I have been collecting guns for years and frequenting yard sales and auctions for almost as long.  Throughout these years I have gathered various mixed boxes,full boxes,and loose rounds of calibers I don't shoot or sold the guns I owned for it.  Being that usually nobody wants to buy 4 rounds of this or that I have found myself with a pretty serious amount of "spare" ammunition.  I have basically just thrown it all into a tall 20mm ammo can for storage.  In the event of an event that stopped ammunition production or made it much harder or more expensive to get I think some of these loose and odd rounds might be great items to carry to a marketplace or swap meet for trade goods.  If the only rifle you have is the .303 brit your granddad left 10 rounds of it would be worth alot to you in the SHTF. I understand the potential problems with selling ammo in SHTF but if its carried away from the home and done in a barter type marketplace those are minimized.  What do you guys think??

Need a few old 16 gauge shells to shoot some squirrels?

Some belted 7.62mm??

Probably the only round of 6.5mm MS in Virginia??

Mad Max style paper 12 gauge??

Or just boxes and boxes of various ammunition and 1000's of rounds of mixed loose stuff?

And to be clear, I am also set as far as my and my families needs,and in a pinch could probably make a round to go bang for JUST ABOUT any gun you can think of.  Maybe not pretty,but certainly better than a sharp stick!!  Between casting,loading,and tools(and time) I believe given the empty parent case(and enough time) I could make a safe and functioning load for 95% of all rifles,pistols,and shotguns.

My beer math says you don't have enough powder to put in all your cases...I have that exact same problem

I can see the utility in having a box or two spare to trade if you're set yourself.  But, do you have what people would need in your area?  A bunch of .22 or 12 ga might demand a much higher premium that a .303 round or a 308 tracer in alphabet type scenario.

No I don't.

If I don't own a weapon in the caliber I don't buy the ammo.  If it is given to me for free, I find someone with that caliber and either give or sell it.  I see no utility to keeping ammo I will never use on hand.

make a ammo lamp

That's a lot of powder. I do keep one round of 40S&W and 5.45x39 for just in case.

its around a hundred pounds... not really that much considering he loads shotgun too.

I don't keep spare ammo.

I do keep empty brass in calibers that I don't shoot.  Those get traded to friends.

Oh yeah. You'd be surprised how many people turn dear old deceased dads ammo into LEAs for destruction.
Why yes ma'am, we can destroy that for you.
If its not one of my regular calibers it goes into a mixed caliber ammo can.
I keep a separate can for each caliber I regularly shoot; anything that's turned in or is a partial box left over from the range goes into those cans



32 S & W or 32 S & W Long.
Probably?
Or was it for an auto?
The 32 S & W calibers were popular guns back around the first decade of the last century, before the 38 became popular.
I just had a guy bring a 32 S & W revolver in not knowing what it was chambered in. Those old guns are still sitting in a few bedside drawers, I bet.

That's what I was thinking.  I have more Varget alone than he has total powder.

The only odd ball box of ammo I have is a 50 round box of 22Winchester.  I have no idea what to do with it, and I doubt I will ever find anyone locally who needs it.

Other then that I usually find someone who can use it or has something in whatever caliber.  

I sold my 22mag pistol, gave whatever ammo I had for that to my dad who has a rifle and pistol in 22mag.  I acquired a box of 38 special, knowing my dad has pistols in that caliber so I gave it to him.  He doesn't shoot much or stock much ammo so I know it will be stored in the gun cabinet with the matching caliber pistols and rifles.  Even a couple extra boxes of ammo come WROL SHTF could come in handy.  I feel its better prep with the proper gun at another site then in a random ammo can in my gear room.

A few boxes of ammo for guns that you no longer use, even half a box, that makes sense. Lose rounds in a bucket or ammo box? .. not so much. Ammo needs to be in good condition, shinny brass doesnt just look good, it feeds and extracts reliability.  Whatever ammo you keep, keep it properly stored if you expect it to be of value to anyome.
Those paper shells.. Mad Max had problems with some duds and thats actually VERY real. A good friend of mine had a shotgun his grandfather left him along with a pretty generous stash of old paper shells. They were in thier boxes, in a closet. Still it was clear that they had absorbed some humidity in there and while shooting it was common to get one or two duds per box of 25.
FerFAL

I used to til about 10 years ago, I was introduced to CraigsList and traded it all for ammo I needed.

Not a bad point.  I have often thought about going through it all and sorting calibers into ziploc bags,the entire can has mostly been a place to put stuff I dont want to fool with.  I believe Ill sort it my days off this week

As long as its not used for self defense scenarios and is being shot off at the range, I don't think there is an issue. The occasional dud will be a good excuse for a stoppage drill

I give it to friends who can use it.

To some extent I am probably owner of a box of one of each for a collection display box if I ever got around to putting it together.

I would not throw it out.

I have a few paper shell shells somewhere that belonged to grandpa.  They are in with grandpa's stuff.  They won't go anywhere.

NO

Im not going to help arm people I don't know/care if in a shtf swap meet.

If I know them, there would be no need for such a situation as I plan ahead

YEP

I have a SA 1260 308 Can  full of ziplock baggies and 20 rnd boxes with odd ball  stuff from 9x18 to a 8 round clip of 30-06 from an M1  to 10 or so rounds of 10mm ,,few boxes of 357.   etc etc most all givin to me

Truth is,

It might be the only thing you have that someone needs in a trade for something YOU NEED

And i would think ammo would have alot of "bargaining power" in a trade during a SHTF situation ..

I've got a fat 50 can about half full of randomness.  Some given to me, some for guns I've sold.  Etc.  I have a handful of the old paper 12g shells also.  I polished up the brass on them and use when I want to prop up a handgun for a picture.

I get rid of some when a friend buys a gun in that caliber.  The rest just sits.  Maybe I'll buy another gun in that caliber in the future?  Who knows.  

I don't like throwing away ammo.

I don't have a hodge-podge stash of calibers like the Op, but what I do have is a few hundred rounds of various 9mm HP's people left at the gun shop where I used to work. Customers would trade in or sell us a pistol, often leaving a small supply of ammo in the box or the magazines. We'd just toss it all on a shelf behind the counter. Every now and then, I'd go through and grab any 9mm and toss them into a box for a personal SHTF stash. I'd use any 9mm or .38 SPL ball ammo for target practice on our range.