loading job from hell!

[Lloyd Smale]

With all the scare about ammo i got it in my mind to stock up on 223s. Ive got about 4k loaded allready and figured that may not be enough. So i started ordering brass and bullets. I found 4000  ball bullets and about 2000 soft points so i started ordering once fired brass. Over the last two days ive sat in the living room with a lee hand press and decapped 3000 rounds of brass and then ran them through a small base sizing die. I like to decap seperately with a decapping die as it allways breaks normal decapping pins punching out crimped primers. Well i finished up yesterday morning. Just waiting now for my buddy to get my primer pocket swadger back to me. Then the mail man came knocking on the door and what does he have but another 1000 rounds of brass. I dont even remember buying this. I wanted to stick it in the garbage and pretend it didnt even come. I know one thing. I will have a 1050 set up in .223 when i next have gun money to spend!!

[cwlongshot]

The last time I did what your thinking was 1999.. you know just before the big scare, that never happened....

 Well I bought a Marlin camp Carbine in 45 to go with my mini 14 and 1911's along with a Dillon 550, as many 45 and 223 supplies as I could and began loading. I was busy busy!! Took me the better part of two months but I got a bunch loaded. I STILL have 2 1/2, 50 cal cans of 45's loose loaded and 5, 30cal cans full of 223 loose loaded inside... I sincerely hope neither of us "needs" the stock pile. 

 Personally I am currently more worried about the lack of availability of components myself...

CW

[Badnews Bob]

I've wanted to do this with .308 but I can't get componets.

[drdougrx]

Man do I hate case prep......but...my shop has all kinds of 223/5.56 at about $45 or $50 per hundred.  I think I have about 500 rounds of brass ready to load and 500 win sp's.  Also, about 700 rounds loaded....i'M ok for a while I suspect.

[BBF]

Are you sure you don't need more ??

Seriously, I doubt you will get the chance to even use a very small fraction of that stuff if push comes to shove.

[Ladobe]

Know exactly where you're coming from Lloyd.   Been there, done that many times.

[Lloyd Smale]

,probably not but im not betting my family on it. Also a guy should keep in mind that most survivalist will tell you that next to water ammo with be the most important comodity and loaded ammo is like money in the bank if God forbid something did happen. To me people that blow  it off are the crazy people not the people who prepare. My wife is even one of them. She laughs at me with my ammo hord and the fact that i have dry food and water stored but I allways tell here that if shtf the dog and i will eat well and she can go find her own!! It doesnt take much to cause problems anymore. Just being out of power for a couple weeks because of a storm can really cause problems. Modern people canont exist without electicity. 99 percent of us are not capable of living off the land anymore
    Another reason i stock pile ammo is i shoot ALOT probably as much or more then anyone here. I have 6 ars and a mini 14 and a couple bolt guns in 223 and it shoot them all alot. It doesnt take long to go through 10k of .223 out of an ar. For example i know i shoot more then that out of my 1911s in one year.
   Then we come to availablity. Some people call in bs but just try to find loading components right now. I had to do some serious searching to find ball .22 bullets and like was posted earlier just go try to find some ball .308 projectiles right now and if you find some at a reasonalble price PLEASE tell me where as ive found exactly zero so far. I cringe at having to load noslers or sieras in 308s just to blast out of a black gun. The handguns and lever guns are no problem. I can cast for them and powder and primers are still cheap enough to make shooting economical fun and even loading them is a simple job with a handpress if needed. But if i had a 100k of 223 and found a deal on some bullets or brass i couldnt pass it up and the same goes for 308 stuff.

Are you sure you don't need more ??

Seriously, I doubt you will get the chance to even use a very small fraction of that stuff if push comes to shove.

[BBF]

 
and I thought you stock up on all that stuff just in case.

 Now you write you use a lot of it anyway. so it is not being kept for the "chit" hitting the fan scenario. Question, do you use up the drinking water and food you got stashed away as well? Could be a good idea if you replenish it for new stuff, it does get a bit expensive after a while.

As you wrote, 99% of folks don't survive without electric power for very long. If we loose it here, doesn't matter what time of the year, two days at most and I am "outta" this place. When I lived on the West Coast I could retrat to my boat and do ok for a much longer time because the water didn't freeze up. No such luck where I am now.

[Steve P]

I feel for you Lloyd.  Hope you didn't have to sort that brass by headstamp also. 

A couple of years ago when they were talking high prices on pistol ammo and bullets etc, I purchased several 1000 38s and several 1000 357 brass.  For about 4 months, all I did was load up 38s and 357.  125 grain loads, 158s, 170s, and 200s.  I have several ammo cans full of them.  I have several ammo cans with vacuum bags of 50s each.  Even have a couple of ammo cans full of 9mm.   .22Lr I purchased by the case and have 20-30k rounds of those.   I have about 1500 .223s so have not loaded up any of them.  I probably should tho........

Steve