Question:
I was hoping to get some advice. We have sunk ourselves into survivaland alternative living for the last year. We have our land bought up inthe mountains of Montana, we have our food and water storage going,and we have learned to be pretty proficient at organic gardening. Wehope to move up to our property next summer and will be using solarenergy up there.
My question is this. We know nothing about guns. We will need a gunfor protection from grizzlies as well as protection if American societybreaks down and we have economic and/or social collapse. Eventually wewill also have to learn to hunt. Should we start with a rifle orshotgun? What is the main difference? Which would be the best for allaround protection? Do most gun dealers offer classes or basically whatis the best way to learn?
Answer:
Probably the first thing to do is to find a class sponsored by theNational Rifle Association called personal safety in the home. Theclass will discuss the basics of different types of firearms, and howto handle them safely.
Once you have some understanding of the different roles that differenttypes of firearms have, you can begin to make choices. You have statedat least two (possibly three) different purposes to have guns, personalsafety, hunting (the grizzly defense gun is sufficiently different thatI'd call it a different catagory). I'd recommend starting out witha small, easy to shoot rifle, that shoots the .222 long rifle cartridge.This is totally useless for defense from man or beast, but is inexpensive,lightweight, and fun to shoot.
Being fun to shoot is important because it is essential to practice withall your firearms regularly in order to be safe. And, since you're startingout with little or no experience, it's good to practice often. The 22'sare easy to shoot well with, and will teach you the skills that areneeded to shoot well with anything.
But, for your particular circumstances:
Personal Defense: for each person - 1 semiautomatic handgun, caliber9 mm or larger (I'm partial to Colt government model .45's, but smallerpeople can find them difficult to shoot), with at least 6 magazines each,cleaning and basic repair parts. I' store at least 500 rounds of ammunition.
1 Pump Action Shotgun, 12 gauge, with both a "riot" and a "hunting" barrel.per person. In addition to cleaning supplies and spare parts, I'd haveon hand at least 200 rounds of #4 buckshot, 500 rounds of #6 shot, 250rounds of #7.5 shot, and probably 100 rounds of rifled slugs.
The difference between shotguns and rifles is that a rifle shoots asingle projectile, that is spun by the twists in the barrel (the rifles),which imparts stability to it in flight. Rifles are capable of longdistance accuracy, and come in different sizes for different types ofgame or targets. Shotguns on the other hand, have a cartridge thatcontains several to many small pellets (the shot), that are firedall at once. They increase the probability of hitting the target, butonly when the target is at fairly close range (between 15 and 50 yards,or so).
I'd also have a hunting rifle shooting probably the .308 winchestercartridge, with a scope (3x9 variable power), this is a good all-aroundhunting rifle combination, and can be accurate out to several hundred(say 400-500) yards, if the shooter does their part. It's actuallycapable of accuracy at much longer distances, but greater skill isrequired. The .308 cartridge is suitable for most game, is thesame (essentially) as the 7.62x51 NATO military cartridge, and isloaded with bullets of different weights and speeds, for different game.
I'd have a larger, heavier rifle, say a .300 Win Mag or .338 Win Mag,for shots at larger game (Elk, Bear) at longer distances. The .300Win Mag shoots bullets that are the same as the .308 Winchester (aswell as larger ones), but shoots them much harder, getting more distanceand energy on the target. The .338 is a larger bullet, and deliversmore power than the .300, but is much harder to shoot (the recoil isgreater), and the .300 has more recoil than the .308, which is muchgreater than the 22.
You already would have the .22 rifles, which are great for shootingat small game like rabbits, squirrels, etc.
I'd probably include a revolver (another type of handgun), in a largecaliber (44 Magnum), which gives the option of loading very heavyloads, medium, or very light loads, at the same time (semi-automatic rifles and handguns require the power of the cartridge tobe within certain tight limits for the gun to function). This guncan be used to dispatch a dangerous animal (say the bear) after it'sbeen disabled by a rifle shot (if that is neccessary).
And finally, I'd include a main battle rifle for each adult, a semi-automatic, magazine fed military style rifle (please don't call itan assault weapon or assault rifle, it's neither), for defense froma distance from your location. If it's in .308 win caliber, you canuse the same ammo as the hunting rifle, but it's designed to shootlots of bullets (still one per trigger pull) in a short time,with a magazine that holds lots of bullets (20-40 if they're older,pre-crime bill magazines, only 10 if they're post-crime bill), butyou can switch them quickly. Along with the repair parts and cleaningequipment, I'd have probably 1200 rounds of ammunition.
Another choice for the main battle rifle is one that shoots the .223Remington cartridge, this is the same cartridge that is used by theUS military today (it's calle the 5.56mm). This is a cartridge thatis adequate for closer defenseive work, to perhaps 300 yards, and canbe used on the smaller versions of large game (small deer, for instance,that weigh less than 200 or so lbs), and is able to shoot "flat:, ie ithas a trajectory that keeps the bullet closer to line of site than someothers. Understanding trajectory is important in shooting longerdistances. The .223 family of rifles includes specimines that arevery similar to the military M16 except it's semi-automatic only (itonly shoots one bullet each time you squeeze the trigger, while themilitary has true assault rifles, which can fire fully automatic, yousquueze the trigger and the bullets keep coming out, until you letgo or run out of ammunition), and the handy Ruger MIni-14 and family.Of the two, the M16 types (usually called AR-15 models) are better forcombat or defense, the ranch rifle is easier to carry and shoot, butisn't as durable. If you choose a .223 Main Battle Rifle, get abolt action hunting rifle in this caliber as well as the .308, theycomplement each other well, and while a .308 does a good job at thesort of shooting you'd use a .223 for, the .223 can't duplicate a.308.
This may seem like an awful lot of guns, and a lot of technical information.It is. It has to be, guns are like any other tool, and tools are bestwhen matched to the task at hand. If you need to cut a board, you don'treach for the screwdriver or hammer, do you?
Several books might be useful to you. One of my favorites (and thebook that first introduced me to survivalism) is Survival Guns, bythe late Mel Tappan. While the prices are completely unrealistic, andsome of the guns and accessories are not available any more, it's a gooddiscussion of the different roles and how to select the tools. Anothergood one is _The_Survival_Armory_, by Duncan Long. This is a moreup-to-date discussion that is similar to Tappan's, but I like Tappan'sbetter. Both books are available mail order, from places likeDelta Press and Paladin Press. Check the books.list and sources.listthat I'll be posting today for more information on firearms.
