$337 AR part 2 of 3

$337 AR part 2

A BTN anything is a compromise.  A Better Than Nothing wife is companionship and the occasional sex, even if she was surely and the unremarkable sex only begrudgingly granted.  It was better than what you were getting by being too picky, which is nothing.  A better than nothing gun is taking a vile piece of crap and being grateful you at least had SOMETHING, anything, to defend yourself with.  A 1990’s $99 Chinese SKS was a BTN gun.  A Mosin-Nagant was a BTN gun.  A $99 single shot rimfire or single shot 12 gauge from Wal-Mart is a BTN gun.  They pretty much sucked, only marginally being less dangerous to you than to the target. 

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But guess what?  If that was all you could/can afford, and you had one and the apocalypse occurred off of your personal schedule, it would sure be a sight better than cash in your wallet and dreams of a perfect gun.  Wheat berries, a BTN food.  Junk land, a BTN rent free crash pad.  I really could care less what other fools declare as The Best.  They have terrible taste, anyway.  Freeze dried slop that is all salt flavored is the best?  Your ass!  Wheat can double as vegetables and has one of the highest protein contents of any common grain.  Sometimes, there is little wrong and a lot right with BTN items.

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BTN wives can cost less.  BTN food has less taste variety but is far superior in longevity and nutrition.  A BTN rimfire is actually a darn good Forever Gun.  And a $337 AR-15, while terrible compared to most other AR’s, is not really all that poor of a choice for a BTN gun.  If you don’t think a shotgun is going to do it for you, the only other gun which might, MIGHT be cheaper would be a single shot break open rifle.  And the ammo cost is also cheaper for the AR over the shotgun.  AND you get some distance. 

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A fun filled fact.  There was a guy that works in the metal industry who took steel cased ammo and tested it.  He took brass, aluminum and steel cases and cut them up and flattened them and tested them for hardness.  A steel case was actually SOFTER than a brass one.  From his explanation, you anneal steel to work on it and then repeat that to harden it back up.  With the ammo, when you don’t anneal a second time the steel remains very soft and pliable.  Now, that doesn’t mean I want to switch to 303 steel case for my rifles, but that is a separate issue of reported key holing.  I also want to reload.  But it should give you pause believing steel cases are inherently bad for modern guns ( I don’t know if the steel expands like brass, which you need in older less precisely engineered chambers.  Today’s guns don’t need that breech plug ).

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So, before we begin, I’m telling you that this IS in fact the bottom of the barrel AR.  It is nothing more than Better Than Nothing.  Would I trust it for five thousand rounds?  Perhaps not.  Would I expect great accuracy?  No.  Could it be a hunk of crap that fails soon?  It could be.  But what is the worse that happens?  It is a gateway AR.  When I bought my Wally $99 rimfire, I knew it was crap.  The interior plastic parts are numerous and none too sturdy looking.  So eventually that got replaced with double the cost guns.  Did I waste $99?  Of course not.

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For one, I was armed at the time, even if only with a BTN ( this was my Forever Gun ).  Second, you’ll still get some use out of it, even if not enough ( even if the Cost Per Round ends up being higher than a better quality gun, after the apocalypse that cost will matter little ).  And third, you can use it as a platform to train with while waiting for the finances to upgrade.  That is what I mean by a “gateway gun”.  If the finances never materialize, better than nothing.

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Everyone tells you, don’t risk your life on a cheap AR.  It isn’t terrible advice, but it conveniently ignores the necessity of BTN for many people.  I can already hear, “well, for JUST $100 more, you get a much better X part”.  Yes, and for ONLY a thousand dollars more you get a perfect tack driver that will never break.  My point here is that for those that can, they buy better and for those that cannot, they must settle for lesser quality.  I would also prefer to not hear the “what is your life worth?” or “you cannot compromise on your self defense weapon” or variants thereof.  In point of fact, most preppers do NOT buy professional equipment.

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Freeze dried foods are no where near edible tasting.  An AR is in fact a poodle shooter compared to the thirty cal.  Most expensive training is mimicking cannon fodder national military training which risks your life.  Preppers might spend a lot of money, which is all middle man mark-up, but while this might be professional soldier gear, it is NOT professional survivalist gear.  A professional survivalist invests in surviving, not necessarily fighting or living in luxury.  A real survivalist concentrates on food and location, NOT super deluxe guns ( if he can do all three, super.  Most can‘t ).  You just need enough gun for as little fighting as you can get away with.

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Most preppers plan on and equip for the gunfight at the OK Corral.  Rather, you should be living out of town away from people and trying to avoid any gun fight, let alone a close range one.  It is simply too simplistic to simplistically assume that everyone can pull the disposable purchasing power out of their ass as needed.  Perhaps he wants the best retreat and best guns.  Well, SHE doesn’t and guess who controls future earnings up until the children turn eighteen?  Hint: it ain’t the guy. 

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Some folks pour all their money into caring for aging parents.  Some into alimony, an occurrence happening prior to their understanding the need for preparedness.  Now, yes, ANYONE regardless of circumstances should be able to frugal prep.  But much fewer can Yuppie Prep.  You can discipline and sacrifice and come up with $500 for wheat and a grand for junk land and $450 for a BTN gun and 500 rounds of ammo with a few magazines, but to ask someone in dire financial straights to upgrade everything is far less realistic.  We might all be working like mules and earning good coin but most of us are operating under the handicap of previous claims on all of our earnings.  Understand what this gun is.  A BTN for the financially challenged.  Tomorrow, how to actually make the darn thing.

END ( today's related link https://amzn.to/2rJixVp )

 

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