grandpappy's prepping 5 of 5

GRANDPAPPY’S PREPPING 5

Let me start this segment out by reminding you that while all different firearms are a tool that is specifically designed to do a different thing, you can’t afford to own them all.  Pure and simple.  It is much wiser to minimize the types of guns you have and maximize the ammunition for them, since in the near future there will be weapons aplenty with an ammo scarcity.  So it doesn’t matter how spectacularly a certain firearm performs its task.  Minimize gun and maximize ammo.  Improvise, adapt and overcome.  Now that that is out of the way, let’s start debunking gun needs.

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A great place to start is the rimfire.  I wouldn’t recommend them.  The guns are at least fifty percent higher ( I don’t include WalMart Specials- don’t trust your life on their products.  Store wide the quality is crap, so why take a chance? ).  Which isn’t as important as the fact that the ammunition is ridiculous.  For the price of a 9mm reload, you get one underpowered round.  Why do you want it, under those circumstances?  When rimfire was too cheap to care about, when you could go plinking every weekend, they were fine.  You could stockpile ten thousand rounds for the price of a Rugar 10/22.  It made sense to make a rimfire your “forever gun” arsenal ( you’d still be armed while all your enemies had bows and arrows, primitively made flintlocks or just rusted chunks of rebar-even with a 100 yard gun you would have the tactical advantage in most instances ).  But the rimfire was the pinnacle of Oil Age industrialism and that age is currently in the middle of ending.  The price has been too high for too long-for 99% of us-to think of it as a viable alternative any longer.  Sure, if you could spare the extra grand for ammo, if you just bite the bullet and spent the money as it will soon be useless anyway, fine.  Better rimfire with all its problems than cash in the bank.  But who has an extra thousand they don’t need?  For most of us, it is just too little gun for too high a price.

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Pellet guns are toys.  They are toys for boys training for bigger and bader guns.  But guns will eventually be an endangered species.  At most, we get flintlocks up and running, but black powder is not ballistically similar to smokeless and hence I see little application for pellet guns as trainers.  Not enough to stockpile and repair them.  The super deluxe multiple-shot units might be wonderful, but their range barely rivals a rimfire.  Let the boys use slingshots and small bows and rocks to hunt the rats, and train them on the actual weapons they will use.

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Bows and crossbows are great hunting weapons and might actually be what we end up with for future weapons ( depending on the scarcity of nitrates and energy for forging when we consider the viability of black powder ).  Bows for range and volume of fire, crossbows if your troops are only afforded minimal training.  But you don’t need to buy them now unless you plan on training enough with them to be one of your primary weapons.  Buy the books on making them, instead.  A MUCH better investment for you and your heirs.  I have a couple of the PVC books and a few primitive tech ones.

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Shotguns have a rather limited application.  They are great if you live in dense woods, as then all you need is a stockpile of primers and a decent stock of shells.  You can stay armed even without lead and with black powder.  The ammo is cheap since there is no to minimum brass used ( remember that pesky copper Peak I keep telling you about? ).  If your terrain supports it, and this is your primary weapon, great.  Good choice.  If you only have one for interior home defense, I’d have stuck with a pistol.  But if you already own one, okay.  You could do worse as they are the easiest to reload primitively.  Eventually, of course, the plastic will grow brittle and split, but even then you should hopefully still have the base to glue paper to.  You could do worse.  But if you live in other places, if the short range of the weapon will endanger you, pass on this.  It is an intimidating close range weapon, great for bushwacking, but I’d prefer distancing myself from others.

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Carbines.  If you have ranges not too far removed from ideal shotgun use, a carbine is a great idea.  If you have hundreds of yards to reach out, why do you think you need a carbine?  Like the shotgun, it was designed for close ranges.  It doesn’t matter if an AK has a twelve inch spread at 250 yards, the thing is a carbine designed for that mythical thirty yard encounter range.  In modern combat, the Infantry are heavy weapon support troops.  They aren’t marksmen.  In the Apocalypse, you have no heavy weapons.  Your shots matter.  In close urban and dense wood and jungle, all you need are carbines.  And if you have that carbine, due to close fighting ranges, by definition you don’t need a longer distance thirty cal.  Pick one or the other.

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If you DO need a battle rifle, you DON’T need a carbine.  Your one rifle will suffice for both roles.  I’ve read the justification that on long range patrols you need to conserve weight.  Sure, if Uncle Obammy’s Army issued your equipment and you are a pack mule.  A pack mule so over burdened you can’t move silently or observe what is around you.  The survivalist should be true light infantry, with only a few pounds more than the weapon and a short issue of ammo.  The militaries focus on shaving weight from ammo is stupid, as they give you an anemic round requiring two to three hits to take down the target, negating any advantage.  Then, they overburden you with all the other crap you don’t need.  Why shave off three pounds from the rifle when you carry an extra thirty?  Remember, you are NOT a soldier, you are a survivalist.  You are better off, nine times out of ten, doing not what they do but the exact opposite.  A thirty cal is a superior weapon for a fighter who wishes to survive the fight.  You needn’t ever shoot at its extreme ranges to utilize its potential.  Just being skilled at the 300 to five hundred yard range will serve you very well. 

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You choose, bolt or semi.  But if you have one thirty cal rifle, either one, why do you need another?  If you have a bolt, and are shooting from 300 yards, why do you need a semi?  The bolt will give you a good enough rate of fire, considering you are in survival/defensive/ambush mode.  If you have a semi, why are you concerned with having a bolt?  For that extra one half inch accuracy?  Why?  Unless you are a true sniper, and if so, why do you have a semi if you are worried about that thousand yard shot? 

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As for pistols, choose your poison, if at all.  You are either a revolver guy, or not.  Why have both?  A pistol is a last ditch weapon, if you even feel you need one ( if you have a war surplus rifle, a bayonet might be all you need for a back-up ).  I prefer the revolver for simplicity, dearth of spare parts, novice friendly, forever-load-and-forget, and cheap price.  Of course, pistols have their place.  But not necessarily are they needed in addition to a rifle.  If you only have a pistol, and your ranges are short, and if you are practiced, you don’t need a rifle to go along with it.  Pistol ammo is cheap, far better reloading as it is a straight case and capable of being reused longer and light weight.  Cops do quite well, just being armed with pistols.  Just either make it your primary, or don’t worry overly much about having one, if you can’t afford both.

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One last word, on getting a flintlock rifle.  Prices have shot up to unaffordable levels.  You are much better off just buying as much in the way of reloading supplies for your modern firearm.  Or, if you are concerned with the longer term, go full bore Stone Age/Scavenger Age bower ( primitive tech with arrowheads scavenged metal for the best of both worlds ) and forego firearms completely.  If your terrain will allow it, and you are nomadic.  Remember, firearms only defeated the Mongols ( and/or their descendents/replacements ) from defensive positions.  If you aren’t attacking with bows, you needn’t worry so much about higher tech weapons.  The Amerindians didn’t lose to superior weapons, they lost to superior population and resources, a situation I don’t find feasible after the collapse.

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That is more than enough.  Be cool.

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