How many rounds?

[skipglo]

"Years ago" I kept 1500 to 1800 rounds of 5.56 ammo for the AR15. That is the go to when prairie dog shooting. .338 Win Mag and 300 Win Mag about 50 rounds loaded. Backup guns for prairie dog shooting.

Yup....you never know when one of those wounded Prairie Dogs will choose to attack!!!

 

[skipglo]

50 -120....always 50...the rest in case my boys show up at camp! And oh yeah....3 Silver ones....incase Muddyboots is chased thru camp by Werewolves.....they don't like Sasquatches ...or so I'm told!

 

[Mikecr]

I keep 50 for each hunting gun. I'm a varmint hunter

 

[Bret GRAVELINE Graveline]

More than I need, But not as many as I want. Depends on the rifle, enough rounds for a elk hunt wouldn't get it done on a prairie dog shoot, while 50 rds has always got me thru a elk it hunt, I've burned thru two hundred by noon on squirrel shoots. Better to have to many than not enough.

 

[Ol' Red]

Yup....you never know when one of those wounded Prairie Dogs will choose to attack!!!

If I have to shoot .5" groups to hit a deer because they got so small, then the prairie dogs could have gotten larger. Hence the .300 and .338.

 

[rcg5076]

Once upon a time i had 5,000 rounds of 223 reloaded with some surplus imr 4895. Uncle Sam sent me overseas and the rounds were stored in my dads garage on a cement floor. Five years later all the rounds went bad. The cases swelled with green and primers died. Needless to say i lost them all. Spent a month pulling the bullets and discarding the rest. Never new if it was the old surplus powder, the storage in a hot garage or if the cement caused them to go bad. Now i don't reload more than what i am going to shoot in a year or two.

 

[Mikecr]

Concrete and metal are challenging w/regard to corrosion.
The concrete is hygroscopic and cools the metal, then moisture in the concrete and air condenses on the metal cartridges with every little rise in dew point..

It really is best to keep ammo in the same pristine conditions that our guns should be kept in (right up to moment of use).
With this, I keep loose ammo in my front pants pockets in the field. I pull out/load one round at a time, when I'm ready to kill something.
As load developed the same way, it also mitigates ammo temperature variance, which affects our loads (summer or winter).
When I sit with my gun in the field, I drape a towel over it to keep the sun's radiant heat from changing my barrel temps.
Might seem excessive, but I am really into single shot cold bore kills.

 

[BrianID]

For big game I'll often load a minimum of 50 rounds and sometimes 100+ rounds a month or two before the hunt. I'll often shoot at least half of them to practice with that gun before the hunt and want to have at least 20 rounds with me for a hunt. I verify my "drop" at various ranges on paper before hunts instead of relying on only a calculation on my phone. Sometimes the expected calculation are significantly off.

Last year my 300 win mag only was shot 3 times and was used to tag 2 deer and one elk. I did shoot it about 5 other shots during hunting season to verify zero. My other rifle, I probably shot 25 rounds during hunting season. I used it for only one deer. If you have the time and resources, shoot as often as you can.

I've shot ammo I've loaded 20+ years ago and have never had a problem with old ammo I've loaded. I do keep my ammo indoors.

 

[338 dude]

How many rounds of HAND loaded ammunition do yall keep on hand for a particular hunting rifle?

I'm talking about once the barrel is broke in and you get a load dialed in and all other experimentation is done. How many do yall keep on hand for your #1 go to hunting rifle?

I usually load one ammo box of 50 when I get down to 20 or below I will fill it up again. I loaded these last season so count them up that's how many I shot last year.

 

[blacktail 8541]

Like a lot of the responses, I usually keep 50 to 100 rounds per rifle.

 

[del2les]

How many rounds of HAND loaded ammunition do yall keep on hand for a particular hunting rifle?

I'm talking about once the barrel is broke in and you get a load dialed in and all other experimentation is done. How many do yall keep on hand for your #1 go to hunting rifle?

First, some of us have several "#1 go to hunting rifles", for it depends on the game, varmint/s, terrain, expected distances, large, medium and/or dangerous game, etc, etc.

With that and depending on the above, I have anywhere from a few thousand to a couple of hundred or so.

 

[Zen Archery]

Depends on how many hogs I plan on tackling that evening.

 

[ARlife4me]

600 yards and a prairie dog with a 264wm = hand puppet
Back when I only loaded for 44mag and 264wm I usually had 2k for 44mag and 1k of 264wm (500 of 140sbt's and 500 of 100hp's). Now that I have 14 different cartridges that are chambered in 40 different rifles only 200 rounds or less. Pistols with 8 different cartridges and 17 different pistols about the same.........200 rounds of 3 different bullet weights for each.

22cal with 55/62/75gr bullets
243win 75/85/90/100/103/105/112gr bullets
26cal 85/90/92.5/100/107/108/120/123/130/135/140/142/144gr (4 different cartridges)
27cal 85/90/95/100/110/115/130/140/150gr (2 different cartridges)
30cal 110/123/125/130/135/150/155/170/180/185/190/195/200/208/210/215/220/225/230/240gr (3 different cartridges)
33cal 230/250/285/300gr
458cal 250/300/325/350gr

5.7x28 50/62gr
9mm 90/115/124/125/147gr (2 different cartridges)
10mm 135/150/155/165/180gr (2 different cartridges)
44cal 180/200/210/240/250/300gr
45cal 185/230gr
50cal 300gr

182 boxes of 20 for each combo listed=3,640 rounds

just rifles:
22cal with 6 different barrel lengths
24cal 1 barrel
26cal 6.5g (2 barrel lengths) 6.5creed (4 barrel lengths) 260rem (2 barrel lengths) 264wm (2 barrel lengths)
27cal 6.8spc (2 barrel lengths) 270win (1 barrel)
30cal 300bo (2 barrel lengths) 308win (5 barrel lengths) 300wm (3 barrel lengths)
33cal 1 barrel
9mm 1 barrel length
10mm 1 barrel length
44cal 1 barrel length
45cal 1 barrel length
458cal 2 barrel lengths

just pistols:
5.7x28 1 barrel length
9mm 4 barrel lengths 357sig (3 barrel lengths)
10mm 5 barrels lengths 40s&w 4 barrel lengths
44cal 2 barrel lengths (44mag)
45cal 4 barrel lengths (45acp)
50cal 2 barrel lengths (50ae)

108 boxes of 50= 5,400 rounds

Consolidation would be important, but not near as fun!

 

[bamban]

I would load 20, shoot 1 round on every outing for 10 outings before season starts. As long as I hit (holding for mirage/wind as needed) the 1 inch paster at 200 yards I won't adjust scope.

Take the last 10 to hunt.

That's the routine for all hunting rifles: 300WM, 280AI, 30-06, 260, and 308. I have 10 rounds for each ready to go.