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Old September 27, 2015, 10:50 AM   #1
CCWBeliever
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Building an Ammunition Stock

Hello all!

I'm relatively new to this forum and have found it to have a lot of great posts with a lot of years of wisdom.

I have just recently gotten into firearms and shooting. I hear from a lot of my friends things like "staying off the grid" and "government confiscation" topics. It seems lots of people are fearful that our government will at some point or under certain circumstances confiscate our firearms. I understand that during hurricane Katrina there were instances of this happening, etc... but this is not my question.

My question to pose to the group is this... Mail order ammunition seems readily available. So I have slowly been building my stock by purchasing a few boxes every other week or so. I'm not stockpiling or hoarding, but getting enough to practice at the range and have enough on hand to feel I can protect my home in a variety of scenarios.

Do you all think that purchasing ammo continuously will put you on anyone's radar? Or perhaps that one big bulk purchase is the way to go.

I realize that by just posting this question in a public forum may "put me on th radar", but it's a fairly benign topic, in my opinion. Brave enough to reply and put yourself on the radar?
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Old September 27, 2015, 11:00 AM   #2
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There is no 'radar', unless you're doing something other than merely buying ammo online, such as treatment for mental health or hanging around extremist groups or causes.

Go ahead and buy a case. Most folks here probably have what the media refers to as an 'arsenal' or 'lethal stockpile', anyway.
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Old September 27, 2015, 11:08 AM   #3
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What about listening to "prepper" podcasts? I've recently started listening to a few, as well as a few firearms-related podcasts... mainly because I'm interested. Some have some practical advise, others sound like "conspiricy theorist" podcasts and a little out there. I don't consider myself a "prepper", but being prepared to protect my family and myself seems like basic common sense. Does that put you on someone's list?
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Old September 27, 2015, 11:16 AM   #4
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If prepping is extreme then so is this forum.

We're supposed to be prepared for emergencies, ask FEMA. Don't be afraid of your government, it's not necessary.
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Old September 27, 2015, 11:26 AM   #5
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Affirmative. I agree with that. It's interesting how many people out there are afraid of the givernment, though. I don't see all the conspiricy stuff like they do and some of it just simply doesn't make sense. However, I feel totally at peace with preparing for emergencies. I just wish I had started sooner, when my children were younger. But there's no time like the present! Thanks for the feedback!
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Old September 27, 2015, 11:27 AM   #6
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It's the government.
How efficient they would be, even if gun confiscation were on the agenda?
Especially with all the tens of millions of gun owners to deal with.
Don't lose any sleep over it.
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Old September 27, 2015, 11:33 AM   #7
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Obey the laws, do what works for you and there really is no radar.

If you break the law, or end up in court, then things can be searched of course.
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Old September 27, 2015, 12:08 PM   #8
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there comes a point at which the "radar" just picks up so much stuff it becomes useless information. If anyone is worried about the things you describe they will almost certainly be in that situation as there are then hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people doing the same activities.

If you are buying a box of 9mm at walmart every week and paying cash, how will they track that easily?

There are people on this forum with components and loaded ammunition for tens of thousands of rounds. Competitive shooters can shoot 10,000 rounds in a year.

I was keeping 5,000 rounds of 22lr on hand. Once it is available again I will expand that to 10,000 rounds. Maybe eventually 20,000. I need about 3500 runds a year to keep my riflery sharp. This shortage has lasted close to three years. I want to have enough on hand to weather a similar shortage in the future.

In any of these crisis situations many of the law enforcement officers stop showing up to work. About 20% of NOPD "abandoned their post," mostly o take care of family. In a broader crisis the numbers would be much higher.
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Old September 27, 2015, 12:14 PM   #9
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CCWBeliever:

Quote:
givernment
How ironic.





(Mods, I couln't resist - please delete if this violates a rule.)
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Old September 27, 2015, 12:33 PM   #10
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I bet you all work for the government.

;-)

(Kidding....I'm just kidding!)
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Old September 27, 2015, 12:59 PM   #11
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If you're going to buy online, I would buy ammo in bulk when it's cheap and you find a good deal. You can usually save on shipping by making large buys instead of just a few boxes at a time.

Just spitballing here, but a few large ammo purchases a year, would seem to be less interesting to the mail carrier than having him/her notice that it seems like you're always getting boxes marked with:

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Old September 27, 2015, 01:04 PM   #12
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I guarantee that almost every member of this forum would hand over their guns if they were somehow banned and it was the law to turn them in.

Doesn't matter the size of the collection of guns and ammo.

Anyone that holds out, would have a useless stock pile, because it would all have to be deeply hidden; they could never use these items. Most weapons would be disassembled and squirreled away if a person chooses not to comply.

All of us here are law abiding citizens so we would follow whatever laws are passed.

Most of us have been through a couple of panic buying events and do not wish to go two years before they have ammo to recreational shoot again.... That's why most people have large stockpiles now. Not for potential bans, but for panic induced shortages.
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Old September 27, 2015, 01:07 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lefteye
How ironic.
More like apropos. If the shoe fits…


The main "radars" are called Google and Microsoft. The tracking databases are huge, but not impersonal, as they can identify you. The new Windows 10 OS tracks more personal information than ever. Indeed, I heard a woman interviewed on National Public Radio (not exactly a bastion of anti-government sentiment) the other day who had worked on the pattern recognition algorithms, pointing out Big Data is now processed by them looking for patterns without regard to the ethics or implications of finding them. She said the algorithms can tell if a woman is pregnant by the fact pregnant women buy a few combinations of things that few others do (Target stores were already using this in 2013, according to this article). She said they can tell how intelligent you are by such obscure pattern elements as whether or not you "liked" curly fries on Facebook. These are patterns the algorithms identify and associate, not cause-and-effect parameters. She said they can easily tell who is straight or gay by their surfing and buying patterns, and pointed out that if a list of gay people were published in some African countries, where the penalty for being gay is death, that you could kill tens of thousands of people by publishing a list of their names and addresses. This is part of why mathematicians and others working on these algorithms do so in relative obscurity. She likened the work to the Manhattan project. You might not be able to target the attack as narrowly as Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but you could actually kill as many people with the right data set, albeit indirectly.

So, yes, Big Data is something to be concerned about without having to embrace a paranoid conspiracy theorist's mind set. The information is published by reputable sources, and widely available. We just mainly ignore it for the conveniences of the cyber age. And no, you can't shop on line and call yourself "off grid", other than in the electrical power grid sense (meaning you have enough alternative energy sources installed to let you live independently powered). That's just how it is.

Now if you want to wax paranoid, you have to envision something I think is too impractical to conduct at this point, like a broad nationwide gun confiscation. There are just too many enthusiastic gun owners now who will keep some, if not all, tucked away. The other factor is that the fundamental mechanisms of most handguns are now over a century old, and over 50 years old for most rifles. Technologically, the genie is out of the bottle. I read recently that in the state of California, which is a no-purchase zone for ersatz assault weapons, that police confiscated a number of AR's (LA, IIRC) whose receivers did not have and never did have serial numbers. Somebody's CNC five-axis machining center is whittling them out of solid metal stock after hours and on the QT. More restrictions will engender more such uncontrolled sources.
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Old September 27, 2015, 02:00 PM   #14
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"If you are buying a box of 9mm at walmart every week and paying cash, how will they track that easily?"

Simple, combine facial recognition software and a driver's license photo database, you are traceable to that purchase event. Link that to a GPS ping of your cell phone from any three towers, and you are trackable in both time and space.

There, that ought to get the conspiracists blood pressure up.
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Old September 27, 2015, 02:05 PM   #15
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As much as politicians might want to toughen gun laws, the government agencies have no interest in doing anything but stopping crime.

If you are not doing anything illegal they don't care. The government is well aware of your rights.

Too many crazy conspiracy theorists out there.
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Old September 27, 2015, 02:59 PM   #16
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CCWBeliever-One of the reasons I continue to frequent this site is that they do NOT suffer the paranoid/tin foil hat/conspiracy whack jobs…especially on the Eve Of The Apocalypse with the Fourth Blood Moon in the offing.
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Old September 27, 2015, 03:11 PM   #17
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WOW!!! That is a lot of paranoia I've missed (fortunately).
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Old September 27, 2015, 03:56 PM   #18
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Don't be afraid of your government, it's not necessary.
I must be paying too much attention.
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Old September 27, 2015, 06:44 PM   #19
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Most of my ammunition accumulation is 22LR and the vast majority of that is the common promotional grade high speed 40 gr solids. I have purchased very little on line other than centerfire and a bricks (500 rounds) of 22LR target grade ammo. I buy 22 target ammo in Nashville when I pass through also. However, I started out buying by the case at first to give myself a push and the prices paid were crazy cheap relative to today's prices.

I decided that I would never be caught without during an ammo shortage again. This mostly started in the early 2000's after the previous ammo shortage which seems like ancient history now. The Obama shortage which is still ongoing with 22LR didn't impact me a bit.

The trick is to buy continuously at a rate that exceeds your usage. Once you reach your comfort level with a caliber, slow it down to about average usage levels.

I was a very regular 22LR purchaser at Walmart for years and usually purchased some every week. Now... well, I never see any there anymore except for centerfire. I pay attention to the cost of that stuff as you can spend $100's monthly and not even realize it. Yes, I look for favorable pricing unless I'm "out" of a particular caliber which doesn't happen so much any more.
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Old September 27, 2015, 08:07 PM   #20
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I wish I could stock pile ammo. I envy you with the deep pockets.
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Old September 27, 2015, 08:46 PM   #21
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Since you are on this forum, you are cataloged by the great Evil. So too late to worry about ammo purchases. That make you paranoid?

If I go to the NY Times website (gun haters) - ads for 9mm and tactical training appear next to the antigun op-eds.

Buy where you can at the best price and take part in appropriate electoral fun and games. That will do more good then hiding a stash of 223 in your underpants drawer.
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Old September 27, 2015, 09:30 PM   #22
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WV_gunner I don't have very deep pockets, but I buy a couple of boxes when I can.

I learned not get caught with my pants down after two panic sessions.

I always bought what I planned to shoot, plus keep a box of hunting bullets around.
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Old September 28, 2015, 12:26 AM   #23
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I guarantee that almost every member of this forum would hand over their guns if they were somehow banned and it was the law to turn them in.

Doesn't matter the size of the collection of guns and ammo.

Anyone that holds out, would have a useless stock pile, because it would all have to be deeply hidden; they could never use these items. Most weapons would be disassembled and squirreled away if a person chooses not to comply.

All of us here are law abiding citizens so we would follow whatever laws are passed.

Most of us have been through a couple of panic buying events and do not wish to go two years before they have ammo to recreational shoot again.... That's why most people have large stockpiles now. Not for potential bans, but for panic induced shortages.
Well said--all of it.
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Old September 28, 2015, 10:11 AM   #24
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You can do more in the fight to maintain our rights by using the cash that you'd use to purchase a pack of 100 rounds of 5.56mm on stripper clips at Bass Pro and sending it to the NRA-ILA or SAF instead.
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Old September 28, 2015, 11:36 AM   #25
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5 million members, price of one box each, $100 million deep pocket to use against Bloomberg and the rest of them. I don't think the NRA has ever had that kind of wallet, they're pretty effective with the bucks they have, it would be worth it to see what could happen.
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