How Many Rounds ?

Powerstroke

Handloader
Feb 24, 2006
1,799
58
The one question that I haven't seen come up this year is complete gear that gets taken afield.

I'm curious how many rounds of ammo one takes with him on a hunt ? Not the I've traveled a thousand miles type hunt, but
going to be gone for a couple days away from home type.

The gun is sighted in - will not need to be shot again before season.

Ten ?

Fifteen ?

Twenty ?
 
I have one of those little cases that hold 50 rounds. no I may not need them, and yes my rifle is sighted in. but I dont know when the rifle may be dropped or fall, and I want enough to make sure it gets sighted in. perhaps if I just had a case that held 20 or so, that would be what I carried.
 
Because my ammunition is in ammo boxes, I carry anywhere from six to fifty rounds. It is because the ammo box is in my kit. I carry a cartridge case on my belt, ensuring that I have eight rounds whenever I go for a walk-about.
 
I take a minimum of 20 rounds per rifle and I always take 2 rifles.

JD338
 
I am taking 2 boxes of 20

1 bullet for bear tag
1 bullet for cow tag
1 bullet for bull tag
1 bullet for buck tag
16 extra bullets for protection against big foot that Powerstroke is going to scare up in his area and push over to area 35 :grin:

2nd box of 20 is in case the first box somehow gets lost (it can happen)
 
I guess this depends on how many tags you have.

Taking off later today for a week. Antelope is on the menu. I'm taking an untried rifle as my primary so I'm also taking an other one. Just in case. Had twenty rounds loaded for both. Went down to the bench yesterday to double check sight ins. Used one round for the second and two for the primary. So 18 and 19 are going with me. Question is what could I be comfortable with for a minimum. With the rifle I've shoot tons of animals with, 3. Two in the mag one in the spout. Only have to shot one animal. I think I could leave with 10 for this new rifle and feel fairly comfortably.

Jim
 
I guess all said for a local one day hunt I could get by with the 8 in the shell holder.. I haven't checked this year but I believe I am allowed 4 does per day.
 
At least 20 rounds/rifle on any trip. If the trip is over 300 miles it may mean taking a few more than that. As mentioned earlier, sometimes you need to sight in a rifle that gets dropped or to check for zero due to climate and elevation changes. I have slid/tumbled down a couple slopes where it was nice to have extra ammo along to be able to check zero on the scope when I got back to camp. As far as carrying in the field amounts, 3 in the rifle and 6 on a leather shell holder that is looped on my belt. Man am I getting excited for hunting to start!!! Grouse hunting just isn't enough to scratch my itch.
 
I usually grab one of those 20-round plastic boxes labeled with the appropriate ammo. Sometimes it's full... sometimes there's a couple rounds missing... sometimes there's only 10 or so. I have a tendancy to load up about 50 rounds at a time, then stick them in the 20-round boxes. When I get down to one box... it's time to reload. If I'm heading out to hunt for a couple of days, then I grab two boxes... never know when you're going to need them to resight-in... or heck, you could run into a prarrie dog town.

Also, I put a couple rounds of Swift and .25-06 in the glove box of the truck... that way I'm never out of ammo... you never know when you're going to shoot up your stash and then see a coyote on the way home... it has happened, and it's usually a really stupid dog.
 
I personally think one should never leave home without a minimum of 20 rounds. Even if you leave 10 back in the truck or at camp, at least you have them.
If you are going on a hunting trip to a remote location better take a minimum of 40. What happens if the airline knocks your scope out of whack or you fall and drop you gun. Sometimes it might take 8-10 shots to get it dialed in again.

On me while hunting: 10 rounds
With me in the truck, quad, or camp: 20 rounds
On a hunting trip: 40 rounds
 
Depends on what and where I'm hunting. This past doe season the spot I hunted was 15 minutes from the house and it was a 200 yrd walk in to the spot I hunted. I carried the 4 rounds my rifle holds. When I'm actually driving some place to hunt and will be gone for a full day or more I take a box of 20. Never have been on a hunting "trip" out of state or country. I'd probably try to take 50 rounds for that type of hunt.

If I'm dove hunting, I only bring 15 shells :mrgreen: Yeah right, I have a backpack and 4/25 round boxes of shells in there. Good thing is the backpack weighs alot less at the end of the day :wink:
 
If I'm dove hunting, I only bring 15 shells Yeah right, I have a backpack and 4/25 round boxes of shells in there.

And that is for four doves? Hardest critters in the world for me to hit.
 
When I went bear hunting in September, I had one in the single-shot Ruger, and five more in my pocket. The other 14 cartridges were back in camp.
 
I have two Ruger #1B's that I hunt with. On my pack, my shell carrier holds 10 rounds. I usually have one round in my right front pants pocket and ten in the holder so I have 11 rounds total when hunting. I also take one of my 50 round reloading cartridge boxes that might have from 20-50 loaded rounds in it. That is kept in the pickup just in case they are needed.

One day I was let out of the pickup by my buddy Don about an hour before it got light. I had about an hours walk to be before I would be to the point when I would slow down and start hunting. My friend drove off and left me,and he had just gotten out of sight when I realized that I had forgotten that I had taken my shell holder off of my hunting pack (the reason eludes me right now),and I had not put it back on the pack. It was sitting in my friends truck. Thankfully I had 3 rounds in the magazine of my.280 Remington. As it turned out I never needed any of them that day as I just took my Remington Mountain Rifle for a walk to the top of the mountain. I know, I know, get dropped off at the top and have them pick you up at the bottom instead of doing it the North Dakota way. (all for Nodak 7mm's benefit) The only think is this one spot where I hunt, the wind is never your friend as it always blows the way you are walking if you are coming down from the top, and it always blows there too! The way up from the bottom is hard as well. First you have to hoof it about 2.5 miles before you start climbing and when you do start it is steep. At the bottom you are at roughly 4000-42000 feet. The top is at just over 7000 feet. In some locations the mountain rises up so steeply that you climb 2000 vertical feet up in a distance of only having traveled about 1/4 of a mile horizontally.

I'm happy with ten or 11 on me during the day but like to have 20-50 in the truck at all times.
 
Always good to see the consistancy between eveyone.
Most of my cases are 50 round boxes - very seldom will I leave with less than 20 at least in the truck.
One in the gun and 6 in my pocket when out and about.

I was very lucky a few years ago and rolled my ATV over the top of myself with my .280 in the Koplin gun boot sticking up
@ a 45deg angle like they do. It took the top of the case off and all I could think of was seeing my .280 come out of the case in two or three pieces.

My mellon & .280 came out of the ordeal good to go without loosing zero.
 
On out of state hunts, I usually have two plastic containers of 20. Somewhere along the line, I have become a little shy about not having enough ammo, and it is a hard habit to kick! I figure if I have extra, it will never hurt anything, but the opposite would cause me alot of pain! Scotty
 
I load ammo 50 rounds at a time and store it in plastic flip top boxes that hold 50 rounds.
I use different color boxes for different calibers and stick file labels on the lids with what caliber the box contains.
Inside the lid will be all the dope on the load.Case,primer,powder,bullet and oal.

Every rifle I hunt with has one of those $4.00 elastic cartridge sleeves that hold nine rounds on the rear stock.
I store my rifles in the safe with those sleeves loaded with nine rounds of what they are zeroed with.

Whenever I leave to go on a hunt I grab the appropriate 50 round box and throw it in my bag.
When going afield I just carry the nine rounds that are already on the rifle when I pull it out of the case.
"Better to have it and not need it,than need it and not have it"

Howard
 
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