The End of Civilization – Ammunition

Ammunition is the life blood of any firearm. They come in many different sizes, weight, and type. Since there has got to be thousands of different kinds of ammunition and brands out there we will omit the brands and concentrate only in the ammo types that were discussed in the Fire Arms section of the Guide.

You have to familiarize yourself with the types of ammunition in the market. They are divided into Rimfire and Centerfire. Generally this just means location of the primer and what part of the brass casing is being hit by the firing pin to ignite the primer. (effectively igniting the main powder to fire the cartridge) They can be recognized by looking under the brass of any cartridge to see the location of the primer.

For this discussion we will concentrate only on centerfire type of ammunition which are the ones used for the weapons that are recommended in the firearms section of the guide. if you happen to find any rimfire ammunition during your foraging missions, you can keep them and trade them later. DO NOT TRADE AMMUNITION THAT YOU USE. Ammunition that fit the chamber of your primary and secondary weapon are not for trade. Not for anything. Ammunition keeps you alive, protects your family, protects your stores, and gives you to the opportunity to take someone else’s supply if you choose to do so. However if a particular ammunition that you found is not for the weapon you are using. Then you may trade it. Be careful who you trade them to. You don’t want them returned from a barrel of a gun.

If you found a re-loader (A reloading machine) it might be a worthwhile find. You can also invest in one now while they are still being manufactured. So make sure you keep the brass of your ammunition when you use them. Once you have a re-loader you can also scrounge for brass in case you find appropriate cartridge head and powder. There are many different websites and videos regarding how to reload ammunition so we will no longer discuss that.

A particular dilemma regarding ammunition is its limited quantities, untrained personnel handling firearms for the first time may want to test fire their weapon. This may be necessary to use up a few rounds to familiarize someone with their weapon. It is better to allow them to use several magazines worth of rounds than be completely ignorant when trouble comes. Firing a few magazines will not turn anyone into an expert gun fighter but it will at least give them the basics of the operation of their firearm, particularly on chambering, clearing, cleaning, safety, aiming, range, felt recoil, and reloading.

Use the worst ammunition you have for practice (in terms of age and type). Everyone gun affectionado does this. Quality rounds are best used when it actually matters. Because of the current Hague convention, Military rounds are different from non-military rounds. Ironically the non-military rounds are also designed to be more lethal. Regardless whether it is a pistol or rifle round we can divide them into 4 different “classes.” Since these classes are not official designation and some rounds like the 5.56x45mm M855 round will fall in 2 of these classes we will not specify specific types of ammunition to prevent arguments between experts.

This guide is for people who are totally unfamiliar with the complexities of ammunition and experts should continue to educate everyone in appropriate forums. The First class is what we will call (for simplicity sake) Solid rounds. Full Steel, Lead, and Full Metal Jacket(ed normally copper) ammo fall into this category. These are military rounds and therefore cheapest and easiest to find. They are all around ammunition good for practice and actual combat. Most standard ordinary looking bullets that you find are normally FMJ’s. You can consult the internet to check out the look and feel of solid rounds.

The next rounds are what we will call the “Soft Rounds”. These include the soft points, ballistic tip, hollow points, frangible, and safety rounds. These are considered defensive rounds and are not for military use. There are a lot of legal technical mumbo jumbo involved in using these rounds such as the belligerents must all sign the accord, must be members of the armed forces of a hostile nation etc etc, but we will not discuss that further. All you need to know are that soft rounds are designed to mushroom (or flower) or break upon impact. As you can imagine this will do much more devastating damage to the internals of a person. Instead of having a clean icepick size wound that will go through it will create a much more bigger wound once inside the body effectively increasing the chances of lethality. This may sounds interesting but in reality these rounds have a weak point. Since it is designed to mushroom or break upon impact. These rounds have problems penetrating cover such as body armor, car doors. or thin walls. Engaging armored or lightly covered targets with this rounds will be disadvantageous. However in an apocalyptic scenario the chances of fighting armored opponents are small hence these rounds should be reserved for heavy engagements.

The 3rd class are what we will call “Armor Piercing Rounds” these would include special ballistic tip rounds and armor piercing ammunition including the M855. These rounds are designed to penetrate cover and armor including plated steel. These rounds also sound wonderful in theory but in reality these rounds have small penetrator tips that continue on after hitting the armor. IF such rounds hit an unarmored body, these high velocity rounds will create a small clean wound through and through without doing much damage comparative to the first 2 kinds of rounds. These rounds are rare and should be reserved for special engagements against fully equipped opponents.

The 4th kind of rounds are what we will call special rounds. There are buck shot rounds (that are not shot gun shells), incendiary rounds (rounds that burn up after they hit something), armor piercing tracers, armor piercing incendiary tracers, etc… These rounds are very rare and should be traded only for an arm and a leg. If you are going to use these rounds make sure they are being given to your best marksmen who can make the best use of them and make each of these count. Even today these rounds are hard to find, illegal in most places, and expensive. Tracers however if you can find them are acceptable practice rounds, they give you an idea on where rounds hit. Tracers are not preferred in actual combat as it gives away the position of the shooter. If you plan to use tracers in actual combat it is best to mix them with FMJ (I do not recommend mixing ammo normally) and use them in squad automatic weapons. Tracers are hotter than usual rounds doing additional damage to the barrel. Machine Guns are already prone to barrel heat as it is due to the volume of suppressive fire it is designed to do. However as a security most machine guns are designed to have a quick barrel replace feature so be sure machine gunners know what they are doing. Other than the fact that they will use up hard to replace ammunition more than anyone else.

Shot Shells are a totally different kind of ammunition, they can be divided into Bird shot, Buck shot, and Slugs. You can familiarize yourself with the sizes and range of such shells in different websites. Normally the type, size, and number of shells loaded in a shell is written in the shell itself. However these cannot be guaranteed once the shell is reloaded. Bird shots use the smallest type of pellets and are best used for practice and hunting game. Buck shot which is designed for bigger game can also do devastating damage to humans. Slugs which are designed to take down really big game do wonders against armored or unarmored opponents and should be reserved for personnel who are already proficient with this kind of primary weapon. Be sure to know the maximum effective range of each type of shell and the TRUE effective range is half the manufacturers given distance.

Ammunition should also be stored in a dry cool airtight place. This is the optimal way of storing firearms. It is possible to damage the powder due to age and water seepage, high humidity also do irreparable damage to ammunition, the real problem with this is that you don’t know that the ammo is faulty until you use it. Opening and checking the powder does more damage to the ammo than anything. This is also applicable for grenades whether it is a rifle grenade, hand grenade or ammunition grenades. There has been suggestions to use vacuum packed sandwich seals to store ammo. This is prudent but expensive especially if you open it a lot. keeping ammunition in a cool (BUT NOT COLD) place also extends the life of the powder but encourages rusting in some cases. Surplus military ammo boxes are cheap and can be locked to be theoretically airtight. If you are storing ammunition for the apocalypse it may be prudent to buy some of these and take the ammo out of the box, make sure you mark the boxes accordingly on what type of ammo you have. I tape the original cardboard box into the military ammo box as my markings thereby preserving the name, brand, type, size, and weight LABEL of the ammo.

Be sure to check every ammo you load into the magazine any minor dents in the brass will cause the entire weapon to malfunction. Do not over reload brass, for an apocalypse scenario this may be necessary but I have not personally tested brass casings that are reloaded more than 3x.

Do not mix and match several types of ammunition in one magazine, in my experience this results in velocity and heat problems and cause SOME weapons to intermittently jam, If it is necessary to bring several “classes” of ammunition during missions, separate them into several magazines. Mark them with colored tape or marker. Do not load and unload ammunition into magazines unnecessarily. It is important to be at the ready and the ammunition INSIDE the magazine clear of dust, debris, and residue at all times. However unloading and reloading magazines uses up the cycle life of the magazine spring which will also eventually result in magazine (hence gun) failure. These days when magazines are cheap and are readily available and replacement springs are cheap this is prudent however in an apocalypse scenario this is not. Check your magazines for dents this will also cause jamming and weapon malfunction.

For a community try to simplify ammunition by having similar types of weapons that have ammo interchangeability. Special ammunition like the 6.5G, 6.8SPC, .50AE, .44 Mag, 454C, 5.7x28mm etc which can be used in a handful of weapons should be traded into for other weapons and ammunition of a more widely used caliber. You can advertise how “cool” this cartridges are as compared to the standard sized calibers and may be able to trade more for less. These cartridges TRULY ARE superior against standard cartridges and you should be able to get at LEAST 3:1 trade for them. However they will be disadvantageous in the long run as less and less of these ammo type can be found. It is also impractical to manufacture such rounds when the world starts turning again over the more standard rounds. Make sure you get at least 3:1 trade for these types that way if you trade the other 2 ammo for food and medicine (nothing else) you get to keep 1 round back and consumables. So the trade will result in one round you can use plus others for one round you cannot use. Do the same with shot shells that are not 12ga. Other than this exception do NOT trade ammunition. Especially cartridges that you can use.

Traveling and foraging for ammunition are also important, do not carry more than prudent amount of ammo during missions and avoid random engagements. Reserve your ammunition against declared hostile belligerents in actual pitched battles. In an apocalypse world this will likely happen a lot based on the history of mankind where until 1945 every generation of man fought at least one major war. Slain allies and enemies are also a good source of ammunition, Whenever possible do not drop magazines or leave military equipment behind for the enemy to use against you at a future date. These days soldiers carry more than enough ammunition above and beyond the necessary load out but ammo are still being manufactured today, when the apocalypse come it will not, and the last thing you need is to have someone with 20 full magazine get killed at the first volley of ambush and leave it/him behind.

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