If you've spent any amount of time prepping, and own guns. Then you have heard the conventional wisdom of buying a gun in the most common calibers. While this is still excellent advice in being able to find ammunition in a SHTF scenario, I'd like to present another argument.
During this latest spike in ammunition demand, the most common calibers have been wiped out.
If I had my weapon(s) squared away, then I would consider adding a less common caliber into the storeroom. Here is my reasoning, if you are out shopping for a coming crisis, you would still be able to buy ammo that everyone else doesn't need. Go look at your current supply that is available, and see what caliber of ammo is still available and make your decision on a comparable caliber for your needs/wants. I guess this would only apply if you don't currently have enough ammo stockpiled, which could be an entirely new post.
Maybe a 303, 30-30 or 38 Special, 357 Sig, or 7.62x54R?
Just Sayin' and comments/debates/discussions are always welcomed.
Keep Right On Prepping - K
My husband has been gun focused lately too. While I was posting about guns he was out buying me a 22 HA! Last night he put a scope on it and this weekend we are going to sight it in! I guess I need to just go with the flow LOL!!!
ReplyDeleteWe regularly practice with our 9mm, but I'm starting to think that two .22LR pistols might be the way to go for frugality sake.
Delete303 brit is a nice round. It shares the exact bullet size with 7.62x39 actually or .311 for the reloading world. However lack of surplus these days means it is expensive which is the real issue with off caliber ammo.
ReplyDeleteStill how much off caliber would you need? I aim for 10K rounds for 5.56 and 7.62x39 and 5K for .308 but off calibers you could be content with 1K or so for deep emergency type situations.
I'm not content with my ammunition storage, which is the reason for this out of the box thinking post. Many people were caught by surprise, and mainly off calibers are widely available.
DeleteEven higher priced ammo for a SHTF situation is better than no ammo in a SHTF situation.
The masses have largely left the off caliber ammo alone, for obvious reasons. So, if you have a nice weapon stash an odd caliber weapon might be an ace up your sleeve.
When we got ours we were thinking we might ought to have gotten something more normal, as we sometimes have trouble finding ammo even before this latest political climate.
ReplyDeleteWe do have a small variety, but I wouldn't mind adding a few boxes to our storage.
We just have other priorities right now.
I understand, we all do the best that we can, when we can. Ammunition is not cheap. The 9mm I usually buy @$12.00/50 round is about 2 meals for our family.
DeleteI like the .30-30 a lot in this regard. Its plenty of gun for most any purpose (up to elk, despite the naysayers) and plenty effective on man-sized animals for self defense. Plus, its generally found in handy carbines of slightly elevated (for hunting rifle) capacity. Used, they can be had pretty cheap, ammo is everywhere, they are (currently) outside the scope of gun panic, and reloading is well established (small case makes for great production on a pound of powder). I also second PP on the .303 being a great round, in the original hi-cap assault rifle no less (10, at a time when 5 was standard). Factory ammo is a little pricey and spotty in supply, though. If reloading, watch carefully for head separation- some mixed bolt surplus guns have a LOT of extra headspace. Good, original guns are going up in price, but bubba sporters are dirt cheap (I got mine for, not kidding, $38.00).
ReplyDeleteThanks, lots of good info from you. I'm looking into reloading as a new hobby, as time and money allows, and any information passed down is greatly appreciated.
DeleteReloading is a fantastic way to kill any spare time you thought you had- but you can turn high quality ammo out for a tenth of the price. Biggest tip- don't scrimp on the press. A good single stage costs mayne twice what a cheap one does, but you can hand it down to your grandkids someday. I like RCBS.
DeleteThanks, if some are available around tax return time, I'll be buying one.
DeleteMy big box store has plenty of 9mm Remington Express 50 count boxes but no one wants to pay the Express price of $39.99 per box that was established well before Newtown. Picky picky people.
ReplyDeleteI have a few thousand rounds of what I can get my grubby little mitts on, 22 lr (2k), 22 mag (700), 357 mag (300 Im a little embarrassed here), 12 gauge (400ish), 44 mag (500), these are all rough numbers but I have a good bit of what I actually own, not as much as I would like but hey, I aint made of money. I have recently delved QUITE deep into the airgun market. I can pick up 500 rounds for 7 bucks or so, when you start buying in bulk they savings become outstanding (I currently have around 10k pellets). I know I know... air gun? really? don't discredit them, the things sitting on shelves today aren't your old red rider. I have rifles that put down 25+ foot pounds, that is ample plenty to take down anything less than 30 pounds with a head shot. Im the bane of a raccoon's existence and I may or may not be able to attest to their effectiveness on larger, antler baring four legged game. My point is, they're worth having around, hell if you've got two kids proficient with a decent pellet rifle, you have two more people putting food on the table. Food for thought.
ReplyDelete