What Next?
After you have your food supply well under control, it is time to look to other things. If you have the finances available, you can and should be doing more than one of these things at a time. The only reason I am seperating them is due to the fact that some things are more important than others and we need to set priorities. You may want to split up your purchases according to your priorities, say fifty percent for food and the other fifty percent for other items. You may not want to follow my priorities to the letter. I give these as a way to get started and will say more about these priorities later
This week I am going to talk about firearms and ammunition. I am not going to get into a firearms discussion. People ask me about fully auto rifles, semi-auto rifles, etc. etc. I do not really believe it matters. You need to have your weapons in an action that you are comfortable with. You also need to be familiar enough with them to clean, service and possibly repair them. If you have shot bolt actions all your life, now is no time to be switching to a semi-auto. As for full auto, my disclaimer is that they are illegal, they are expensive to practice with and most people do not get enough practice to be proficient with them. I do not even think that a semi-auto is really NEEDED. They are probably best to have, but if you have a number of bolt actions or even single shot weapons, do not feel that you need to go out an buy semi-autos. Any weapon you have is better than none at all and one you are real familiar with is better than one you have never shot. I feel the same way about handguns, whether you have a semi-auto or a revolver is a personal choice. Here again, the semi-auto is probably best due to the ammunition capacity. Having said that I will still carry my wheelgun as I feel much more comfortable with a revolver than a semi-auto. Most of us will never be in a fire-fight, we will be in a defensive position. In a defensive position the action of the weapon does not matter as much as if you were expecting to be in fire-fights regularly. If too many get too close to me, I will just fall back and play sniper.
The next question I usually get, especially from those that do not now have weapons is: "What should I purchase first? I feel that a shotgun is always the best all around weapon if you can only afford one weapon. I would go out and buy a 12 gauge (20 gauge for women and small framed people) probably a slide action (or semi-auto if you prefer). Here again if push comes to shove, a single shot is better than nothing. For the person that cannot practice a lot shotguns are ideal. You can get slugs that will take down deer and black bear, buckshot for medium sized game and self-defense and bird shot for small game. Bird shot can also be used for self-defense especially inside of an apartment. Should you need to use the gun, it is hard to miss and you will not be liable to kill someone in the next apartment should you miss. Once you have a shotgun, a good center-fire rifle is next on my list. Again, as far as action and even caliber, they are not really important. One thing I would advise though, get a caliber that is common and that ammo will be readily available for. Calibers like .223, 7.62 (308), 30-30 or 30-06 are all good. I like to have a center-fire that is not only my survival rifle, but a hunting rifle. Just do not go out and get some wildcat caliber because the price is good. Next, you would want a .22 rimfire in the same action as your center-fire rifle. The reason for that is that you can practice more with a .22 as the ammo is much cheaper and you will become very familiar with the action. I once lent a bolt action rifle to a friend with which to hunt deer. He missed getting a second shot at a buck because he just kept pulling the trigger and not working the bolt. He had hunted with semi-autos for many years and was not thinking of a bolt. Next I would buy two handguns in the same action. I would purchase a .22 rifmire and a center-fire handgun. The .22 is to keep in practice with without ruining your budget. I find practice with a handgun more important than a rifle.
Now to ammo. First the shotgun. Here I opt for a minimum of 500 rounds. 100 rounds of rifled slugs, 200 rounds of a couple of different sizes of buckshot and 200 rounds of bird shot in various sizes. This gives you both hunting and defense ammo. For your .22 I recommend 2,000 rounds. This should be the gun you practice with most and you may also have a .22 handgun to feed. For the center-fire rifle I recommend at least 1,000 rounds. Here again, you will want enough for both hunting and defense. For your center-fire handgun, 300 to 500 should be plenty. Always rotate your ammo, using the oldest first. Write a date on each box of ammo you buy and keep rotating as you practice and replace what you use. I like to practice once a week and use a different gun each week. In this way, I can use each of my guns about once a month.
That pretty much takes care of guns and ammo for the near future. I will be getting into the ammo portion of your survival supplies in a later entry. There is more use for ammo than just hunting and protection. Until next week "SURVIVE".
This week I am going to talk about firearms and ammunition. I am not going to get into a firearms discussion. People ask me about fully auto rifles, semi-auto rifles, etc. etc. I do not really believe it matters. You need to have your weapons in an action that you are comfortable with. You also need to be familiar enough with them to clean, service and possibly repair them. If you have shot bolt actions all your life, now is no time to be switching to a semi-auto. As for full auto, my disclaimer is that they are illegal, they are expensive to practice with and most people do not get enough practice to be proficient with them. I do not even think that a semi-auto is really NEEDED. They are probably best to have, but if you have a number of bolt actions or even single shot weapons, do not feel that you need to go out an buy semi-autos. Any weapon you have is better than none at all and one you are real familiar with is better than one you have never shot. I feel the same way about handguns, whether you have a semi-auto or a revolver is a personal choice. Here again, the semi-auto is probably best due to the ammunition capacity. Having said that I will still carry my wheelgun as I feel much more comfortable with a revolver than a semi-auto. Most of us will never be in a fire-fight, we will be in a defensive position. In a defensive position the action of the weapon does not matter as much as if you were expecting to be in fire-fights regularly. If too many get too close to me, I will just fall back and play sniper.
The next question I usually get, especially from those that do not now have weapons is: "What should I purchase first? I feel that a shotgun is always the best all around weapon if you can only afford one weapon. I would go out and buy a 12 gauge (20 gauge for women and small framed people) probably a slide action (or semi-auto if you prefer). Here again if push comes to shove, a single shot is better than nothing. For the person that cannot practice a lot shotguns are ideal. You can get slugs that will take down deer and black bear, buckshot for medium sized game and self-defense and bird shot for small game. Bird shot can also be used for self-defense especially inside of an apartment. Should you need to use the gun, it is hard to miss and you will not be liable to kill someone in the next apartment should you miss. Once you have a shotgun, a good center-fire rifle is next on my list. Again, as far as action and even caliber, they are not really important. One thing I would advise though, get a caliber that is common and that ammo will be readily available for. Calibers like .223, 7.62 (308), 30-30 or 30-06 are all good. I like to have a center-fire that is not only my survival rifle, but a hunting rifle. Just do not go out and get some wildcat caliber because the price is good. Next, you would want a .22 rimfire in the same action as your center-fire rifle. The reason for that is that you can practice more with a .22 as the ammo is much cheaper and you will become very familiar with the action. I once lent a bolt action rifle to a friend with which to hunt deer. He missed getting a second shot at a buck because he just kept pulling the trigger and not working the bolt. He had hunted with semi-autos for many years and was not thinking of a bolt. Next I would buy two handguns in the same action. I would purchase a .22 rifmire and a center-fire handgun. The .22 is to keep in practice with without ruining your budget. I find practice with a handgun more important than a rifle.
Now to ammo. First the shotgun. Here I opt for a minimum of 500 rounds. 100 rounds of rifled slugs, 200 rounds of a couple of different sizes of buckshot and 200 rounds of bird shot in various sizes. This gives you both hunting and defense ammo. For your .22 I recommend 2,000 rounds. This should be the gun you practice with most and you may also have a .22 handgun to feed. For the center-fire rifle I recommend at least 1,000 rounds. Here again, you will want enough for both hunting and defense. For your center-fire handgun, 300 to 500 should be plenty. Always rotate your ammo, using the oldest first. Write a date on each box of ammo you buy and keep rotating as you practice and replace what you use. I like to practice once a week and use a different gun each week. In this way, I can use each of my guns about once a month.
That pretty much takes care of guns and ammo for the near future. I will be getting into the ammo portion of your survival supplies in a later entry. There is more use for ammo than just hunting and protection. Until next week "SURVIVE".
posted by Knifeman | 7:13 PM
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