I have a fair supply of ammunition. Most of it is in calibers that I shoot regularly, for instance an awful lot of my ammo is in .22LR. Let's face it, it is pretty inexpensive and does not take up all that much space for a lots of rounds. But I also have a decent amount of other ammo on hand and as I said, most of it (by volume) is in calibers that I regularly shoot. The calibers that I shoot on a regular basis are:
.22LR
.223 Remington (grain weight in the 60's)
7.62x39mm
7.62x59R
8mm Mauser
.35 Remington
12 Gauge
.32 Auto
9mm Parabellum (Factoid: Parabellum - from Latin - translates to 'for war')
Then, I also have ammo stored up that I hardly ever, or simply do not, shoot:
.25 ACP
.380 Auto
.38 Special
.357 Magnum
.223 Remington (grain weight in the 50's)
.30 carbine
16 Gauge
I don't have all that much of the stuff that I don't shoot. I used to have a good deal more of it but wound up just giving most of it away, selling it, or trading it. My bad, I kind of wish I had kept it. Same old story, just like with guns - you have one that you decide to sell and you later are filled with regret because you got rid of it. Why on earth though would it be the same story with ammo, why would anyone regret selling, trading or gifting ammo?
For me, the answer to the above question is fairly straightforward, in fact it is simple. I regret selling it because now that I do not have as much I feel less prepared. Less prepared - for what? That last question is not as easy to answer but it is not too hard either. I like to consider myself somewhat prepared for just about anything. A fun day at the range with someone who is going to let me shoot a carbine in .45ACP would be just the thing to perk me up. How do you show your appreciation to a guy who lets you shoot his really neat carbine? You throw him some ammo and use some more during the shoot. The thing is, using my ammo to have a fun day like that is probably one of the lowest priorities on the list of reasons as to why I have the ammo in the first place. There are more important reasons to have ammo on hand, much more important reasons.
I imagine the number one reason I have a good amount of ammunition on hand is for defense of family, self and home. That may sound paranoid to some but when you think about it it is not far fetched at all. Recent events around the world and here on our own soil have shown us the reality of violent protests by radical protesters who simply want to redistribute what you have so they can get it (sound familiar, it should, it was the underlying tenet of communism/socialism and is seemingly the rallying cry of President Obama, Hilary Clinton, Maxine Waters and groups like Occupy and Acorn). It would not surprise me if in the next 2 or 3 years we are faced with an insurgency. There are also radical Islamists who are currently preparing to attack the United States from within and who knows where or when that may happen. Several plots have been discovered and diffused, with the past couple of years, in NY City alone. That is just too close to home for me to be completely unprepared to defend my family and our home. Islamic terrorists and the Islam in general are, in my opinion, one of the worst threats that we face. I think you had better wake up to the fact that the threat is more than real, it is being carried out on a daily basis. Racial tensions are stoked on a regular basis by groups like the Black Panthers and Black Muslims who espouse violence. Some all white militia groups are run by out and out kooks who also espouse racial violence and essentially advocate the use of violence against anyone who disagrees with them. Many Hispanics are calling for the return of California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas to the country of Mexico and are supportive of violent means to accomplish it. Then we have politicians, even the President of these United States making fanning the flames of racism by interfering with local police investigations by making barely veiled racist statements. Then there are the looters and the rogue law enforcement officers that pop up just about every time there is a major natural disaster of large enough scale. Don't know what I mean, then look at the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Police shot down unarmed citizens, removed people from their homes at gunpoint, looted while in uniform - yes there are bad apples among the bunch. Of course, there are just plain citizen and illegal alien looters too. Then we have the threat of war, war that next time around may wind up being fought where most of us least expect to be fighting it. To quote Sir Winston Churchill: "...we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills..." we may wind up fighting within our own borders. It is not all that far fetched - there are many nations around the world that have no love and a lot of hate for the good old U.S. of A. Finally, there is always he threat of guns and ammunition becoming impossible to obtain. We have people in our own government who repeatedly make every effort they can think up to violate our right to keep and bear arms. Those like Charles Senator Schumer, Hillary Clinton, president Obama to name just a few. Schumer wanted to implement something like a 1,000 percent tax on ammunition. Taxes, did I just mention taxes. We have them too and they keep going up along with government imposed fees, fines,mandated expenses (like heath care costs) and that may all fan the flames of an out and out revolution sooner or latter and as each day goes by and axes keep going up, you can probably safely bet it is going to be sooner than later. Do I need go on, I could name at least a few more things.
I guess the above pretty well can explain why I have ammo on hand that I need for the guns I currently own (meaning the ammo I shoot regularly). What about the ammo I have, the stuff I never or rarely shoot because I do not own a gun in the correct caliber to shoot it through. Well if the SHTF big time, if we are actually faced with TEOTWAWKI, that ammo may come in handy. A neighbor may have the gun that shoots it but only a box or so of ammo. I can give him some in return for say a case of water that he may have in store. I won't necessarily have to make a trade like that, heck I may just be happy that he has that gun if it is SHTF time on my block and he heads over to my place looking for bullets. That would me he is in the fight with me. Still though, ammo in various calibers could be a great bartering item. Ammo in calibers that match the calibers of firearms I own is not something that I am about to trade to anyone else except maybe to obtain medical supplies or food and water to alleviate an immediate life threatening emergency. Even then, I would be hesitant to give up my ammo if the overall situation was TEOTWAWKI. It would be much more appealing to me to have ammo on hand that I did not need but that someone else did need because it would be so much easier for me to part with that ammo than with ammo I could use in my guns.
As I think I already mentioned, there are more benign reasons to have ammo on hand that you do not shoot through your own guns, that you keep for other reasons. It is a great gift to give to others. It is a great way to get to shoot your buddies gun in that caliber. It makes for a fun day at the range with your buddy. It also makes for great trade goods to trade to other shooters who may have something you like. Who knows when your buddy, who is a .45 man, winds up wanting to sell that old Savage .22 rifle his uncle left to him in his will. You could maybe trade a few boxes of .45ACP for the rifle. Running out and buying that ammo today to trade for the rifle would be foolish, it would be worse than paying cash for the rifle. You would have to pay for transport o get to the store, pay for the ammo and pay the tax on it at today's rates. But, if you had bought and then properly had stored some .45ACP, say about 5 or 6 years ago, the overall price of it was lower back than than it is now and if properly stored the ammo is as good today as it was when it came out of the factory. Thus, it would have a trade value today at close to the current market price. Heck, maybe you even picked up some ammo for free. Don't tell me you turned it down because you did not own a gun to shoot it through. If you must tell me that, then at least don't tell me that you did not think of me and send the guy my way with the free ammo. I have had offers of free ammo before that I turned down but not in recent years. If it is free, in the box, and in decent condition, I don't care what caliber or gauge or mm size it is, I will take it.
I don't know about you but as for me, I am going to keep on procuring and storing ammo in any caliber I can get when the price is right - such as in free is deeply discounted. If you don't understand why by now, I am afraid you never will understand.
All the best,
Glenn B
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