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How Much Ammo Do You Need for the Zombie Apocalypse?

I'm always worried about having enough ammunition. WTSHTF, you won't be able to buy them or the components to reload. Ammunition will be a scarce but essential thing that will be crutial to survival.

Ammo is useful! You can defend yourself, you can hunt for food, you can use them for barter in a post-collapse society. Even brass would be worth trading things for, so pick them up when you can.

Keep in mind that the crisis that we are preparing for may take years to overcome.

On the flip side however, I'm not trying to scare you into hoarding tons of bullets, you need to balance this against your family's other needs. Butter or bullets? Choose wisely!

Here are some of my firearms and what goes through my head when I think about how much ammo I need for each of them:

I. .40 S&W

I go through about 1600 rounds per month for IPSC practice and competitions. That's training every Thursday and then weekend matches. My pistol eats a lot of ammo just so I could stay "hot". I also have two extra guns for my sport.

To put things into perspective, I shot 10,000 rounds in the past 6 months for competitive practice alone.

I only have 2000 left. Since I have multiple pistols, having 5,000-10,000 should be a minimum. 


II. .177

I have a break-barrel air rifle, the Gamo Whisper IGT in .177, and I want to have as much ammo for this as I could because its an ideal training rifle and great for small game hunting. This airgun can also punch through a zombie skull below 30 meters.

I have a total of 1200 rounds. I think I should have at least 5,000 so we can shoot this gun whenever we like.

III. .38 spl

My Armscor M206 holds a special place in my collection. My wife keeps this handy as her home carry. Its not her favorite, but she can fight with it. Its a tricky gun to shoot accurately using double-action, but the single action mode is ideal. Its short sight radius is tough to use so this gun needs decent range time to become proficient with.

I've got about 300 rounds of this and perhaps it would be nice to have 1000 for storage. 

IV. .380 auto

I have two pistols in this caliber. The Kel-Tec P3AT and my new SIG P238. These are two of the most popular pocket carry guns. They also serve as backup to my primary .40 high-cap. The Kel-Tec is hard to aim, the SIG however is a dream to shoot.

I got about 500 rounds of these and having 500 more would make me feel better.



V. 12 Gauge

The  Benelli M3T is my ultimate CQB weapon. If I have to protect the house or clear a building, this would be my tool. This is a bit tricky because of the wide assortment of loads. I have 00 Buck, slugs, birdshot, #4 Buck, and "bantam" loads that are small and let me load an additional round to make a 7+1 into an 8+1 capacity.

This is also the bulkiest. heaviest, and most expensive of all my ammo. Perhaps this is why I got .22lr in the first place.

I have a total of 550 rounds. Most of these comprising the full-power "combat" loads. I should aim for 2000 rounds. 

VI. 5.56 and .223

I don't have a centerfire rifle yet. However I made my commitment to get one by purchasing close to 3000 rounds. 

I will store these and attempt to build a minimum of 6000 for storage and then the rest would be used for practice and matches. When I get a second AR-15, I will then bump the reserves to 10,000 rounds.  

VII. .22LR

                                               Marlin XT-22YR & Kel-Tec SU-22, awesome zombie slaying weapons!

Say hello to my favorite caliber. Its so much fun to shoot a semi-auto suppressed rifle. Its tremendously satisfying to practice with a quiet bolt-action rifle. The whole thing about these guns is pure enjoyment. They're also the means by which I will thin the hordes of undead with. Nothing will destroy more zombies than the mighty .22lr. 

That being said, I don't think I could ever say that I would have enough of this caliber. I now have 7,000 rounds of assorted .22lr. They are primarily subsonic and "super-quiet" Armscor rounds. 

Super-quiet ammo averages 860fps, and the 40 grain head easily blasts through two coconut shells at 35 meters. 

This is the bullet for the apocalypse, home defense, hunting and good old plinking!  

I want to hit 10k rounds for this soon and hoard even more. Its also a bummer that there is no way to reload this in any practical manner. Thank goodness the factory over here churns them out with regularity and at a decent price. 

This reminds me to get me a suppressed .22lr pistol and another semi-auto rifle that would have mags compatible with my SU22.

VIII. Deficiencies?

Funny, I don't even have 9mm or .45ACP. Those two are the most commonplace ammo in the whole world aside from .22lr. Is this going to be a problem for me? Yes! It forced me to increase my reserves because I am expecting to have a hard time keeping my .380 and .40s properly fed.

IX. Conclusion

So there you have it. This is how I answer "how much ammo do I need for SHTF". All I did was ask myself what I intend to do with these firearms. 

I admit that I have too many different kinds of ammo. In a perfect world I would have just 2-3 kinds of ammo so my logistics won't be such a headache, but all of the firearms have a very good purpose.

Perhaps I need to consider reloading. As it stands my prepping budget does not yet have this in my short-range plans. Having the ability to reload would help me a whole lot. I'll give it some serious thought.

This is going to be expenseive...


Stay vigilant!

UPDATE:

As of October 2019 we got our selves two 9mm handguns! I can reload this caliber too so I'm off to a great start. Yahoooo! (January 24, 2020)

Survival Strategy #15: The AR-15 for SHTF

Photo from UDMC Corporation

I. In a SHTF scenario, you need the right tools for the right job. In my family's moderately-sized collection of firearms, we only have weapons suited for short to medium range engagements. I have decided that we need a rifle that would be effective beyond 300 yards. Its time to save up for an AR-15.

I have been putting this off for years. Since my last post on this blog I had poured myself into competitive shooting and acquiring other survival essentials for my family. Before I get my first center-fire rifle, I wanted to make sure that we can live comfortably when the grid finally goes down. Hey, I gotta show Mrs. Zombie Hunter that I'm all about the skills and not just the "toys".

Im a pistolero but I'm kinda new to long range marksmanship. Sure we have two rimfire rifles, the Kel-Tec SU22 and a Marlin XT22. Both function flawlessly and have specific roles WTSHTF. I have tons of ammo for them and  hitting head-sized targets out to 100-150 yards with them is a cinch.

My wife and 8-year old daughter learned to shoot with these and we can take down thousands of Zeds from a safe distance quietly because they are suppressed.

Take a look at this photo on the right. This is a hundred yards and hitting head-sized targets wasn't so bad. We could easily land two-inch groups using both these rifles with a 1-4x on the Kel-Tec and a 4-16x on the Marlin.

However the .22lr can only do so much...

I hate to say it but we are at a huge disadvantage against HUMAN threats. Despite onerous Firearm Ownership Laws in my country, you can bet that there would be thousands of hostiles armed with the ubiquitous Elisco or Colt M16s over here when things go south.

And speaking of draconian firearm laws...

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Why so much fuss over a rifle? To my American readers, here's a few details on our laws that makes it difficult to just grab a few rifles off the shelf and call it a day.

II. Restrictive Firearm Ownership in the Philippines:

TLDR: Republic Act #10591 and its Implementing Rules & Regulations 

In my country, our laws assign you a higher bracket for each firearm you own:

Type 1 License allows a citizen to own and possess a maximum of 2 registered firearms.
Type 2 license – allows a citizen to own and possess a maximum of five (5) registered firearms
Type 3 license – allows a citizen to own and possess a maximum ten (10) registered firearms
Type 4 license – allows a citizen to own and possess a maximum of fifteen (15) registered firearms
Type 5 license – allows a citizen, who is certified gun collector, to own and possess more than fifteen (15) registered firearms.
                                                    Utter BS! Elitism!

Licensing fees range from $20 from Class 1 every two years to $320 for the Type 5 License, on top of other fees. Pretty dang hard for the regular Pedro and Juan to arm up. This really sucks! :-(

In America, you can basically own as much as you like. It is not the case over here. Count your blessings, fight for your rights!

Basically, the more you own, the more you pay for their registration every two years. So for Filipino gun owners on a smart budget like me, all purchases are deliberate. In my bracket of Type 3, I won't bump up my catergory needlessly.

III. So why an AR-15?

1. Parts and maintenance are readily available. Despite local terrorist groups using AKs, the NATO rifle is still the most popular long arm in the country.

2. I can use it for competitive shooting! We can train and become skilled with it. USPSA 3-Gun Nation events are actually running over here every month so there are many opportunities to become competent riflemen.

3. Ammunition is abundant thank goodness. I can get into reloading in the near future.

3. Its an ideal defense & survival weapon 'coz my wife and daughter can use it pretty well. They had more fun with the rifles compared to our pistols.

4. I need reach! My Shotgun, 5 pistols, air rifle, and two rimfire rifles won't cut it over 150 yards.

IV. What kind of AR-15?

• A 16 inch stainless steel barrel with a full-length handguard
• I'll put my Vortex Viper PST 1-4x on it plus back-up sights
• It will be suppressed
• Its a 3-gun rifle so it will be more expensive, but reliability & performance is what I'm after
• I want NV capability but that is a wishlist item for now since importing them to the Philippines would be very difficult... but not impossible!

V. Where am I now? 

I got ammo! Nearly 3000 rounds at a great deal and they are now squirreled away at a secret but convenient location. I can build up to a minimum of 6000 to store away and use excess for training and competition.

I have also selected the company to build my rifle: United Defense Manufacturing Corporation (UDMC). Why them? They are a relatively new firearm manufacturer but their high-quality rifles were selected by a Southeast Asian country as their army's next-generation rifle.

They use premium parts and Bergara barrels. UDMC rifles have won international matches. And here's a huge plus: their factory located really near my home! I am in good hands. 

My original plan was a budget rifle like the Smith & Wesson M&P 15 Sport for the fantastic price and reliability. Other choices were from Noveske and Colt. My dad has a few M16A1s from the Vietnam era and maybe a Colt M4 or two, but I did not want to subtract from his collection.

Later on I'll get another one for my wife and daughter. For now I want a premium-grade one that could stand the rigors of competition.

I'm pretty excited to finally visit their store and make the down payment hopefully in August. They said they can build it in less than two months including customization. Stay tuned for that!

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Its good to be blogging again. I've got new topics to cover as well as the survival gear I mentioned earlier.

Family life and my career in Risk Management has been all good in the past two years since my last blog entry. I hope all of you guys are doing well and have made more progress in survival preparation.

I was originally going to make just a small journal entry when I started this 3 hours ago, but hey. I love this. I can't do anything half-arsed. Photo on the right shows you how I feel right about now...



Stay vigilant!

TROPICAL STORM HAGUPIT (Typhoon Ruby)

                                            A super typhoon... In December?!


I'm not big on the whole climate change thing, but this is pretty darn WEIRD.

When it hits us it will be called Typhoon Ruby. Its expected to make landfall in the Philippines this Thursday, December 4, 2014 and its gonna be a really strong one too with winds reaching up to 155MPH. That is a storm category 4 out of 5. If Yolanda was a lesson, we could expect another disaster in the making.

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Lessons From the Past

In my part of the world, our storm season is supposed to be between June to August. That was when I was little, about 25 years ago it stayed in that schedule. In the last 10 years I've noticed that we started having typhoons as early as April, which is supposed to be summertime.

And then it creeps past August, and we'd get the odd storm like Super Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) in November.

Its pretty weird to get a calamity of this magnitude at this part of the year. There was a time when Haiyan was called a ONE IN FIFTY YEARS thing. 

Typhoon Ondoy (Ketsana) was the other big one, the FloodApocalypse. It paralyzed central Luzon and much of Metro Manila with a month's worth of rain dumped in a matter of a single week. People were forced out of their homes with water rising above two storeys in some places, unfortunately these were also residential areas.

Maybe there is something to this climate cha-cha thingamabob.

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Preparedness Levels

Whatever it is, I've got a month's worth of food at home. We have filtration systems to last forever. I'm not worried about my family. I live well above sea level. Noah would approve.

We're not in danger of flying debris because my home is made of concrete. Trouble? You know I'm ready for that too.

Its everybody else living in the lowlands that I'm worried about. Or those who live on our eastern seaboard like in Leyte. Darn it, I sure hope nobody gets hurt this time around! Or at least as few as possible.  :-(

I know I'm not the only one who's prepared. I'm even happy to report that we have serious preppers in Leyte and other Haiyan-affected areas because they are the TRUE survivors. Armed with solar power, wind turbines, water filtration, supplies, and neighborly coordination, they can pull through another big one. I just wish it didn't have to come again so soon.

I've spend the day sending out severe weather alerts to our office staff, clients, and family. I'm in the risk management profession, its what I do.

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After this mess, we'll go into high-gear again to help out whoever was affected in true Pinoy fashion. Helping our neighbors is what we're famous for. Its called Bayanihan.

You can't fight force majeure but you could plan for it and roll with the punches. Lets hunker down and stay safe this week.





Stay vigilant!

BREAKING NEWS: .22 TCM Glock Conversion kits Coming Soon! (I'm 90% sure)

I remember Martin Tuason (President of Armscor) saying something on his Facebook account a few weeks ago about releasing a product that would be considered by some to be "heretical". He's a cool guy, always giving really exciting teasers on their upcoming projects. 

They've also got their ears close to the ground and must have heard the clamor on the internet.

It makes a lot of sense. Follow my train of thought: 

Armscor is the largest 1911 manufacturer in the world... 

...aggressively promoting the .22 TCM cartridge... 

... how do you make your bullet more popular? 

...Glocks are the most popular 9mm platform...

A .22 TCM Conversion kit for Glocks! It makes perfect sense!

My hunch looks like its on the money because there was talk earlier today about a conversion kit for the Glock 17 to chamber the ammo being released really soon.

What does this mean? We could see the .22 TCM become more widely used since the only way at present was to purchase the TCM pistol and bolt-action rifle. 

Now the other half of the pistol community worldwide would have the chance to give this a shot. I mean "half of the world's police force" can't go wrong (if you believe the marketing).

This is quite a bold move since the company is putting the bullet in the hands of folks using a a brand known as its nemesis and the subject of fanboy wars across the internet.


We're all familiar with the whole 1911 VS Glock and .45 VS 9mm debate. My head is spinning, and old Gaston G. should be shaking his as well.

In the end, this strategy will go a long way in ensuring the longevity of the caliber.

Moving Forward
Now that its poised to reach even greater popularity, I'm really looking forward to is more real-world studies on this caliber. I've been clamoring for that since it was launched more than two years ago. Ballistic performance, penetration tests vs armor, drywall, car doors, frozen turkeys, zombie heads, FBI gel, hair gel... Lets have it!

Only then would we know how it stands as a defensive round compared to the 9mm, .45, .40, .380, .25, .22 and more.

Can someone call up Pocket Guns & Gear, Box o' Truth, Brassfetcher, Hickok45 or the Poboyspecial to do the science? Thanks!


UPDATE: Bruce F. of Pocket Guns & Gear has made some really cool tests on the cartridge. :-)

Stay vigilant!