What is a "Good" Stockpile for Munitions?

[KLB]

I have a comfortable amount of self-defense rounds (for me). Those are the rounds that, heaven forbid, never have to get used. It's the training rounds that are my biggest source of woe.

Have you fired any of it from your gun yet?

 

[Lushamania]

Have you fired any of it from your gun yet?

Only training ammo so far, but no, not my defensive rounds.

 

[MCgrease08]

I can't even imagine what it would be like to spend 100, let alone 1,000, rounds a day at the range!

Burning through 1k rounds in a day is not unheard of, but it's certainly not the norm. At some point the law of diminishing returns kicks in. Particularly in training, mental and physical fatigue means you're burning ammo with not much benefit. Now if you have a full auto toy, that's a different story.

All that said, I have taken training classes where I've shot 800 - 1k rounds over two days, but I think the trend from instructors is moving more towards lower round count classes with a bigger focus on making rounds count more than pure volume.

 

[KLB]

Only training ammo so far, but no, not my defensive rounds.

You should to make sure that your gun doesn't have any issues with it.

 

[Chance]

Airsoft is a good alternative. You still get the grip, trigger pull and sight alignment exercises. Just no recoil. I spend time pulling the trigger on a 1911 airsoft gun hundreds of times often. This has allowed me to experiment with grip angle, support hand shooting and point shooting for nothing.

 

[Lushamania]

You should to make sure that your gun doesn't have any issues with it.

Agreed; next time I visit the range I was going to bring a singular round to test/get the feel off.

Airsoft is a good alternative. You still get the grip, trigger pull and sight alignment exercises. Just no recoil. I spend time pulling the trigger on a 1911 airsoft gun hundreds of times often. This has allowed me to experiment with grip angle, support hand shooting and point shooting for nothing.

Now that's thinking outside the box! I just hope there isn't a pellet shortage right now, too.

 

[KLB]

Agreed; next time I visit the range I was going to bring a singular round to test/get the feel off.

Now that's thinking outside the box! I just hope there isn't a pellet shortage right now, too.

If you have the ammo, run at least a full mag through it. Best to find out now if it will function rather than if you actually need it to.

 

[Lushamania]

If you have the ammo, run at least a full mag through it. Best to find out now if it will function rather than if you actually need it to.

My wallet hurts reading that. Haha! I appreciate the advice and I will follow it when at the range next.

 

[1775usmarine]

1 round won't tell you much. 100rds would be a better judge as to how your firearm will perform as well as accuracy. Then again you'll want to break in your firearm first which is normally 300 to 500 rds.

 

[KLB]

My wallet hurts reading that. Haha! I appreciate the advice and I will follow it when at the range next.

I understand. I bought a case of HSTs a while back when I saw them on sale. If prices get reasonable again, I will probably do so again if I am able

 

[Expat]

1 round won't tell you much. 100rds would be a better judge as to how your firearm will perform as well as accuracy. Then again you'll want to break in your firearm first which is normally 300 to 500 rds.

I bought a USP40c off a guy that said he had carried it for a couple of years and never fired it. To me, that was a head scratcher...

 

[2A-Hoosier23]

I bought a USP40c off a guy that said he had carried it for a couple of years and never fired it. To me, that was a head scratcher...

That's unfortunately a much more common practice than we often realize.

To many INGOers including some of those I've met, the standard is something like:
weekly (if not daily) dry practice;
plus at least 500-1000 live rounds fired to test a certain gun before carrying it or relying upon it for defensive use;
plus monthly (if not weekly or bi-weekly) live fire practice at the range.
Then add on a few professional training classes plus some competition experience.
(note that I said "many INGOers" and not "all" or "majority of", I don't want to paint an unrealistic picture)

Unfortunately there's a whole bunch of gun owners and gun-carriers betting their lives on guns they've never shot or practiced with

Good thing OP is on the right track by asking questions and keeping an open mind, gotta start somewhere. Either that or he's a leftist / government op

 

[Tyler-The-Piker]

what's the old saying: "it's not a talisman"

 

[printcraft]

what's the old saying: "it's not a talisman"

I heard you can rack a shotgun and and the sound alone will send bad guy scurrying away.

 

[printcraft]

 

[dprimm]

I just think of that guy between Bedford & Mitchell who's barn fell over into the creek because he 'Stockpiled' ammo for decades and the weight collapsed the old barn over into the creek.
The cleanup crew stopped counting about 1 million rounds and ammo was recovered out of the creek over 3 miles away.

Jeez. I would have helped w that cleanup

he only had it poorly stored. Not that he had too much.

I wonder how much the government has stockpiled for our military and other federal police forces. OP?

 

[MCgrease08]

Airsoft is a good alternative. You still get the grip, trigger pull and sight alignment exercises. Just no recoil. I spend time pulling the trigger on a 1911 airsoft gun hundreds of times often. This has allowed me to experiment with grip angle, support hand shooting and point shooting for nothing.

And you can do cool **** like this, without risking sending a round over the berm or putting a hole in your arm.

 

[smittygj]

1K rounds for everything you own, more if you can afford it.

 

[johntheplinker]

A lot depends on your reason for owning a gun-personal protection? hunting? competition? casual targets/plinking? shtf? Different amounts for different reasons.

 

[sheepdog697]

If you plan on training 9mm every month, 250 rounds multiply that by 96 (8 years). LOL good luck