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ferfal,
After the crisis, and throughout, was there ever an extreme shortage of ammo? I know there was in the States for a while while Obama was being elected, and that was mostly panic buying. I carry a .45acp, a very common round in the states, and I'm sure Argentina. You talk about 1911s quite often. Was there ever a time where you couldn't find .45acp around and had to use 9mm? 9mm is more common than .45 worldwide and it would be my choice if I was in Europe, Asia, the middle East, and Africa. But in the States, I don't want to someday find that I can't feed my XD45 because the only thing around is 9mm.
thanks, anonymous
Panic buying eventually ends and frankly, dealers are happy of doing good business, more ammo is made, so its at worst a very short term problem.
Someone once said, President Obama should be named "Gun Dealer of the Year", because thanks to him thousands of guns and tons of ammo have been sold. There's a lot of truth to that.
What happened here was that people were buying more guns and ammo out of fear but at the same time, prices where going up a lot, odd calibers stopped being imported so they were hard to find ( like my 357 SIG)
Ammo was still available, even if in much less amounts and much higher prices.
Odd ball calibers where much harder to get by and prices were ridiculously expensive.
Because of this I recommend sticking to common calibers at first (you can always come by a box of 9mm rounds)and then having other calibers too in case your particular choice can't be found.
This also meant that quality reloaded ammo was in high demand. I've used reloaded Argentine brands like Waffen and Stopping Power, they sure are better than no ammo at all, and I've come to appreciate their overall good quality. (Stopping power ammo is better if you can find it, Waffen sometimes comes with crushed reloaded cases)
Start with common caliber weapons ( start with 9mm) then get others in 40 and 45. And most of all, DO have ammo for your gun! The rainy day stash is mandatory for anyone 1/2 serious about armed self defense.
FerFAL
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Sunday, January 17, 2010
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12 comments:
Its not unthinkable that the .gov, in a crisis situation, with the explosive growth of crime, will simply ban firearms. They might use the excuse that its a "temporary measure", that the sale of firearms and ammo to the civilians will be restored once the situation returns to normal (to silence the protests that the ban is unconstitutional).
In a situation like that the only sources of ammo are sources close to .gov/.mil, which basically means (for handguns) 9mm Para only.
The absolute top selling round in the US is the 22 LR. By a very large margin. I recall a survey of sellers done around 2000 showing the 22 LR sold more rounds to the civilian market than all the rest put together.
A surprise winner in the recent gun buying craze in the US is the .380 ACP (9x17mm). The tiny pistols from Kel-Tec and Kahr, improvements in bullet design and low recoil have made it popular for concealed carry. The grapevine tells me that manufacturers are actually shifting capacity from 9x19 to the 9x17 (they're made on the same presses) to keep up with the new demand.
I remember the post President Obama election ammo shortage well. I had recently driven across the country to live in GA/AL. I brought a .38 but only about 100 rounds of ammo. Not sure why I did that but it was a busy time and tossing in a few more boxes didn't seem important. I could not find any .38 ammo for almost two whole months. When it was available I bought enough to get through just about anything.
The lesson I learned there was twofold. First ammo can rapidly vanish. Second having a lot of ammo elsewhere doesn't help me any if I can't get to it. Should have brought at least 500 rounds with me.
here's my take:
Smith & Wesson's representative
told me this: they are backordered
for all the 9MM ammo they
make. if S&W wants to make .380,
they will have to shut down one
9MM line...retool..then make .380.
this Will Not Happen. so....
my advice is FerFal's: buy common.
it will be available. eventually,
To follow on with what Estonian said, if there was a SHTF situation that resulted in the banning of guns/ammo to the civilian population, there would spring up a black market supplied by two groups:
1) the average soldier looking to make a buck or supply his family (just like they trade alchohol and tobacco on the black market now in Europe and Korea).
2) thieves who target the military.
And the rounds they would have are the 9mm, 5.56 (.223), and 7.62x51 (.308). That's why my first defensive weapon purchases would be in those calibers. After that I would spread out into other calibers if I wanted some diversity.
Of course I'd already have several .22lr guns with thousands of rounds of cheap ammo.
Ammo inventory,...hmmm? Let me see....
.40 S&W 500 Rounds Hollowpoint
.40 S&W FMJ Federal 2000 Rounds
.223 55Gr. Federal 2500 Rounds
.224 65Gt. Remington 1500 Rounds
.22Lr. Remington Hollow Point 4000 Rounds (On sale big time value packs) I bought an S&W .22 AR just because of this.
12Ga. 00 1,500 Rounds
12 Ga. Stainless steel bird shot (Have to because of hunting restrictions on lead ammo) 2000 rounds.
I need more .45 and .25 for my revolver and my wife's pistol.
Estonian: They took people's guns in the aftermath of Katrina at exactly the time people needed to defend themselves the most. It WILL happen if SHTF. I agree that ammo availability could dictate caliber choice in a long term emergency. Exotic calibers are fine, but have a backup weapon in effective common calibers just in case. 9mm &.45 for instance.
agreed.
common calibers rule.
i met a Smith&Wesson salesman.
he said S&W was running the 9MM line
24/7 to meet current orders.
he said, to make .380 would require
shutting down and retooling one 9MM
line. S&W won't do that. 2 days lost
production.
What would be a reasonable stash of amno per handgun (9mm) and/or rifle/shotty?
Same goes with cars. Quit trying to be all Mad Max and get something relatively anonymous, fuel-efficient, reliable (including surviving off-road/bad-road driving), easily-repaired and with parts that are cheap and plentiful.
Good ground clearance is a plus.
Here in Ukraine, that means a Soviet-built Niva jeep or VAZ military truck. Maybe an older Benz. In Africa, that means a Toyota 7-Series Land Cruiser or HiLux.
Folks should be aware that new pistols usually need a "break in" period to ensure they cycle smoothly.
If you're buying a semi auto, get about 200 rounds specifically for this purpose. Additionally, run a box or two of your preferred self defense ammo to make sure the pistol cycles properly as some guns can be picky.
Regarding an adequate stash; just buy some, put it in a dry box and forget about it. Buy what you need to practice and pretend the stash isn't there.
Despite the good comments, at bare minimum, get a good 12gauge shotgun. Reloading the shells is easy and inexpensive. If you fail to get any other weapon, at least get a shotgun. You can tailor the rounds to suit your needs.
-The Hero
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