Ammo Types Guide - Build a Bunker

The Three Ammo Types

Pistol Ammo is the most versatile early resource because two starter guns share it. Sheriff class bundles forty-five rounds with its Revolver, giving an immediate stockpile. Farm more at Rust & Recoil or from mutant drops when broke.

Shotgun Ammo fuels the Worn Sawn Off and any future shotgun platforms. Shots consume ammo quickly, so shotgun mains should loot Rust & Recoil every other cycle minimum.

Rifle Ammo appears mid-to-late progression, chiefly for Soldier class and advanced rifles. Even if you do not run rifles yet, stash Rifle Ammo in the bunker—items do not despawn, and class purchases happen suddenly when Scrap floods from the Sell Room.

Farming Ammo Efficiently

Rust & Recoil is the dedicated ammo shop—plan routes with the loot route planner alongside Jet’s Firepower or Grub & Go depending on whether you need guns or shells more.

Mutants sometimes drop ammo on death, making low-risk mutant loops a backup pipeline when shops were nuked. Bring a melee weapon to preserve bullets while clearing packs.

Traders after explosions may sell ammo bundles for Scrap. Compare prices against the time cost of a full town run when the nuke clock is short.

Ammo Management in Squads

Assign ammo roles: one player mains Shotgun Ammo for breach control, two share Pistol Ammo pools, riflemen stock Rifle Ammo separately. Duplicating roles starves everyone.

Deposit surplus ammo in the bunker or Armory between cycles. Sack space is finite until you buy the Great Sack for 500 Scrap.

Never recycle ammo unless you are truly drowning in one type and confirmed teammates cannot use it—ammo is harder to replace than common melee junk.

• Keep at least one full pistol stack before raiding.
• Shotgun users carry smaller stacks but restock more often.
• Bank Rifle Ammo even before owning a rifle.
• Use melee to farm mutants when ammo is low.

Pairing Ammo With Weapons

Match Pistol Ammo to Revolver or M1911 builds. Match Shotgun Ammo to Worn Sawn Off. Check the ranged weapons guide for handling tips before burning rare shells.

When ammo runs dry mid-raid, swap to Fire Axe or Machete melee rather than wasting pistol rounds on trash mobs. Discipline extends weapon and ammo lifetimes.

See combat mutants and raiders for when to spend ammo aggressively versus when to kite with melee.

During extraction pushes described in the win guide, ammo conservation matters as much as room upgrades. Squads that burn every Pistol round on wandering mutants often arrive at the final objective undersupplied against player raiders.