Stocking up on ammo.. FMJ or JHP

[rambone]

I'm stocking up on ammo, primarily for my handguns. .40 and .45 caliber.

FMJ is undoubtedly cheaper, but with less combat effectiveness than JHP. So if the SHTF, will FMJ be enough? What ratio of FMJ/JHP do you guys keep for your personal stash?

Might be a trivial question, quantity might be better than quality in this case. I'm getting an inferiority complex by reading all the boxes of ammo I buy saying "For target practice and plinking".... LOL. Just wondering what you guys thought.

 

[rambone]

P.S. I'm in the market to buy in bulk if anyone has any hot leads on bulk FMJ or JHP.

 

[jedi]

In a STHF (end of the world) ammo is ammo!
Get whatever you can buy right now cheap.
For personnel defense I go with JHP. But for STHF stockpiling I get whatever I can for my handgun. The rifle gets FMJ. I try to get a 50/50 ratio for the handgun if possible.

 

[mike8170]

My philosophy is when it come to ammo, FMJ has worked in a 1911 through 2 world wars, Korea, Vietnam, Panama, 1st gulf, the war on terror, and countless other skirmishes and brushfire wars. That is what is in mine right now, so why bother changing. Plus it is cheaper and no feed problems. But I also have a healthly stock of lead round nose that I have been loading and just filling ammo cans with since it is so inexpensive and still works.

 

[PwrCruz]

If and when the SHTF you never want to run out of ammo, smokes or luck at the same time but never ever run out of ammo. Cause if you have ammo you can always get more smokes and make your own luck.

 

[HICKMAN]

I'm buying whatever I can find at walmart whenever I can find it.

 

[BloodEclipse]

For the .45 I bought 500 185gr Gold Dot JHP from Georgia Arms. That was 8 months ago and I'm at work so I don't remember what it cost me.
For the ARs I have been buying Federal XM193 mostly with some Remington 55gr FMJ.
I would go with quantity over quality. At this point, all of it is getting hard to find.

 

[zip]

Personally I am spending the couple extra bucks to at least get Winchester JHP

 

[karlsgunbunker]

About 95% of my SHTF ammo is FMJ.
Maybe 30-40% of my x39 is HP or SP depending on what was cheap at the time.

I have a couple hundred rounds of SP x54r incase I need to hunt.
The FMJ is for shooting through Cars, walls, armor....

 

[Colt556]

I have the majority of FMJ. I do have ample supply of JHP too, but FMJ is about 3:1 for me.

 

[VN Vet]

FMJ will feed in most all pistols while hollow points can be tricky in some pistols. I would buy both if I could being more heavy on the FMJ side. My 2 cents.

 

[doublesharp]

last week at the Louisville natl Gun day show I bought 27 25rd boxes of fmj 230 gr 45acp French military surplus ammo for $180.

 

[Bigum1969]

Most of the ammo I've been stocking up on lately is FMJ. I do have a few boxes of defense rounds for each of the calibers I own.

I simply couldn't afford to buy large quantities of ammo like Hornady Tap, etc.

 

[samrothstein01]

If and when the SHTF you never want to run out of ammo, smokes or luck at the same time but never ever run out of ammo. Cause if you have ammo you can always get more smokes and make your own luck.

Now that is one hell of a philosophy!

I personally try to get a large batch of FMJ. That way I can always use it to go to the range and practice with and not feel like I am hemorrhaging money out with each shot. But, I also have it handy if its ever needed in large quantities.

 

[sloughfoot]

FMJ is good and will work just fine. So will lead round nose and lead semi-wadcutters. Reloads or factory.

It is important to have ammo, not necessarily the type of bullet.

Before the advent of HP ammo, thousands of people met their demise with 38 lead round nose bullets. Hundreds still meet their demise with the lowly 22LR lead round nose every year.

 

[Broncomansam]

I'm stocking up on ammo, primarily for my handguns. .40 and .45 caliber.

FMJ is undoubtedly cheaper, but with less combat effectiveness than JHP. So if the SHTF, will FMJ be enough? What ratio of FMJ/JHP do you guys keep for your personal stash?

Might be a trivial question, quantity might be better than quality in this case. I'm getting an inferiority complex by reading all the boxes of ammo I buy saying "For target practice and plinking".... LOL. Just wondering what you guys thought.

I'd rather have 500 rounds of FMJ than 100 rounds of JHP when it comes down to it

 

[mikea46996]

That's why I love this board.....

I have been killing myself trying to get my reserve supply back up to where i like it and have been killing myself trying to find my JHP bullets for reloading for my pistol. I never even looked at the way you guys have. But your right.

I would rather have 5,000 FMJ then 500 JHP.

You guys rock!!

Plus you just saved me a Sh*thouse of cash!!!

 

[Joe Williams]

The vast majority of my ammo is loaded with lead flat point bullets.

 

[Disposable Heart]

For rifle stuff, I have a HUGE variety of different types, SP, HP, ball, etc... Whatever works for that situation. Some is for defense, some offense and some hunting. The percentages of each, however, vary hugely, with ball taking 75% of storage space now.

As for pistol, HP is always better, but for .40 and .45 as you mentioned, ball should be okay, better than nothing. Already mentioned, .45 ball works (not ideal, but better than 9mm ball). As for .40, I have a sneaking suspicion that the usual truncated cone design of .40 ammo to keep bullet weight up and OAL short may have a MUCH better chance of tearing something up than rounded ball. I keep alot of .40 truncated around just for that reasoning. Hell, my .38 stuff is mostly hardcast 158gr SWC, been killin folks for a generation now...

All in all, ammo selection aside, there is one piece of equipment that HAS to be the best: Your training and skills. HPs mean nothing if you cant hit vitals or the target to begin with. Shot placement, hours of training, etc... will win out over a situation, despite the ammo or guns used. A missed .45 HP means nothing but a carefully place round (fast too) of .40 truncated ball will mean saving the day, the night and the girl too...