HOW MUCH AMMUNITION?...
I learned last night the bank robber that was shot over in the county seat by a member of their police force a week or so ago is alive and well and fully incarcerated in the local jail. I guess their duty round is the .40 S&W Speer Gold Dot 155 gr. hollow point and the offender in question was struck 2 inches below the sternum on the center line of the body (if facing forward) and the projectile exited approximately 2 inches higher and just aft of the center line of the body on the left side. No major organs or blood vessels were struck during its 'through and through' travel in this center mass hit. I also learned the offender had no weapon, none was recovered and there is no testimony that one was ever displayed, but this event has already been ruled a justifiable police action shooting by all the authorities. Some surprise was expressed at how quickly this offender recovered from the gunshot wound as he is suffering no ill effects from it and seems to be 'enjoying' his stay at the local gray bar hotel.
A question was raised at some place on the interweb I was surfing during my usual sleepless foray during the middle of the night as to just how much ammunition is enough? Or how much should one stock up while anticipating the coming political apocalypse after the election this coming fall and the expected anti-gun restrictions from either President Unicorn or his alter-ego, Mittens?
Early in my firearms career and long before I started writing about this stuff I always felt that 500 rounds of centerfire ammo for each handgun caliber and 200 rounds for each center rifle caliber would suffice with the bare minimum for .22 Long Rifle being 1,000 rounds or two 'Bricks' (remember them?), but that was before I started attending good shooting schools. Suddenly I learned that didn't even come close to what was needed. Additionally, all those centerfire rifle rounds were for manually operated rifles; mainly bolt action types in either .22/250, .30-06 or 7mm Rem Mag. When I started shooting 5.56x45mm caliber guns or full auto subguns, the situation changed drastically.
I also started reloading in earnest soon after I started serious shooting due to the simple economics involved. Additionally, I should note that most all my early handguns were revolvers, which are far less finicky when it comes to reloaded ammo than what many self-loaders are. The fact of the matter is when reloading any of the popular semi-auto calibers like 9x19mm, .40 S&W, 10mm Auto, or .45 ACP, I learned years ago that a taper crimp die is absolutely essential. It's not needed for straight walled rounds like the .38 Special, .357 Magnum. .41 Magnum, .44 Special, .44 Magnum, or the .45 Colt, but those self-chuckers need a solid taper crimp to insure they chamber effortlessly.
Once you get that part down, it's pretty simple to maintain an adequate supply of handgun ammo on hand, but the important point is to find a reliable load for your favorite semi-auto and stay with it! All too often I've seen the hobbyist continually experiment with some variation in either powder type, powder charge, bullet type ("Hey, I got these bullets or this propellant CHEAP at the last gunshow.") or some other factor in the equation and they usually wind up with the gun choking or puking either in some local competition or they become That Guy on a 12 position firing line during the training class everyone has saved up for the past 6 months.
Don't be That Guy.
Of course, semi-auto rifles are a whole 'nuther breed of cat when it comes to reloading. They absolutely require small base dies if you want absolutely reliable performance and here I tend to shy away from even my own reloads. When I'm working feral hogs I rely exclusively on good quality high performance ammo whether I'm working with a bolt-gun or a semi-auto. Everyone makes mistakes and I don't want mine to come back and haunt me (literally) when I'm in the middle of a 'firearms transaction' with a 250 pound, pissed off feral hawg, especially if we are at, shall I say, close social distances! On those occasions I want the best projectiles available loaded in the best quality ammo that can be bought for that caliber and firearm and IF I can't afford it, I don't GO! It's that simple.
Although I do admit that some calibers like the 6.8SPC and the 6.5 Grendel almost demand good quality handloads because the selection and availability of good quality factory ammo is so limited for these 2 calibers.. However, when I reload them for hog control I pay extreme attention to every detail in the process and check and recheck the assembled round for any dimensional flaw as well 'hand' throw and scale each individual powder charge if that round is going to be used against wayward porkers.
Of course, when I was into full-auto guns, the mindset was you can never have TOO MUCH AMMO, because in point of fact, YOU CAN'T! I've still got stuff left over when I had the guns with a 'transmission', but thankfully I'm away from that now and no longer buy my ammo by the wooden case or the 1/2 ton load!
I was never into shotguns, so I've never reloaded shotshell ammo. I always figured it was too complicated in terms of getting the right wad, powder type and charge together with the correct size shot, load and enough spent cases of the same type. It was far simpler to just buy 3 or 4 boxes at the local discount big box store when it came to shot shells.
But the truth is once you admit you own 5 different reloading presses on 2 separate benches and too many sets of reloading dies to count it's pretty easy for the wife to accuse you of 'hoarding' ammo, especially when you have a separate heated out-building dedicated to just holding all that stuff.
WHO ME? I would 'never' hoard ammo...
All The Best,
Frank W. James
A question was raised at some place on the interweb I was surfing during my usual sleepless foray during the middle of the night as to just how much ammunition is enough? Or how much should one stock up while anticipating the coming political apocalypse after the election this coming fall and the expected anti-gun restrictions from either President Unicorn or his alter-ego, Mittens?
Early in my firearms career and long before I started writing about this stuff I always felt that 500 rounds of centerfire ammo for each handgun caliber and 200 rounds for each center rifle caliber would suffice with the bare minimum for .22 Long Rifle being 1,000 rounds or two 'Bricks' (remember them?), but that was before I started attending good shooting schools. Suddenly I learned that didn't even come close to what was needed. Additionally, all those centerfire rifle rounds were for manually operated rifles; mainly bolt action types in either .22/250, .30-06 or 7mm Rem Mag. When I started shooting 5.56x45mm caliber guns or full auto subguns, the situation changed drastically.
I also started reloading in earnest soon after I started serious shooting due to the simple economics involved. Additionally, I should note that most all my early handguns were revolvers, which are far less finicky when it comes to reloaded ammo than what many self-loaders are. The fact of the matter is when reloading any of the popular semi-auto calibers like 9x19mm, .40 S&W, 10mm Auto, or .45 ACP, I learned years ago that a taper crimp die is absolutely essential. It's not needed for straight walled rounds like the .38 Special, .357 Magnum. .41 Magnum, .44 Special, .44 Magnum, or the .45 Colt, but those self-chuckers need a solid taper crimp to insure they chamber effortlessly.
Once you get that part down, it's pretty simple to maintain an adequate supply of handgun ammo on hand, but the important point is to find a reliable load for your favorite semi-auto and stay with it! All too often I've seen the hobbyist continually experiment with some variation in either powder type, powder charge, bullet type ("Hey, I got these bullets or this propellant CHEAP at the last gunshow.") or some other factor in the equation and they usually wind up with the gun choking or puking either in some local competition or they become That Guy on a 12 position firing line during the training class everyone has saved up for the past 6 months.
Don't be That Guy.
Of course, semi-auto rifles are a whole 'nuther breed of cat when it comes to reloading. They absolutely require small base dies if you want absolutely reliable performance and here I tend to shy away from even my own reloads. When I'm working feral hogs I rely exclusively on good quality high performance ammo whether I'm working with a bolt-gun or a semi-auto. Everyone makes mistakes and I don't want mine to come back and haunt me (literally) when I'm in the middle of a 'firearms transaction' with a 250 pound, pissed off feral hawg, especially if we are at, shall I say, close social distances! On those occasions I want the best projectiles available loaded in the best quality ammo that can be bought for that caliber and firearm and IF I can't afford it, I don't GO! It's that simple.
Although I do admit that some calibers like the 6.8SPC and the 6.5 Grendel almost demand good quality handloads because the selection and availability of good quality factory ammo is so limited for these 2 calibers.. However, when I reload them for hog control I pay extreme attention to every detail in the process and check and recheck the assembled round for any dimensional flaw as well 'hand' throw and scale each individual powder charge if that round is going to be used against wayward porkers.
Of course, when I was into full-auto guns, the mindset was you can never have TOO MUCH AMMO, because in point of fact, YOU CAN'T! I've still got stuff left over when I had the guns with a 'transmission', but thankfully I'm away from that now and no longer buy my ammo by the wooden case or the 1/2 ton load!
I was never into shotguns, so I've never reloaded shotshell ammo. I always figured it was too complicated in terms of getting the right wad, powder type and charge together with the correct size shot, load and enough spent cases of the same type. It was far simpler to just buy 3 or 4 boxes at the local discount big box store when it came to shot shells.
But the truth is once you admit you own 5 different reloading presses on 2 separate benches and too many sets of reloading dies to count it's pretty easy for the wife to accuse you of 'hoarding' ammo, especially when you have a separate heated out-building dedicated to just holding all that stuff.
WHO ME? I would 'never' hoard ammo...
All The Best,
Frank W. James
Labels: Ammunition, Economics, Gun Writing, Guns, INVASIVE ANIMAL POPULATION CONTROL, Personal Philsophy
12 Comments:
There is no such thing as too much, unless it's on fire and you're in the building with it... And concur on the rifles!
Look, I SAID I was sorry.
Sheesh. My name will never be clear.
Re: Handloads. When I first started shooting IDPA, I easily shot 1,000 rounds a month---and that was only for the local matches. Add in weekly practice sessions and the round count went up so I reloaded.
When I went to sanctioned matches, however, I bought boxes of commercial ammo. First, to make power factor and commercial ammo was almost automatically approved. And...I didn't have to worry about FTFs as much as I would with my own handloads. I've heard that probably my own loads were more consistent that commercial ammo, but if I wanted another IDPA plaque on the wall, it was better to be safe than sorry.
As far as ammo quantity, I try to have at least a case of commercial ammo for every caliber weapon I own.
At least. :-)
Just traded off some Firearms, and now I have some .40 S+W and some 20 gauge that have no home. Guess what? I'm keeping them until I get Shoveled under. Never can tell when some Stray pistol in .40 S+W comes scratching at my door. Or someone wants to do some Trading, or a buddy needs some ammo for Tomorrow and the Gun store is closed, or...
Tam once replied to a commenter who asked "how many magazines do I need?" with "more."
The same is true with ammo.
Always appreciate the wisdom. I have just started reloading, and the discussion of different crimps is still a bit new to me. For now I'm hoping the Lee Factory Crimp is good, I haven't had a chance to fire any of the rounds I've loaded yet.
I am only reloading .45ACP at the moment, but hope to add other calibers soon assuming the reloading goes well.
@Lazy
If you reload for .357 you have to roll crimp into the groove on the bullet, or it will back out on recoil.
.45 is OK with a sizing/primer punch then a powder/bell mouth die then seat the bullet after you weigh in the powder.
Read your book[s], not Lee's, others.
@Lazy Bike Commuter
I've reloaded a few thousand 45ACP with the lee 4 die set. As long as you have the factory crimp die set to its correct config, it will produce excellent ammo.
I've only ever had issue with my handloads on occasions where it was very cold out (below 40 degrees) or I didn't seat the primer deep enough (before I had my current setup).
The cold only bothered the ammo because the rounds were powder-puff practice ammo, and with the cold the gun tightened up a bit more so it wasn't 100% reliable cycling with the reduced recoil forces.
Old NFO: My phrasing is "The only time you have too much ammo is when your house is on fire."
And yes, the local FD knows which window the turret nozzle is to flood.
Frank: Regarding "social distance" with feral hogs; Bayonet?
"A man can never have too many books, too much red wine or too much ammunition", Rudyard Kipling.
To piggyback on Old NFO's comment, I've said for years that only time you have too much ammo is if you're on fire or swimming.
I may actually have too much ammo... let's just say that if the house and/or barn are ever on fire... we're getting back a safe distance... like Wyoming...
Dann in Ohio
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home