Variety Vs. One Type of Ammo

[dvd1955]

When I bought my first handgun, middle of last year, my thinking was to buy a caliber and stick with that one caliber when I buy additional guns. That way I could stock up on that one ammo caliber, instead of having only a few of several types (ie. 45ACP, 9mm, 40S&W, etc). Now my thinking has changed. My thinking now is that it would be better to have several calibers of guns. You never know which ammo will be hard to get in the future. Right now it's .22, next year it may be 45ACP, then 9mm. Does this make sense or am I over-thinking it?

 

[Tydeeh22]

Keep nato calibers. Most produced ammunition. The obscurities such as .357 sig and stuff will die out.

9x19, .223/5.56, .308, 12ga.

 

[HoughMade]

Keep nato calibers. Most produced ammunition. The obscurities such as .357 sig and stuff will die out.

9x19, .223/5.56, .308, 12ga.

For defensive purposes and even recreation, I agree with this for the most part. I'll just add that everyone should have some good .22LR guns.

 

[sig1473]

Keep nato calibers. Most produced ammunition. The obscurities such as .357 sig and stuff will die out.

9x19, .223/5.56, .308, 12ga.

I highly doubt 357Sig will die out. What is your reasoning behind this?

 

[Tydeeh22]

I highly doubt 357Sig will die out. What is your reasoning behind this?

41 magnum died. 45 gap is about dead. .357 sig is even worse as it is a necked down case. Youll never kill a caliber due to the reloaders that swear by a certain caliber, but thats just my experience.

 

[jamil]

When I bought my first handgun, middle of last year, my thinking was to buy a caliber and stick with that one caliber when I buy additional guns. That way I could stock up on that one ammo caliber, instead of having only a few of several types (ie. 45ACP, 9mm, 40S&W, etc). Now my thinking has changed. My thinking now is that it would be better to have several calibers of guns. You never know which ammo will be hard to get in the future. Right now it's .22, next year it may be 45ACP, then 9mm. Does this make sense or am I over-thinking it?

I used to think like you did. My pistols are 9mm, except for a couple in .22LR.

We went months without seeing any 9mm on the shelves. Not long after the panic .40 was just about everywhere, and then after that .45 was getting easy to find. Fortunately I had a pretty good supply of 9mm practice and carry ammo.

I still don't see 9mm nearly as plentiful as 40 and 45. So needless to say, those have moved up on my priority list. I'm looking to add a glock 23 and a S&W E Series 1911 maybe this year.

And for rimfire, about the only thing you can count on being on the shelves is .17 HMR. I actually considered buying a gun that shoots it, but there's not really a great variety out there chambered for it.

 

[sig1473]

41 magnum died. 45 gap is about dead. .357 sig is even worse as it is a necked down case. Youll never kill a caliber due to the reloaders that swear by a certain caliber, but thats just my experience.

357Sig has been around for 20+ years plus you have Sig and Glock still pushing the round by still producing guns in it. 45Gap only had Glock pushing it with a few XDs being produced in it. While it will never replace 9mm or 40SW, it has outstanding ballistics that can't be ignored. The 45GAP solved nothing when it was introduced and still to this day I will never know why they created it. Maybe, I'm just biased though because I own a 229, 239, Glock 27, & USP Compact chambered in it. My EDC is a 229 357. I am looking to add a P2000 as well in that caliber. To each his own though. YMMV

 

[Mgderf]

Diversity is the spice of life.

 

[DemolitionMan]

For your defensive firearms, I can understand the desire to stick with a common round. Are you extending this reasoning to rifles though? If so that means you're basically saying you'll only use pistol caliber rifles, which limits what the rifles can do. Or are you saying you would have one caliber for handguns, one for rifles, and one for shotguns?

I use that approach for myself:

handgun - 45ACP
rifle - .223/5.56 (prefer rifles that can accept both)
shotgun - 12GA

Having said that, I have other firearms in a variety of calibers that aren't intended to be defense weapons and therefore I'm not as concerned about keeping stockpiles of ammo for. Except for .22.....there's always more room for .22.

 

[BrewerGeorge]

Depends on whether you want to stockpile, or buy as you go.

 

[shibumiseeker]

When you reload you aren't stuck depending on Walmart...

And there is NO reason to reload other than you don't want to. It doesn't have to cost much to start up (you CAN spend a bundle, but you don't have to), everything you need to reload CAN fit in a shoebox and can be done almost anywhere.

That's what I hate about rimfire, I am stuck depending on manufacturers.

 

[dvd1955]

For your defensive firearms, I can understand the desire to stick with a common round. Are you extending this reasoning to rifles though? If so that means you're basically saying you'll only use pistol caliber rifles, which limits what the rifles can do. Or are you saying you would have one caliber for handguns, one for rifles, and one for shotguns?

My original thoughts were only for handguns, not really even considering buying another long gun. I have an old .22 rifle from when I was a kid, didn't really have a desire to buy anymore long guns. Just wanted a couple of handguns for me and the wife. Maybe one to keep at home in the bedroom, and one for each of us when we're out and about.
However, now that we've started shooting, and I realize how fun it is and have found some other people that like it too, I look forward to expanding the arsenal. Maybe that is partially driving the change in my thinking about multiple calibers.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

I don't think there's anything wrong with having a wide variety of calibers for fun and collecting, however for serious pursuits such as duty use, self defense, or competition (if you're serious about it), I'd stick with one or two (two if your backup is a different caliber).

To get good at anything, you have to do that thing a lot. Shooting a lot requires a lot of ammo. Bulk ammo purchases are generally cheaper than a few boxes here and there. Reloading is less expensive if you can buy components in bulk, use the same powder, only need one set of dies, etc. It just requires less logistics to feed one or two calibers, if you reload or not.

I downsized a few years ago as far as handguns. My carry guns are either .45 (semi auto) or .38/.357 (revolver). Anything I buy will be one of those two. The only exception is .44 magnum which is a specialized gun for me (around the farm). Most of what I shoot in it is my own loads and snake shot.

Rifles are more specialized, IMO. Its tough to do everything with one caliber. A good crow gun probably isn't a good hog gun probably isn't a good patrol rifle. I think one could make the argument that you could do with a .243 and a .308 or .30-06 and you'd have most of your bases covered as far as rim fire goes. Personally, I don't put nearly the volume of long gun ammo downrage as I do handgun ammo, so its less of a concern for me.

 

[The Bubba Effect]

Buy all the guns. It is the only sensible answer.

 

[metaldog]

I have several different calibers, but have tried to standardize most of what I own.

Handgun: 45 ACP
BU handgun: .357 Mag.
Small game: .22 LR pistol/rifle
Mid-range rifle: 7.62x39
Long range: .30-06
Shotgun: 12 GA.

That being said, I also own others than would not be as heavily relied on for HD/SD, due to their lack of popularity/availability of ammo.

 

[Leadeye]

Diversity is the spice of life.

Very true, I never get bored.

 

[Bfish]

Buy all the guns. It is the only sensible answer.

Here you go! Buy what you want/like and shoot it. If you start to get fed up with trying to find ammo for some of those harder to find calibers at times then sell it. Otherwise I wouldn't worry too much about it. It would be one thing if you owned all "odd" calibers and not any "common" ones but that doesn't seem to be the case

 

[WebSnyper]

I've consolidated down to 40 S&W and 9mm in handguns, almost all Glock (all carry guns are Glocks, 1 non Glock safe queen). All my Glocks can share the same holster, and some other parts. Trigger pull is the same for each and every one, and all handling aspects are the same.

I also have Advantage Arms conversion kits to convert them over to 22LR. Still same trigger pull, etc.

A second caliber can give you some options. I live by the philosophy of buy more than one of each gun (2 is 1, 1 is none), stick to the same platform for consistency, and an extra caliber is not a bad thing.

 

[Okimeister]

Another option would be to see what ammo is readily avaiable, stockpile it, then later buy the weapon to fit the ammo! As for pricing, I don't see it coming down much more than it already has.
Personally, I began reloading 2 years ago. On the average I save around 20-35%, but the nice thing is that I can custom make my recipes and make more accurate ammo for whichever weapon. Though reloading components have been a challenge to find also,

 

[LarryC]

Well, my son and I collect firearms - All are in firing condition. We shoot almost every firearm we purchase, (my wife has a Mosin I know will shoot but it was made in her birth year so she doesn't want to shoot it). We have, as I recall about 35 calibers. We have ammo for all of the firearms we own and reloading equipment for all. We also have bullet molds for most, with equipment to add gas checks and size/lube rifle rounds. At present we keep about 30K of rounds in our stash and supplies to reload most of them. It is nice to see a bargain on a caliber at a gun show and purchase it knowing we have a gun to shoot it in. We do buy mostly in bulk (ammo and supplies) so have purchased a lot of ammo at low cost in the last 20 years.