-brand "high velocity" stuff. It wasn't until we were well into the '70s that I really became familiar with both the 500rd bricks and the off-brand stuff like Imperial and Herters ( I spent most of the '70s with centerfire).

Also, in the '60s, the name-brand high-velocity .22LR hollow-points didn't open up worth a poot. Something that I just now remembered. :)
 
I've got a 35 year old 500rd brick of remington .22lr that an old guy gave me. It says $3 on the sticker. I'm pretty sure that was for the brick, not the individual boxes of 50. It still shoots great....
I used to regularly buy bricks for $7-$8 bucks; it let me let me kids shoot a lot without major costs troubles.
 
A brick for $3 from ~35 years ago? :what: WOW! That was a great sale!

When I was buying my own .22LR ammo in the early '60s up thru the end of that decade, at least, single 50rd boxes of the stuff cost ~50¢±. About a penny a round.

IIRC, I could still find 500rd bricks thru the '70s for no more than about $6.50. I still have a brick of Imperial .22LR that either Dad or I purchased at JM Fields department store (IIRC) sometime in the '70s. Inside, each 50rd box bears a 59¢ adhesive price tag. :)[/QUOTE
I remember buying 22lr brick ammo for just shy of $8.00 This was in the mid 80's. Could buy 100 rd box of CCI Mini Mags for $1.89
 
Actually, in the '60s that was for the name-brand "high velocity" stuff. It wasn't until we were well into the '70s that I really became familiar with both the 500rd bricks and the off-brand stuff like Imperial and Herters ( I spent most of the '70s with centerfire).

Also, in the '60s, the name-brand high-velocity .22LR hollow-points didn't open up worth a poot. Something that I just now remembered. :)
In the 60's and 70's, I didn't consider Remington Golden Bullets promotional grade or their predecessor, Kleanbore. I was always satisfied with it's performance and actually preferred it over others in those days. This business of all the duds really started when the box size went to 100 rounds for Remington (those yellow plastic boxes) and more so when bulk packs became common. This was stuff produced by Remington in the late 90's and early to mid 2000's as best I can figure time-wise for the commonality of duds..

Winchester Wildcats were promotional grade ammo, but it was pretty good overall. Winchester went down hill in their 22 rimfire (especially 22LR) quality just like Remington.

The shortages were somewhat self inflicted as far as I'm concerned except for the post-Sandy Hook shortage. My theory is that the major 22 rimfire manufacturers really didn't increase production so much as to make production cheaper with the bulk packs and the QA/QC slipped. Back in the day, most people didn't shoot 500 rounds of 22 ammo in an outing like is common now. I thought a brick (500 rounds) as a lot of ammo then. In addition, semi-auto 22 rifles were becoming the preferred action type by the late 60's. and took off in the 70's (baby boomer demand). So, when you would go to the store to buy a few boxes of 22LR ammo to shoot for the day or the week, now those few boxes were bulk packs and you were picking up more than 1,000 rounds at a time. So, when the supply-demand thing hit a bump, people had already been conditioned to buy a 1000+ rounds as being "normal" when in fact it was not normal at all historically. Production capacity had probably not changed much >>> hence shortage! Toss in some politics and panic.... shortage.

Significant ammo caches started for regular shooters with the shortage prior to Sandy Hook. Sandy Hook and Obama were icing on the cake.
 
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I'm not saying that it isn't wise to purchase JHP's or to not take advantage of deals or rebates. However, it is my personal opinion that hoarding JHP ammo is a silly thing. Why? Because the usage is even less than target ammo.


True, but I've started to stock JHP's based on the fact that I know I will not shoot them, I've had a bad habit of shooting through what I want to save. So I buy generic winchester JHP when I find it or other brands if I find a good deal. I just need to be more disciplined about saving what I want to save but in the meantime I dont think having a boatload of JHP is necessarily a bad thing...
 
True, but I've started to stock JHP's based on the fact that I know I will not shoot them, I've had a bad habit of shooting through what I want to save. So I buy generic winchester JHP when I find it or other brands if I find a good deal. I just need to be more disciplined about saving what I want to save but in the meantime I dont think having a boatload of JHP is necessarily a bad thing...
As far as JHP ammo caches, I see no problem and I don't think it's a bad thing if you shoot. I seldom shoot centerfire "target ammo" because it doesn't hit the target the same as the higher priced ammo that you might "sight your gun in with". I am way past shooting just to hear the boom or feel the recoil.
 
I keep only a few hundred rounds in the calibers I shoot most but I have enough components to reload many more.

I'm there. I don't want piles of ammo everywhere. If I sell a firearm and no longer have a need for a particular cartridge what will I do with the ammo. Bullets are easy to sell, second hand ammo, not so much.
 
Guys, guys, guys! Caliber is not equal to cartridge.

Caliber is .308, cartridge is 30.06, .300 Win Mag, .30 Carbine.

You don't buy or stockpile calibers. You buy and stockpile CARTRIDGES.

I know you don't go to the store and ask for a box of calibers.

For people who don't reload, it's calibers. For reloaders it's cartridges. Common misuse of the terms but mostly because of a lack of familiarity with components, like different cases and bullets.

It's all just hamburger to me. ;)
 
Yep I remember when Hillary beat him in a landslide back in '16. She'll beat him again!

Seriously though, even if you are broke now is the time to hit your local sporting goods store once a week and buy a couple boxes of ammo for what you shoot. By the time the smoke from the election settles you'll have a few hundred extra rounds at minimum.

Don't go there!

Closure ahead.
 
22-rimfire

In the 60's and 70's, I didn't consider Remington Golden Bullets promotional grade or their predecessor, Kleanbore. I was always satisfied with it's performance and actually preferred it over others in those days. This business of all the duds really started when the box size went to 100 rounds for Remington (those yellow plastic boxes) and more so when bulk packs became common. This was stuff produced by Remington in the late 90's and early to mid 2000's as best I can figure time-wise for the commonality of duds..

I can remember when we use to go out on a friend's property out in the country and spend the day just plinking and target shooting with our .22s. When we ran out of ammo we would just drive into town and pick up a couple of boxes of Remington Kleanbore for 50 cents a box at the local general store. Their quality was very good in those days and we rarely had a problem with any of them; accuracy was pretty decent too.

Last "good buy" that I had on .22LR ammo was when I found Wolf Match Target at $3.49 a box at a gun show. Had my credit card with me and bought all that the vendor had (10 bricks total)!
 
... Remington Kleanbore ...
I am pretty sure that is what we bought/used when we were kids. During a summer vacation visit to the farm, here, when my cousin & I ran out of .22 ammo we would have to scrape together at least 50¢ (and that changed during my childhood with the advent of the new Excise Tax :mad:) hop on the bikes and ride the ~2 hill-laden miles to the little rural store for more. If we had enough money we could treat ourselves to a couple of ice-cold Cokes in bottles that we would pull out of the ice+water top-door cooler in front of the store. Remember those? :)

... Winchester Wildcats were promotional grade ammo, but it was pretty good overall. ...
Good to hear, thanks. Dad had 500rd bricks of Imperial, Herters and Winchester Wildcat in his kit when left us. I have shot some of the first two types long ago but have never shot any of the Wildcat.

O'course, the youngest that any of these bricks can be is probably over 30 years. 22-rimfire, any idea when the Winchester Wildcat bricks were first offered for sale? The reason that I ask is that I do not think that Dad bought any ammunition after about 1988.
 
GBExpat

If we had enough money we could treat ourselves to a couple of ice-cold Cokes in bottles that we would pull out of the ice+water top-door cooler in front of the store. Remember those? :)

Do I ever! My uncle use to work at a gas station where the owner had the world's (at least in our small world!), best selection of candy and the iciest cold water in a top door pop cooler! I could never figure out how the water would stay so cold but never freeze up!
 
As kids in the country, we used to pick up pop bottles to turn in for the deposit. That money was mostly used for Cokes. Back in those days, I remember RC Cola as being really good, but as I got older Coke took over that spot. We used to go through "private dumps" (usually in the woods) looking for pop bottles, wash them, and then turn them in. Those were also great places for some serious plinking with 22's back then. That is where you learn such things as 22LR just barely penetrating refrigerators and so forth and sometimes bouncing off. Just about anything in the dumps were fair game for kids shooting 22's.
 
I like the backdrop of Jerry Miculeks youtube vids he does in his workshop. It's about a gazillion boxes of different ammo that he doesnt even consider. Lol. I want to own it all, he probably wishes someone would just throw it away.....
 
Just noticed a whole stack of 50cal metal ammunition boxes in my garage. The garage is pretty cluttered and stuff goes missing for years. Need to check those boxes out. The garage is sort of my "warehouse' that I work out of and only one car gets parked in the garage (wife's).
 
I only have 17,000 rounds of 5.56. That is if I don't count my range ready ammo that's in my shop.
Not sure how much 22 LR ammo I have, but the last time I ordered some it was just over 15,000 rounds.
I have about 8,000 rounds of 9mm.
And close to 10,000 rounds of 8mm Mauser, maybe more.
This pic was taken a while back and I have added several more ammo cans. I now have over 100 ammo cans.
I ended up moving all of my pistol and 22 LR ammo to a different location, because I was running out of room.
View attachment 864471

Here are just a few of the full crates of ammo I have.
View attachment 864473
Gunny, you're going to throw off the Earth's rotation and tilt pretty soon if you keep this up.
 
I used to justify stockpiling ammo the way I justified stockpiling other consumer goods, for instance toothpaste; you'll always need it, it doesn't spoil, so why not just have a ton on hand? The problem is ammo isn't really in the same league (heresy to utter on a gun forum, I know).

Last summer I moved some boxes of gear from the dark depths of our garage to a nicer, finished outbuilding. In one of them, mostly camping gear, there was several boxes of 9mm Norinco along with quite a bit of of those old all plastic hull Activ 12 ga rounds. None of that stuff had seen the light of day for decades. To me, it was a testament to going crazy at every ammo sale I ever crossed. There is a point where it's not practical to keep buying it. YMMV.
 
I have a 520 sqft gun room so that’s my limiting factor, but at my age filling it isn’t even a dream anymore.

If you’re building sheds for “stuff” you might just have a problem ;)
 
I have a 520 sqft gun room so that’s my limiting factor, but at my age filling it isn’t even a dream anymore.

If you’re building sheds for “stuff” you might just have a problem ;)

When we moved to Texas we went from a 1400 sq/ft house to a 2500 sq/ft house with a 3 car garage. I built a 30x60 shed for my "stuff". Boat, truck, fishing gear, workshop, and such. Now that it's cooled off I'm going to round up some help and frame in a 8x20 portion for my bullet casting, lure making, and reloading. The best part is it will be climate controlled!
 
....Last summer I moved some boxes of gear from the dark depths of our garage to a nicer, finished outbuilding. In one of them, mostly camping gear, there was several boxes of 9mm Norinco along with quite a bit of of those old all plastic hull Activ 12 ga rounds. None of that stuff had seen the light of day for decades. To me, it was a testament to going crazy at every ammo sale I ever crossed. There is a point where it's not practical to keep buying it. YMMV.
I agree and you have to make that decision yourself. Depends on your ammo consumption more than anything. If they put $15-$20 bulk packs of 22LR on sale tomorrow for $8-$10 each, I wouldn't buy any. I still have 22 ammo from the 80's that is waiting to be shot.

Added: That said, the old 22 ammo is primarily used for testing new firearms, but I do use it for plinking fodder too. A few duds don't bother me. Lots of duds and I only shoot that ammo from revolvers or bolt action rifles. I just don't plink like I used to. Probably need more friends.
 
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I used to justify stockpiling ammo the way I justified stockpiling other consumer goods, for instance toothpaste; you'll always need it, it doesn't spoil, so why not just have a ton on hand?

4 out of 5 dentist recommend Crest. 10 out of 10 liberal dems want to (insert infringement here).

As the adage goes.... Better to have and not need, than to need and not have.
 
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