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I have a nice garden path lined with beautiful, green Claymores that they can walk down. :)

Caltrops, nuff said

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In the US can you still buy those Propane Garden Weedkilling torches that the flames will reach two or three feet or more ?? Just Saying.
 
In the US can you still buy those Propane Garden Weedkilling torches that the flames will reach two or three feet or more ?? Just Saying.
You can buy a military style flamethrower that will hurl napalm over 70 feet.

Strangely enough, flamethrowers are not regulated as firearms.

You can even buy one off the Internet and have it shipped to you in California or New York City, and it's perfectly legal.

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They even have a stylish T-shirt to show your pride of ownership:
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You don't need a background check, paperwork, or a psych evaluation. You can even keep the flamethrower in your car while you're picking up your Haldol at the pharmacy.
 
GP,

It's the geek in me. I was even worse. Let's say you have 2 cities. City #1: 40 miles away, 1 million people, 25% will be a problem. City #2: 70 miles away, 2 million people, 33% (1/3rd) will be a problem. Let's say your area of protection is 1/2 mile across.

City #1: circumference is pi x diameter, or 3.14 x 80 miles (2x distance) = 251 miles. You're covering 1/2 mile of that, or 1/2 / 251 or 1/502 or 0.002 (0.2%) of it. If people uniformly spread out, you have 250k people (25% of 1 million). The number coming across your place is 0.2% of 250k, or 497 people. Now people won't spread evenly, they'll primarily move via major roads, then minor roads, then paths... A major road might face 10 times that number, dead-end knarly gravel roads might see 1/10th that.

City #2: Circumference is 3.14 x 140 miles = 440 miles. You have 0.5 / 440 = .11% to protect. 1/3rd of 2 million people is 667k. Or you will have about 760 people to deal with.

There is another factor. As these trouble makers / lead-eaters move outward, more of them will get taken out. But those number grow as more suburban people join the trouble-making gangs. Again, this varies greatly in different locations (hint: don't live near Chicago!). I think a 1-2% drop per mile is a reasonable guess. That drops as the group drops. So, for example you start with 100 thugs and a 2% decrease. 1 mile away you have 98 thugs. 2 miles away you have 96.04 (98 x 0.98). At 5 miles you have 92.2, 10 miles 83.4, 15 miles 75.4. 20 miles 68.1 thugs.

Using this decrease number, if I use 2% rolloff per mile, that 497 from city #1 drops to 221 thugs (good!). And the city #2 760 thugs drops to 185 thugs at a 2% drop, but city #2 would still be 376 thugs if you used a 1% per mile rolloff. And, bad news, somewhere like Chicago might be a 4% increase per mile given the crime rates there! Just guess at these numbers, it'll give you guidance.

A key takeaway is looking at how 'attractive' your property is to troublemakers. Location matters. Main roads suck for this. But 'appearance' also really matters. If they can't see it, they won't come for the most part. If you're the mansion on a hill visible for miles, oops! All of these are factors that you scale up or down for.

My head is spinning! LOL. Take my location...approximately 107 miles from the bad areas of Atlanta...on a dead end small road 2 turns off of a 2 lane road. Not visible from more than 1/8th of a mile from one direction only. Surrounded by forest, but in a small “neighborhood “ with lots of between 4-10 acres.
 
Nothing will change the mind of a group intent on evil doings, like being confronted by a flamethrower. LOL
I agree with you.

A maniac spraying flaming napalm all over the place with a flamethrower is profoundly terrifying.

Even more terrifying would be the sight of a shrieking, screaming man covered in burning napalm frantically running . . . which only makes it worse as the air fans the flame.

Anyone in the rioting hoard would be scared shitless.

I would be scared shitless.
 

I respectfully disagree with you.

A maniac spraying flaming napalm all over the place with a flamethrower is profoundly terrifying.

Even more terrifying would be the sight of a shrieking, screaming man covered in burning napalm frantically running . . . which only makes it worse as the air fans the flame.

Anyone in the rioting hoard would be scared shitless.

I would be scared shitless. --- CUT & PASTE Quote



Kevin, your post supports my post. I think what we have here is a failure to communicate. LOL Interesting, when I hit reply, your quote was different. See below


I agree with you.

A maniac spraying flaming napalm all over the place with a flamethrower is profoundly terrifying.

Even more terrifying would be the sight of a shrieking, screaming man covered in burning napalm frantically running . . . which only makes it worse as the air fans the flame.

Anyone in the rioting hoard would be scared shitless.

I would be scared shitless.
 
I think the correct amount of ammo that one should keep on hand depends on your needs. For a hunting round like; 30-30, 30-06 etc a few hundred rounds should last many years, if your a good shot. If you're worried about zombies then 10,000 rounds of 5.56 should do.
Since ovomit was such a fantastic gun and ammo salesman I have way more ammo than I'll ever need in several lifetimes. And that's not counting my reloading supplies. Which is why I'm selling most of my ammo, and possibly a few guns too.
I have no fairytale plans of being invaded and going to war. Or running around the woods playing GI Joe.
If I ever had to bug out on foot I'd probably only take a 22 rifle and pistol with a few hundred rounds. Everything else would be too heavy to carry.
I understand the desire to stockpile ammo when things are looking dark (pun intended), just be realistic and don't overdue it.
 
I respectfully disagree with you.

A maniac spraying flaming napalm all over the place with a flamethrower is profoundly terrifying.

Even more terrifying would be the sight of a shrieking, screaming man covered in burning napalm frantically running . . . which only makes it worse as the air fans the flame.

Anyone in the rioting hoard would be scared shitless.

I would be scared shitless. --- CUT & PASTE Quote



Kevin, your post supports my post. I think what we have here is a failure to communicate. LOL Interesting, when I hit reply, your quote was different. See below
I mistyped. I was multi-tasking and in a hurry.
 
I did a count today.
I dont have enough.

900 9mm
560 .22LR
250 12 gauge
I think your a little light on the .22LR. But 900 rounds of 9mm should be plenty unless you do a lot of plinking. 9mm isn't much good for hunting, in my opinion. For 12 gauge I probably have about 1,000 rounds, mostly 00 buckshot. Since I don't use the shotgun for hunting I'll probably sell most of that.
I'm sure that I'd have a different outlook on ammo quantities if I lived in a populated area. Or an area with a darker demographic.
 
I agree that you should get more .22 ammo.

I believe that a bolt-action .22 is probably better than a semiauto .22 for survival . . . although I have both kinds of guns.

I have a Ruger American .22 bolt action rifle, a Ruger 10/22, an AR-7, and a Marlin Model 60.

The bolt action will feed any kind of .22 ammo, while a semiauto may not cycle correctly with certian weights of bullets. Hollow points may not feed correctly in certian .22 semiautos.

My Ruger American bolt action rifle takes the same magazines as my take-down 10/22. I have a 4× 'scope on it, as well as a paracord rifle sling.

If I scrounge and/or trade for .22 ammo, any rounds that I come across will likely feed this thing.

A .22 is good because it's quieter than most other rounds, it's great for small game like rabbits, woodchucks, and squirrels, and it can be used for pest control if there's a rat problem or problematic stray cats.

If you are a really good shot, you can kill a deer with a .22 by "jacklighting" them at night. This means that deer will freeze when you shine a spotlight on them at night, and they can be killed with a head shot from a .22.

I don't favor this, as I don't like a wounded deer suffering for days or weeks on end from an infected gunshot wound, and dying of sepsis.

Any animal (even one destined to be food) deserves better than that.

But I would jacklight deer if there was an emergency, and I was hungry enough.
 
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Way I figure it, most of my hunting is going to be with a .22, I can drop game from squirrel to yearling (deer) buck if conditions are right. The report of the 22 is far less than standard hunting calibers especially in the valleys. Save the bigger calibers for when it's really needed.
 
Aaaaaaaannnndddddd dont forget those dreadful ultrasound devices many shops and malls put up outside to drive packs of under 21s away. they emit a sound that is inaudable to full grown adults but teens cannot stand the sound, using one of those is a great disuader for people approaching your property.
 
Decision time!!! I need a new shotgun for home defense and I want a new 22 lr. for more range time. Economics at the range. 22 Lr is reasonable. 12 ga. is very good for home defense but will see limited range time. I have other firearms for home defense, so not like I will be sitting unarmed. 9 mm, 556, 6.5 Creedmoor and 7.62 x.39. The 22 lr with scope, will run about $800. The shotgun and small amount of ammo will run about $600. Shotgun will spend most of it's time standing in a bedroom corner. 22 lr will be headed to the range just about every month. Which ever one I get, the other firearm will have to wait for about 6 months. So which way would you all go?
 
Decision time!!! I need a new shotgun for home defense and I want a new 22 lr. for more range time. Economics at the range. 22 Lr is reasonable. 12 ga. is very good for home defense but will see limited range time. I have other firearms for home defense, so not like I will be sitting unarmed. 9 mm, 556, 6.5 Creedmoor and 7.62 x.39. The 22 lr with scope, will run about $800. The shotgun and small amount of ammo will run about $600. Shotgun will spend most of it's time standing in a bedroom corner. 22 lr will be headed to the range just about every month. Which ever one I get, the other firearm will have to wait for about 6 months. So which way would you all go?
Go with a bolt action .22 rifle.

Can hunt small to medium game, can be used for pest control (ie: rats, which carry a large number of diseases and parasites), and you can carry 300 rounds with you without breaking a sweat.

A bolt action .22 is less picky about ammo than a semiauto. A lever action .22 meets this criteria as well, but I consider a lever action .22 to be fragile mechanically when compared to a bolt action (although I may be wrong here).
 
Go with a bolt action .22 rifle.

Can hunt small to medium game, can be used for pest control (ie: rats, which carry a large number of diseases and parasites), and you can carry 300 rounds with you without breaking a sweat.

A bolt action .22 is less picky about ammo than a semiauto. A lever action .22 meets this criteria as well, but I consider a lever action .22 to be fragile mechanically when compared to a bolt action (although I may be wrong here).

The 22 lr of choice would be a Ruger Precision Rimfire, I.E. Bolt action.The scope of choice is a SWFA fixed 20 power. This scope has enough internal adjustment to compensate for the 30 MOA rail, on the Ruger.
 
Go with a bolt action .22 rifle.

Can hunt small to medium game, can be used for pest control (ie: rats, which carry a large number of diseases and parasites), and you can carry 300 rounds with you without breaking a sweat.

A bolt action .22 is less picky about ammo than a semiauto. A lever action .22 meets this criteria as well, but I consider a lever action .22 to be fragile mechanically when compared to a bolt action (although I may be wrong here).

I like lever 22 like the Henry Golden Boy, it's very accurate
 
I have an American Arms .22 caliber P-98 (P-38 copy) pistol that has dispatched numerous Southwestern Rattlesnakes in my neck of the woods.
Too bad. I like rattlesnakes, and if it was up to me, I'd breed them in large numbers and let them go on my property.

I'm not saying this because I'm strange (although I am). Rattlesnakes don't carry disease,* while rats and mice carry lots and lots of diseases. Rats have killed--literally--millions of times more people than all venomous snakes combined. 25% of the world's entire grain supply is destroyed by rats.

Rats are actually rather intelligent, and they have finely honed survival instincts (which is why they're such tenacious pests).

Rats rapidly vacate an area when they figure out that there are predators around.

Having lots of rattlesnakes on the property would help protect my GF and I from some really nasty diseases . . . which is an important point when hospitals and advanced medical care may be unavailable.

If you wear snake chaps, stay aware of your environment, refrain from cornering and/or deliberately tormenting a venomous snake, and generally treating these animals with respect . . . then you're fine.

These are things that you should always do anyway.
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* Any reptile can carry and transmit Salmonella to humans if they are kept in nasty, unhygenic cages for long periods of time, but this doesn't take anything away from my main points given the context of my post.
 
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