Guns & Ammo

Back to our discussion on guns. Last post I suggested a 12ga shotgun as the first weapon everyone should have. If the gun will be used by a small framed youth or a small framed woman, you may want to opt for a 20ga. And if you are outfitting more than one person in the family, you may want to get each person the gun that fits them best. What I really want to talk about this time is ammo.

I am asked many times: "How much ammo do I need?" My answer: "Just as much as you can afford!" When the SHTF ammo will not only be useful for hunting and protection, there will probably be a market for in as a barter instrument. This is one of the reasons I suggest 12ga, it is the most popular guage out there. There will be many people who have a shotgun but were not forward enough looking to buy a supply of ammo.

Here are my suggestions. These amounts are for each shotgun in the household. If you have three shotguns, multiply by three. If you have both a 12 and a 20ga, you will need this much for each one. Number 7 1/2 shot, 200 rounds. Number 4 shot 200 rounds. 00 buckshot 200 rounds. Slugs 400 rounds. This gives you a total of 1,000 rounds of ammo for each shotgun in your household.

Now let us look at why I suggest these and how to keep them fresh. The number 7 1/2 shot is to be used for taking small game and possibly as a bedroom defensive load. It will do much damage at ten yards and yet will not ruin as much of the interior of your home. The number 4 shot is the one that could be reduced or even left out if cost is a problem. I use it for things like ducks and other fairly long range game taking. I would fill the other shot sizes first and leave this until last. Depending on what type of hunting you feel you will be doing will dictate whether you need it or not. The 00 buck is for takin turkey size birds and at close range even deer. The main reason I reccomend so much is that this is an excellent defensive shot. Outside of the house, at close range there is nothing better. This is especially true for many people that do not have a lot of time to practice with other ammo. 00 buck has a big enough spread to make hitting easier and each pellet is of a size that will do definate damage.

Now to slugs. This amount of slugs is primarly for people whose only weapon will be shotguns, but is not a bad idea even if you have a full collection of guns. They are great for hunting deer and black bear sized game. They can be accurate and deadly out to one hundred yards. This also makes them excellent defensive ammo. These will take more practice to hit consistantly but will give you an adequate defensive weapon. Not the greatest, but adequate.

Practice, practice, practice, that is important. There are two reasons to do a lot of practicing; one is to get to be somewhat of an expert shot, the other is to continuously rotate your stock so it does not get too old. If you have 200 rounds of a shot size, you only need to shoot up 25 (one box) every three month to rotate the complete stock every two years. This is not absolutely necessary as the ammo will last at least five years but I reccomend the two year rotation. You have three different sizes of shot so if you go out once a month and use up a box (25) of ammo, you will be right on target (in more ways than one). Get a trap thrower and work on moving target shots and do some hunting if possible. Both of these will better prepare you for what you may need to do later.

When it comes to the slugs you will need to use 200 per year to get the job done. This is not really a problem, at least for me. I feel that to stay proficient with a weapon you need to shoot that weapon once a month. That means that you only need to use up about 15 or 20 slugs per session. Before purchasing your complete 400 rounds, go out and purchase as many different brands as possible. Every shotgun is different and handles different slugs differently. Find the ones that are the most accurate at 25, 50, 75 and 100 yards and then go out and buy that brand exclusively. Continue to practice at those ranges until you are really good. You may even want to take your shotgun and go deer hunting. You might be surprised at how good a deer gun they can be.

Always rotate your stock. Date each box of ammo as you purchase it. When you use up a box of ammo, go out and buy a replacement. Always date the replacement and when you are going out to practice, always take the oldest date in you ammo stock.

Some of you may have seen different numbers in my many survival writings. I am not even sure what some of my archived columns state. The numbers in this post are my satest reccomendation based on much research i.e. other survivalists, writings, and my personal experience of shooting and rotation ammo. I hope I have not caused any confusion.

Some Weapon Advice

I talked last about being ready, this time I am going to go a little deeper into one of the items I suggested, "guns". What guns? How many? How much ammo? Where to start? First to answer the question of how many guns, I believe in at least one for every adult and teen in your group. That should be a minimum. Beyond that you can go as far as you want. However many each person can handle and what you can afford. I know there will be people out there that will only be able to afford one gun per family. If that is the case, get that one gun.

What should that one gun be? Well unless you are a small framed woman or a small teenager, it should be a 12ga shotgun. This is probably the most versatile of all weapons. You can get bird shot for hunting and indoor protection. You can get buckshot for better protection but will cause more damage within a home and you can get rifled slugs for hunting deer sized animals and taking out an enemy at out to 100 yards.

What action should you buy? That can be a very serious question and can have several answers. First, it should be an action that you are comfortable with. One of the best would be a slide action (pump) with the barrel plug taken out so that it will handle five or six shots. A semi-auto is also an excellent choice. I peronally have several and one choice I made many years ago was bolt action shotguns. I have bolt actions in all of my weapons, from my .22 to my hi-powers to my shotguns. I did this many years ago due to the fact that they were cheap and at the time I was raising a family and did not have an excess of money. I am a person who believes that all of your weapons should be the same action. What that does is to allow you to concentrate on the target, not thinking about which action you are now using. With the price changes today and the lack of bolt action shotguns on the market, I would probably opt for semi-autos. Another reason I started with bolt actions is that they are one of the easiest to work on. You may be doing all of your own small fixes and you will want to be familiar with the weapon you are using. This is true for field stripping and cleaning. so buy whatever action you can afford and are comfortable with. If the only thing you can afford at this time is a used single shot, by all means buy one of those. Anything you have is better than nothing.

Now, whatever gun you have, get to know it and shoot it often. There is nothing more important than being totally familiar with your weapon. This is one of the reasons I preach to one action for all weapons. You become so familiar with a particular action that it becomes second nature to you. That is the way I was and still am with bolt actions. I have shot against both slide actions and semi-autos for speed and accuracy and have either beat or virtually tied most of them. That took a lot of practice and concentration. It can be done. Wen I was a kid I shot single shots and got pretty good with them. I once took two ducks out of a flock of nine. That is quick ejection and reloading. That is why I say, get whatever action you can afford that you are comfortable with.

I cannot stress too much the importance of practice. You do not know what you can do with a weapon unless you practice. With a shotgun, knowing where a slug is going to hit is important as is knowing what kind of slug is most accurate in your shotgun. This is one place that I still feel a bolt action is best and that is for the one gun person. You can get a bolt action shotgun with some rifling and with decent sights and even drilled for a scope mount. These are the deer hunting shotguns that are made for areas where high powered rifle are not allowed.

I have much more to say about guns in general and have not even touched on ammo but I am going to leave off here and continue with my next post. I will try to post at least once a week and more if I possibly can. I think the time is getting near and the information will be important for those who are just getting started.