Zombies & Shit

Ammunition

When it comes to a storing ammunition, the "consensus" is a person should stock a minimum of one thousand cartridges per weapon. While we approve of the concept, one should note folks on Ye Olde Interwebs love to toss about "facts" without properly illustrating the weight and volume of the object(s) involved. Yes, in some examples, the mass of the cartridges are insignificant - such as .22 Long Rifle. Other times... not so much. Take 12 Gauge Slugs for instance. A thousand will consume the top of a large bookshelf, and should weigh in the neighborhood of one hundred and forty pounds. This is of course speaks nothing of the money involved, or how some poor sap is going to store his anti-zombie stash once he lugs it home.

Cost

Let's look at the cost ammunition - we'll pretend a fellow owns a .38 Special revolver, a .223 AR pattern rifle, a small .22 plinker, and some flavor of .9mm automatic pistol. He's bargain shopping, and bulk buying standard FMJ cartridges. Nothing spectacular, no Gold Dot or Critical Defense, no Ballistic Tips or Bonded Cores - so long as a round reliably goes "bang" when the trigger is pulled - and puts a hole in the general area being targeted - that's "good enough."

• .9mm Luger - $280.00
• .22 Long Rifle - $60.00
• .223 Remington - $540.00
• .38 Special - $360.00
Total Cost: $1,240.00

To some people, this is a trivial amount of money - however, those with families - or on a tight budget, will need some careful planning and saving - not to mention bargain hunting. Shouting "Go buy one-thousand rounds!" on a web-forum is divorced from the reality of how much fiat is involved - this is something that will need to be slowly budgeted for, or done piecemeal at a substantially higher cost. We'll also note that the above "selection" is heavily weighted towards the "cheap" end of the spectrum. If the list substituted a proper "hunting rifle" for the AR, and a .357 or .44 magnum instead of the .38 revolver, one would easily see the total cost nearly triple.

Weight

Another oft overlooked factor is the weight involved with storing bulk ammunition. Even for a light load - such as Mr. Hypothetical's dump - a person will be looking at well over one hundred pounds. Sheet-rock mounted or knock-down shelving is clearly not up to the task.

• .9mm Luger - 35 lbs
• .22 Long Rifle - 8 lbs
• .223 Remington 43 lbs
• .38 Special - 51 lbs
Total Weight: 135 lbs

We'll return to the first paragraph, and remind the casual reader that swapping the .22 Long Rifle for 12 gauge shot shells will outright double the weight. Without some real forethought, an expensive investment may end up crashing to the ground spectacularly. Trust us, it's only fun reading about catastrophes - dealing with them on a first person basis leaves much to be desired.

Proper Storage

So, now that our responsible person Zombie-Hunter has budgeted for, purchased, accounted for weight, and returned to his dwelling, (haul in hand), it's time to think long term storage. As we've mention previously, piling the ammunition in on a Wally World shelving unit will quickly teach a lesson in physics not soon forgotten, so we'll make an alternate suggestion...

Priority One: The cartridges need to be kept off the ground. The floor gets wet, be it mopping, a leaky pipe, children flushing a Smurf down the toilet, or the fact that dear old mother nature has decided to redirect the Missouri River through your basement. Needless to say, the ground is a horrid place to store ammunition long term... or short term... or any term. Bulk cartridges must be up, and they need to be protected from all things wet.

We recommend looking at Gorilla shelving, (or something similar) to meet the requirement of "off the damn floor." Quality steel shelves can safely tolerate loads well over one hundred pounds, and are modular enough they will fit most closets, basements and nooks.

For long term humidity control, nothing beats military surplus ammunition canisters - providing the gaskets are intact. Durable and water-tight, one's "cartridge collection" will out-live them sealed in these puppies. For some added insurance, a few desiccant packets tossed in the container can't hurt.

There is one downside to this approach - it might be rather... "difficult" to maintain that whole "grey-man" facade when the neighbors drop in for Pinochle, and stumble upon enough ammunition to liberate Chechnya. (In easily identifiable military grade canisters no less). For this reason, we suggest using medium sized Rubbermaid storage totes to stack your ammo tins inside of. Use a permanent marker to add useful labels, such as "Children's Clothes, 10mo - 3yr," "Christmas Lights" or "Old Easter Decorations." Don't forget one of our personal favorites, "Holiday Dish Towels."

These are just a few logistical considerations that usually find themselves "omitted" when new folks find themselves issued instructions to go forth and collect their ammunition surplus.

Table of Contents:

.223 Remington:
• 200x Ultramax 55gr JSP
• 250x Ultramax 55gr FMJ
• 80x Remington 60gr JHP
• 470x TulAmmo 55gr FMJ 		.38 Special
• 200x Winchester 130gr FMJ
• 700x Federal 158gr LRN
• 50x Hornady +P 110gr FTX
• 50x Hand-loaded 200gr LRN 		.9mm Luger
• 850x Federal 115gr FMJ
• 150 PPU 115gr JHP

.22 Longrifle
• 1000x Federal 36gr PL

Ammunition For Scale:

Ammunition

Higher Angle:

Ammunition