uncommon caliber, SHTF, guns, ammunition,
Guns & Stuff

[2020]The Argument FOR Uncommon Calibers

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It’s often recommended that a weapons stockpile should consist of firearms in common calibers for one very important reason: Resupply. Due to the sheer volume of rounds with calibers such as 9mm, 45ACP, .223, .308, and .22LR if things get bad these calibers will always be readily available.

Well, maybe not.

Remember the months and months that followed Sandy Hook? It was extremely difficult to find ANY common calibers unless one was willing to pay some extremely inflated prices. I would visit my local gun shop, Academy, Wal-Mart, and DICK’s and there was no 9mm, no .223/5.56, no .22LR. Those were the calibers at the time I was searching for. There was also no 45ACP, no .308, and no .380.  I also could not find any .30 Carbine. I did see 10mm sitting on the shelves. There sitting lonely covered with dust were other calibers such as .270, .300 Winchester Magnum, and even .30-06 occasionally. Back then even the .22 Magnum was readily available for quite some time.

Over the last few months since the pandemic ramped up ammo firearm and ammo sales have gone through the roof. A very similar situation has occurred although ammunition is in better supply and prices are more favorable than after Sandy Hook. Look around enough and ammunition can be had just a bit higher than pre-pandemic.

I totally understand the theory that the chances of coming across common ammunition such as 9mm and .223 anywhere in the United States are much greater than finding .41 Magnum. I agree. With that in mind, there are some advantages to the less-popular calibers.

I remember after Sandy Hook two things:

  1.  I wish I had stocked up on more ammunition when I had the chance.
  2.  I wish I had owned a couple of guns such a .22 Magnum and 10mm.

Lessons learned. Next time – and there will be a next time – be stocked up on what you need BEFORE a shortage happens.

Take care all –

JR

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6 Comments

  1. goinggray58 says:

    Of course reloading is one possibility.. but it is time consuming and not altogether inexpensive. I have a friend who casts his own bullets from wheel weights and lino-type and a small amount of harder metal.. They work very well and not nearly so expensive. Barters with them and stores them etc.. but he is rare.
    Another thought is you don’e always have to a have a separate firearm to use odd calibers.. many weapons are just a barrel swap and sometimes a recoil or buffer spring. more for pistol and AR platforms obviously/ Bolt guns don’t work that way as well as others.
    Then there are various revolvers .. usually not awful in expense unless they are more exotic than average.
    Obviously specialization has it’s own drawbacks, just different than the “popular” calibers.
    For many years there have always been debates abort the best caliber to do whatever you are doing with it. Mfg.’s develop new weapons to give you “the newest” and “best” and then sell the ammunition. That’s really more about sales than capability. Most reasonably well maintained firearm will do most of what is needed in some fashion, plus or minus a few feet of drop or grains of powder and lead.
    Fill up a safe or three .. if it makes you happy .. there is little enough of that available right? Or not if budget is an issue and stick with the basics. Just have as much ammunition as you can manage before it becomes an issue. 1000 rnds per owned weapon is a good start. Multiple chambered weapons means multiple thousand round increments.. Or not.. whatever you think you need.
    Practice some.. it’s perishable skill, just don’t neglect your other preparations based on your situation.
    Guns are fun to play with and we all occasionally have a bout of new gun disease.. I’m not sure you can plan it.. maybe guide it a little 🙂
    You can’t eat bullets, but you can’t keep stuff without them either.. balance.
    Prepare deliberately folks. We are not done and it will get worse before it’s better.
    Plan around the election cycle and have a way out of cities if you have the ability.
    GG58

    Reply
  2. Fred L Casteel says:

    A friend of mine finally decided to buy him a pistol for home protection and now can’t find 9MM practice rounds so he can learn how to shoot it. Palmetto State Armory is out of 9MM also which surprised me. I live in GA and can’t find any here either. My friend found some protection ammo but it costs too much to practice with. I am going to loan him a couple hundred rounds to practice with. I started several years ago stocking up and glad I did.
    I agree with GG58, election time will be interesting. I just hope President Trump wins.

    Reply
    1. JR says:

      Fred – A lot of people are in that same boat who came to the game well past half-time. One solution is to spend the money. Anything is available if you are willing to spend the money. I don’t see the ammunition situation getting any better the rest of this year. If Trump loses…..the rest of next year.

      Reply
  3. 3rdMan says:

    Un-common calibers are on the shelf still because they’re un-common! They’re also produced in much smaller quantities than the common calibers. The most common caliber produced in the U.S. is the 22lr at about 2.5 billion rounds a year. One report says the US Army alone purchase around 1 billion rounds of 5.56 a year. I think I will stick with common ammunition that is produced in the billions and not 10s of thousands. The bottom line is we prepare for these very situations over the long term. We don’t wait for SHTF to happen before buying a firearm, magazines, ammo, and food like the sheep. So, for preppers the un-common verses common calibers comparison is kind of mute, because we don’t wait until its really too late!!!

    Reply
    1. JR says:

      3rdMan – disagreement is ok. I think you may have missed my point a bit. I’m not suggesting to NOT have firearms in common calibers. I am merely saying that having the oddities can have some benefit in situations such as we are experiencing now.

      Reply
      1. 3rdMan says:

        I don’t think I missed it all. Most people make the mistake in assuming because they only see un-common calibers left on the shelfs during a crises or shortage, that it is validation that you should own un-common calibers also. This is an exercise that has played out time and time again on various blogs and threads over the years.
        Most people struggle to purchase the basic calibers and don’t have the excess funds to spend on niche item such as un-common calibers. Un-common caliber firearms also tend to be more expensive and the ammunition is more costly.
        For example, I was at Academy yesterday, no pistol caliber except .44 magnum. Did it make me regret I hadn’t purchased a pistol/revolver in .44, so I could buy the last two boxes of pistol ammo? Nope, because I bought a crap load of 9mm, .45acp and .40 S&W while it was plentiful. It’s all about Supply and Demand. My supply of 9mm, .45acp and .40 will out last any demand I might have had for those last 2 boxes of .44.
        Now, of course if someone is late to the game and the choice is a niche gun in a non-common caliber like .50-110 Winchester, then by all means buy it!! It is most certainly better than a rock and baseball bat.
        Yes, we can agree to disagree and still be friends!!!

        Reply

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