Most people are probably ready to just stop thinking about 2020 and pretend like it never happened. They’re ready to head to the movies, take the family on a long vacation and ditch the masks. However, as a prepper, I find it hard to take my mind off of it at all. It was such a fascinating glimpse at a near SHTF situation and what the world could easily look like when the big one hits. We got to take a rare peek behind the curtain of the human mind, and see how the unprepared masses can and will react to a situation that they are not equipped to deal with either physically or emotionally. While the avoidable and seemingly never ending loss of human life is an absolute tragedy, I feel like we have an obligation to learn what we can from the mistakes that were made.
The ammunition shortage
“This has all happened before, and it will happen again…” You don’t have to be a Dwight Schrute level BSG fan to appreciate that quote (but it helps.) Honestly if you’re having a serious case of deja vu, then don’t worry, you’re probably not secretly a cylon, you likely just remember trying to buy ammunition in 2007. It certainly feels familiar to me, but this time it was just a little bit different. Back in 07 and 08 the shortage was purely politically driven, lasted a few years and things slowly leveled out. This time however we started with a similar political situation, then threw in a bit of pandemic, a splash of food shortages, a dash of unemployment and a pinch of riots. What we were left with was a situation so scary that it sent unprepared from both sides of the aisle scrambling to buy guns and ammunition to protect their loved ones.
If you Don’t already have it, you probably won’t be able to get it
This is the most basic tenet of prepping anyways. In a post SHTF world, do not assume that you will be able to run to the store to get last minute supplies, especially in any sort of meaningful quantity. You should already have a well stocked and inventoried supply of ammunition well ahead of any major disaster. If you are newly setting up a disaster preparedness plan and are unsure how, just check out this post on how to set up your long term ammunition storage. In my area of the country, it took around 2 weeks after my county instituted it’s “safer at home order” for the shelves to empty out. However, the fear-buying started the same day. Within a day or two most common calibers were already gone. Which is a perfect lead to the next point.
Common caliber rounds will go first
Your 9mm, .223, 5.56, and 7.62x39 were gone almost immediately. Not surprising as these are some of the most common calibers used for home defense. For a few weeks at least you could find several other equally capable yet less commonly used defense rounds. .45 acp was still around for a week or so and I was able to find .40 S&W around 2 weeks after the order started. If you happen to have a decent sized collection of firearms to choose from, you could have picked up ammunition even well after you noticed it starting to get scarce.
When asked, I’ll always tell people that their first firearm should be a .22lr. But if somebody were to ask my advice about which pistol or hunting rifle to buy when they start prepping, I may have to start pointing them in the direction of something in the way of .40 S&W or maybe a .243 for a hunting rifle. Something that is more than capable for their purpose, but a less popular round seems to hang around longer on the shelves. Ideally when the SHTF you should already have your own supply. But for people who are just setting up your stock piles, it could be beneficial to be able to grab a few more boxes before things get really bad.
If you’re thinking about reloading, the time to start is now
For many people that don’t have any experience reloading spent brass, they see it as a daunting and potentially dangerous thing. And for the most part, they are right. If not done properly, things can go bad quickly, and every person should really learn with the supervision of somebody experienced. The good news is that I’ve never met somebody who reloads that isn’t willing to offer advice (and most times talk your ears off about it.)
I bring this up because I was surprisingly able to find reloading supplies for about a month after things started to go south in 2020. Fast forward to today, and while you may be able to find a press and die, finding brass, bullets and primers is all but impossible. Reloading can be an extremely rewarding hobby. It can really stretch your ammunition stores, keeps the cost of shooting down and can be a down right relaxing hobby. But as with everything else, if it’s something you are interested in adding to your preps, you need to buy it when it’s available and not hope you can find it when it’s too late.
Primers are the first component to go
If you do decide to go the route of stocking reloading supplies, primers are probably the most important, and sadly, the first to disappear. You can reuse spent brass, hard cast your own bullets, and powder surprisingly is still easy to find. But primers are another story, they’re harder to find right now than ready made ammunition. While the internet is full of articles on how to make expedient primers out of match heads and cap gun strips, I would never trust my life with something like that unless it were an absolute last resort. Buy them while they are available, and add them to your preps. Treat them like ammunition by keeping them sealed in an ammo can with a desiccant pack, and they can stay viable for when you need them.
Have molds even if you don’t cast
When times are good, it’s easy to find just about any bullet type you want to use for reloading. FMJ, TMJ, jacketed hollow points, go crazy loading and shooting whatever you want. But right now there isn’t much selection of different bullets available. And if you don’t have a large stockpile when the big one hits that’s even worse. While hard cast bullets aren’t ideal, they are better than nothing at all, you just have to clean your barrel a bit more frequently. Even if you don’t plan on casting your own bullets, everybody who has a reloading press should have at least 1 set of bullet molds for every caliber that they shoot. All of the other fancy equipment that goes along with casting can basically be replaced by an old pot and ladle over a wood fire if you need.
So there it is, my take on the year 2020 as if it were a 101 class. I hope everybody studied up well, because this information will be on the final. Just remember that the history books have not been written yet, so everything here is just my opinion. Whether you agree, disagree, or just have something to add, feel free to say so in the comments below. Who knows, you might be able to change my mind.
Comments