I have a 1000rds per weapon plus extra. I have the majority of it buried at the cabin in PVC. I keep at home the extra for the bug-out.

I have extra for barter.
If Shft ever happens rounds will be gold.

And they could very well be turned against you to get the rest of them.

"So how much ammo should you stock form home defense? Hard to say but the amount chosen for each weapon you have should give you comfort."

Dang I need to bury a few container loads then. Seriously though, I prefer the rabbit philosophy.

Has anyone considered muzzle loaders for hunting?

The reason I ask is because while you have to keep caps and powder, you can mold your own bullets if worse came to worse. There are some fancy bullets available for them, but I have to admit every once in a while I get the urge to mold my own just to see how hard it would be.

But storing a bunch of caps, powder, and lead has an attraction because if things really went south and you were faced with a long term situation you could keep molding bullets as long as there was lead around.

Seems like there is also a decent argument for a quality airgun. The hunting pellets for it are very low cost. Plus you don't have the noise you'd have even with a .22. Being able to "quietly" take some small game would have it's advantages.

Max

Max, look for my posts in the firearm section on both airguns and muzzleloaders. I hunt Deer/Elk with a .50 cal and starting this year squirrels with a .32 kit I built. I cast my own Minnie Balls and Midsouth Shooters supply makes a kit so you can make your own #11 caps out of aluminum cans and kids roll caps.

If going muzzle loader why not go flintlock? No worry about caps and bang smoke is not that hard to make. Have one for the challenge when I hunt now.

I opted not do go flintlock simply because I was looking at a dual purpose muzzleloader. I wanted one I could hunt with now when times are good and it's fun, but I also wanted one as a backup when TSHTF. That said right now for recreational hunting who cares if it doesn't go bang reliably but when things go to hell and I'm hunting because I have to put food on the table or starve I want to minimize the chances of a misfire as much as possible. My hunting lineup is airgun for small game, 60# compound bow for big game then the cartridge guns and muzzleloaders bringing up the tail. When things go bad the report of a firearm whether it's centerfire or muzzleloader is going to bring people like ants to honey when they're hungry and I'd rather like to avoid that.

Bow check
Centerfire check
Shotgun check
Cap lock check
Flintlock check
Traps check
Snares check

Dang I didn't even think about air guns for squirrels and such. I do have sling shots for up close quiet work.

Para, I have 3 different airguns
1) Gamo Hunter 220, .177, 1000fps, spring, barrel cocker, loves Predator ballistic tips. Tears the head right off a squirrel to 40 yds and shoots dime sized groups.
2) Webley Tempest pistol, spring, barrel cocker, 450-500fps, 1/2 dollar groups at 20yds
3) Walther Talon, .22, 1000fps, spring, barrel cocker, still breaking in so not sure of pellet choice yet. Check back in the firearms section where I'm doing a write up on it. So far at 40yds it will bury a field point 1/2 way through a 2x4. Stay away from the cheap crap and CO2, the springers are harder to shoot because of the unusual recoil but all you need are pellets, no powder or compressed gas. If you want to browse I got the Walther from airgundepot, they treated me very well.