GTA Online Bunker and Gunrunning Guide: Best Setup for Profit
A GTA Online bunker and gunrunning guide covering location choice, buy vs steal supplies, the research tree, must-have upgrades, sell missions, and real hourly profit.
The GTA Online bunker is the backbone of the Gunrunning business, turning a one-time property purchase into a steady passive income stream. This gunrunning guide walks through which bunker to buy, whether to buy or steal supplies, how the research tree works, which upgrades actually matter, and the realistic bunker money you can expect per hour. Get the setup right and the bunker is one of the most reliable earners in the game.
Choosing Your Bunker Location
There are 11 bunkers scattered across Blaine County, and here is the key truth that saves you a lot of money: location has no effect on income, upgrades, or production. Every bunker manufactures stock at the same rate and unlocks the same upgrades. The only thing that changes is the purchase price and how far you have to drive for supply and sell missions.
Prices run from the Paleto Forest Bunker at $1,165,000 (the cheapest, but parked in the far northwest corner) up to the Farmhouse Bunker at $2,375,000. A popular middle pick is the Chumash Bunker at $1,650,000, which sits closest to Los Santos and shortens your sell deliveries into the city. If you want central positioning, the Route 68 Bunker ($1,950,000) and the Farmhouse both sit near the middle of the map. Buy the cheapest one you can stomach if budget is tight, since you can always relocate later and Rockstar credits part of the old value toward the new property.
For the full property list and other money-making businesses, see the GTA Online hub.
The Upgrades That Actually Matter
Before you manufacture a single unit, plan for the upgrades. There are three:
- Equipment Upgrade (+$1,155,000) increases both production speed and the value of your stock. This is non-negotiable and should be your first purchase.
- Staff Upgrade (+$598,500) speeds up manufacturing and research further.
- Security Upgrade (+$351,000) reduces raids on your bunker but does nothing for income. Skip it unless you grind for long sessions.
The Equipment and Staff upgrades together cost roughly $1,753,500, but they roughly double your throughput and stock value. A fully upgraded bunker manufactures one unit of stock every 7 minutes. Each unit is worth $7,000 if you sell inside Blaine County and $10,500 if you sell to Los Santos, so a full bar of 100 units sells for $1,050,000 outside Blaine County.
Buy vs Steal Supplies
Your bunker needs supplies to turn into stock, and you have two ways to get them.
- Buying supplies costs up to $75,000 for a full bar of 100 supply units. It is instant and hands-off, which is the point.
- Stealing supplies is free but triggers a mission you have to complete, often more than once to fill the bar.
Here is the math that decides it. With both the Equipment and Staff upgrades, a single full supply bar costs $75,000 and converts into roughly $210,000 of stock sold to the city, so buying supplies and letting it run passively is well worth it. A full stock bar takes five supply bars to fill, so it costs $375,000 in supplies to produce $1,050,000 of stock, a net profit of about $675,000. Without the upgrades, buying loses money: an unupgraded bunker turns that same $75,000 of supplies into only about $52,500 of stock, a net loss of roughly $22,500. The rule is simple: if you do not own both upgrades yet, always steal supplies. Once you own both, buy supplies and treat the bunker as passive income.
How the Research Tree Works
Assigning your staff to Research instead of manufacturing unlocks weapon and vehicle modifications, including the attachments and liveries for Mk II weapons you cannot get any other way. Research is the only path to those Mk II upgrades.
Two things to know. First, research projects unlock in random order, so you cannot beeline a specific upgrade, you take what comes. Second, research consumes the same supplies that manufacturing would, so while staff are researching they are not making sellable stock. You can pay a Fast Track fee of around $225,000 to instantly complete the current project if you want a specific unlock sooner. Most players knock out the full research tree first for the Mk II unlocks, then switch staff back to manufacturing for pure profit.
Selling Stock and Sell Missions
Once stock builds up, you sell through the laptop in your bunker. A few practical notes:
- Sell to Los Santos for the higher $10,500-per-unit rate, not the local Blaine County rate.
- Larger stockpiles split into multiple vehicles and can spawn harder delivery missions, sometimes requiring vehicles you do not own. Selling smaller batches (under a full bar) keeps deliveries to a single, manageable vehicle.
- Sell missions have a time limit, so do not start one while distracted or low on time.
- Selling in a public lobby exposes you to other players, but you can run businesses in an invite-only session to deliver in peace.
Realistic Hourly Profit
With both upgrades and a buy-supplies approach, the bunker produces stock worth about $1,050,000 per full bar, and a full bar takes roughly 11 to 12 hours of real time to manufacture (one unit every 7 minutes). After subtracting the $375,000 in supply costs for a full bar, that nets about $675,000 per full cycle, or roughly $52,000 to $58,000 per hour as passive income while you do other activities. It is not the fastest earner in the game, but it runs in the background while you grind heists or other businesses, which is what makes it valuable.
Budget around $2.9 million total for the cheapest bunker plus the Equipment and Staff upgrades ($1,165,000 + $1,155,000 + $598,500). After that, every supply run is almost pure profit. For more GTA Online resources, check the cheats and console commands page.
