Tweet
It is an election year, and hitlery is running.....
RIGHT NOW, I see pretty low (comparatively) prices on ammo, mags, etc. You have six months maybe slightly more, to get moving on filling gaps in your defensive preps that involve weapons, mags, ammo, even optics.
I remember last go around, Eotech getting backed up about six months on weapon sights. Eotech probably won't have a backlog this time, but Aimpoint already has one as does Trijicon.
So right now- Glock 17 round 9mm mags $19.95 real Glock brand mags. What will you pay later for them? I remember people paying $75. for "pre-ban hi cap" mags in the latter 90's. AK mags went from $3. to upwards of $25.
Develop an action plan with the time left to get what you NEED first- wants are seconds. Will you have enough ammo to TRAIN regularly? That means at least 2K of ammo every year for the rifle and similar for the pistol. That's not even touching your SHTF ammo stash. And please remember BALANCE here! Your probably realistically NOT going to fire 20K rounds in anger in the PAW and be completely unscathed yourself. Wouldn't it be better to move some of that massive ammo dump over in the TRAINING AMMO category so you can use it now to develop SKILL AT ARMS?
Mags- load out X 4 is a good starting place. Depending on the situation, you may not be able to pick them up neatly after their use. So consider that at least some will be lost. Consider that your cooldaddy semi auto will be the equivalent of a flintlock without a magazine and plan accordingly.
New weapons systems- if your just getting started during an election year, it's easy to get the "I need all these things" mindset and want to buy 1 of every major weapon system- i.e, AK, AR, FN, M1A, HKs, SCAR, etc. you know cool guy move right??? No actually pretty damn stupid move when you are just getting started.
Why?
Because if we are buying guns for SHTF purposes, not for playtime fun, EVERY single weapons purchase has to be looked at as an investment in our LOGISTICS TRAIN.
For example, let's say I get a hair up my rear and want to get an FN-FAL. "Oh wow, it's a cool gun, prepper expert4000 guy says it's the best so I better get one!" So I drop cash on the rifle and it comes with one mag. Is that it? Nope, never. Now I "need" about 20-30 FN mags (inch or metric?) I need spare parts, armorers manuals, 5K of .308 to get started training with it, sling, perhaps a flash hider, mount for any optics, field gear that will hold big old whooping .308 mags and we won't consider the time spent getting truly familiar with the rifle.
So for those starting out, or close to the starting point, adding new weapon systems NOT IDENTICAL TO SYSTEMS THEY CURRENTLY HAVE IN USE, is often not a good idea. During election years wherein a buying "rush" does happen, it's common to not be able to find things or more commonly not be able to find them at decent prices. So once you buy that new system, in a sense your "stuck" having to source some potentially hard to find items to round out the system. I've had that happen to me on more than one occasion.
"Yes that's all true but my SHTF rifle is such and such and this new rifle is just for fill in the blank"- funsies, backup to sixteen other backups, "investment" etc.
That's one way of rationalizing it yes, but mark my words, you will probably end up wanting to "round out" that system at some point, which during a "rush" buying cycle will end up costing you more.
If your adding another weapon of a system you ALREADY HAVE IN USE, that's a different matter. For example, having an AR and adding another AR is a much smaller ripple in the logistics pool than would be adding an FN if you did not already have one in the stable. Co usage of magazines, ammunition and spare parts is a big plus. This is why groups standardize weapons. Their is also much to be said for only having a handful of different weapon SYSTEMS for familiarity and muscle mechanics. Every person I've ever known that had quite the gun collection (different systems) never seemed all that familiar with any ONE single system, but they "had a lot of toys"- but that's all they were- toys- because the owner never got as familiar as they needed to with them.
You may pride yourself on being able to grab any number of weapon systems out of your safe and be able to operate and field strip the weapon quickly, but can your spouse? Can your kids? Who are all these mythical characters that are going to use these weapons in the PAW?
I have to tell you, I've been shooting since 1986 and for the last 16 or so years I've always been looking to downsize the amount of weapon SYSTEMS (again, different types of weapons) and try to keep ones that operate similarly. For example, my M1A operates very similarly to our AK's- mag goes in on an angle, charging handle on the right side of gun, safety is the only difference. So if I had an HK91 still and the M1A and was looking to ditch one of them for financial reasons (why I sold the HK91 years ago), or just to streamline logistics, this similar functionality would definitely be a major plus in the "keep M1A" category.
So think through your purchases from a survival standpoint, not a "this would be cool to have" standpoint. If you want to do that after your survival needs are met, so be it. I've regretted a lot of the decisions like that I've made, but then again I'm not a gun nut either. I have very few guns for "investment" and those are mainly shooters that were rotated out of regular cycles or put up for posterity.
You may look back next year and be glad your stocked up with enough ammo to train with for the next couple of years before prices double.
RIGHT NOW, I see pretty low (comparatively) prices on ammo, mags, etc. You have six months maybe slightly more, to get moving on filling gaps in your defensive preps that involve weapons, mags, ammo, even optics.
I remember last go around, Eotech getting backed up about six months on weapon sights. Eotech probably won't have a backlog this time, but Aimpoint already has one as does Trijicon.
So right now- Glock 17 round 9mm mags $19.95 real Glock brand mags. What will you pay later for them? I remember people paying $75. for "pre-ban hi cap" mags in the latter 90's. AK mags went from $3. to upwards of $25.
Develop an action plan with the time left to get what you NEED first- wants are seconds. Will you have enough ammo to TRAIN regularly? That means at least 2K of ammo every year for the rifle and similar for the pistol. That's not even touching your SHTF ammo stash. And please remember BALANCE here! Your probably realistically NOT going to fire 20K rounds in anger in the PAW and be completely unscathed yourself. Wouldn't it be better to move some of that massive ammo dump over in the TRAINING AMMO category so you can use it now to develop SKILL AT ARMS?
Mags- load out X 4 is a good starting place. Depending on the situation, you may not be able to pick them up neatly after their use. So consider that at least some will be lost. Consider that your cooldaddy semi auto will be the equivalent of a flintlock without a magazine and plan accordingly.
New weapons systems- if your just getting started during an election year, it's easy to get the "I need all these things" mindset and want to buy 1 of every major weapon system- i.e, AK, AR, FN, M1A, HKs, SCAR, etc. you know cool guy move right??? No actually pretty damn stupid move when you are just getting started.
Why?
Because if we are buying guns for SHTF purposes, not for playtime fun, EVERY single weapons purchase has to be looked at as an investment in our LOGISTICS TRAIN.
For example, let's say I get a hair up my rear and want to get an FN-FAL. "Oh wow, it's a cool gun, prepper expert4000 guy says it's the best so I better get one!" So I drop cash on the rifle and it comes with one mag. Is that it? Nope, never. Now I "need" about 20-30 FN mags (inch or metric?) I need spare parts, armorers manuals, 5K of .308 to get started training with it, sling, perhaps a flash hider, mount for any optics, field gear that will hold big old whooping .308 mags and we won't consider the time spent getting truly familiar with the rifle.
So for those starting out, or close to the starting point, adding new weapon systems NOT IDENTICAL TO SYSTEMS THEY CURRENTLY HAVE IN USE, is often not a good idea. During election years wherein a buying "rush" does happen, it's common to not be able to find things or more commonly not be able to find them at decent prices. So once you buy that new system, in a sense your "stuck" having to source some potentially hard to find items to round out the system. I've had that happen to me on more than one occasion.
"Yes that's all true but my SHTF rifle is such and such and this new rifle is just for fill in the blank"- funsies, backup to sixteen other backups, "investment" etc.
That's one way of rationalizing it yes, but mark my words, you will probably end up wanting to "round out" that system at some point, which during a "rush" buying cycle will end up costing you more.
If your adding another weapon of a system you ALREADY HAVE IN USE, that's a different matter. For example, having an AR and adding another AR is a much smaller ripple in the logistics pool than would be adding an FN if you did not already have one in the stable. Co usage of magazines, ammunition and spare parts is a big plus. This is why groups standardize weapons. Their is also much to be said for only having a handful of different weapon SYSTEMS for familiarity and muscle mechanics. Every person I've ever known that had quite the gun collection (different systems) never seemed all that familiar with any ONE single system, but they "had a lot of toys"- but that's all they were- toys- because the owner never got as familiar as they needed to with them.
You may pride yourself on being able to grab any number of weapon systems out of your safe and be able to operate and field strip the weapon quickly, but can your spouse? Can your kids? Who are all these mythical characters that are going to use these weapons in the PAW?
I have to tell you, I've been shooting since 1986 and for the last 16 or so years I've always been looking to downsize the amount of weapon SYSTEMS (again, different types of weapons) and try to keep ones that operate similarly. For example, my M1A operates very similarly to our AK's- mag goes in on an angle, charging handle on the right side of gun, safety is the only difference. So if I had an HK91 still and the M1A and was looking to ditch one of them for financial reasons (why I sold the HK91 years ago), or just to streamline logistics, this similar functionality would definitely be a major plus in the "keep M1A" category.
So think through your purchases from a survival standpoint, not a "this would be cool to have" standpoint. If you want to do that after your survival needs are met, so be it. I've regretted a lot of the decisions like that I've made, but then again I'm not a gun nut either. I have very few guns for "investment" and those are mainly shooters that were rotated out of regular cycles or put up for posterity.
You may look back next year and be glad your stocked up with enough ammo to train with for the next couple of years before prices double.
Comment