It just depends on the gun and what it is used for, and how often. My "magic number" for hunting rifles that get low yearly round counts like my 243 and 6.5 CM is 4 or 5 boxes total on hand. I have 2 boxes of 30-40 for my Krag carbine, which I have no plans to hunt with again- I killed a deer with it in Nov. and checked that item off the bucket list. It turns out that "magic number" was a good idea, due to the recent craziness. I opened a box of ammo for each rifle I intended to use this year, and used between 3 and 6 rounds to verify the zeros per gun. Every round I fired after (3 total, from 3 different rifles) ended up with a deer down. So if I HAD to, I could continue hunting deer with just what I have on hand for the foreseeable future. For guns that I have for CCW, HD, etc.- which I train with often (or at least used to) the "ideal magic number" is going to be higher- but never high enough. Most of us got caught by surprise last year. I was taking advantage of the grace period for filing taxes, with the intention of spending my entire return, and matching the amount of my return dollar per dollar from savings- on tula 9mm in the summer of 2020. Turns out the world had other plans for us. Should have used my credit card in Jan 2020.
