GUNS

You must be stuffed with food and not very hungry right now. So it is a good time to read and maybe learn something. How about a little survivalism? Hope that sounds okay to you.

I feel like saying a few things about guns this morning. Guns for self defense and guns for getting game for food. Most guns will do some of these things quite well and if you like them then you should shoot them. There are, however, a few wrinkles in the game of fire power. If you have a felony on your record then you are not to own a firearm. This makes it a little difficult to have a gun handy at all times. One thing you don't want to do it buy from a dealer. They have to fill out those nasty, incriminating forms for BATF. And BATF can go through the paperwork and find your John Henry on the bottom line and off you go to federal prison. Not a good thing. So don't acquire a gun from a dealer. You never want paperwork laying around that can send you away. You won't like it. You want to buy a gun "off paper". This means you buy it from an individual and you don't sign a damn thing. How do you think the gangsters get THEIR guns? It is called the black market by some folks and it works. And it will always work. After the collapse a lot of bullshit paper work will disappear and everyone can go about living a much freer life. And I think we can all appreciate that. Preppers know what a gun is for and how to use it properly. We read about it all the time. Don't neglect your preps!

Another wrinkle is the getting-to-be-common shortage of ammunition. The main caliber pistol and rifle rounds are hard enough to find but if you have developed an affinity for a 50 caliber HAMMER-OF-GOD round you may have a problem finding ANY ammo for it.There are many .308 weapons and 30-06 weapons, along with plenty of .223 and 7.62 X 39. These are the big sellers and thus the most ordered and therefore they will be the first things on the market. The squeaky wheel gets the grease. And if you shoot an off-caliber rifle you will just have to wait for your ammo to appear on the shelves. And I am not saying your choice of weapon is wrong or inadequate or anything like that. I am merely stating the economic facts of the matter. The big selling, back ordered calibers are going to get the lions share of the production time at the bullet factory. Your rare breed will just have to wait a few months until they can get to it. Sad but true.

Pistol ammo is the same way. .38 Special/.357, .380, 9mm, and 45 acp are the big dogs on the block and they are gong to eat first. Again, I am not saying your choice of handgun is wrong, but I am saying that when there are millions of rounds back ordered of the big five, your off-caliber choice is not going to get the attention is should. And you might be able to split a hair with your pistol. It may be the most accurate firearm in America. But it is NOT going to compete with the big sellers. This is a real thing to consider when choosing a firearm.

A lot of time is spent talking about the lowly .22 LR cartridge and it's various and it's various launching platforms. The reason for all the noise about this caliber is because it is still relatively cheap. Not like it was 10 years ago but still cheap enough to shoot. You can practice with it and drill with it and even get game with it, if you get good with it. It will also make an raider think twice about coming any further, especially if they already have one in the leg or the arm. Stomach wounds are a bad thing for a raider. Not too many people are interested in doctoring a raider. They will probably get hung anyhow.

Shotguns are my thing and I love 'em. You can get just about any ammo you need for a shotgun. All the way from slugs to very fine birdshot. 00 Buck will handle most of your self defense needs. I am very impressed with my shotguns. My son was impressed with my slug gun when he killed a 10 point buck. The picture is on the wall above me as I type this post. I was a proud Papa that day. He waited 5 hours for the buck to come out. Cold weather and getting dark but he hung in there and nailed that big boy. A determined man he was. Stay alive.

Michael

mboone@rtccom.net