battle rifle book 8

BATTLE RIFLE BOOK 8

WHICH CARBINE

There are really only two questions you have to ask yourself when deciding which semi-auto battle weapon you wish to own.  First, you must fit your choice into your budget, with the One Is None rule in mind.  Second, you need to decide which is more important to you, accuracy or reliability.  Each decision has a info dump of research worth of argument, but boiled down that is essentially what all the fuss is about.  Back when war surplus was begging to be bought, you had two choices.  The Lee-Enfield for field reliability or the Mauser for accuracy.  The third choice wasn’t really a choice, as it was one of the worst weapons ever, but if you were super duper poor, there was the Russian Mosin-Nagant.

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I made a large amount of noise over the years against the Russian bolt, and I know I’m right, but I never denied it had its place.  Which is, everyone deserves to be armed.  Almost all federal laws pertaining to guns are an outgrowth of the original local laws on guns, which, to not put too fine of a point on it, didn’t want Negro’s to own any.  Bring that one up to your darling Liberal friends and family.  Of course, we are now a gentler kinder nation and now it is an equal opportunity discrimination and ALL poor people regardless of color are to be denied a firearm if at all possible.  That is class warfare, literally. 

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I’m opposed to the gun check fees for just this reason.  While you used to be able to get a $50 pot metal Saturday Night Special, now that is almost double the price because of that fee ( and I‘m sure the sales tax is on the total cost-sorry, it‘s been a few years since I‘ve bought any guns.  I‘ve had an upcoming apocalypse I‘ve been buying food for ).  It was bad enough putting the serial number on paper for a record the Feds could get, now it is easily computerized ( I’ll make my case for unregistered guns later on ).  When you make guns unaffordable to X amount of the population, to me that is just wrong on all levels.  I don’t care how crappy a gun is, it’s better than standing there clutching your dingus when a gunfight starts.

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So, even if a Mosin-Nagant was going to blow up in face eventually, it still kept you alive until then.  But we can’t have cheap imported guns!  Obammy The Muslim Whore made sure those hunks of crap were no longer an option for the poor survivalist.  Easy for him, since even without lifetime Secret Service protection all he had to do was get someone to ghost write another book for him ( writing books is tough when English is your second language ) and get a few more million in speaking fees ( your kids college debt at work ), and he can afford the best guns available.  

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But getting back to the second criteria, do you want accuracy or do you want ruggedness?  It used to be this was an easily solved problem, if you were not extra super sized poor, and the HK-91 ( G-3, CTME, same difference ) was touted as the best of both worlds by, well, Every Single Cheese Dingus out there, ever.  Unfortunately, that turned out to be a lie, but, teaser alert, I’ll cover that in its own section.  Forget all the other carbines out there, because while a LOT of them are far better, and not ALWAYS for a kings ransom, the only real choices at this point are the AK or the AR.

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And, hold up there Rugar fan boys.  The choices have to be affordable AND have a metric crap ton of affordable accessories out there.  And, if I might be so bold, shouldn’t have a reputation for needing it sent back to the factory for repairs.  So, no, sorry, the Mini-14 is to me not even an option.  Which is sad, because it has a good lineage.  So do a lot of banjo players up in the hollers.

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Now, you all know that the AK is apocalypse rugged and that the AR is nice and accurate if a little too dainty for real world long term battlefield use.  It has improved, greatly, I reluctantly admit.  And at least currently it can be half the price of an AK.  I don’t give the AK a free pass because of that price issue.  You can survive a tank running over you but if you are too dear for my budget I have to pass on ownership.  And, let us keep in mind, while your AK will last a really long time, your AR can be replaced nearly every week of the year since there are just so darn many of them out there.  Plus, spare parts are wicked stupid cheap.  So it is far from a cut and dried choice.

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Me, I am a terrible shooter, even with an AR.  I know I could improve, given practice, but I choose to avoid that 80/20 problem ( 80% of the cost to improve at most 20% ) by just not pretending to be a sniper.  I chose reliability over accuracy for this reason, but I expect most folks don’t think this way.  The AK is really accurate enough out a bit past 200 yards ( don’t ask for it to perform at 300.  Pro’s don’t do great at that range with this round ).  Hell, I can barely see that far with enough detail.  But if you want the option of 400-500 yard shots, you need to just stay with the AR.

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Not only is the AR more accurate, you can buy good performance ammo much cheaper ( 223 brass at thirty cents, where the 762 steel case ammo is terrible stuff past short distances and only a dime cheaper.  So you could even reload the 223 to a certain extent ).  I don’t buy into the ammo salvage or the ammo purchase argument.  To me, ammo is too dear and will run out very fast.  So I don’t care to pretend I can salvage, buy or share “common caliber” ammo.  Which is why having 303 British never bothered me.  And why having an imported round shouldn’t bother you.  What you enter the apocalypse with is all you will ever get.  Period.  You should choose your caliber based on its performance.  It is my contention the 762 is a superior short range round.  223/556 is just more versatile and cheaper.  Just like a assault rifle, the 223 does more things, just not as well at any one role.

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The AR isn’t as much of a pig molester as it used to be as far as jamming and carbon build up causing issues in the field.  I hated the weapon for just such reasons, but my experiences were with the A1.  Your experiences will be more positive with the A2 and M4 varieties.  However, the weapon is still far more flimsy and will NOT hold up to too much abuse in the field.  It isn’t as cut and dried as it used to be, however.  Now they are so cheap they have taken over the role of disposable weapon from the SKS or War Surplus or even in many cases the AK’s. 

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All this is covered in more detail in their own sections, but by and large an AK will get you an extra layer of ruggedness and the AR will improve your accuracy.  Recent improvements and price movements have slightly altered the dynamic but the fundamentals have remained the same.  If you want a weapon that will go through heavy abuse for a long time, you stick with an AK, despite its disadvantages.  If you want better accuracy cheaper, with better ammo, and that will fill more roles, you pick the AR despite its fragility.

( .Y. )

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

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note: Amazon is starting to ban books.  I first heard about it with some Pick-Up Artist type dating guides.  Now here is an article about religious books being banned click here .  Damn.  More work for me.  I have to see about transfering everything over to Lulu.  Are you sure you all don't want to sign up for my e-mail newsletter?  If you become a Mail Minion you at least get notified when all my stuff disappears.  If not, Write Down My Web Site With Pen And Paper!!!!!  It isn't hard. www.bisonprepper.com  That will be this blogs back-up ( books are a lot easier to substitute delivery systems for.  I'm 99% sure I'm returning to books on CD's through the mail.  I'll let you know ).
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note: free book.  I like this PA author and am reading another one of his right now.  He is fun.  https://amzn.to/2Ngwtn6 .  
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note: Sportsman's Guide has free shipping over $79.  click here 
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