SHTF...What guns would you take?

[Robby]

If bad goes to worst case! I am going no where. Here I know the lay of the land, have field of fire if others try to come for us. Fuel, Food, water and a place to fort up.

Enough good neighbors, armed and not, to make it work. Transportation, vehicles and horses, works for me. animals for food, enough to last a few weeks months or more.

Enough guns and ammo to hold out for several years. If worse than that we have several bows & arrows to continue to live off the land.

Guns of all varieties available, with pretty good sized amounts of ammo.

 

[High Planes Drifter]

For the type of situation I'm likely to face here in South Louisiana, I'll take my GLOCK 17, tho I did have my 1911 in my holster in the days after Katrina ( I didnt own my GLOCK at that time).

 

[Just Jim]

Stockpiling guns and ammo can just go so far. You may think you will trade it for food but in reality you may be giving ammo to your killer.

Stockpile food. You can trade food for anything you need. Firewood or clothes or raingear or whatever. You wil find you do better helping people feed themselves than walking around your neighborhood with an AK.

There will be some bad people but the majority of what will be needed is a gun that brings home the bacon.

A nice little 600 Remington in 308 or 243 with a scope will be handy to carry and powerful enough to anchor what game should present itself.

A good model 17 Smith will knock that squirl out of the tree or take that ducks head off in a pinch.

That AR you just walked out the door with looks like you are going after the neighbor and as we all know house to house fighting gets alot of people killed.

jj

 

[psyopspec]

I'd take a semi-auto pistol out of personal preference, and either rifle. I'd prefer an M4gery, but I wouldn't feel completely undergunned with a lever action in .44 or .357.

For most people, it ain't gonna be a factor. The average American gun owner could not cover any considerable distance with the weight of two guns, 500 rounds, and a few days' worth of food and water, to say nothing of the other supplies one would need in a bugout bag.

 

[bikerdoc]

shtf= brown stuff hitting the blades

 

[H088]

To the people who are saying don't carry a EBR, your going to get shot at either way, you might as well be armed. Plus it will come down to Urban combat if you live in the city, people will be killing each other over food and supplies. Better to have it then not.

 

[lee n. field]

SHTF...What guns

Like this hasn't been asked before.

Depends on the exact nature of the SHTF.

 

[High Planes Drifter]

JustJim wrote:

Stockpiling guns and ammo can just go so far. You may think you will trade it for food but in reality you may be giving ammo to your killer.

Stockpile food. You can trade food for anything you need. Firewood or clothes or raingear or whatever. You wil find you do better helping people feed themselves than walking around your neighborhood with an AK.

There will be some bad people but the majority of what will be needed is a gun that brings home the bacon.

A nice little 600 Remington in 308 or 243 with a scope will be handy to carry and powerful enough to anchor what game should present itself.

A good model 17 Smith will knock that squirl out of the tree or take that ducks head off in a pinch.

That AR you just walked out the door with looks like you are going after the neighbor and as we all know house to house fighting gets alot of people killed.

What kind of situation are we talking about here, that you would have to revert back to hunter-gatherer? And how long do you think the wildlife population would be able to sustain 300 mil. people , who had -ALL AT ONCE- reverted back to that state? Mother nature cant handle that burden. Nearly all wildlife in North America would be extinct within the first couple of months if every single person on this continent were to have to depend on hunting to feed themselves. Dont believe me? Less than 10% of the population buys hunting licenses in this nation. Ask your local W&F office what would happen if just 50% of your state's population bought hunting licenses. Keep in mind that we're talking about a controlled season with a harvest limit. No hunting season + no harvest limit+ 100 % of the population depending on the wildlife = total collapse of wildlife population. Quickly. It's a foolish plan to count on hunting as a long term supply of food. Thankfully that "Mad Max" or "Roaving hoards of zombies" end of world daydream wont happen.


Realistically, what you may face is a temporary SHTF scenario like a natural disaster that insights riots; like we had here in the New Orleans area in the days after Katrina. If (God forbid) that should happen to you, you'll find yourself busy working to secure your property, cutting fallen trees up, cleaning your yard, and helping nieghbors clean thiers. You may be working in a sandbag line, or unloading ice, medical supplies, & MRE's out of a truck. You may be working with a rescue team checking on elderly & handicapped nieghbors. And you arent going to do those things carrying a long gun of any sort.

 

[JWarren]

HPD wrote:

What kind of situation are we talking about here, that you would have to revert back to hunter-gatherer? And how long do you think the wildlife population would be able to sustain 300 mil. people , who had -ALL AT ONCE- reverted back to that state? Mother nature cant handle that burden. Nearly all wildlife in North America would be extinct within the first couple of months if every single person on this continent were to have to depend on hunting to feed themselves. Dont believe me? Less than 10% of the population buys hunting licenses in this nation. Ask your local W&F office what would happen if just 50% of your state's population bought hunting licenses. Keep in mind that we're talking about a controlled season with a harvest limit. No hunting season + no harvest limit+ 100 % of the population depending on the wildlife = total collapse of wildlife population. Quickly. It's a foolish plan to count on hunting as a long term supply of food. Thankfully that "Mad Max" or "Roaving hoards of zombies" end of world daydream wont happen.

High Planes Drifter,

While I wholeheartedly agree with your post, there is one thing you didn't include in the above logic. (and of course, this is just for sake of discussion)

You didn't factor in a survival rate for whatever final disaster we are talking about.

The planet may well be able to support population if only a few people survived the zombie outbreak.

Of course, if its so bad that it kills that many people, your outlook isn't too promising.


-- john

 

[High Planes Drifter]

John, I concede that I didnt factor that into my reasoning. Of course, you could also consider that there would be wildlife population loss due to whatever catalyst caused a super-social meltdown. Here in South Louisiana, the rabbit and deer season was canceled for the areas south of I 10 across the whole state during the 2006 season, and in select areas for the 2007 season. Katrina impacted populations that much.

eta:

The planet may well be able to support population if only a few people survived the zombie outbreak.

John, wouldnt the zombies also be feeding off of the wildlife? LOL : )

 

[Animal Mother]

If you want some decent information about how a guy went through a modern SHTF scenario that actually occurred in real life and not in some fantasy called "Red Dawn of the Living Mad Max Zombie Mutants" read this link:
http://www.frugalsquirrels.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=044387;p=1

It is a post by a guy who survived Argentina's economic collapse back in 2001. There is a lot of practical and useful information in there.

Now, getting back to the original posters question -- I will not bug out, I will bug in. In those times when I must leave my neighborhood to go into town to gather supplies, I will take my bicycle. I will always carry my Glock 19 with me (concealed). Should I need to carry a long arm, it would be my 10/22 or my M-4gery depending on conditions. You should have a secondary or tertiary water source that you can draw from should your well pump not function. You should have laid the groundwork for organizing your neighborhood watch into a functional community should SHTF. You should have a viable and sustainable plan for gathering food or for drawing from substantial cached supplies. There are many other things that will need to be done before you can consider yourself as ready as you could reasonably be. I myself have not completed all my preparations, but I am getting there.

 

[JWarren]

HPD wrote:

John, I concede that I didnt factor that into my reasoning. Of course, you could also consider that there would be wildlife population loss due to whatever catalyst caused a super-social meltdown. Here in South Louisiana, the rabbit and deer season was canceled for the areas south of I 10 across the whole state during the 2006 season, and in select areas for the 2007 season. Katrina impacted populations that much.

eta:

Quote:
The planet may well be able to support population if only a few people survived the zombie outbreak.

John, wouldnt the zombies also be feeding off of the wildlife? LOL : )

Damnit High Planes Drifter! You countered my counter with an inescapable point.


Bishop takes my King.



Incidently, here in South Mississippi, we have a very bad situation in the Squirrel population. It seems that many got killed with the falling trees and the population hasn't recovered.

My father told me it was just like this after Hurricane Camille.

Incidently, just like after Camille, we have had an explosion in the rabbit population-- most likely from the increase of thickets to hide in since our forests have lost so much canopy in the form of oak and pine trees.


I counted 14 rabbits in my yard yesterday morning. The Jack Russells are about to have a stroke trying to chase them all at once.



-- John

 

[Soap]

If you're envisioning carrying enough supplies for a week, 500 rounds of ammo, a long gun, and a handgun, you're mistaken. That would be a brutal load when speed would be essential.

I am not an outdoorsy type and the folks in my suburban neighborhood would freak out at the sight of a guy preparing for a possible need to escape.

If you're really thinking about learning some new skills, try to spend a few weekends in the woods first. Learning fieldcraft "on-the-job" is ill advised.

 

[Texasred]

Glock 17/19 and 10/22/Ak-47 Just perfect!Yes so many panicky people would kill themselves in the onset of a serious disaster that our present population number would only be a reference number. Wildlife in some ways may be wiped out but life always finds a way and when our canned food runs out in the long run I'm sure some sort of feral dog, hog, or cat will have made it.

Look at the feral hog, all the hunters in America can't wipe it out.

 

[Texasred]

Yeah I stayed in Houston during the evacuation and I saw the bumrush at the stores and during the whole hurricane RITA thing. It was serious but nothing that you can't improvise for. This was the biggest north american evacuation in history!

 

[Corporal K]

These threads remind me of Charlie Brown's teacher:

Waa waan waah woo waa waooo

 

[JWarren]

These threads remind me of Charlie Brown's teacher:

Waa waan waah woo waa waooo

Your perspective about that changes after 8 weeks of no power or air-conditioning.


Trust me.


-- John

 

[Just Jim]

What kind of situation are we talking about here

When the fuel stops the trucks that bring the food quit rolling. A war with Iran that stops the flow of oil out of the middle east could start the ball rolling and if China and Russia get involved our oil and refineries could be shut down. It is a dangerous world right now.

Even if there is no war there are chances that our food supply could be interupted. We no longer have stores that keep huge warehouses of food, they cut cost by going straight to the distributor (ever wonder what that rewards card is for?). How long can the stores in your town last if the trucks quit rolling??

Less than 10% of the population buys hunting licenses in this nation.

And of that 10% how many know how to hunt? The other 90% have no chance in hell of feeding themselves by hunting. Yet there is alot of game even in the towns if people knew where to look. No it won't last forever but then it won't have to. People will kill each other and most would starve should the stores close.

A long coat and a short rifle will hide all the intentions that people could label you with. A 10-22 with a folding Houge stock hides pretty well and so does a Remington 600.

Even better is taking care of your neighbors so they don't go hungry. The money spent on hoarding guns and ammo could buy alot of food and may keep your neighbors alive to help you through hard times.

Shtf may never happen, but if it does I am not about to kill my neighbors over food.

jj

 

[BlackJackal]

hmm.. well..
for a "down fall/red dawn" scenario i would take a ak-47 just because it has more stopping power then the 5.56and its good for two legged criters or 4, as well as a reliable 1911.. and a mossberg breacher in the backseat of a car/truck would come in handy.
for a zombie SHTF i would want a reliably ar-15 just because its lighter then the ak and u only have to shoot them in the head to kill them so why need a larger round + the added weight? and a glock 17 just because the sheer numbers of them ither that or a springfield XD.

 

[Gunner4h1r3]

All depends on the situation. Different tools in the box for different purposes.

I'd use something in a common caliber for both a rifle (.223, .308, etc.) and a handgun (9mm, .45,.38/.357). a 12 gauge shotgun for sure. and a .22LR for just about anything.

Like most of the people already said, food is important. that and a good supply of potable water or purification methods.

Dig in and hold the fort. Band together with other people, people you can trust.

 

[dvcrsn]

If it is people I am dealing with--most likely my Romi SKS and Ruger P90, Security Six (357), or Taurus PT101 (40S&W)

 

[ccsniper]

gotta go with the .22's

i would definetly take my rough rider and my rem model 512, the person most likely to survive would be the person that leaves barely a foot print, is hardly heard and stays out of reach of anyone wanting my food.

 

[joop]

If it's simply a breakdown of the modern infrastructure, I don't think we would have to worry that much about food. Yes, it will be more expensive, but humans have been farming without tractors and chemicals for thousands of years.

 

[Zip7]

I counted 14 rabbits in my yard yesterday morning. The Jack Russells are about to have a stroke trying to chase them all at once.

Same here. I have two almost unemployed squirrel dogs, and the first thing I thought of when I saw this thread was... I'd stay home and live off rabbits for a while, cause I have plenty of those after Katrina.

 

[scurtis_34471]

Semi-Auto. I'd take my XD-40 Service and one of my AKs.