# prepping numbers



## crikey (Apr 3, 2009)

When your prepping..how much is enough or even too much. IS 25000 rounds of ammo enough? I guess it depends on how much firing your going to be doing. IF SHTF in a BIG way, 25000 rounds may have to last you 10 years of fighting, or even a lifetime. What about food and gas. Most of us would figure a years supply of food would be enough but what if your stuck somewhere LONGGGGGGG term and there's no grocery store around? Do you plant food and even then, crops do fail. What about water? What IF there is a SHTF and the ground water gets contaminated for some reason? How much water is enough?

Curious as to people opinions on this. How much of the following would be considered enough to get by on. Also include how many people your stocking for so I have a guide line to guide me.

Food-
weapons-
ammo per weapon-
spices-
gas-
water-
personal hygiene items-
disposable items such as soap, laundry detergent, toilet paper-
batteries-
tools-
seed- 
animals- (IE; chickens, goats, etc...)
maintenance supplies- 
anything else you can think of.


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## NaeKid (Oct 17, 2008)

Anything that is renewable - stock up 1 year worth of.

Anything that is non-renewable (consumable) - stock up 3 years of

Anything that is tradable - get a warehouse and fill it up.


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## HozayBuck (Jan 27, 2010)

*What NK said*

Make a list of anything you can think of... then separate it into two lists.. NEED and WANT
Start filling the need list right now.. the want list can be worked on when the extra $$ is available

You know you "need" food, clothing, foot wear, shelter , security and any meds you can stock pile ..

What's enough? only you can figure that, but my thoughts are that if the shtf it will be long after my life time before things get sorted out...

Just a point of interest... Who do you know personally who can weave cloth? build a shoe or boot from scratch? these are things that can be found right now in goodwill stores..cheap!.. so what if they are used? a serviceable pair of blue jeans for a buck or two? coats or sweaters? same thing..

Start there and work out... guys as a rule want to play with guns and ammo..but there is such a thing as too much or overboard... but is there too many needles? or thread? wheat? beans?

Start today living as much of the prep life as you can


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## lotsoflead (Jul 25, 2010)

I don't how long 25000 rounds of ammo would last, but i'm sure it got you on the people of interest list by agencys monitoring these boards. everyone has to do what makes them feel comfortable,A total of 25000 pounds of preps, rice,beans,wheat, ect. would make me feel comfortable even if the S never HTF.


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## The_Blob (Dec 24, 2008)

NOT bashing the OP at all, but if you think you need that much ammo, you MIGHT want to invest in a reloading outfit (AND move out of whatever DMZ you're currently inhabiting)... 

you can NEVER have too many blankets, there's just SO much you can do with them


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## Woody (Nov 11, 2008)

I was going to mention reloading too. I have some ammo but invested more in food, clothing and shelter. Food also being canning supplies and garden supplies that do not require gasoline.

My personal preps are aiming for one year with no outside help and no need to leave the homestead for anything. After that, for any situation I can envision, there would be a limited supply chain where some supplies could be acquired. Granted I might have to trade with the zombies but I do feel there will be some kind of trade.


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## The_Blob (Dec 24, 2008)

Woody said:


> Granted I might have to trade with the zombies but I do feel there will be some kind of trade.


*BRAAAIIINNZZZ!* :lolsmash:


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## crikey (Apr 3, 2009)

for the record....I NEVER said I have that much ammo. I have like a box of 12 gauge shells for quail hunting and maybe, maybe 100 rounds of 22 for plinking. I am just trying to get an idea of how much is enough.


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## gypsysue (Mar 27, 2010)

crikey said:


> for the record....I NEVER said I have that much ammo. I have like a box of 12 gauge shells for quail hunting and maybe, maybe 100 rounds of 22 for plinking. I am just trying to get an idea of how much is enough.


Gee, and you were my new hero! Now you burst my bubble! 

We'd love to have that much ammo!  (this is where I'd put a smiley icon greedily rubbing it's hands together!)

As long as time marches on and we're still able to buy it, keep adding ammo even if it's only a box of shells a year instead of a box a week (or a case...lol!)


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## SurviveNthrive (May 20, 2010)

Let's see, assuming someone has been prepping for years, and is armed with AK ammunition using firearms and has several people, 25,000 rounds isn't a significant number if there are several shooters in the group.

Not all that long ago a brick of 500 rounds, or spam can of 500 rounds didn't cost all that much, maybe $49 fifteen years ago, $69 not that long ago, and about $129 now. A person with common sense and means stockpiled back when the ammunition was cheap, figuring correctly that it'd never get cheaper. Ammunition doesn't get bad, it retains value, and it's insurance. 

You'd figure that such a person also has a lot of other stockpiled things...but the fact is, someone who put money into buying 25,000 rounds in the past out performed the stock market, silver, and real estate. If I'd put money into buying AK ammo spam cans instead of putting it in my investment plan, I'd be much closer now. I'd picked up a few bricks of Wolf .223/5.56 mm and some 9 mm back during the hayday and sold them for three times what I paid once I decided I didn't like Wolf for fine firearms.

The freeze dried and dehydrated food in #10 cans I bought are nearly worthless. Yeah, they're good for decades, but they mean nothing except to a small percentage of people.

But there is something else to consider...

If the SHTF to the point the Rule of Law folds, a group with 25,000 rounds and resolve is going to take a whole lot of food, generators, bottled water, and medical supplies from others.


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## PopPop (Sep 14, 2010)

Here is one way to look at this; Make a list of what you used and or bought in the last month. Now subtract luxury items. Now you have an idea of what you need for a month. Now figure out how you would have done without most of that and you will have an idea of what we all face. Of course now you have to factor in a longer duration or even a lifetime. Oh and the ammo thing, if you need 25k rounds you will most likelybe KIA before you run out of bullets. Do all the prepping that you can but if tou are unable to function as a 1800s era homestead, its gonna be tough!


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## horseman09 (Mar 2, 2010)

PopPop said:


> Here is one way to look at this; Make a list of what you used and or bought in the last month. Now subtract luxury items. Now you have an idea of what you need for a month. Now figure out how you would have done without most of that and you will have an idea of what we all face. Of course now you have to factor in a longer duration or even a lifetime. Oh and the ammo thing, if you need 25k rounds you will most likelybe KIA before you run out of bullets. Do all the prepping that you can but if tou are unable to function as a 1800s era homestead, its gonna be tough!


PopPop, that sounds like a pretty good approach, however, regarding the ammo; IMHO, ammo's value wouldn't necessarily be exclusively in personal use. I'd guess it would be more precious than gold for bartering.


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## gypsysue (Mar 27, 2010)

And you have no idea how many years you might have to hunt game, or how many people you might have to feed. 

If you can afford it, keep buying ammo, but not ahead of more important preps.


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## gypsysue (Mar 27, 2010)

SurviveNthrive said:


> If the SHTF to the point the Rule of Law folds, a group with 25,000 rounds and resolve is going to take a whole lot of food, generators, bottled water, and medical supplies from others.


I hope that if a group had the foresight to put back that much ammo, that they have a large supply of other necessities and don't have to take from others. Hopefully they've thought about ways to generate future supplies as they start to run out of stocks, such as farming, before just taking it by force.

That could depend, too, how long it takes to get to that point. No one else might have much left to take either.


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## PopPop (Sep 14, 2010)

Do not misunderstand, I agree that ammo is a staple item for prepping, however it is often purchased at the exspense of other needed items and we have to be realistic about hunting for subsistance. Also many beginning preppers think they will possibly shoot their way out of most situations.


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## SurviveNthrive (May 20, 2010)

I always wonder why it's an either/or situation.

Get ammo.
Get food.
Get medical supplies.
Get illumination.
Get water purification.

There's no end to this.


But the horrific truth is I live in an area with literally tens of thousands of combat veterans. Not bogus REMF's, but combat arms Army and Marines, and a lot of specialty Airforce and Navy types. I don't think we've seen this level of combat experience since maybe Korea or World War II. This isn't like the one year, one time rotation of many in Vietnam, this is multiple long tour guys with heavy combat, tapering to the diminished stuff in Iraq, but with the pick up in Afghanistan intensity. 

I'm a former cold warrior, combat arms leader, green tabber. My training is so obsolete and their techniques and training now are so sophisticated that it'd be like pitting Colonial era infantry against late World War II Marines. If you think your old military experience matters, well, it might, except against the methods they use now.


Now imagine such groups forming in their home areas following discharge, where they know the terrain, know the people and they've family ties.

If the Rule of Law ends and all these folks found themselves scrambling to survive to take care of themselves and their families, they would hit hard, heavy, and quick, expending a lot of ammunition and neutralizing resistance and they'd become dominant.

It all depends upon the scenario. A slow, gradual, but more or less orderly decline would make ammunition still valuable, but a trade commodity. A rapid deterioration and vicious scramble for resources makes ammunition and firearms more important.

So, there might be scenarios where it's about food and firearms might be no more relevant then than they are now, or it might be a firearms heavy situation.

Have everything.


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## HozayBuck (Jan 27, 2010)

*A point of fact...IMHO*

I'm the worlds most paranoid person.. and I have reason to believe Klingon's are listening to our thoughts as we speak.. I think Cats are Klingon spy's ..

There now to get to the real post...

When you worry about Big Brother reading your posts in sites like this, your right of course , they do... and BB is listening to your cell phone conversations too.. yes they are..

They also know the name and address of every member of the NRA, present and former as well as most any and everything you can think of... this whole Big Brother thing didn't start with the Patriot act...oh no, it was there long ago... If you've ever bought a gun thru a dealer you on a list regardless of what "they" say... the only thing you can believe about the Government is if their lips are moving they are lying!

Now why give them the power to keep you from speaking freely? they already know more about you then your Mommy does..

Ammo?? when it was a fact that Hillery or Obama was going to be the nest President I went out right then and ordered a lot of ammo... 22 LR alone 50 K... and the rest? hell I've forgotten ... the 22's I got in a lump buy so I remember that... am I worried about them? not at all because I decided long ago that I will not allow them to mess with my life and force me to sneak around looking at the shadows..( I do enough of that as it is ) if I want to buy a gun I do it...screw em!... am I brave? nope foolish? maybe.. but when I wake up alive I breath free fresh air, untainted by the fear of TJBT's..

Of course I'm an old fart with nobody counting on me like a lot of you... but someplace we all have to draw the line and say NO MORE!... if your scared of saying you stockpile ammo are you any better off then a Jew in Nazi Germany?

I love to talk on my cell phone and use words like dope , drugs, guns .machine guns... they are just words and I do have free speech...and I like the idea I'm tying up a part of the big brother spy network 

If some lying pinko commie SOB like Obama has the right to free speech so do I???:2thumb::beercheer:...

IF you don't have any ammo get it now! same for guns... why? because in a short while I think the Dimo's are gonna get their asses handed to them... and if so I think in the time between the election and the actual changing of the guard there will be some real chit laws passed while they have the chance...

Right now guns like AR-15's are as cheap as you will find them... I saw a like new DPMS ar with mags and some ammo listed for 700.00 last week...folks are hurting and are selling whatever to get money to cover their bills...

Don't be caught short...ammo is much cheaper right now then it's been in years... but one word from the Dimo's about passing laws and it will sky rocket...I've seen it too many times to believe otherwise ...

It's a hard choice in these times but get what you can while you can... times running out...

And remember..." We have nothing to fear but fear it's self"...


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## gypsysue (Mar 27, 2010)

HozayBuck said:


> I love to talk on my cell phone and use words like dope , drugs, guns .machine guns... they are just words and I do have free speech...and I like the idea I'm tying up a part of the big brother spy network
> ...


:lolsmash: I love it! :2thumb:


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## ditzyjan56 (Oct 3, 2009)

*What a "loaded" question*

There are so many lists that give you a general idea about what to buy but I started with buying 2 of everything I normally buy. I live on the same property with my son, his wife and 4 daughters 13,5,3,1 and my daughter lives down the road 5 miles with her sons 6,18 mo old and a new baby girl. So I am prepping for all of us. When we get together for a family meal, I have learned how much it takes to feed all of us at one time. I have taken those recipes and doubled them and started that way in the beginning. I made a 2 week list of meals and started buying what i would need. Then I started adding grains like rice and wheat. 
I was lucky that my late husband was what some folks might call paranoid and kept "plenty" of weapons and ammo around, so I'm not so worried about that. 
Start out with a list of the essentials, but only you can determine what is essential to you. 
I visit thrift shops and we have a few churches that give away clothing 2 x a month. I go and get clothes for the grandchildren , they grow so fast it would be hard to buy new of everything. So I go there and get sizes for the future. 
The biggest thing is just getting started and learn as much as you can.


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