How much is enough carry ammo?

[RevolverRob]

For every 250 rounds of practice ammo I buy, I buy 50-rounds of carry ammo. That’s how I keep track it’s a 5:1 ratio of practice to carry. The exception to this is buckshot and slugs, where for every 50-rounds of birdshot I buy, I buy 5 rounds of buck and slugs each. That’s also a 5:1 ratio, but I track it by 50-round increments, because buckshot and slugs come in smaller boxes.

For how much to keep on hand, here's my philosophy - I want enough on hand to fill every spare magazine and every gun I have which I may carry or use defensively to capacity with carry ammo. For me, that's a non-trivial amount of HST (about 200 rounds of .45 and 400 rounds of 9mm).

ETA: The rate at which I shoot carry ammo is variable. But whenever I go to the range (monthly at best for me), I shoot the carry ammo in the gun I'm carrying, plus the spare mags/speedloaders. This is on average ~30 rounds of carry ammunition. This is always the first ammo I shoot and I shoot it cold, because I doubt I'm going to get into a gunfight all warmed up and focused on shooting. I always bring a full 50-rounds of carry ammo with me when I head to the range, so I can reload my mags. If the lot number has changed, I'll fire 20-rounds of ammo from that lot to confirm function, before reloading the carry gun and spare mag(s).

[beenalongtime]

This may skew some discussion, but I think this is a fair place to ask.

How about new ammo that you buy to try/considering (not supplied by others)? I've bought a box of Magtech bonded 9mm, Finoochi (spelling, none of this is in front of me), seems like one other, and a few boxes of Golden Sabre, as I am more likely to carry it.
The one box of Magtech and Finoochi, I want to verify function and when I go out to a friends farm, set some stuff up to see if I can catch/check expansion. (I don't have gel blocks)
Where the Golden Sabre I have heard enough good things that I am more likely to start with it, with the others getting harder/more expensive to come by. (replacing stash as it is used up) So since it is my default front runner, I want more boxes to test.

[JBP55]

This may skew some discussion, but I think this is a fair place to ask.

How about new ammo that you buy to try/considering (not supplied by others)? I've bought a box of Magtech bonded 9mm, Finoochi (spelling, none of this is in front of me), seems like one other, and a few boxes of Golden Sabre, as I am more likely to carry it.
The one box of Magtech and Finoochi, I want to verify function and when I go out to a friends farm, set some stuff up to see if I can catch/check expansion. (I don't have gel blocks)
Where the Golden Sabre I have heard enough good things that I am more likely to start with it, with the others getting harder/more expensive to come by. (replacing stash as it is used up) So since it is my default front runner, I want more boxes to test.

Line up some 1 gallon jugs filled to capacity and capped for a comparison of penetration and expansion. Four in a row for each round should work with or without 4 layers of old jeans.

Most 9mm hollow points will stop in the 3rd jug.

[Cypher]

This may skew some discussion, but I think this is a fair place to ask.

How about new ammo that you buy to try/considering (not supplied by others)? I've bought a box of Magtech bonded 9mm, Finoochi (spelling, none of this is in front of me), seems like one other, and a few boxes of Golden Sabre, as I am more likely to carry it.
The one box of Magtech and Finoochi, I want to verify function and when I go out to a friends farm, set some stuff up to see if I can catch/check expansion. (I don't have gel blocks)
Where the Golden Sabre I have heard enough good things that I am more likely to start with it, with the others getting harder/more expensive to come by. (replacing stash as it is used up) So since it is my default front runner, I want more boxes to test.

The Meat Target.

[navyman8903]

So I usually go the overkill route with ammo and mags. I tend to overstock for a myriad of reasons, mostly because of 3 primary reasons.

1. You are responsible for YOU, no one is coming it is up to you.
2. I used to be a resident of the Socialist Empire of New York. So you don't know when your supply is going to get cut off or your laws will change while you were literally sleeping.
3. Some of my favorite rounds are other people's favorite rounds, thus hard to come by unless you've got money ready when that back in stock email hits your inbox.

That said, I have made my minimum for pistol rounds (9mm/45acp for my wife and I) 1000 Self Defense rounds on hand in storage. That's do not go below unless Red Dawn or EOW scenario. Those rounds stay in storage until the next case shows up to relieve them, but at this point I'm at about 2K of SD rounds for 45acp and 9mm each. I also DO NOT count rounds in mags. So my carry gun, HD gun, and loaded mags do not reflect the ammo I've required myself to have in storage. I also strive for 5K rounds of each caliber for practice for pistol and rifle, for classes when they pop up. OR! If my wife and I want to go shoot. I also shoot my SD rounds quite often, not just at the end of the year round up like most people do. Which is very expensive.

Rifle SD rounds I stack to the roof. I can never have enough BH 77gr TMK, MK318, and 168/175gr SMK's for the 7.62s/.308's. My bank account definitely can though......... If I had so much money I didn't know what to do with it, I would probably stop at 10k per caliber. Which I know to most is very unreasonable. But I shoot 77gr TMK's at matches, not 55gr stuff. When I zero my scope on something, that's all that gun eats period.


If you want a reasonable approach keeping the three principals I laid out above....... I'd say whatever you carry x2 (IE if you carry a G19 with a spare, have 4 G19 mags loaded up), and 500-1000 rounds in reserve. Whatever fits your budget. Then for rifle, 3x that all around. For the simple fact of if you ever need your rifle. I mean NEED your rifle, you'll want every round you can get your hand on. And if you're in a state that just flipped Blue, watch out for those ammo restriction bills.

[JRB]

There's only two situations in which you can have too much ammo:

-When you're near it, and it's on fire.
-When you're carrying it, and drowning.

Past that, buy as much as you can afford/have space to safely store.

[jeffreybehr]

For some reason, the number 2000 sounds really good to me. I've switched (from 10mm) to 9mm and then (back to) 357Sig this year, and it seems that all three particular models of my favorite (and only) carry ammo, Federal HST, have been discontinued. This year I've also decided that at age 75 I no longer wish to reload ammo, so the 2000 rounds still seems like NOT too much. When the next order arrives soon, I'll have 2K of Federal HST 357Sig ammo in stock, and if I have some cash left over after paying this month's creditcard bills early next month AND if the seller still has any in stock, I'll buy more next month. I also have almost 2K of 9mm Federal HST surplus.


This is an original-version M&P fullsize that was in .40S&W and into which I installed one of my three S&W 357Sig barrels. I carry it with one extra mag = 31 cartridges. M&P's magazines are the same for .40S&W and 357Sig. I do not have big hands and find that the M&Ps are quite comfortable and much more so than any Glock I've had. My only gripe about any of the M&Ps I've owned is their poor-quality triggers. Oh well...

[navyman8903]

There's only two situations in which you can have too much ammo:

-When you're near it, and it's on fire.
-When you're carrying it, and drowning.

Past that, buy as much as you can afford/have space to safely store.

I should have went this route in my explanation. Well said with excellent brevity.