How much ammo?

[MoJo]

During a conversation over dinner, my wife's best friend's new "boyfriend" (one of those "been there done that" types) stated, "I'll let any lawman into my home except for ATF because I have too much ammunition stored there." To begin with, I would have never told a perfect stranger this, then he went on to state that ATF only allows you to have 500 rounds of ammunition at a time.

I have never heard of a 500 round limit ATF or otherwise. I am aware of fire codes that limit the amount of ammo you can have on hand that is not in a approved storage facility but, I am not aware of any ATF regs.

Anyone know the real lowdown? I'd like to have some regs cited if possible. Google wasn't much help here.

[HighVelocity]

After searching the ATF website I'm going to call bull. There is nothing that I could find on the ATF website regarding number of rounds of ammo in your home or business.

http://www.atf.gov/index.htm

[stevie_d_64]

As far as I know, in Texas there is no regulation that dictates a cap on the amount you may possess...Neither caliber or amount...

I have just enough to get by here, and the rest is securely stored.............elsewhere...

The question at hand is why discriminate against a Law Enforcement agency at all??? What have you got to lose??? Hide I mean.../sarcasm...

Guess where half of my refund money goes into every year???

But thats as far as I will elaborate...hehehe

[MoJo]

Thanks y'all,

I thought it was bull but you never know. I do know some cities have fire codes that limit the amount of ammunition one can store without approved containers.

[Chris]

i've never heard that. i have probably close to 700 rounds in my gun cabinet.

BATF guys are not masked G-men. they are mostly good guys. they don't jack with people unless you start selling, modifying, or stockpiling for felonious reasons. they don't have time to go check someone's house for a short barreled shotgun. they want the guy trying to sell it. if you use it in a crime, they also want to know. it's like hunting dopers. do you want the guy with the joint, or the one who sold it to him? BATF is big on those wacko militia types.

i have a C&R FFL and the BATF is more than helpful with the information they give you when you do things legally.

[Bubba]

... new "boyfriend" (one of those "been there done that" types) stated...

This "type" smells familiar. Gosh, the're everywhere !
:)

[gemeinschaft]

Thanks y'all,

I thought it was bull but you never know. I do know some cities have fire codes that limit the amount of ammunition one can store without approved containers.

+1


Some cities do have fire codes that dictate how many pounds of powder you can store without an approved Fire cabinet. I used to work with other chemicals that we had to keep in special lockers so as to reduce the risk of fire.

As far as ammo goes, I don't know any federal statutes that would restrict the quantity of my possession of ammunition. It is more like what kind of ammo.

Next time tell this dude that if he has excess ammo laying around, you'll take it.

[USMC-COL]

I have seen limits on how much reloading powder a citizen may have (I believe it may be 25 pounds), but I have never seen a limit on ammunition in any jurisdiction.

[dolanp]

I have seen limits on how much reloading powder a citizen may have (I believe it may be 25 pounds), but I have never seen a limit on ammunition in any jurisdiction.

Yeah, Texas state pre-emption law says that no amount of black powder held by an individual can be regulated if its less than 25 pounds. And 50 pounds for a dealer.

[stevie_d_64]

I am a member of a local Volunteer Fire Department in my community...

We were the only company able to get apparatus close enough to a flooded home in the Green Tee area of Pearland...

Not only were we up to our chests in flood water fighting this structure fire, but when the house got hot enough...We ended up flinching everytime we hear a round go off in that formerly nice house...

I counted dozens of reports...

Kinda exciting...not...We figured the homeowner didn't secure a lot of their ammunition well enough...

Oh well, I guess you had to be there...

Later,
Steve

[longtooth]

Boy am I in trouble. 1000+ of .380 for the wife & Mother, they 800 or so .45 for mine. 5 lb of pistol powder & 6 lb for rifle. .308 5 or 6 hundred practice rounds. Thes do not count hunting ammo & personal defense ammo in the gun safe.

[txinvestigator]

I like to tell the know-it-alls how fascinating their information is, and then ask them to please point me to the law that they are referencing, as I want to be sure I have it down pat.

[jimlongley]

I am a member of a local Volunteer Fire Department in my community...

...

Oh well, I guess you had to be there...

Later,
Steve

As a former long time VFD member myself, I sympathize, but I do have to point out that ammo that cooks off by itself in a fire is not very hazardous. For ammo to function as designed it really needs to be confined to a small space, as in a firearm chamber, with one outlet, as in a barrel, and when it goes off unconfined it frequently makes a spectacular noise and fireworks, but it's a "tale full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." Not that it wouldn't scare the bejeepers out of you if you were standing nearby, or even inflict nasty burns and welts.

Remind me to tell you sometime about propane bottles stored in a basement.

And a slightly humerous digression.

One evening, after a rancorous discussion in the bar of our firehouse (!) a bunch of us headed off to the fire training facility to see whether ammo was dangerous or not.

I do have to state up front that our experiment was not really all that scientific, but we found that mostly is was the CASES that were dangerous, when we could actually figure out what happened with the projectile it really hadn't travelled very far. While the projectiles travelled very short distances, some of the rifle cases at least made it far enough to bounce off the walls.

No, we were not in the room, we were outside looking in through heavy plastic shields, we were not that drunk.

We made up our minds to do it again with a little less beer, but it always seemed to be a little less intelligent when considered in the cold sober light of day.

I have written to Mythbusters asking them to give a try at busting the myth, but have never gotten a reply.

[jimlongley]

BTW, if we are limited to 500 rounds, then I am in trouble, big. I usually buy in case amounts of 1000 rounds.

[stevie_d_64]

I am a member of a local Volunteer Fire Department in my community...

...

Oh well, I guess you had to be there...

Later,
Steve

As a former long time VFD member myself, I sympathize, but I do have to point out that ammo that cooks off by itself in a fire is not very hazardous.

Oh no, I understand what you're saying...I and a few others there knew that...But it still is a bit disconcerting to have something go "bang" like that near you while under some "less than nominal firefighting operations"...

Imagine one of us humming the "Ride of the Valkries" through the amplifier of your SCBA mask...Sounds pretty cool when you do it like that...It was a nice mix of serious and humorous firefighting methodologies...