Posted on 10/20/2015 8:03:36 AM PDT by w1n1
Is 1,000 Rounds Enough or 10,000 Rounds?
It’s a very common question posed by survivalists, preppers, and others preparing for the potential likelihood of a SHTF event. Among all the lists of plans for your survival, things to gather, store, gear to buy, and skills to acquire are the huge concerns of security, self and family protection, guarding your property, and just maybe staying alive.
Survivalists and preppers are gun people. They believe in acquiring a variety of firearms for defensive purposes as well as offensive tactics if things take a turn for the absolute worst. For these purposes a host of weaponry may be stocked and used regularly in preparation for whatever might come down the pike.
The big question often posed by survivalists and preppers is exactly how much ammunition to keep on hand. There are many factors to take under serious consideration as you build up your prepping strategies.
First, how many firearms do you have that you will have to feed? Most will have multiples of handguns, rifles of various kinds, and likely several shotguns, too. These are a lot of guns to stock ammo for, so choose wisely, and above all try to consolidate where possible.
Read the rest of the story here, so how much ammo are you all stocking for when the SHTF?
I’m sure someone said that you never have enough ammo.
5.56mm
I have made black powder from scratch and it works very well but involves more than just mixing the dry ingredients. It's not complicated at all. There's lots of good info on the internet and in books on making your own.
Best of all it's perfectly legal and the individual ingredients are all around us both in nature and various stores, readily available and quite stable and safe to store. You'll never run out when have the knowledge how to make it.
Another option is archery, whether it be compound bow, crossbow or recurve. Again, you'll never run out when you learn to make arrows or bolts.
I doubt we'll ever get to the point where we have to rely exclusively on such primitive arms but knowledge is power.
I liked gold until I tried to use a 1 ounce coin for a firearm at a gunshow in Arizona, just as a test.
No one, and I mean, no one was interested in it.
It might be good after the currency goes nuts. But I have serious doubts about its use as money in an emergency.
People have simply got out of the habit of using it.
Brokers would certainly come into use, if they were not outlawed, but it would take a while, and that while could be critical.
Coffee is my sole remaining vice and I drink copious amounts daily. That led me at some point in my prepping to research coffee. Not much is written on it and I suspect it may be in part due to our friends at the LDS, who have done much of the heavy lifting on food storage, not being coffee drinkers. So I bought a coffee roaster and some green beans and schooled myself on roasting.
Coffee, once roasted, has a very limited shelf life, but green coffee beans stored properly will last for years. My longest batch that I test every year is 5 years old. Roasting coffee can get very complicated quickly but at the simplest it is very much like popping popcorn or roasting nuts; no special equipment or heat source is necessary, a skillet and a campfire will do.
Once you have learned to roast it's time to stockpile some coffee. I first laid in some cases of canned coffee from MRE Depot. Meanwhile I was buying green beans to roast and learned that some of the vendors of green beans sell in bulk. In fact, if you buy large quantities the price gets stupid low compared to roast coffee in the supermarket. I paid around $2.50/lb 2 or 3 years ago but one of the better sellers, Invalsa is $3.39/lb in a 132 pound lot.
This is what a 132 pound lot of green coffee looks like
For learning to roast I highly recommend the Fresh Roast series of home roasters, just search Amazon for them. I used the 300 but now use the 500 because it can store the settings you used in memory. One day I roasted the best tasting coffee I have ever enjoyed anywhere on my 300 and have never been able to duplicate it without the settings.
I have several nut roasters in storage along with manual grinders. So when SHTF I will be in the coffee business. I was musing what would be a fair price and I came up with 1 pre-1965 silver dime a cup, which is kind of funny because that's around what I recall a cup of coffee going for in the 60's.
It should go without saying that coffee, along with other luxuries, should be the LAST items you add to your preps after food, small arms and ammunition, medical supplies and precious metals.
PMC is more than decent ammo. I just picked up some PMC Bronze on sale the other day at Academy Sports for almost the price you typically pay for Tula.
I reload hence shoot little of it anymore but I still have plenty on hand. Just don’t want people to shy away from it if it’s all they can afford. Not my first choice but It just plain works and the price is right.
Very interesting description of home coffee roasting.
My favorite Randy Bragg scene is where he slaps together a “cannibal sandwich” of raw ground round on dark rye with mustard & horseradish. Ultimate bachelor food & his girlfriend won’t go near it.
FWIW in the late 1950’s when the book was written, the cannibal sandwich was quite popular especially in Wisconsin among descendants of German settlers.
I reload hence shoot little of it anymore but I still have plenty on hand. Just don’t want people to shy away from it if it’s all they can afford. Not my first choice but It just plain works and the price is right.
That is an acceptable standard, for non-shotguns. Three hundred per shotgun is a good estimate, to add to the calculations.
You’re right, 300 is probably enough, but it’s so easy to buy shot by the case, that you might as well just load up. :-)
I reload 12 and 20, and have semi auto 12 gauge, so I stock different buckshots. I use birdshot to make slugs.
You have the right idea. I thought about that with coffee, but I have not followed through.
If you figured out a way to store tobbaco for years without degradation, that would be another good choice.
Thanks for the useful information.
Perhaps this is enough. Need some spare barrels....
True. I just bought 1000 rounds of PMC boat tail .308 at a decent price from bulkammo.com.
Really good shoot em up, reloadable ammo.
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Yep. I was raised on them. We never used horseradish or mustard just heavily peppered the meat and raw onion lathering them with butter.I miss them because you can’t find the ground round (98%) or good rye bread in Norway. They are called Hunter’s Sandwiches in other parts of the country.
Those who like hunter’s sandwiches recommend buying a good cut of beef then grinding it at home.
My current version is pump rye spread with Texas Pete & Seminole horseradish.
Then there are the various `Steak Tartare’ or `Steak Americaine’ dishes found in France & Germany.
I ‘marinate’ my thin cut round (cut from a round roast) with Dale’s Steak Sauce, then make the sandwiches. The salty brine sauce ‘cooks’ the germs off the surface of the meat.
Rifle needs BUIS, not just a dot sight ...
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