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First of all, I am "older". To many of you, I am probably borderline decrepit. <GRIN>
I joined the Army in 1965 right out of high school. Went to VN as a helicoper crew chief/door gunner in January 1966 and I stayed until September 1968. The money was decent and ammo was free. They even gave us new helicopters when we broke the one we were issued.
In March 1969, I came hhome and became a cop. That lasted until 1987 when I was Chief of a small department and my wife goit tired of heariung me whining about how I should have stayed in the Army. She dared me to do it so I paid two years military time into the State pension program giving me 20, retired, and went back on active duty at age 40 where i promptly found out the new Army wasn's the old Army and you could actually throw up more than once on an every morning 5K formation run. On the Friday morning 10K formation run, I believe I was actually able to throw up food I hadn't even eaten yet.
But, this time i went Infantry and started working my way up. In June, 1997, I was promoted to First Sergeant of a light Infantryt company. In August of that same year, I wnt over a cliff backwards at night and the impact fractured L4,L5 and S1 vertebrae and my l;eft shoulder. After a series of operations including a spinal fusion, I learned to walk in time to be medically retired in 1999.
(sigh) I still miss it even now.
So, anyways, I do have some firearms experience and here's what I beieve is needed by everyone and it incluides a minmum of six guns.
First of all, .22lr is probably the most useful caliber that you woill have. I think you need a really good .22lr rifle and pistol. Personally, I like semi autos and I have an M&P 15-22 rifle and an M&P 22 pistol (they just came out and I got one of the first ones)
.22lr is good for hunting, training and defense. Don't let anyone tell you that .22 doesn't kill because more people die of 22lr wounds in ther US every year than any other caliber. True, it has little knock down power but don't mistake the fact that no one wants to get shot with anything. Getting shot with a .22lr after SHTF when limited medical care is available is probably a game ender. Maybe not right away but within days if it is a torso hit. Having had the advantage of having both shot people and having been shot, I can guarantee you that neither is a fun experience. I can put a burst of 25 rounds of .22lr down range accurately out to 100 yards in under five seconds. B y accurately I mean a paper dessert sized plate and keep all twenty five on the paper. That will cause someone to stay under cover and it will only cost me about $1.00 in ammo (A 'brick' of Federal .22lr, 550 rounds, is $18.00 at WalMart) Asimilar burst from my M&P 15A will cost me $7.50 in today's money.
.22lr is deadly accurate in a rifle out to 100 yards and can make a hole in ballistic gelatin at 250 yards. It can take small game and has taken deer.
A .22lr pistol is also good for hunting, defense, training and is very easy to suppress. My idea of a need to suppress gunfire is when you are hunting and you don't want to advertise your presence.
And finally, if the economy does collapse. ammo and most especially .22lr will be the new currency along with coffee, cigarettes, sugar and toilet paper. How much food would 50 rounds of .22lr buy you six months after the economy collapses. I don't know and i really don't want to find out but i suspect it will buy more than gold or silver will buy.
Next, I believe everyone needs two (three including the .22lr) pistols. A full sized pistol in a caliber greater than .380. This would be the fighting gun that you would carry after SHTF. I have always carried a .45 but have recently sold sall of them because 9mm combat ammunition is very good and 9mm training ammo is have the cost. I shoot a lot, I enjoy but I also know that being accurate with a firearm is directly related to constant practice. I can buy a heck of lot more 9mm for practice and for storage thaen i could foir amy other caliber so 9mm is my choice. My service/duty gun is a Smith M&P 9mm which is identical in feel to my M&P 22. So I can teach someone to shoot ny 9mm by using.22lr ammo and I can train much cheaper.
I also have a 9mm pocket gun. For me, it's a Kahr PM9. 9mm again for all the same reasons above and because I constantly vcan carry it and nobody knows it. Good fgor a backup or as a primary on a run to the store.
You also need a fighting rifle or "Main Battle Rifle". An MBR is your "go to" weapon. It has to be able to take down targets at whatever your greatest trange will be. For me, I believe 300 yards is plenty so I have an "M4gery", that is a clone of the military M4. It is an M&P 15A which is identical to my .22lr rifle. Great for hunting and personal defense. A hollow point 5.56 is a heavier bullet (77gr is good) will easily take down a deer. The military M855 steel penetrator 62 gr bullet is supposedly good out to 400 meters but that's a little iffy for me. But any rifle in a combat caliber is needed. a Mosin bought for $99.00 at Bud's Guns is accurate out to probably 500 meters. An AK is good to 400 and an SKS is probably good (with an optic) out to 600.
Quanity does not wipe out quality but don't neglect it. You need to buy as much ammo now for your main battle rifle as possible because after SHTF it will be too late. Buying cheap 7.62mmx39 Russian ammo at 15 cents per round will mean you can buy at lote more that 5.56 and it is every bit as good when it hits someone.
Finally, you need a shotgun for both hunting and defense. I have an Ithaca 37 Deerslayer because I first had one was back in 1966 in Vietnam (aboard my aircraft) and also because I carried one in a squad car for years. Mine has a 20" slug barrel on it normally but I also can excnahnge the barrel for a 28" with an improved cylinder as a choke.
Shotguns are great food providers and also great equalizers. You cnn calm a lot of situations down merely by jacking a round into the chamber. Even people who have never heard that sound before will recognize it. And God forbid, if you have to use one, they provide a very fast and final solution to any problem that pops up. Shotguns can provide birds for food as well as deer, elk or even bear. They will take a cow down as quickly as a man when using a slug.
That's what I am doing and what i have. I concentrate on four calibers; .22lr, 12 gauge, 9mm and 5.56mm. That's what I am buying now and only that. Every time i go to WalMart, I but=y another brick of .22lr. Every time my coin jar gets enough i it, I buy a case of 9mm NATO or 5.56mm M855. I buy all kinds of 12 gauge whenever it is on sale.
I have no idea if I will ever need all of this, but if not, my son and his wife will be prepared.
I joined the Army in 1965 right out of high school. Went to VN as a helicoper crew chief/door gunner in January 1966 and I stayed until September 1968. The money was decent and ammo was free. They even gave us new helicopters when we broke the one we were issued.
In March 1969, I came hhome and became a cop. That lasted until 1987 when I was Chief of a small department and my wife goit tired of heariung me whining about how I should have stayed in the Army. She dared me to do it so I paid two years military time into the State pension program giving me 20, retired, and went back on active duty at age 40 where i promptly found out the new Army wasn's the old Army and you could actually throw up more than once on an every morning 5K formation run. On the Friday morning 10K formation run, I believe I was actually able to throw up food I hadn't even eaten yet.
But, this time i went Infantry and started working my way up. In June, 1997, I was promoted to First Sergeant of a light Infantryt company. In August of that same year, I wnt over a cliff backwards at night and the impact fractured L4,L5 and S1 vertebrae and my l;eft shoulder. After a series of operations including a spinal fusion, I learned to walk in time to be medically retired in 1999.
(sigh) I still miss it even now.
So, anyways, I do have some firearms experience and here's what I beieve is needed by everyone and it incluides a minmum of six guns.
First of all, .22lr is probably the most useful caliber that you woill have. I think you need a really good .22lr rifle and pistol. Personally, I like semi autos and I have an M&P 15-22 rifle and an M&P 22 pistol (they just came out and I got one of the first ones)
.22lr is good for hunting, training and defense. Don't let anyone tell you that .22 doesn't kill because more people die of 22lr wounds in ther US every year than any other caliber. True, it has little knock down power but don't mistake the fact that no one wants to get shot with anything. Getting shot with a .22lr after SHTF when limited medical care is available is probably a game ender. Maybe not right away but within days if it is a torso hit. Having had the advantage of having both shot people and having been shot, I can guarantee you that neither is a fun experience. I can put a burst of 25 rounds of .22lr down range accurately out to 100 yards in under five seconds. B y accurately I mean a paper dessert sized plate and keep all twenty five on the paper. That will cause someone to stay under cover and it will only cost me about $1.00 in ammo (A 'brick' of Federal .22lr, 550 rounds, is $18.00 at WalMart) Asimilar burst from my M&P 15A will cost me $7.50 in today's money.
.22lr is deadly accurate in a rifle out to 100 yards and can make a hole in ballistic gelatin at 250 yards. It can take small game and has taken deer.
A .22lr pistol is also good for hunting, defense, training and is very easy to suppress. My idea of a need to suppress gunfire is when you are hunting and you don't want to advertise your presence.
And finally, if the economy does collapse. ammo and most especially .22lr will be the new currency along with coffee, cigarettes, sugar and toilet paper. How much food would 50 rounds of .22lr buy you six months after the economy collapses. I don't know and i really don't want to find out but i suspect it will buy more than gold or silver will buy.
Next, I believe everyone needs two (three including the .22lr) pistols. A full sized pistol in a caliber greater than .380. This would be the fighting gun that you would carry after SHTF. I have always carried a .45 but have recently sold sall of them because 9mm combat ammunition is very good and 9mm training ammo is have the cost. I shoot a lot, I enjoy but I also know that being accurate with a firearm is directly related to constant practice. I can buy a heck of lot more 9mm for practice and for storage thaen i could foir amy other caliber so 9mm is my choice. My service/duty gun is a Smith M&P 9mm which is identical in feel to my M&P 22. So I can teach someone to shoot ny 9mm by using.22lr ammo and I can train much cheaper.
I also have a 9mm pocket gun. For me, it's a Kahr PM9. 9mm again for all the same reasons above and because I constantly vcan carry it and nobody knows it. Good fgor a backup or as a primary on a run to the store.
You also need a fighting rifle or "Main Battle Rifle". An MBR is your "go to" weapon. It has to be able to take down targets at whatever your greatest trange will be. For me, I believe 300 yards is plenty so I have an "M4gery", that is a clone of the military M4. It is an M&P 15A which is identical to my .22lr rifle. Great for hunting and personal defense. A hollow point 5.56 is a heavier bullet (77gr is good) will easily take down a deer. The military M855 steel penetrator 62 gr bullet is supposedly good out to 400 meters but that's a little iffy for me. But any rifle in a combat caliber is needed. a Mosin bought for $99.00 at Bud's Guns is accurate out to probably 500 meters. An AK is good to 400 and an SKS is probably good (with an optic) out to 600.
Quanity does not wipe out quality but don't neglect it. You need to buy as much ammo now for your main battle rifle as possible because after SHTF it will be too late. Buying cheap 7.62mmx39 Russian ammo at 15 cents per round will mean you can buy at lote more that 5.56 and it is every bit as good when it hits someone.
Finally, you need a shotgun for both hunting and defense. I have an Ithaca 37 Deerslayer because I first had one was back in 1966 in Vietnam (aboard my aircraft) and also because I carried one in a squad car for years. Mine has a 20" slug barrel on it normally but I also can excnahnge the barrel for a 28" with an improved cylinder as a choke.
Shotguns are great food providers and also great equalizers. You cnn calm a lot of situations down merely by jacking a round into the chamber. Even people who have never heard that sound before will recognize it. And God forbid, if you have to use one, they provide a very fast and final solution to any problem that pops up. Shotguns can provide birds for food as well as deer, elk or even bear. They will take a cow down as quickly as a man when using a slug.
That's what I am doing and what i have. I concentrate on four calibers; .22lr, 12 gauge, 9mm and 5.56mm. That's what I am buying now and only that. Every time i go to WalMart, I but=y another brick of .22lr. Every time my coin jar gets enough i it, I buy a case of 9mm NATO or 5.56mm M855. I buy all kinds of 12 gauge whenever it is on sale.
I have no idea if I will ever need all of this, but if not, my son and his wife will be prepared.
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