Useful information from veterans of the Yugoslav wars in the 1990s:

1) You should have a minimum of 2000 rounds per weapon. So if you have 6 AR-15s, you should have 12000 rounds.

Other notes:

2) Standard Infantry load is 6+1 30rd mags. Some people are hesitant to carry less because having to use buddy mags or use your side arm sucks ass in a tight spot.

3) Assuming you weren't actually in some military/paramilitary unit (ie: it's just you and your family/close neighbors trying to hunker down); you should never travel alone (easy target) and you should never travel in too large of a group (too easily noticed-- and a paramilitary group may assume you're some other hostile paramilitary unit). Travel in a group of 3 if you need to go somewhere with the 3rd person lagging behind the first two or in a group of four with 2 and 2 pairings with the second group lagging behind. This ideally allows the lagging group to cover the other or vice versa. Women should not be taken if at all possible and if they are, they should be dressed like men.

4) Food, medicine, toiletries, cigarettes, and alcohol were the most valuable items. (being able to grow a small amount of your own food is ideal) Prostitution for these items was extremely common, don't put yourself in that position by not having enough on-hand. Gold/Silver/Jewelry/etc was used up/captured/stolen/or otherwise sent out to other countries within the first couple months (mostly to buy passage across the border). Never tell anyone IRL that you have supplies or otherwise unless you trust that person like your closest family. Even the mr rogers neighbor will come after your or goad others into coming after you if he gets desperate enough.

5) The place you're hunkering down in should look run-down but not abandoned. If it looks nice, you'll attract the attention of looters/ne'er-do-wells, if it looks abandoned people will try to start moving in which may cause an unwanted conflict/confrontation.

6) Don't go out late at night or during the day. Either visibility is too low to avoid threats (dangerous) or visibility is too high (easily spotted/also dangerous). Dawn/dusk are the preferred hours of movement.

7) Dysentery (uncontrollable diarrhea) can kill you of dehydration in a few days. Have access to clean water and have the medicine on-hand to specifically treat digestive-type issues. Have slightly more medicine than you think is necessary because it can go quicker than you think.

I’d keep every bit of what you have. Who knows if 6 months down the road ammo is not being sold anymore and you are limited to what you have on hand from here on out.

1 bullet

I'm down to less than a thousand all told, in all calibers. Sucks, because I don't want to go lower than that (in the unlikely event of S hitting the F. Really wish I had bought 20k rounds when ammo was still cheap and plentiful; that way I'd be able to go plinking, but fuck paying ~$1/round.

I only have a few thousand rounds for each gun. I meant to really stock up, but the line kept being too long, and then all the stores were closed, and now it's the end of the world and it's too late.