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If planning to reload ammunition, one, or two powders seem more reasonable than a multitude of powders ... say one rifle and one handgun. How many pounds of each do you figure would be a good choice assuming a total collapse scenario ?
 
I like these questions because there is no right answer. The last couple years, which is all i've ever reloaded, i've bought powder as I could find it. If the world as we know it collapsed, the only shooting that will be going on is what is necessary. I like to have a couple thousand rounds of each caliber on hand, with enough powder and primers to reload another thousand or two.

This is my hobby and is fun for me. What is necessary and what I like to keep around and work with might be two entirely different things.

Good luck to you!
 
I usually keep 20 lbs or so of good old IMR 4831 on hand, with that I can load any of my medium bore rifles from 6mm to .338 WM.
The primers and bullets as well.
In truth I could probably shoot for the rest of my life and not need to load another round,,, I just love doing it to much to not do it.
Last night I threw together 20 rounds of .338 WM using 69.5 gr of 4831/250 cci mag primers, pushing nosler 250 gr partitions.
And if this damned rain would let up today I'd head up to the range in the backyard and see how they group. Should be great elk stoppers!
 
Realistically, storing powder for "the collapse" is a non starter, you need to have bullets, cases, and primers for the powder to be useful for anything other than making pipe bombs and IEDs. You're much better off storing ammo. If you want that to be reloaded ammo, that's fine, do your reloading now. When everything goes to hell, how are you going to have time to reload ammo?

Also, as much as everyone who has ever reloaded ammo has tried there's no "one powder" that will handle all your reloading needs. As a commercial manufacturer, I'm down to maybe a dozen go-to powders, despite having probably 5x that in variety at my disposal.
 
Realistically, storing powder for "the collapse" is a non starter, you need to have bullets, cases, and primers for the powder to be useful for anything other than making pipe bombs and IEDs. You're much better off storing ammo. If you want that to be reloaded ammo, that's fine, do your reloading now. When everything goes to hell, how are you going to have time to reload ammo?

.....

My thought is that one man operations are not long for the world, "When everything goes to hell". At that time one will need a tribe to gather with to continue to survive. Everyone in a tribe needs to be able to contribute to the survival of the tribe. Bringing reloading skills, tools, and product, as well as some firearms that shoot the stuff just might make me useful to the tribe. Useful enough to let me join, and useful enough to keep me around.
 
I won't go into how many rounds I have stored here on the inter web, let it suffice to say,, enough.
And for the rounds I reload, enough primers, brass, bullets and powder to be just fine thank you very much:D
 
My thought is that one man operations are not long for the world, "When everything goes to hell". At that time one will need a tribe to gather with to continue to survive. Everyone in a tribe needs to be able to contribute to the survival of the tribe. Bringing reloading skills, tools, and product, as well as some firearms that shoot the stuff just might make me useful to the tribe. Useful enough to let me join, and useful enough to keep me around.

Do you have a tribe now? If so why not? You can build value now. WEGTH you might end up dead and your stuff end up the property of someone else for your trouble.
 
I have a difficult time just acquiring enough powder, primers and projectiles to keep up with my "hobby" of shooting every weekend. The supply of ammo for a SHTF scenario is a completely different animal.
 
I prefer to keep loaded ammo in unopened sealed cases. So, altho I do some reloading (mostly pistol) most of the powder I have is black powder or pyrodex, to keep my buffalo guns and flintlocks fed.
With flinters, all I have to do is find black powder and some hard stone chips to send a projectile(s) on it's way.
 
I hear you on the unopened sealed cases.....
Once you break into one of them, the rest of the ammo seems to follow you out the door to the range and BANG! It's all gone again!!!

Reloading my pistol rounds has a few different benefits.
1) It slows down my consumption, because I'm concious of how long it takes to load it again.
2) It's sometimes cheaper than buying factory ammo to punch holes in targets or bang steel.
3) It provides me with ample bending exercise as I pick up brass like a little kid looking for hidden easter eggs.
 
Once you break into one of them, the rest of the ammo seems to follow you out the door to the range and BANG! It's all gone again!!!

Ain't that the truth! Just like breaking a $100 bill.

I really need to get into reloading, especially considering I now own a Desert Eagle. Local store wanted $55 for 50 rounds!
 
Ain't that the truth! Just like breaking a $100 bill.

I really need to get into reloading, especially considering I now own a Desert Eagle. Local store wanted $55 for 50 rounds!

I'll assume your DE is in .50 AE. $55 for 50 rounds seems pretty decent. The Desert Eagle cannot survive shooting lead bullets, and requires full house loads. I figure it will cost you(buying brass, bullets and primers) about $90 per hundred rounds. You save once you have a suppy of cases to reload. I do not know how many reloads the .50 AE woud get, but I figure I get 8 - 10 with .44 magnum before I dump them. You can get a new Lee Delux Turret kit for about $210 and .50 AE dies for about $35 .... $1 a round versus $.90 a round (less if you buy in bulk) is about a dime savings. It will take a couple thousand rounds to break even I'm thinking. You will shoot more, you will buy more ... we never have enough ... right ? It is a hobby, but I figure it really only saves me money if I shoot a lot, which is not a problem. Good luck.
 
Reloading .50AE is an absolute pain in the bubblegum, it's right up there with M1 carbine. Granted, I've loaded tens-of-thousands of rounds of M1C, but I now have so many rounds I never have to do it again. .50AE at $1/rd is a good enough price I would just buy it. The bullets are expensive, the case has a slight taper, requiring lubricants (even with carbide dies), and the worst part, it wants really exotic powders. H110, and IMR4227 are probably the best performers in that caliber, and from a metering and availability standpoint, they're also the worst powders. (H110 tends to clock powder dispensers) and IMR4227 can be hard to find, and is expensive. Personally, I would probably just buy as much of this ammo as you can get at that price.
 
Most of what I shoot is at paper so for that I usually buy what's available with best price, Sometimes that may be my preferred powder sometimes not so when not is the case I save a reasonable amount of my preferred for when it counts.
I try keep double of my yearly usage of components and powder on hand as a minimum. Most convenient is buying 8# jugs but wont pass up pounders if the price is right saving # can to refill for bench top handling. Over the years I have collected a reasonable amount of "Odd Ball" powders (from my perspective) so make it a point to burn up (load) any that may be unsealed. For SHTF scenarios powder may be looked @ as trade stock but personally, the likely hood of SHTF combined with lack of scrutiny from a controlling oppressor might make possessing and dealing in arms something you may want to keep under wraps making selling them difficult.
As an aside; When transferring powder from the 8# bulk to an older 1# can, I always record the batch and date info from the bulk and apply it to the small can. (later into my load data) Just because IMR 4350 from 1970 may nuance differently juxtaposed to 2017 IMR4350.
Yes, some do consider me anal, but I still have all my fingers.
 
I'll assume your DE is in .50 AE. $55 for 50 rounds seems pretty decent. The Desert Eagle cannot survive shooting lead bullets, and requires full house loads. I figure it will cost you(buying brass, bullets and primers) about $90 per hundred rounds. You save once you have a suppy of cases to reload. I do not know how many reloads the .50 AE woud get, but I figure I get 8 - 10 with .44 magnum before I dump them. You can get a new Lee Delux Turret kit for about $210 and .50 AE dies for about $35 .... $1 a round versus $.90 a round (less if you buy in bulk) is about a dime savings. It will take a couple thousand rounds to break even I'm thinking. You will shoot more, you will buy more ... we never have enough ... right ? It is a hobby, but I figure it really only saves me money if I shoot a lot, which is not a problem. Good luck.

It's actually .44 magnum, some places are just crazy with their prices! Because it's not .50 AE I don't consider it a 'true' Desert Eagle, but I got a good deal on it. After shooting it and talking with others who own them, I'm actually happy I have the .44 mag, but I plan on getting a .50 AE barrel for it soon. I have other guns in .44 mag which is why I think it might be smart to start reloading.

Reloading .50AE is an absolute pain in the bubblegum, it's right up there with M1 carbine. Granted, I've loaded tens-of-thousands of rounds of M1C, but I now have so many rounds I never have to do it again. .50AE at $1/rd is a good enough price I would just buy it. The bullets are expensive, the case has a slight taper, requiring lubricants (even with carbide dies), and the worst part, it wants really exotic powders. H110, and IMR4227 are probably the best performers in that caliber, and from a metering and availability standpoint, they're also the worst powders. (H110 tends to clock powder dispensers) and IMR4227 can be hard to find, and is expensive. Personally, I would probably just buy as much of this ammo as you can get at that price.

That's good to know about reloading .50 AE. If mine were chambered in that round I think I'd just buy it, especially considering what you said. I wouldn't shoot it enough to justify the cost of getting setup to reload it.
 

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