Fantasy time

[Atticus]

Let's say you have the ability to travel back in time to the old American west...say 1800. You can take one modern long gun - one handgun -and up to a 1000 rounds (total) of ammo along. No muzzleloaders allowed. You will be staying three months. What would you take?

I think I'd stick with my Marlin .45-70 and Smith M19. 500 rds of each ammo.

 

[4v50 Gary]

HK-91 w/QD scope for rifle. As for handgun, ParaOrdnance LDA w/tritium nite sites. Hope I've got a couple of mules to carry the ammo.

1800s is still the era of the NW frontier and the hold on Indiana was tenuous. Didn't quite get out to the Great Plains (unless we're talking about after Lewis & Clark returned). BTW, would love to meet Tucumseh (if he would have my company) and going down to Missouri, Daniel Boone. Lewis Wetzel would be another interesting guy to meet.

 

[Atticus]

Hey.. you left out Simon Kenton!!

 

[gun-fucious]

1800 in the olde west

what Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania?

ya aint going to Dodge City yet

a scoped 10/22 and a mega brick of 22lr and you would rule

 

[SteelyDan]

Gary's kinda right. What we think of as the "old west" was actually a relatively recent and limited period, probably somewhere around 1850 to 1890. Or thereabouts.

But, we're talking fantasy here, so I apologize.

Now, the "correct" answer is probably to bring a couple of John Browning designs, like a .45 and a machine gun, patent them, stroll over to the War Department, and be set for life. Be sure to write notes to your grandkids about buying GE and Microsoft stock, and suggest they not bet on the Cubs or Red Sox to win the pennant.

Personally, however, I'd head out to San Francisco and do some prospecting in the local rivers and creeks. Probably stop in the Black Hills along the way. That must have been an amazing rush for the folks who got there first. My son and I dabble in the prospecting thing, when we can get out west, and I can't imagine how cool it would be to be the first ones at what we now know were hot-spots.

Oh yeah, the point. For doing the prospecting thing, I'd bring the best AK-47 I could buy for the long gun, because of the reliability. Maybe a Bulgarian SLR-95 (??)--I'm not sure what's best, but I'd find out. With 700 rounds of ammo. For a handgun, God help me I'd probably bring a .45 Glock, again for reliability reasons, with the other 300 rounds. I'd be pretty vulnerable beyond about 250 yards, but those are my choices. Even in the wide-open west, most of the places you pan for gold don't have shots over 250-yards.

 

[Atticus]

For clarification - the land was still there in 1800- just weren't many white folks on it. This is your fantasy...be it in California or Chillicothe OH (The Northwest Territories).

 

[BerettaNut92]

AR-15 and Beretta 92.

AR-15 and Beretta 92. .223 and 9mm because .308 and .45 are heavy

 

[duckfoot]

FAL, only the FAL and nothing but the FAL

 

[Illuminate]

600 rounds of 7.5 French for my Mas 49/56 - With 50 grenades to go on the launcher and 50 blanks to fire them. The last 300 rounds would be for a p226 in 9mm.

Edit: Forgot to add why I would choose these weapons. For the MAS, I chose it because of reliability, range, and knock-down power. Also because of the grenade launcher for two reasons: It launches grenades, and if I ever have feeding problems I can cut off the gas switch to turn it into a straight-pull bolt action. Why the sig? Reliability, accuracy.

 

[7.62FullMetalJacket]

FAL with 600 rounds and the redhawk with 400 rounds. You would be unstoppable with no breakdowns.

 

[Brian Dale]

Since it appears that we can stay put (& won't have to carry all of our ammo on a long journey), I think I'd be on Vancouver Island with a K-22 and an 870. Brick of .22s; both slugs and birdshot for the 870. Lots of gun oil. Relax, hunt & fish. Eat salmon, venison, birds & bunnies. Eat a lot more stuff with the locals. Learn to carve wood.

 

[Dr.Rob]

45/70 Marlin with plenty of ammo. Bears were far more plentiful and killed a lot of mountain men.

870 with deer barrel might not be a bad choice either. You'll need to hunt and likely defend yourself against the folks who think this "New world" still belongs to them.

Take lots of stuff to trade. Better to make friends than enemies. You'll need a really good knife too.

Ruger 44 cal revolver, 5.5 inch barrel.

 

[Joe Demko]

The OP said you would be staying three months. Amusing how many of you apparently take that to mean 3 months of hard combat.
Me? I don't know if I'd bother with any kind of box-fed self-loading long gun at all. I'd pick a good reliable repeating handgun, perhaps a small BUG too, and spend my 3 months checking out what NY, Philadelphia, and the other big cities of the eastern seaboard were really like during that time period. The wilderness would be, well, the wilderness. Rocks and trees and animals are largely the same today as then. Be nice to see the sky turn black with passenger pigeons, though, at least once. Anyway, during my "urban exploring", I would take the time to hire some rather burly gents to hang around me and act as my bodyguards. I understand that crime in some parts of those cities was insane, even compared to today.

 

[Detachment Charlie]

Simon Kenton

Atticus, wow, are you right about Simon Kenton...tough dude. The story about him and what he did to the squaw who was to torture and humiliate him after capture is hillarious -- it also won him his freedom. The fact that he shot the Chief who freed him and returned his rifle just shows he was a "One-way S.O.B".
Nort many kids will learn of Kenton's exploits in today's politically correct classrooms...a pity.

 

[RTFM]

Ted Kennedy and Bill Clinton.

The way I figure it, either they get gunned down by being ignorant loud mouthed dirt bags (A.K.A. just being them selves) or they don’t.

If they do get the ax, I get a peaceful three week vacation away from cell phones, networks, customers and life in the 21st century.

If they don’t buy the farm back in 1800, you said I come back in three week, so they must be staying back there.

I’ve just saved us all the aggravation of those two idiots because by the time they make it to July 19, 1969 Teddie would have been 169 years old, and would never have had the chance to kill Mary Jo Kopechne in Chappaquiddick, Massachusetts.

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Ted Kennedy *
* ( and he was afraid you'd ask )

He would have died of old age and saved us all allot of aggravation.

Guns, who needs em’ I’m on a vacation from reality, you did say it was fantasy right?

RTFM

 

[4v50 Gary]

Simon Kenton was one indeed one tough dude and often served as a scout for many forays against the Indians. His capture and long ordeals of torture was something many of us probably wouldn't survive. During the siege of Boonsboro, Daniel Boone was shot in the ankle and disabled. He was about to be tomahawked when Kenton shot the assailant. Kenton then picked up Daniel and carried him back to the fort. "Simon, you are a fine fellow," said Daniel in thanks to him.

 

[Kharn]

FAL and 1911.
800 rounds of .308 and 200 rounds of .45acp.
I'd probably would do a bit of both hunting and site-seeing.

Kharn