Lets move on to Ammo

Lets move on to Ammo:
Oh boy, now I'm about to hurt some feelings. Currently, the BEST online prices I can find for 22lr are 4.63 cents/ round and they are out of stock (shocker); the price I currently pay at Academy sports for my 22 cal pellets is 2.39 cents/ round, my .177 is 1.79 cents/ round for me to shoot. When you start looking online the situation improves. The difference, other than the fact you can shoot twice to three times as many pellets, is that you can actually buy pellets for that price, THEY EXIST and you can find them in a store. As for the 22lr, I haven't seen it bellow 12 cents/ round in stores (or even actually in the stores) in quite some time, and there is an ammo plant literally 30 minutes from my house. My point is this, I currently have more than  13,000 pellets on hand, for what I have invested in those pellets you could buy about 1500 rounds of 22lr at todays prices. From a prepping standpoint, which makes more sense?

How much room do you think 13k pellets takes up? The answer is about a shoe box if they're still in their tins. 13k 22lr?  Thats 260 boxes, each box is around 4x2x2 (varies obviously) but that makes for 2.41 square feet of 22 ammo. That doesn't sound like much but it is considerably larger than the space taken up by the pellets. So the pellets score high in the cost and storage efficiency, what about flexibility? The 22lr has about 4.7 gagillion different incarnations, this makes it a fairly versatile small game round, how do pellets stack up? Well that depends, .177 is comparable to 22lr, there may even be more .177. The 22 cal though is a bit more limited with about 2/3 the number of variations of .177, still quite a bit of variety. If you move into 25 and up things get quite a bit less diverse and you may have some trouble finding the perfect round for your rifle. Im going to call the variety category a draw, mostly because I'm generous.

Another item I think it is very important to consider in the ammo category is carrying capacity. I can slip a 500 round tin in my pocket and carry it comfortably all day long. Can the same be said for 22lr? Sure, I can carry 500 rounds of 22lr but it is far less convenient. If I were to carry a comparable number of pellets (based on the room taken up by a brick of 22 as well as the weight involved) I could carry at least 2000 pellets with me and probably closer to 3000. Im not suggesting that you carry 3000 pellets with you, I'm merely pointing out that you have that capacity.  I wouldn't carry more than 1000 pellets at a time, but that space saved over 22lr would give me quite a bit of space in my pack for other things.

The last point I would like to address involves making your own ammo. Now, for larger calibers like 308, 44, 204, 408, 257, etc... etc... you can use a press, powder, dies, and bullets to make your own rounds. When it comes to rimfire ammunition though, things change. You cannot make your own 22lr rounds and that sucks just a bit. Guess what you can make though? If you guessed pellets you my friend just earned yourself a popsicle, go get one out of the freezer, I'll wait....

Ok, got your popsicle? Good, now you may be thinking to yourself, why in the world would I want to make my own pellets, they're dirt cheap already? I comment which I would respond to by taking away your popsicle. Having the capacity to make your own projectile is an advantage that hasn't been fully seen again since muskets where the name of the game (yes, I understand that you can make your own 204, 44, etc rounds as well but unless you are casting them from lead, which can be done, you are still relying on someone else's projectile, brass, and powder for that matter). I cannot stress what an insane advantage this give you over 22lr and well, everything else for that matter. You can quite literally dig a bullet, or pellet, or fishing weight for that matter out of something or someone and make it into ammo. Thats a game changer! While others will have to revert back to knives, bows, and pointy things when their ammo dries up, you will still be comfortably shooting squirrels, birds, and raccoons from trees. If your interested in a pellet producing set up check this place out.

Overall, pellets kick 22lr's butt in the ammo category, hands down.