Stockpiling 9mm for a SHTF Doomsday Event
Kevin Felts 09.11.18
Question to the reader: What kind of 9mm handgun ammunition are you stockpiling for a SHTF / Doomsday event? This could be anything from a natural disaster to a replay of the LA riots after the Rodney King verdict.
This is a question my prepping buddies and I have discussed several times over the decades. When we were reloading 9mm in bulk during the 1990s we focused on two types of 9mm:
- Reloads for practice.
- Good quality brand name for self defense.
However, then comes the next question:Shouldn’t you practice with what you plan on shooting? Then again, practicing with good quality also means expensive.
Eventually, after years of going back and forth, we came up with a possible solution. That solution was to reload something very close to what our primary defensive ammunition.
In the 1990s my “go-to” home defense 9mm round was the Winchester Silvertip hollow point. To mimic the 115 grain Silvertip, we shot several rounds through a chronograph, then figured up the average velocity.
My buddies and I shopped around until we found a bullet that appeared to be around the same shape as the Silvertip. We then reloaded 9mm to the same velocity of the Silvertip.
What we ended up with was a reload that hopefully would function in our handguns the same as the Silvertip, but without the cost. Granted the reloads would not have expansion, as the Silvertip.
This left us with three types of 9mm ammunition we were stockpiling:
- 9mm reloaded full metal jacket round nose
- 9mm reloaded hollow points
- Factory loaded hollow points
This also gave us the added benefit of have a tested hollow point reload we could stockpile in bulk. Some of the reloads were sent to the bug out location where they have been for the past 20 years.
It took years to develop all of the reloads and testing.
The final solution was:
- Round nose reloads for practice.
- Hollow point reloads for practice and secondary defensive ammunition.
- Factory hollow points for primary defensive ammunition.
If SHTF lasted long enough to deplete our factory hollow points, then we would use the reloaded hollow points.
The next question we had to address – “Is reloading even worth it?” Rather than spending the time and money reloading, why not just stockpile Wolf ammunition? For the readers who do not want to get into reloading, just stockpile Wolf 9mm in bulk and be done with it.
In case the reader is wondering what my current 9mm stockpile consist of:
- Wolf WPA Polyformance
- Remington green box hollow points
Those have replaced the reloads from decades ago. From time to time, I may pick up some good quality 9mm hollow points.
Then again, there are the people who think only “the best” is good enough. Mention you are stockpiling Wolf and you may get snickered at. However, not everyone has the luxury of being able to drop thousands of dollars on a single caliber.
