RIMFIRE SNIPER 2
*note: free zombie novel https://amzn.to/2r9OFkD , also another one https://amzn.to/2r945pn
*
When your budget is tight,
a bolt action gun is easy peasy to fit into your training schedule. For as little as dollar, you can go to the
range ( with a rimfire, it is much easier to find a makeshift range ) and get
some serious practice. You aren’t
wasting rounds plinking, but going for one shot hits. Twenty rounds can last as long as a few
hundred would in a semi ( if you had the mags already loaded ). Which is why I advise turning your AR into a
bolt action ( blocking the gas port ).
Since they are inherently more accurate than many bolt actions due to
the nature of their design, one might be tempted to use them as an example to
prove semi’s are now required in sniper rifles.
*
But a semi is a semi, from
the point of view of logistics. Whether
an AR or a rimfire. It doesn’t matter if
it is a designated marksman, semi still wastes rounds. You’ll lose your site picture cycling a bolt,
they say, use semi. Losing your site
picture is EXACTLY what you want. This
lose is what trains the brain to not waste ammunition. With a semi, the stress your brain gives you
causes an ammo dump, from the fright and response to survive this combat. With a bolt action, the stress is on making
the shot count, since you only get one.
This is real world reporting, not theory.
*
I know you all think I
focus on being a cheap bastard, which in and of itself is true, but a knock on
effect of that is focusing on logistics.
Unlike food, shelter, clothing or almost anything else, firearms are not
able to be duplicated on a more primitive level. You THINK you can manufacture black powder on
a cottage industry level, but that is only true for a hunting situation, NOT a
defense situation. Only nation states
can support the infrastructure needed for industrial sizes of powder, ore
processing and factories, colonialization for surplus nitrates, or a
centralized effort at collecting domestic sources of same.
*
What you have stockpiled
is IT. No Mas! Whether a civil insurrection or post
apocalypse, your stockpile is the last ammunition in the world, realistically
for all intents and purposes. Going
manual rather than semi prolongs your supply.
AND minimizes the extra you need for training. Okay, I’m going to try to put the semi-auto
tirade to bed and not resurrect it, if I can.
Since we aren’t going to attempt to fill the air with lead, which just
plays to the strength of the enemy by fighting short range ( Sun Tzu would NOT
be pleased with your pasty white capitalist pig dog ass! ), let’s move on to
the strengths of the rimfire system.
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No recoil doesn’t JUST
make this round suitable for those unable to hold or fire centerfire round weapons. It is also great for mediocre shooters. I can hit the paper, somewhere, at two
hundred yards with my Enfield ( which is why I’m more comfortable keeping this
a ONE hundred yard gun ), but with a rimfire I can get rounds a LOT closer to
the center ring, and that is with a crappy Wal-Mart rifle. I can also scope the rimfire with much better
results. Obviously, you can scope thirty
cals, but my performance is not as enhanced with glass on them as it is on
rimfire.
*
I am NOT a super ninja
special forces shooter. I have no desire
to be, because I know I can only increase my skill with a lot more money, and I’m
simply not all that interested. I feel
my mathematical odds of survival are enhanced by focusing on food rather than
firearms. That is JUST me,
personally. Your mileage might obviously
vary. I look at it like I do my
transportation. I can get much better
performance in a motor vehicle, but my entire lifestyle must change to pay for
that. I could ride a pimping radical
geared bike for effortless hill climbing, but my investment in equipment, but
especially in increased mechanical skill, would need to increase
exponentially. Far better to sacrifice
performance rather than money or time.
*
Simply, for me, a rimfire
is much easier to learn on. For 20% of
the investment I get 80% of the performance.
Do I stand a change slugging it out High Noon style with a guy with a
two grand AR and multiple hours of training per week? Of course not. But how many of those am I going to run
across? More to the point, after the
initial die-off, the combat vets will be relying far less on their equipment
than their experience. They won’t be
relying on slinging lead as much. The
equipment will diminish in importance at this point. Other factors come into play. Are they fed?
Do they have transportation to your area? You get the picture.
*
You shouldn’t really be
looking at the rimfire as a defensive weapon, but an offensive one. And offense is more skill than
equipment. What was more important to
the Viet Cong for their survival, that they had semi-auto AK’s or that we
simply could not find or catch them? And
what was more important when they attacked our bases at night ( or our patrols
anytime ), our night vision and machine guns, or their skill in ambush? A single 22 shot at a sentry or patrol member
might not accomplish a huge amount past psych-ops, but that skill is a lot
easier to learn by an amateur.
*
Who am I going to fear
more? The guy spraying the countryside
with 5.56 lead, all super tactical with MOLLIE gear chockablock full of
magazines. Or the old decrepit hermit
that shows up on his schedule, fires a shot and always wounds a man, then
disappears? You know when you hear that
weak ass 22, a man is already down. When
Tommy T unloads a few clips, everyone goes to ground and knows more than likely
all is well past an inconvenience. Just
think about it. For hundreds of
thousands of years, raiding was the primary successful type of warfare. Modern nation state warfare is far more recent
and only by acquiring surplus is it feasible.
In an age of decline without surplus, you devolve back to war as you are
able to fight it. Not how you would LIKE
to fight it.
END ( today's related link https://amzn.to/2HmX3rH )
* By the by, all my writing is copyrighted. For the obtuse out there
I have to disagree on several point, and your beautiful hair is not going to trick me in admiration this time :)
ReplyDeleteFirst there is the issue of false inversion. Just because the looks of the US infantryman is merging with that of a Mall Ninja doesn't mean the GI is useless. Also, the exact opposite of him is not in every way superior. We have this image of the Viet-Cong as illiterate toothless peasants wearing pyjamas, but these jungle operations were made by young well-trained professional soldiers, with potent equipment (long-barreled weapons with intermediate cartridges or better, or SMGs, not at all 22LR).
From a survivalist perspective 22LR is great to get from “complete newbie to firearm” to “informed amateur” status, which is an ideal level for your average family member. An informed amateur knows how to aim, has trigger discipline and nows the safety rules, as well as proper weapon maintenance. I'd say this is already better than many non-combattants in First World armies.
Now I'm confident a sniper trained by the military or a good hunter with experience or an avid shooter can use the 22LR as a sniping rifle. But the average Joes around you ? You might be lucky a have a guy with potential within your group, and then he might want to specialize in these tasks. Like everybody else he will have to be a jack-of-all-trades, and shooting will be one of his trades. But that's really a best-case scenario.
The trained shooter might be able to use a 22LR for “aggressive sniping”, but when offered the choice with something more appropriate for that job he will chose the latter of course. Such an operation would require at least one other person as an observer and to cover your six, and he won't be armed with a .22LR as well. I guess that if you have to resort to “agressive sniping” there will be more than two enemies, so whoever remains alive after the first man is down will spend the rest of their time hunting the sniper down.
I can imagine a dozen SHTF scenarios where one would need “aggressive sniping” to get rid of a threat, problem is they don't seem that much probable in the first place. More a “solution waiting for a problem” kind of situation.
Okay, the rimfire sucks compared to all other weapons. But it has such better concealability even not silenced, that you can do away with a spotter watching your back with a "serious caliber" weapon. You go big in caliber, you have big problems to go with that. Tiny caliber, much smaller problems. Lack of recoil and you can train much easier on the thing, making this skill less about the gun and more about skulking in the woods. Less detectable, less training. My point on the VC/NVA wasn't that they had better weapons than the 22. Every weapon is better than the 22. It is only one tool in a guerrilla war. Just like the tunnel rats didn't take their .45's out above ground to go on regular patrol used as their primary weapon. My point was that skill negated our weapons which were far superior to theirs.
Delete>> My point was that skill negated our weapons which were far superior to theirs.
DeleteActually the VC had the best weapons in regard to their mission. On the US side :
- M14 was too long & unwiedly
- M16 had direct impingement and all these related problems
- the 5,56 round may be "great" (coff coff) against a First World enemy (where the wounded get evacuated and disappear from the battlefield, thus costing the enemy a fortune) but not against a Third World enemy which you need to stop the grunt right there. The AK &the SKS were better suited to the conditions of the jungle.
- Napalm is dumb (in all senses) and aleniated us the support of everybody
Like in all small wars the skill of commanding officers is the determining factor, and Westmoreland seemed to be an ineffectual yes-man ( Westmoreland: The General Who Lost Vietnam https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6LR-UJsYRc )
Despite rumors, we were NOT out to win hearts and minds. We were out to blow through enough rounds of expensive ordinance to keep the military industrial complex in cocaine and whores. I'm not talking about an AK verses a M16, I'm talking about a patrol backed by the air force and the cannon cockers.
DeleteFirst you say this:
ReplyDelete"You shouldn’t really be looking at the rimfire as a defensive weapon, but an offensive one."
Then you say this:
"Or the old decrepit hermit that shows up on his schedule, fires a shot and always wounds a man, then disappears?"
Those 2 things are exact opposites of the same thing.
My opinion:
Going on the offensive I want the biggest, highest capacity gun I can carry cause I'm not interested in injuring anybody or taking prisoners but rather killing everything in sight except the wimminz and then taking all the stuff I need.
If you're going offensive you better understand what that word means.
Now, if I'm laid back on perimeter guard, all comfy with lots of cover (foxhole) then I can use a .22 to reach way out there and pick people off at leisure, killing some and injuring more. Putting long range terror into the approaching enemy and hoping they'll turn back.
Along that same vane, when shooting with a semi (AR) at long range, say 300 yds or better, where is all this nervous terror that's gonna make you waste your ammo? Go out and step off 300 yds on flat ground and observe how far away that is. That's 900 feet! If an enemy at that distance makes you fill your diaper than maybe you should stay in the kitchen with the ho's. LOL I mean this figuratively, not personally.
Thing is when the shit goes down and there's imminent threat that we might get killed there is no way to predict how you're going to act. What I do know though is that there is no way in hell I'm going to let lack of firepower on my part be a tool used to kill me. Call me a nervous nilly if you must but I see firearms as the ultimate lifesaver and everything else is bukkshit.
How is "rimfire is offensive" and "old guy ambushes you with one" contradicting each other? As for the Nervous Terror at 300 yards, yes, that would be lacking there. Which is exactly where I approve of its use. But near everyone is using the AR for a shorter range shotgun rather than a longer range sniper.
DeleteWell apparently I erred, and I apologize.
DeleteOr, which may very well be possible, I lost my train of thought and can't get back onboard. LOL That happens a lot any more. Give it another 19 years and you'll see what I mean.
I'm already scatterbrained most of the day. I'm beating the rush to old age and am already suffering CRS. But at least I know it ISN'T old age since I've always been like this.
DeleteOn Cheaperthandirt.com you can get three Rock Island Armory M14Y Youth rifles (with a 10-round magazine each) for for 3x126 USD = 378 USD. I guess that would be perfect to arm inexpensively three average members of your group, just so that they're not completely defenseless.
ReplyDeleteAt the same place you can get a Mossberg Patriot Youth rifle in .308 for 316 USD, it already has Weaver bases installed. If you complete it with the cheapest scope ( BSA .22 Special Riflescope (fixed 4x32) ) for 35 USD and you have a 351 USD sniper rifle.
Both options cost roughly the same.
I don't know, but would a rimfire scope hold up to the recoil of a 308?
DeleteI'll have to give it a try some day. Some people told me they used .22LR scopes on hunting rifles.
DeleteA guy at my range told me the real scope killer is the .223 with its brisky recoil. Not a lot in terms of energy but apparently the .223 causes a sudden acceleration backwards.
Thanks. Perhaps there is hope for my cheap scopes.
DeleteIf you are anticipating recoil, then dry fire practice is the answer.
ReplyDeleteAnother good drill is to practice trigger pull with your eyes shut.
Practice each of these drills a few thousand times and you'll no longer flinch when firing a weapon.
Dry firing costs nothing but time too. Except perhaps havng dummy rounds to protect your firing pin.
It , by far is the single most important training thing you can do.
For sniping and stealth, I prefer a compound bow. It can accurately deliver a four hundred grain bullet that is guaranteed to pass right through most any soft armor.
With absolutely very little to no noice.
Of course, that compound bow takes wicked skill, yo. I'm not saying skill is bad, whether with guns or their silent cousins. I'm saying most folks won't bother with TOO much skill. Rather busy living, and surviving is still a low probability event ( like Yellowstone, it WILL happen. But few think it will happen tomorrow ).
DeleteSpuds right, anytime the gun is in your hands is a good thing, it breeds familiarity. I have about 6 pieces of standard printer paper taped to the walls in various locations in my workshop. Workshop is 24' x 24' with an 8' long workbench across the rear-center wall. I stand at the workbench facing it, with my pistol in holster at 4 o'clock on my belt. I quickly draw, while turning, and draw a bead on any random target. Practicing smooth, quick, on target draws. Sometimes I put the laser-sighter in to see how close I get to the actual target.
DeleteLast night I was thinking about shooting practice AFTER the ball drops when noise discipline might be an issue. Maybe a decent quality air-gun is in order. Maybe 2. A .22 caliber rifle and a .22 pistol. Not real high quality but high enough that they produce decent results without breaking the bank entirely. I know next to nothing about modern day air guns so I'm going to do some research. Anybody have any recommends?
This is what a minion recommended to me:
Deletehttps://amzn.to/2raQfn3
$55 Chinese airgun is a 80/20 type.
Good.
DeleteOn your word, and reading a few reviews, I ordered it.
And a 500 can of the Crossman domed pellets in .22.
Thanks!
If the whole point is to train, yes then everything is good. Professional soldiers nowadays train with airsoft for certain aspects of their job.
ReplyDeleteIf you want to train for the offensive then it will cost you more than just train somebody to use a weapon right (which is what .22LR is for).
It has been my understanding that you should train with the platform you're intending to use, same weapon or close equivalent (like those "advanced trainer" airplanes used to train pilots), same cartridge, same bullet, same load etc.
I agree with Ghostsniper that firearms are lifesavers, but I also consider that specialty weapons (like long-range rifles) are not going to be used by most people in one's survival group.
The emphasis is thus on the group's standard weapon, the one everybody will have at hand in a crisis. Like I wrote above, a 126 USD 22LR rifle might be such a weapon.
Personally, I would rather advocate for a light rifle in .357 Magnum / .38 Special, like the Rossi 92, which is an ideal survivalist rifle, but costs 425 USD.
Since Jim is rightly concerned with logistics, single-shot rifles are IMHO a good platform to arm non-combattants with, and non-combattants are 80% of the people in your group.
In such a scenario, I could imagine that most people could be armed with a scoped .243 single-shot rifle (@ 265 USD apiece) because it's currently the cheapest option for an efficient round. Also, single shot fits well with Jim's article here, in that the group member learns to make that single round count.
For caliber commonality, one or two rifles are not single-shots but magazine rifles (Cheaperthandirt.com has a Remington 783 Compact rifle in .243 that is already scoped, for 322 USD)
(Side note : .223 used to be ubiquitous but apparently changes in hunting laws made the .243 the new .223)
Regardless of hunting I would still stick with 223 for it cheapness, options, scrounging.
DeleteJust for reference, while I investigated on the cost of .243 ammunition, I stumbled on this site that sells once-fired brass.
Deletehttps://www.diamondkbrass.com/Once-Fired-Rifle-Brass_DKB.html
Looks like (re)loading .243 cartridges would be more economical than I first thought.
Also there is this : http://www.shootingtimes.com/reloading/how-to-make-243-from-308-successfully/
Delete“Regardless of hunting I would still stick with 223 for it cheapness, options, scrounging.”
DeleteTotally agree. The .223 is probably the most common centerfire rifle round in north America. Plenty of used brass out there, and the small bullets don’t use much lead. Between molding your own bullets, and using salvaged brass, I wouldn’t be surprised if you could reload this round to milder velocities at a cost not too far above the .22lr. This round practically screams at the survivalist to pick up a rifle chambered for it. I’d probably get a single shot break action, because I’m not a bolt kind of guy. But I’d bet that there are many used options out there for chamberings in this round.
I kind of gave up on used, as it seems there isn't usually enough of a price difference to chance barrel wear, but it would be nice to have options.
DeleteHenry Repeating Arms Singleshot Break Open 5.56
Delete$380 at grabagun. They also make them in .44Mag, 45-70, .243, and .308. all for around the same price.
They as come with iron sights which makes them better than all the rest.
You won't beat Henry for quality and they also have the best customer service/ warranty in the industry.
Isn't that about the price of a bolt action, though? More accuracy. But I do agree on that iron site.
DeleteNo, I don't think that a BA is more accurate then the Henry Rifles. Henry firearms are pretty top notch. Seen they can have a scope mounted on them, that should make them on pare with a BA.
DeleteMy Henry lever action is pretty dead on.
But they have only been out for less than a yr and reviews are few.
Well, seeing as how H&R was about the only good single out there, and Remington owns them ( and Remington might go out of business ), it seems like Henry might soon be your only option. Whether a better option remains to be seen. I went to Gun Test's and couldn't find a review. Other single reviews seem to all point at single shots as being about as accurate as mass production military semi's ( 2 to 3 inch, unless you splurge of better ammo ). And the $350 seems to be the regular price. I love single's for their simplicity. They will last forever after the apocalypse. I settled on bolts for better accuracy. If Henry can get the accuracy back I'd be impressed.
DeleteThe Australian importer for Henry Firearms won't bring in the single shots.
DeleteLiability issues. What happens if there is a school shooting? Anything above a muzzleloader is too fast to reload. Unless it is a knife. Knives don't need to be reloaded. Better ban them too. Especially Assault Knives ( swords-capable of cutting down crowds with one swipe ).
DeleteVarious tools are necessary due to their specialty roles. An effective tradesman, or somewhat self sufficient home handy man will eventually have to,over time, aquire and spend money on various types and quantity of tools to either be professionaly proficient or even layman adequate. If a minion places priority or emphasis in these areas it is thus possible with time and even careful budgeting to build an arsenal of weaponry to satisfy several categories of uses. A couple-few types of handguns,rimfires,centerfires,shotguns can be resourced to fill in the what if blanks in typical planning/scenarios. One type of shoes, one type of kitchen utensil, one type of clothing garment, etc can not satisfy all requirements. Same applies to firearm tools. plan and resource accordingly while america is still open for business.
ReplyDeleteExcellent. To expand on that, a professional can achieve professional results with a lesser tool because he knows how to work the thing, through long term experience. Without the experience a novice would fail with the best tool.
Delete>> One type of shoes, one type of kitchen utensil, one type of clothing garment, etc can not satisfy all requirements.
ReplyDeleteYes, but one type can satisfy *most* of the requirements. Which one ? This is the question here.
Also notice that procurement cost (of firearm and ammu nition) is pretty high on the list.
If you live back in the holler, bib overalls can be all your clothing needs :)
DeleteI understand your ammo conservation with a bolt gun idea. But as a trained rifleman 19D, there isn't a lot of spray and pray. One shot one kill. A rifleman learns how to control his fear, breathing, and be smooth on the trigger. Pace is paramount, and will pile up the enemy's 4 or 5 to 1 over a bolt gun. Plus the injured (5.56) crush a enemy's fighting spirit. But I'm not a sniper, just a scout.
ReplyDeleteBut how many are trained riflemen? More people go to college and smoke the PC dingus than go into the military ( and smoke the camo pattern PC dingus ). Most, average, the majority, will be better off with a bolt.
Delete"James M Dakin April 30, 2018 at 5:58 AM
ReplyDeleteThis is what a minion recommended to me:
https://amzn.to/2raQfn3
$55 Chinese airgun is a 80/20 type."
I was that minion. I have the B1, but the B3 is the better model. To be clear, it’s a cheap Chinese Airgun. That said, it’s surprisingly nice for a cheap Chinese Airgun, being of all steel and wood construction. Another feature is its simplicity, and simple leather seals, which makes for easier maintenance post collapse. They do sell a pistol version as well. I’d also recommend the .22 cal vs the .177. The higher velocity .177’s tend to produce that all telling ultrasonic crack, that gives one’s location away.
https://www.amazon.com/5-5mm-Caliber-Pistol-Pellet-Real/dp/B00AQLN0FA/ref=pd_sbs_200_6?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B00AQLN0FA&pd_rd_r=WYC31GWP44Q1002ZHFH0&pd_rd_w=r4rWq&pd_rd_wg=iwhCl&psc=1&refRID=WYC31GWP44Q1002ZHFH0
If you wish to spend a little more ($100) you can get a nice Crossman Nitro Piston Model. I have this gun and can vouch for it. You could survive indefinitely on small game with this Airgun alone.
https://www.amazon.com/Crosman-Nitro-Piston-Pellet-Rifle/dp/B00AU6EGSG
I still have the airgun on my wish list at Amazon, which is why I was able to reference it. Believe me, you've convinced me of its glory. Not sure if I'll ever get it due to budget, but it is a tool to shout to the minions about. I for one appreciate the legwork.
DeleteJust a dumb question, but can you shoot .22LR *bullets* with it ? Sometimes I collect .22LR with good bullets but damaged cases, I already salvaged about fifty such bullets (I have excuses for that behaviour, wanna hear about them ?)
DeleteNot so dumb-they do seem completely different, don't they? Anyway, better stupid questions than stupid actions.
DeleteJust measured one of my .22 cal pellets and got 5.71mm (.224”). Measured a .22 rimfire and basically got the same within 1 or 2 thousandths. So they’re the same size. However, the pellet weighed 14 grains, and the 22 rimfire are usually around 40 grains. Don’t know if that extra weight could cause problems with your air rifle or not?
Delete