Friday, March 26, 2010

Same planet, different worlds.

When I go to the range every weekend, I generally have two ammo cans in the trunk.

One of them is full of .22LR rimfire ammo and the other is whatever centerfire ammo I plan to be shooting that day. Sometimes there are two or more cans of centerfire. Each ammo can generally has around five hundred loose rounds of ammunition stored therein, except the rimfire can, which rarely has less than a thousand.

And this is if I'm going to the range alone. If I'm going with Shootin' Buddy or my roommate or friend Caleb, that number is doubled, what with there being two of us and all. On those mornings when Shootin' Buddy shows up and my roomie is out of bed early, all three of us have our ammo cans full of BBs in the vehicle and you can do the math from there.

Which means that if a certain CNN reporter got a look in the trunk, he would lapse into spastic PSH at the very sight.
Federal agents seized 2,880 rounds of ammunition found inside an SUV...
2,900 rounds? Piker.

Lord, I hope they never see what I'm taking home from a gun show or they would really lose continence...

35 comments:

Anonymous said...

Once I thought why would anyone need:

More than one pistol
100 rounds of ammo
AR 15

I was such a dumb ass back then!

Gerry

theirritablearchitect said...

I did an inventory of just ONE centerfire type last weekend, which included me going through a crate, at least three fifty-cal cans and another that I use as a BOB-can...and it came out to something like 7,500 rounds, and I remember thinking, "Gee, I need to stock up on some more of that stuff."

Some people are a little sensitive about others' stuff, I'd say.

Anonymous said...

I had this conversation withw hoplo-phobe one afternoon.

He asked me what a reasonable gun owner/shooter/hunter might have... around the house.

.22 rifle or two or 3
A couple or 5 centre fire rifles
A couple of pistols
A shotgun or 2
...

I stopped because I thought he was about the stroke, but I added that serious shooters/hunters might have FAR more.

He almost plotzed when I mentioned how much ammo a competitive shooter might run through per day/week/year to get good.

Kevin said...

I am in the middle of a motorcycle purchase deal. The seller is a federal law enforcement officer who entered into a fiscally unwise financing deal with a Harley Davidson St^H^HDealer in Arizona, and now wishes (due to impending sproghood) to sell the bike.

He's underwater on his loan, so I suggested a (very) fair price for the bike, and mentioned that he might like to add gunnie-type stuff as a sweetener. He added a Colt M4 (unfired), which left us $800 adrift.

He called me up; the conversation went something like this:

Him: Hey; you know that M4? Well, I was thinking that you might like some ammo to go with it. I have some .223 Gold Dot, and I was thinking that might be what we need to come to terms?

Me: Hmm. Well, it would have to be quite a lot of ammo, since I already have a sufficiency on hand.

Him: I have 500 rounds! As you know, Gold Dot is really good ammo; I was thinking a buck twenty a round?

Me: Ah. Well. I have just over 16,000 rounds of .223 already, over 2,000 of which is match-grade FMJ. And I don't recall any of my .223 costing me anywhere near a buck a pop...

Him (after a reflective pause, and in a small voice): I think you might have more ammo than my unit does.

Me: Good job you didn't ask about my other calibers. No point in having less than 10000 rounds of anything you intend to shoot well, eh?

Him: I'll call you back.

Bless his heart!

Kevin K

Elliot said...

Back when Bill Maher had Politically Incorrect, he used to scream at pro-gun rights advocates that a person had a right to ONE GUN.

Famous for his advocacy of legalizing drugs and being less uptight about sex, I always wondered how he'd handle someone telling him, "Yes, Bill, but if we only get one gun, then you're only entitled to buy ONE JOINT and ONE CONDOM per month."

That was before he dropped the libertarian pretense and came out as a full-bore Democrat tool.

Britt said...

Yeah, one of my super duper lefty friends waved a similar clipping in my face.

Her: "He had almost 4000 bullets! Who needs 4000 bullets?

I opened my trunk and showed her the 11 boxes of .22 LR I'd bought just to have on hand(local Merchant of Death had a buy 10 of anything get one free sale). That would be the 550 count Federal boxes. Oh, and I'm a broke college student who's had to sell all his guns save for the 870 and the Marlin .22.

Zdogk9 said...

Since I'm low on fingers and toes. 10 gallons of .45, 15 gallons of .38 foot locker of .44mag and a whole bunch of other stuff. 600 rounds for the EBR ready to go couple thousand in boxes and 500 loaded for my bolt gun. I need more.

Jay T said...

How much ammo do I need? MORE. Same answer everyday.

atrius said...

Aren't their 13 "armor piercing" rounds common silver tip Mosin ammo? Check the second picture....

Revolver Rob said...

I once had a conversation with a friend's wife. It went something like, "He already has 50,000 rounds of ammunition, don't you think that's enough?" (in various calibers, mostly 9mm, because of a large variety of fully automatic brass makers). My response was, "Do you think the local military base (Ft. Hood) has more for the troops there?" "Yes, probably." "Then he needs more."

In my opinion you only have ENOUGH, when the GIs show up and run out before you do. My greatest goal in life is to amass something equivalent to that amount of ammunition.

I can only imagine, with a smile, the reporter who saw that amount stacked up.

-Rob

Stephen said...

So are you saying that my future runs over to JandG should be undertaken in stealth mode?

Old NFO said...

I just brought home 6000 rounds from the office... I was getting low on 9 and .45 Guess it's a good thing I didn't get stopped... :-)

The competition shooters at Quantico average 1000 rounds a WEEK! They get ammo by the tractor trailer load, wonder what a reporter would do with THAT???

NMM1AFan said...

Makes me want to buy a couple more cases just on principle...

perlhaqr said...

Someone down south has a Romak-III, looks like. But I can tell them, from experience, that czech silver tip kinda sucks in it.

Kevin said...

I feel . . . inadequate.

Joanna said...

They get ammo by the tractor trailer load

I pictured that and now I need a cold shower. Thanks for that.

Anonymous said...

The most I've ever had in my car at one time was 25,000 (not counting what I had on my person in the form of a loaded gun and spare mag, of course). You know things are good when you need to make multiple trips from the mail drop to your house just to get all the ammo home!

Firehand said...

Back when ammo first started getting hard to find and/or more expensive, I ran into my favorite ammo dealer at a show and got a case- 5000 rounds- of .22lr. Was damn glad I did. And for that alone(ignore the ammo boxes and cans in the house and garage, please) the weenies would stroke out. And demand I get a 'arsenal' license.

On the way to the range, I think the most I've every had in the truck was between 500-1000 rounds of mixed stuff.

Anonymous said...

As one comes into Truckee, CA on I80 from Nevada there is an agricultural inspection station that everyone must go through. I wonder if police will be manning that station next year when Calif's new handgun ammo restrictions go into effect. Maybe they'll be inspecting everyone whose vehicle is sagging in the rear like a Kentucky moonshiner. As was commented earlier on this blog "there'll be more ammo coming across Donner Pass than used to flow down the Ho Chi Minh Trail". Thank the Lord for air shocks.

Taktron

Anonymous said...

The fun begins when you need to start considering your NEQ. ;)

Jim

Peter said...

I just moved my ammo stocks 600 miles to the city where I'll be taking up residence at the end of the month. (I moved it early, so as not to frighten the movers, poor people - besides, they won't handle ammo, their contract says so.) It came to just over a ton by weight, spread over a dozen major calibers (i.e. plenty of ammo for them) and another dozen minor ones (a few boxes for each). My pickup sagged visibly under the weight, and all the way I had this happy fantasy about being stopped by a cop and asked "Any guns or ammo in the vehicle?" I'd picture his face on hearing my reply, and laugh, and laugh, and laugh . . .

:-)

rickn8or said...

"lose continence"

How elegant.

And as regards my ammo supply: "Not enough".

Paladin said...

I've had the same thought before, especially since I keep some emergency/bugout gear in my truck all the time.

Hard enought to explain the ammo - try explaining the duct tape, shovel, rope, machete.. :)

Anonymous said...

My son is a Bullseye shooter.
Practice, local matches, and Camp Perry each July means he needs a fair amount of ammo.

I usually buy the CCI Standard Velocity ammo his gun likes a 5,000round case at at time.

Stretch said...

The only time you have too much ammo is when your house is on fire.

Ken O said...

THIS IS IN MY HOME TOWN! I wonder how they would feel if they knew they could drive a few miles and find 10k rounds at my house?

Anonymous said...

Ohhhhhhh, I think I'd like to meet Joanna!
Xcuse me. Gotta take a cold shower.


he,he

Joanna said...

Get in line, pal.

Mikee said...

I used the "shoot one box, buy one box to replace it, and one box for the ammo can" technique for several years. I started when CCI Blazer 9mm was $3.56 for 50 rounds, and continued until the recent period of "can't find" happened. I am glad I did, as my casually acquired ammo has doubled (at least) in value since I bought most of it.

Sometimes the accumulation happened all at once. I am still working, several years after buying it, on the first sardine can (440 rounds)of Hungarian 7.62x54 corrosive ammo I bought for my 91/30 and 44 Mosins, as the recoil is quite sufficient to end practice after only a few shots. Yes, I am a recoil wussy, thank you very much.

Ian Argent said...

HEll, by most people's standards I *am* a piker, and I could probably lay my lunch hooks on that much ammo in my closet. Admittedly most of it would be unjacketed .22 that I bought by accident...

randy said...

The only time you have too much ammo is when your house is on fire.

Or if you're swimming.

TJP said...

Nice to know that the we're securing Mexico's border pro bono. Why is that whenever hoplophobes are involved, everything gets expensive and ass-backwards?

I think I have something like 300 rounds or less at the moment, but I can't be bothered to go down and count. Otherwise, I don't do "rounds"; it's all measured in ingots, bags cans, boxes and barrels.

BUFF_dragon said...

I went to Knob Creek with some buddies once.... one of them was bringing a G36 owned by his employer, along with part of his employer's ammo stash, I believe he said there was 100,000 in the bed of the 1-ton.... the truck was sitting measurably lower in the ass when we got there as opposed to when we left....
my god that was a fun day at the range

Sendarius said...

A friend got into shotguns and shooting trap after he retired. He ended up having 12-gauge trap loads delivered to his home by the pallet - every fortnight.

Here in West Oz, we have already beaten off two attempts by the hoplophobes to force us to have "arsenal licenses" if we stored more than one hundred rounds (in total, all calibres). In the latest go-around, the idiot proposing it wanted to force all reloaders to store all propellant powders in a fireproof metal safe.

T.Stahl said...

Right now, right here in this flat are more than 16k rounds. Less than half of it is .22lr, with .223, 6.5x55, 7.5x55, .308, 9x19, .357 and .44Mag making up for the rest.