If the 'S' never 'HTF' and you are much older.

[Ignition Override]

Would you decide to shoot your guns more often, and use most of your stored ammo for fun, or leave most or all of it to people in your will, whom you trust?

Some of us are in our early-mid fifties, but what about when we get well into our 60s and many of us may develop serious health problems?

 

[creekerdoug]

I'm in the demographic you are describing and I've made my decision. I shoot and enjoy my guns as much as possible. As a matter of fact, I do my level best to enjoy everything in my life as much as possible.

The closer I get to the end of my story the more I realize the futility of planning to fight my way out of much at all. When the S does HTF senior citizens aren't going to last all that long. Mobility issues, health issues, the need for maintenance drugs and loss of mental agility are some of the reasons why.

I may run out of days tomorrow but I'm going to enjoy this one to the max.

 

[DRYHUMOR]

Not specifically towards shtf, but towards hunting. I've almost reached a decision to pare down to one rifle.

As to shtf rifles, I've got two. I have decided to pare down to one. And just shoot the other periodically to enjoy it.

It is kind of a cycle though. I've known a lot of people, who as they reach a certain point or age, sell off all or a good bit of the firearms they have.

That's why there is always a "nice" selection in the marketplace.

 

[USSR]

Forget the 401k, my "collection" is my daughter's inheritance.

Don

 

[W.E.G.]

Four cases of MRE's

Four rifles

Two handguns

One old man

 

[stubbicatt]

Yep. The entire scenario of living out my days in a swamp eating bugs and fighting well trained and equipped federales is not something I will ever see. My knees are wrecked, I run short of breath easily, and I just don't see anything as that urgent anymore. I sit here in my easy chair waiting on my grandchildren, enjoying my woman, a hot cup of coffee, a sunrise and life is all good.

I'll leave the fighting and worries to the young bucks.

 

[Hardtarget]

It may be that we older shooters see that its not a good "fight to the death" plan...but the fight may come to us. So, we keep a few guns and plan to give the rest to the kids. Use the one or two we do keep to make the best of our last stand. Not a great ending but also not very likely.

Right now, I get very little free time. I don't reload as much...fewer range trips...I get to shop for, or buy very few guns. Maybe that will change in a while.

Mark

 

[FLNT4EVR]

I'll keep a couple to protect my hearth and home.The rest I will give to my son and grandchild.

 

[hso]

Depends upon why you have 1,000 + rounds of each caliber in ammo cans or powder and primer and brass and bullets for 10,000 mixed.

If it's because you shoot "a lot" then there's no reason to keep any back. If you're concerned about preparedness then you better have someone in mind to "inherit" your ammo or it just becomes a hazardous waste problem for your family to dispose of because "crazy uncle Harry" left all this junk behind.

I plan on shooting until I can't any more.

 

[MCgunner]

Seems like everyone prays for the S to HTF. Me, I don't give any credence to SHTF or the need to have thousands of rounds to run around killing people with. I figure if I ever got stuck where I had to kill anyone and needed more, I could just take HIS ammo and gun, unless of course I'm out there killing unarmed people for sport.

MY SHTF preparations is mostly fishing gear so I can find protein, not necessarily legal fishing gear, either. With the current administration, that seems almost likely, considering the ineptitude with which they are playing with our money in DC. I live in a small town. There will be no violent protests or such here. Now, BP might ruin my plans there, but hey, the bay is full of protein and it's only about 150 yards from my house and I have a kayak if I can't get boat gas. I fish a lot, so tackle is never a bad purchase and I get it cheap down the street at walmart. A bag of hooks here, a few leaders there, eventually it adds up.

I own something like 25 handguns and 20 long guns. That's more because I hunt and I carry concealed and I have competed in some shooting games and, well, I just like guns. I have two SKSs and about 1000 rounds of milsurp for 'em. I shoot 'em now and then. I bought 'em 20 years ago when I was young and stupid and thought such scenarios were possible. At least the SKSs are fun to shoot and for a hundred bucks or so each, actually 75 bucks for the rifle, these guns were a good deal.

 

[armoredman]

I need to be related to some of you...

 

[loadedround]

My Kids are chaffing at the bit to get their hands on my guns and my wife's jewlery when we go...little do they know that we're taken our toys with us!

 

[oneounceload]

Not too worried here; after all, Obamacare and Social Security will be with us forever, right???

My kids would take my guns and sell most of them anyway, so I'm going to shoot what I want, sell what I want, and maybe splurge for that ONE shotgun I've always wanted.......and it ISN'T some HD pump gun. With ammo supply and prices edging lower, now is as good a time as any to buy some more

 

[bikerdoc]

what about when we get well into our 60s and many of us may develop serious health problems?

The closer I get to the end of my story the more I realize the futility of planning to fight my way out of much at all. When the S does HTF senior citizens aren't going to last all that long. Mobility issues, health issues, the need for maintenance drugs and loss of mental agility are some of the reasons why.

Yep. The entire scenario of living out my days in a swamp eating bugs and fighting well trained and equipped federales is not something I will ever see. My knees are wrecked, I run short of breath easily, and I just don't see anything as that urgent anymore. I sit here in my easy chair waiting on my grandchildren, enjoying my woman, a hot cup of coffee, a sunrise and life is all good.

It may be that we older shooters see that its not a good "fight to the death" plan...but the fight may come to us. So, we keep a few guns and plan to give the rest to the kids. Use the one or two we do keep to make the best of our last stand. Not a great ending but also not very likely.

All of the above is So eloquent and true.

Yep, I am staying on my piece of dirt and in the unlikey event the fight comes to me - so be it. Im ready.

My will is specific and known so no problem there.

 

[DeepSouth]

Seems like everyone prays for the S to HTF. Me, I don't give any credence to SHTF or the need to have thousands of rounds to run around killing people with. I figure if I ever got stuck where I had to kill anyone and needed more, I could just take HIS ammo and gun, unless of course I'm out there killing unarmed people for sport.

Yep, probably the most effective SHTF weapon ever was..... a single shot.


That said I bought an AK and several mags mainly because my kids might want/need them one day, and before the SH'sTF we will see "Military Style Weapons" become a thing of the past, at least legally.




Added thought:
From what I have observed it seems the older you get the less you worry about that kind of thing. I'm only 31 now so I'll have to revive this thread in 35 years and tell you if it worked out that way for me.

 

[CajunBass]

Naw. What ammo I've got stored up wouldn't last through a good hot session at the range really. I keep a few hundred rounds because it will cost more tomorrow than it did today, or yesterday. It don't go bad. When I shoot, I just buy new ammo.

With a handicapped wife who can bairly walk to the car, any silly thoughts I ever had about taking to the hills of central Virginia have long ago faded. I'm sure not going to leave her behind, even if I was dumb enough to think I could do it myself. If that time ever comes, I suppose I'll pass what I've got to one of the young bucks around here and pray for them.

 

[22-rimfire]

I will probably fall under HSO's "Crazy Uncle Harry" persona even though I have pretty much been the same way all my life. Like bikerdoc, I am not likely to try to live off the land and eat bugs with relish. I will defend my space if necessary and the chips will fall where they may if it ever comes to that which I doubt. People have been talking, thinking, and writing about this topic for a long long time. The Argentina scenario is the more likely possible in the world that most of us live in. Mexico has had similar problems which is one of the reasons we have so many illegals here in the USA.

 

[JoeMal]

I'm younger, but honestly I don't feel the 'SHTF' situation will ever occur here. I know the USA has some problems, but we are far, far from rebels running the streets where each man has to defend his own. I've got a fair collection and don't plan on dropping my hobby until my hobby has to drop me. What's left after that will be planned in my will. If they don't want it, sell it. I can't take it with me

However, I do have plans to slowly give away some of my collection as I get older. And I want to do it early enough that I have time to enjoy watching my son/daughter, grandson/daughter, or whoever, enjoy those guns. My grandpa gave me one of his old Winchester O/Us, and that changed my life. I was so excited to get that gun, and I know he was equally excited to see me crush some clays with it

 

[TIMC]

Since I have been old enough to buy guns and ammunition I have always collected and have always had a decent stock pile; not so much for a SHTF senario but more just bought when I found a good deal. Now that I am in my 50's I have a rather large supply of both. I imagine as I appraoch retirement I wil begin to sell off most of what I have in guns and do my best to shoot up the ammo I have built up over the years.
As far as the end of the world survival senarios people are always getting ready for I have never really prepared for that because as I grow older I don't know that I would want to live in a world like that. I would be lost without my comforts.

 

[Walkalong]

Riots happen. I'm ready. I know who my guns are going to. We are on a path in this country towards lots of social unrest. Unless we change that, there will be trouble in this country the kind of which we only watched from afar in other countries.

 

[Joe Demko]

Study of effective resistance and guerrilla movements shows the keys to be organization, commitment, and the support of the populace. Some degree of material help from outside powers helps. Cranky old men sitting atop personal hoards of ammo has not helped any resistance or insurgency find success to the best of my knowledge. Or cranky young men, either.
Thus, I keep enough ammo for personal shooting use. If I have any quantity, it is only because I found some cheap. I discarded SHTF gunfight fantasies some time back, when I was a young man. As I am now well into middle age with things like retirement visible on the horizon, I must cringe and laugh at some of the ideas and attitudes the younger me bought into.
I'll give whatever parts of my collection they want to my daughter and nephew when they are of age and I can enjoy the giving. Everything else, save what I actually need (not want or obsess over) for personal defense will be sold and the proceeds used to make old age less worrisome.

 

[420Stainless]

My house is not a fortress and I couldn't defend it long enough against a determined group to use huge stores of ammo. I think if you have an heir that would appreciate the gun, they would probably appreciate a store of ammo that comes with it too. That way you can keep your insurance right up to the end and it will still serve the heirs. If you have no heirs that will use it, make arrangements to have a shooting buddy properly dispose of it.

I do have components inventoried for times of shortages, and I hope to use up most of them before leaving the world, but if not, my heirs will make the best decision that suits their needs at that time. The kids know how to use the stuff if they want to, and know the approx. value of it if they don't.

 

[hammerklavier]

That .45 Liberator was a good idea, but it never got distributed to occupied Europe, only a few thousand got distributed in the Pacific theater. So we'll never know how effective it could have been.

 

[wally]

Cranky old men sitting atop personal hoards of ammo has not helped any resistance or insurgency find success to the best of my knowledge

You are ignoring the American Revolution, and the fact that the US is the only country on earth legal citizens *can* have personal "hoards" of guns and ammo. Of course this doesn't stop the illeagal drug runners from being more than the Federales seem to be able to handle.

Having a good supply of guns and ammo on hand in the aftermath of hurricane Ike was comforting, but the only use I got from it was using the ammo cans to raise the generator high enough to change its oil a couple of times

Most of my stash and collection are so I can enjoy shooting in my retirement without having to worry about the expense. Same reason getting the house paid for was the first priority.

 

[Joe Demko]

You are ignoring the American Revolution,

No, I'm not. The revolutionaries were organized into a functioning militia and ammo was distributed to the troops. It absolutely was not aided by a bunch of old (or young) fogies sitting atop personal hoards of ammo. Ammo has to be fired at "the enemy" for it to have any effect on them, you see. Millions of rounds in the possession of grouchy old men who have no real intention of sharing it distresses them not at all. In fact, if they think about it at all, they probably are glad that hoarders help keep supplies low and prices high. If shooting is expensive, fewer noobies will get involved and existing shooters will practice less.