Well of course not! Guns and Preppers go together like peanut butter and chocolate, or maybe beans and rice would be more appropriate, but I digress. Guns, yes, lots of guns; and I include myself in this fold as I have accumulated quite a few over the last couple of years and each with their own purpose. The problem we run into is which caliber or calibers of ammunition do you stockpile? Note: I recently purchased a little Ruger LCP2 .380 to carry on the trails when hiking, great little gun that fits the need, but certainly not the caliber I would choose to stockpile. No, unless you have an endless supply of money to spend on ammo, you must somehow narrow your focus down to just a couple of calibers. Now, if you want to create a firestorm of opinions, just ask what gun or guns would be best for a SHTF scenario – you will likely get 100 different opinions none of which might be appropriate for you. I have recently been faced with this dilemma and I wanted to take a few moments to share how we came to our decision and why (and yes yours will probably be different).
I currently own weapons of 7 different calibers and a small stash of ammo for each. However, to build a sufficient stockpile I knew I needed to narrow my focus down to just 2 calibers: one for pistol, one for long gun; but how? And again, your results will vary according to your taste, strategy and skill level.
A few things to consider when making your decision:
- Weight
- Capacity
- Cost
- Availability
- Ease of operation
- Accuracy
- Primary user or users
- You may also want to factor in if you have multiple firearms of the same caliber, possibly for multiple users.
Still having trouble deciding? Try running through a few scenarios:
- Ask: if all my firearms were lined up and multiple intruders were attempting to force their way into my home, which would I grab first?
- Ask: if I were caught in the middle of a riot (Antifa or the likes) what firearm would I most want in my car or on my person?
- Ask: if I were stranded and had to walk to safety through some ‘unfriendly’ areas what weapon would I want on my person?
Now add your own scenarios as each of us has varying opinions, but all have the ultimate goal of protecting ourselves and our families. Understand, if there are other members of the family who might need to use your primary weapon, some compromise is almost inevitable – think 4×4 truck vs. mini van = SUV.
In our house the long gun debate was pretty quick; for us the AR-15 easily beat out the other rifles and shotguns for its light weight, ease of use, high capacity, ultra light recoil and the fact that both are quite comfortable using it. No, I will not be getting rid of my shotguns, but when it comes to stockpiling ammo – .223 it is.
The handgun decision was a little more difficult, but ultimately we settled on 9mm as BOTH of us are comfortable with the weight, recoil, easy of use, high capacity, cost and availability.
Just like your choice of how and what food and supplies to store, your choice of what ammunition to store can make the difference between survival and death.
“If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.” – Benjamin Franklin
Prepper 365 
Reblogged this on The way I see things ….
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