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There are several ways to evaluate a SHTF rifle in my opinion.

1. The main question is this. What design will last the longest without maintenance support? i.e. be capable of firing the most number of rounds day in and day out with little or no maintenance. Chrome barrels will eventually flake off the right piece and the accuracy will deteriorate. CIP I once went to a funeral and bought a rifle before I left the cemetery. Got home and put a bore scope down the barrel and the chrome was pitted from one end to other. It was a SKS. I dumped it for a profit. Chicom ammo is generally corrosive which is I am sure what it was fed in a previous life. CIP don't depend on COMBLOC ammo. You don't need a gas operated rifle as that is a situation waiting to go south quickly.

2. What will be the easiest to maintain in the field WITHOUT SPECIALTY TOOLS? Basically if you need more than a Leatherman Wave it will be iffy. A Leatherman Surge would be better. I carry a Wave for day to day things but a Surge has a big blade that will be better for action screws and I have both.

3. What will require a very minimum of spare parts to keep it going? At a minimum a spare striker (firing pin), striker spring, extractor, (maybe a ejector) Your immediate thought if I was out right now, had the part, could I put it in with a Leatherman Tool?


4. Can it accommodate subsonic cast bullet loads without incurring maintenance issues? In SHTF situations is it will not be a good idea to touch off a center fire rifle than can be heard two miles away when you are hunting for food because of the tendency to alert potential hostile visits. You need to be able to cast bullets with sufficient weight to achieve significant penetration for best terminal effects for a kill. Bullets weighing 200+ grains launched at 1100 FPS will probably be your minimum to achieve a through and through terminal delivery. Living things die as a result of a loss of blood and two holes (in and out) leak twice as fast as one hole per Col Fackler MD of the Army Wound Ballistics Lab.

5. What is the longest effective range with jacketed full performance ammo that incorporates 1 and 2,3 and 4 above will your rifle be capable of?



6. If you have a shot at say 300 yards on game can you be reasonably certain you can make the shot? If you can't hit it you can't kill it. At a bare minimum your choice should be able to knock over a 12" sq X 1"thick piece of steel plate at 300 yards.



7. The US Army Infantry board used to have a requirement that a rifle be capable of being used as a step to help troops over walls and into window openings etc. Such a capability would more likely be beneficial if you fell on your weapon. When the M16 came out that requirement mysteriously disappeared because the military wanted to please the brass who wanted to please the politicians. ARs are the most prone to break in half in a fall breaking off the rear ring on the lower receiver.



8. Can your selection be hardened up to achieve such? Say your wanting a bolt action rifle, the weak part of the stock is the area just to the rear of the receiver. Plastic stocks coming now on factory rifles can't be bedded well as no glue will stick to them. (Hint: I knew a stock designer at Remington (passed now) and he designed them and he confirmed no glue would adhere to them thus no bedding material. Wood stocks can be had and some of the grip areas are pretty thin. You can take a long 1/4" drill and run it down through the pistol grip and insert a piece of ALL THREAD 1/4" rod GROUND FLAT ON ONE SIDE and a screw slot cut in the end. Prior to insertion of rod pour in Devcon Two Ton Epoxy and insert the rod. The rod will start to compress the epoxy and it will be forced to the bottom and sides of the hole and then want to escape and can do so along the flat ground area where the threads are ground down on one side of the rod. Insert rod with a screwdriver in the slot turning the rod as it goes in. You should see epoxy coming out the hole when the All Thread contacts the bottom. If not back it out quickly and add more epoxy. Let it sit up over night and you can pretty well forget a the stock break there. Even better get a design with a laminated wood stock and do the rod enhancement.



9. Does the rifle you are considering have stripper clip reloadability or detachable box magazine? Most hunting rifles these days are 4 in 1. Four rounds in mag and with a little finger finesse you can insert the 5th round. If you are hunting this may be acceptable but if you are placed in a defensive situation the ability to reload in a hurry can be detrimental to your situation. IMHO you need a rifle you can on command pick up and load five rounds in, fire them, reload five and fire them in no more than 60 seconds. The WW1 battle rifles had this capability on both sides with the Brits having the capability of loading ten rounds at one time in the SMLE rifles.



10. What is your plan to mount a fire control system? This is the military terminology for sights. Most iron sights will not allow you to engage a 6" target at 300 yards unless the light is very good and you have excellent eyesight of 20-20 or better. If you are considering iron sights go out in the woods and set up a dark colored target at 300 yards and walk off while looking back frequently. When you can't see it measure the distance to the target. Thus optics should be considered. Receiver mounted scopes inhibit your ability to reload in a hurry unless you have a detachable box mag on your rifle. Most detachable box mags have 4, 5, 6 or 10 round capability and these can be very pricey. That means optics with lower power as you need light gathering ability in order to be able to separate your target from the surroundings. I like scopes with low power and the largest front lenses I can find. No more than 2-7X. I have some scopes that are 1X which will give you much more clarification than iron sights.



11. You can get scope mounts that will allow you to mount long eye relief scopes (Scout or Pistol) on your barrel. They are pricey but functional. These make for quicker aiming or in the words of Gen Nathan Bedford Forrest when asked about how is troops were so effective? He said, "Get there the firstest with the mostest." Gen Robert E. Lee was asked which was his best general and he said Forrest.



12. You need to be able to place a plastic cap on your muzzle because a dropped rifle, fall etc can present you with a muzzle full of dirt which you do not want to fire with that in place. A good source for these are known as cap plugs and they come in different diameters and colors. You want a snug fit when slid over your muzzle. If you have lots of time you can remove the cap, if you have an emergency aim and fire. If you can't get a cap plug the diameter of your muzzle wrap the muzzle with tap to increase the diameter and slide the cap plug on. A 16MM cap plug will fit on many sporting barrel weights with muzzles of .600 to .625 diameter. These plugs might weigh an ounce for several dozen so lay them in and carry spares. Bottom line is you can keep a barrel going a long time if it is protected from dirt, moisture and in the South dirt dobbers.



Lets say you do get a muzzle full of dirt, a pull through string cleaning rod won't dislodge rammed in dirt. It is going to take a jointed rod to accomplish this. Military cleaning rods are generally made of steel, they generally don't assemble straight and used improperly may destroy the accuracy capability of your rifle in one pass especially if inserted from the muzzle. I have found a three piece brass cleaning rod at Wally World that appears to be ideal for 22 cal up.



13.What kind of sling do you intend to use. Forget leather. A cheap sling that will last forever is the black rough weave silent slings made for the M16 rifle that can be had for a nominal price. I have seen them for 2.00. If you have one of the military green cotton slings that is tired or breaks you can replace the cotton material with the silent sling material, sew it up just like the green one. They don't rot and are extremely strong and won't slide off your shoulder and should hold up for years and can also be used as a tourniquet.



14. What are you going to attach your sling to? I purchase M1903 sling swivels, inlet stocks and mount them and they are secured by two screws. Mount the front one at an appropriate place there so you can shoot prone supported by your sling. Mount the rear one on the side of the stock about 1" forward of the buttplate. If you are right handed place sling swivel on left side of stock. Opposite if side if you are a lefty. This will allow you to carry rifle muzzle down and butt of rifle slightly below your shoulder and under a poncho or zeltbahn keeping our rifle clean and dry and not snag on tree limbs you may duck under. It will present a image that you are unarmed to personnel at a distance as the rifle will be close to your side and not silhouette itself.



15. Lets say you have your selected cleaning rod. What are you going to clean our weapon with? Liquid bore cleaner can be totally gone in seconds when knocked over.



There is the single point screw in studs. The only sling hardware acceptable for these is the Uncle Mikes milspec swivels or the Mossy sling swivels that take 1 1/4" wide slings as they are the most durable I have seen to date except the 1903 sling swivels.



As a final protective finish get Sandstrom 28A and paint your rifle with it. Don't worry about getting it in spray cans, get the paint on variety. You need to agitate with very well to suspend the molybdenum disulphide while you paint your metal. I do this by making taking L shaped wire about 1/8" thick, bend it 90 degrees and place other end in variable speed electric drill. Mix contents well to suspend the contents that settle quickly to bottom of can. All the metal on your rifle will now be a very dark gray.



If you muzzle is in the neighborhood of 5/8" or thicker you can have your muzzle threaded 1/2X28" then screw on a M16 flash suppressor and use M16 muzzle covers. If your rifle is bigger than 22 cal open the inside up to clear larger caliber bullets. Thus your crown is better protected and the chances of having your position exposed by flash signature is greatly reduced. The basic rule again here is if you can be seen you can be hit.



If you have made the right decisions on rifle and assembly you should be able to perform the following:

Set a candidate rifle out on a bench and shoot it one round a week and never clean it. Let it get rained on, don't ever clean it, don't lube it, don't every leave wet ammo in the chamber as moisture will get in and create galvanic action and pit your chamber. In other words treat it like you could not care for it just like you are in a SHTF scenario. Zero it at say 300 yards on a 6" plate and your one shot per week aim for the plate and see if you hit it.

Bottom line is there are very few weapons that will get along with little or no care and therefore the one you choose you are in a sense betting your life on and if you have one that is likely to need parts are you going to carry them and can you put them in yourself with no tools? If you happen to live near the ocean the salt atmosphere is going to play havoc with your choice as well.



16. Choice of calibers. This will give you are pretty good idea of caliber selection.


Note: If you have the ability to reload your chances of keeping your weapon going for many years is significantly enhanced if you have components laid in.You can also pull down rounds you may come up on that you can pull down and use the bullets in your rifle. For instance you have a 308 and find 30.06 ammo, you can pull it down, ease the primers out and reload them into 308. If you find 270 pull the bullets, store away, use the propellant and primer. There is a variety of things you can do to make do.

I forgot to add. I use a homemade gun oil called Ed's Red(ER), 1/3 rd K1 Kerosene or diesel fuel, 1/3rd Mineral Spirits or paint thinner and 1/3rd Mercon Dexron Transmmission fluid. I make up 1 1/2 gallons at a time in a 2 gallon gas can. Should keep your weapon going to about 50 below zero. In ARs I use Mobil 1 0W20 synthetic motor oil. Keeps the carbon soft inside bolt carrier making it easier to clean.
 
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Nice write up.

Always be mindful of what you have, should some calamity occur. As that's all you'll have.

Here's hoping some calamity of such proportions never occurs. It'd be heart wrenching beyond comprehension...
 
The Garand fits this perfectly. It was my first choice, and only choice still today.
Mine no longer looks like or is the same weight as a rack grade Garand.
CIA issue (Smith Ent) flash hider.
Standing I will hit the 500 yard gong several times. With NM rear sights and the milspec front blade.
It is sighted in for a 200 yard zero.
We bought 10 Uncle Mike's one hand slings before they sold out to Winchester who turned them into plastic Chinese crap.
Cleaning stuff is rugged and kept in the butt of the rifle. USGI (all tools included)
Fires cast real good, never would make it subsonic, so really dont care about being quiet.
After all after Ive kilt 8 of them, the ping might give away where I am at.
Originally the Garand was in 257 Roberts. Which is how they got 10 rounds in it. Better ballistics than 5.56.
Which is real hard to go subsonic with. The 25-45 Sharps is the closest AR caliber to the .257 Roberts.
Both rounds are superior to 5.56 nato.
#12 Nam proved that condoms worked better than butt plugs that were issued. Both blow off when you fire through them.

By todays standards the 30-06 is big, heavy, and obsolete. 160rds vs 210, 5.56 (standard GI loadout).
The weight is about same, yet the 150ish grain bleep pills I use, there as not 5.56 or 308 that comes close to the power of the odd six, even gimped to 2700fps. The bolt gun companion can take that same round and punch though bleep steel at twice the distance, that the goberment calls for.
Could not read your caliber page, we do not sign into anything global.

How about spare parts? If your using a sporting rifle as a combat rifle. The gas tube is going to be the death of you. As an armorer we changed out plenty of them. As a single person or small group you may need s bag of them. The stainless steel ones will last a longer.
for the M1 I have all the USGI original parts. I can carry them in my pocket. The girls ARs get a whole spare parts kit, plus gas tubes.
 
Speaking only for myself...

A choice of firearm for SHFT....depends on:
Just what S hits the fan...
A rifle that is ideally set up for your home defense , may not be the best choice for dealing with a bear or other dangerous critter...

Where I am at when said fecal matter hits the oscillating air movement machine...
I may be out and about and not have access to my favorite SHTF firearm...but I do have the one on my person...
The point I am trying to make here is , that S may hit the fan , not under your terms or playbook...And you may not have your "Mad Max Jr. Survival Kit" with you ...
Be adaptable and learn to use what you got on you , to the best of your abilities...

Please note that I am not against a guideline or list of just what a firearm needs to be SHTF approved.
However I am saying that :

Whatever you pick ....learn to use it and use it well...learn to use it without having to think about just how you need to use it...

Something with common spare parts and ammo is always a plus...But not always a deal breaker...

Learn to make the situation that you are in work for you ...and not have the situation work you...

If the firearm that you like and are good with , does not make someone's SHTF approved list...
Well so what..?
Survival is not about what works for others...its about what works for you...

Surviving a SHTF moment / event is far more than just what firearm or items you have on hand.
Andy
 
As I was going to the on-deck circle, a baseball coach gave me a list of things to do, not to do, things to look for, things to adjust for, what to do if the current hitter got on base, and what to do if he didn't.

The head coach pipes up with what I consider as the best advice.....

"While you're 'considering' all that bullschit, don't forget to swing!"
 
Johnny Tremain, be careful how hot you load your ammo for Garand. For longest life with least problems keep your port pressures low. Spec ammo runs 8000 to 11,000 lbs. The system should function with 6000 lbs port pressure.

The Quick Load Program will allow you to work up loads that control port window envelope pressures. My 30.06 loads for bolt guns and Garands is 43.3 gr. 4895 with bullets in the 168 to 175 gr. range and will give you right at 8000 lbs port pressure. I believe you will find this to be a excellent grouping load.

BE CAREFUL NOT TO GO BELOW MIN PUBLISHED LOADS AS YOU WILL GET INTO THE AREA WHERE YOU CAN GET A PRESSURE SPIKE THAT WILL UP YOUR CASE PRESSURES INTO THE PROOF CARTRIDGE RANGE WHICH IS TO BE AVOIDED.

ALSO BE ADVISED COMMERCIAL BRASS HAS A THINNER WEB AT THE CASE HEADS THAT MILSPEC 30.06 CASES. AS WELL THE CASE HEADS ARE SOFTER AND YOU WILL GET AN INCREASE MATERIAL FLOW AS THE CASE HEAD WANTS TO OPEN UP TO THE DIAMETER OF YOU CHAMBER WHICH EXPANDS THE CASE HEAD AND OPENS THE PRIMER POCKET WHICH THE SIZE OF THE GARAND CHAMBERS IS JUST SHY OF THE GRAND CANYON IN SIZE TOLERANCE. Commercial cases are considerable less capable of handling high pressures.

Thus the rationalization for a bolt gun with a custom chamber. I have measured fired cases from a Garand that gives birth to fired cases in the .472 range where I believe you will find all factory 30.06 will have a dead dimension of .465 measured .200 up from rim in the web area. This begs the question of why have a rifle that will give birth to cases measuirng in excess of .471 and I have measured brass from Garand chambers that gave birth to cases that measure .475".

My bolt rifles when rebarreled comply to the 222 Principle (my name) which means the case head does not expand over .002" on firing, the neck does not expand over .002" on firing and the shoulder does not move forward more than .002" on firing. Thus when I fire new cases in my chambers I find the temporary expansion opens up .002 and shrinks back about .001 thus my fired case when extracted only expand .001".

This is why 99% (estimated) anvils do not wear out? Because their external dimension change very little in their life. Hard to wear out something that doesn't move.

The Garand also gives receiver wear thus the rationalization for the FIELD TEST BOLTS to determine when the receiver wear is out of tolerance. There is also another gage known as the "Bridge Gage" that measures the wear on the bridge. The acceptable life on the M1 Garand was considered met if the rifle made it to 10,000 rounds. There there is the Timing Gage that is critical as the hump on the the bullet guide begins to wear which will cause your enbloc to jump ship on 6th/7th round. If you look at a bullet guide there is a hole drilled at right angle to bore line. Just in front of that hole is a small hump which should measure .169-.173 in height. These can be saved by getting a good TIG welder to build the hump up to .176" to .178" height.

What did not help is that point that is known to wear is not indicated in any maintenance manual as a point of lubrication. I lubricate mine with moly grease. I also use moly grease to lube the other wear areas.

I know of bolt guns that have had excess of ten barrels run trough them and they just keep on going and going and going.

CIP consider what the government used for as the test bed for 7.62 and 30.06 ammo? Both had accuracy acceptance barrels on 1903 and 03A3 Springfield actions and they are rebarreled at 15,000 to 17,000 rounds. I believe this was covered in Hatcher's Notebook.

5.56 ammo receivers are barrel on Rem 700 actions.

How much increased life can you get from a 222 Principle dimensioned chamber? I have fired the same LC 65 Match 30.06 case 157 times and primer pocket is still snug, with no signs of incipient separation either.

30.06 has not been loaded by Lake City since I think 1972 so unless you have some laid in you need to start looking and lay in it. I have 500 dedicated cases for one rifle that was rebarreled about 82 for match shooting at Camp Perry and that brass is now on it's third barrel.


To get the longest life on your piston store it muzzle down and run about 6 drops of 0W20 Mobil 1 synthetic motor oil down the op rod and it will keep the carbon soft . Even better get a adjustable gas port and blow most of the carbon out the front.

When carbon cools it becomes abrasive diamond dust so to speak and it will eat up surfaces that rub together with carbon between.

Mobil 1 is good for about everything and is my No 1 lubricant of choice.

With a little planning you can have rifles your great grand son won't wear out.

Finally under no circumstances should you fire Greek 30.06 ammo with a headstamp with a K and 54 on it. This is known as a soft head case failure and will blow a Garand into about 5 pieces
v6Esp9ah.jpg .

I conducted a catastrophic case failure investigation on this one. Rifle was fired 6 rounds previously and all fired cases confirmed correct headspace on the Garand. This was 7th round. My contact in the ammo collector field told me this ammo is noted for these failures known as "soft head case failure".

There is another event covering this on internet. I would buy K54 ammo for one reason, to pull the bullets and save the propellant. I would never fire this ammo in ANYTHING I OWNED and I would crush the cases after downloading.
 
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1) I never thought of having to use my rifle to boost somebody into a window. :eek:
2) With the exception of mounting a scope (yeah, I know, not a trivial point) the Ishapore SMLE seems to fit the bill.
3) Given my physical limitations I don't anticipate being afield much, so defending the homestead is the most important consideration. Any # of guns would fill the bill for this.
4) TP & booze: long shelf life, use them yourself if the Apocalypse doesn't happen on your watch. No way to turn them against you. Good idea.
5) How often will 500 yd shots be req'd? For most people this isn't an important consideration, or part of their skill set. In the Real World an SKS is a pretty good choice.
6) If the gas tube is a problem, the Daewoo doesn't have one and Stormwerks makes a great scope mount. Parts availability is about like speed components for a Studebaker 289 but the stuff that wears out is available. Besides, they never break or wear out anyway. :D
7) After guano impact ammo won't be available @ Big 5. It's likely that every round will be precious. (No more mag dumps for fun.) It's not likely that one will be firing thousands and thousands of rounds.
8) "Set a candidate rifle out on a bench and shoot it one round a week and never clean it. Let it get rained on, don't ever clean it, don't lube it, don't every leave wet ammo in the chamber as moisture will get in and create galvanic action and pit your chamber. In other words treat it like you could not care for it just like you are in a SHTF scenario."
Since guns will be precious and hard to replace people will have to be attentive to proper care. I would think treating it like you would in a SHTF scenario would involve more like basic level maintenance with a rag and motor oil than such neglect. If your life depends on your rifle, leaving it to sit out in the weather (particularly here in the Great PNW) is not an option.
9) I totally agree with the part about firing a single round from a cold barrel every day being a great idea. The fact that I am not doing it doesn't mean it's not, just that I'm not sticking to it. BTW, an adult air rifle is real good for practicing rifle form. The most important round is always the first, and firing more than one effective shot involves using that same good form more quickly as the situation requires. Nobody throws a punch at the speed you practice a kata, but doing it slowly with good form really helps you do it well more quickly when you have to. Works for practicing draw form with a handgun too.
 
TL;DR (yet - I need to do chores).

But I would point out that while blood loss is a great killer, it does not require an exit hole from the body - internal bleeding can kill just as fast and as deadly as external bleeding - maybe more so. A projectile that expands and has sharp edges will cause more bleeding than a thru and thru 'solid' or FMJ wound and may cut important arteries and may damage internal organs it passes thru.
 
FMJ around the stove talk for years has portrayed them and coming in the front and going out the back with little damage. The Army Wound Ballistics Lab conclusively proved this not to be the case. About 4" inside a human the bullet turns and (one big long gash) and exits the body point towards the shooter if it doesn't come apart which is typically the case with a cannelured bullet.


 
FMJ around the stove talk for years has portrayed them and coming in the front and going out the back with little damage. The Army Wound Ballistics Lab conclusively proved this not to be the case. About 4" inside a human the bullet turns and (one big long gash) and exits the body point towards the shooter if it doesn't come apart which is typically the case with a cannelured bullet.



Tumble yes maybe. Some will fragment. Some will go right thru - it depends on where the projectile hits a soft target. But IMO, a projectile that expands reliably is superior to an FMJ in most cases. I have FMJ for practice and for a last resort, but I stock up on defensive or hunting ammo, not military ammo.
 
My experience with gunshot wounds does not come from a lab...so take the following with a salt shaker...:D
My observations and experience comes from hunting or combat.

In my experience bullets , no matter what type or how well constructed , can do weird things when they hit flesh.
FMJ as a general rule will not expand...much or as quickly as bullets that are designed to do so.
That said I have seen 'em expand at times and anything that I have shot with them , did not tell me that they wanted to get shot with a different style of bullet...:eek: :D

Like anything in life ...others no doubt will have different experiences.

And please do not subject your firearm to intentional abuse or neglect for "SHTF testing" or other reasons.

If you depend on your rifle to save your life or to provide food for your table...take care of it.
Keep your rifle clean and maintained...
Will you be able to take it all down and get it inspection ready every time or as often as you may like , in a SHTF situation...No
But...
One can actually clean and take care of their rifle while in a combat zone...there is no reason why not to do this elsewhere.
Andy
 
What type of SHTF scenario are we talking about here? While it may be amusing to "what if" a post apocalyptic doomsday scenario it may be more helpful to look at realistic events in recent history.

Ferguson, the LA Riots, Katrina are all real "SHTF" scenarios that will most likely happen again in one form or another.

A situation where there is little access to tools with constant exposure to the elements and hunting for the next meal is required? While I won't say it's impossible it is probably a pretty far stretch.

So I think a "SHTF" rifle should be one where the shooter is proficient, knowledgeable, and has sufficient ammunition to weather a storm.

I second what @AndyinEverson stated about keeping the firearm clean. On deployments I carried (and still carry) an old toothbrush. If there was ever an available second I would take some time to scrub my rifle. I may be filthy but my firearms are always clean.

Safe shooting.
 
Hummer--good article with some interesting points. But in the interest of more humor in this world-----
(shamelessly cut and pasted from somewhere, this has been around a while and the author is uncertain)


After some years now of reading internet bulletin boards, I think I've got the pros and cons of possible SHTF rifle choices figured out. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the following is my analysis based upon the wisdom of numerous gun board gurus (you know them, they're always the first ones to tell you a particular model gun is "junk" and enlighten you as to why they have made the only logical purchases)…

The AR 15:
Great, awesome, unbelievable rifle(when it works). Can hit a fly in the butt at 300 yards (when it works). If one is ever attacked by a pack of feral poodles post-SHTF, this is the perfect defensive rifle (unless it jams, in which case you're poodle food). The upside is that one can hang more plastic aftermarket doo-dads on it than a Christmas tree, which may effectively frighten away bad guys when the gun jams. Also, by simply changing the upper, one can convert it into a Ruger 10/22.

The MINI-14:
Could be a good rifle, but it's not black.



The SKS:
Best obsolete rifle ever made (even if it isn't black, but you can buy a black aftermarket stock that looks kinda like an AR). If you need to lay in a big mud puddle and shoot at bad guys, this is the rifle to have. It will shoot as well as ever (maybe even better) when full of mud and the ten round mag makes puddle shooting a breeze since unlike hi-cap mags, you can hold the rifle upright in prone (mud puddle) position. Major drawback is that everyone knows that in a post-SHTF situation one must immediately fire thousands of rounds, a task for which a fixed ten round magazine is ill equipped, which is why they invented the AK. You can buy aftermarket hi-cap mags, but they often jam, creating the illusion that one is shooting an AR when combined with a nifty aftermarket stock. Other major drawback is that the 7.62 x 39 round is not .223 or .308.

The AK-47:
The AK-47 solved the difficult problem of firing thousands of rounds at approaching bad guys by allowing you to deftly change 30 round mags taped back to back, or for the truly ambitious, drum type magazines may be found. Unfortunately, buying an AK-47 is difficult, as they only come in full auto configurations. The good news is that a number of semi-automatic variants are available, allowing you to simulate an actual AK-47 by pulling the trigger really, really fast. Like the SKS, AK variants function best when filled with mud, but actually filling them is difficult as the hi-cap magazine makes lying in a mud puddle while shooting much more difficult. Fortunately, tactical experts from a mysterious facility known only to us as "the hood" have developed the "homeboy" method of handling an AK variant which promises to alleviate the hi-cap magazine vs mud puddle problem. One drawback of the AK variant is that (like the SKS) it's not black, however, aftermarket vendors have corrected this tactical faux pas on the part of Soviet designers by offering black furniture for those "in the know". Like the SKS, the AK variant also suffers from the troubling problem that the 7.62 x 39 round is not .223 or .308. However, recognizing this problem, Russian designers have created a similar cartridge to the .223 known as the 5.45 x 39.5. The problem of the 7.62 x 39 not being a .308 has not been addressed, as Russian poodles are apparently no larger than American poodles. Nevertheless, the quest to make smaller and smaller projectiles for combat weapons continues and rumors of a newer and better innovation known as the "pellet gun" have recently surfaced. We await an AR upper to accommodate this promising new caliber.

The Mosin-Nagant:
This unpronounceable rifle has a long history of military service. Napoleon reportedly had one. The unusually long 91/30 barrel combined with bayonet insures that it should be especially useful should a SHTF scenario involve the "redcoats" coming. The major drawback of this rifle is that it is a bolt action, which could make firing the prerequisite thousands of rounds at approaching bad guys difficult. However, if the Mosin owner and the bad guys are patient, one should be able to sling enough lead downrange by the time they are older than their rifle currently is. Like other eastern block rifles, the Mosin also is not black. This may be a possible reason why the Soviets lost the cold war. However, like the SKS and AK, western vendors have corrected this problem by offering an aftermarket stock in black. Unfortunately, none are available with a pistol grip. If Napoleon's Mosin had a pistol grip, he may have very well conquered the world, but that's another discussion. Other "carbine" type Mosins are also available, which would be the perfect compliment if one's SHTF plan includes charging at bad guys on horseback while wearing a fur hat, swinging a curved saber and swilling a bottle of vodka.

The CETME:
While the Mosin-Nagant takes a step in the right direction by chambering a larger caliber, the CETME promises to actually be able to send the desired thousands of rounds downrange much like the AK, only with the "bang" being in Spanish rather than Russian. While promising, the CETME is said to fall short since it's commonly known that the Century built models can only be fired once before exploding. The best-known solution is to use the CETME like a hand grenade, throwing it at the bad guys and hoping they try to fire it so it explodes on them rather than you.

The G3:
The G3 would probably make a good post-SHTF weapon, but they're full auto and Uncle Sam says you can't have one. Because he said so and because "he's the uncle". Well, you could get one if you sold your house and lived in your car to pay for it, but that's pretty much the same thing. The good news is that you could get a semi-automatic version like the HK91 or PTR-91 (and they're black, a major improvement on the original CETME design). The major complaint about this design is that it has stuff like a fluted chamber and a roller-delayed blowback action, making it too exotic for a viable SHTF weapon. The other major drawback reported about this German improvement on the CETME design is that it's not an M1A or a FAL.

The FAL:
The FAL is the freemason of rifles. Though you don't run into them often, they're reported to be everywhere and secretly control the world of guns. This explains why FAL owners tend to worship their rifles, often converting their gun cabinets into FAL shrines and performing bizarre candlelit rituals before their rifle, which only the initiated understand. For the uninitiated, the upside is that the FAL can be found in black furniture and has hi-cap magazines. FAL owners tend to taunt AR owners about their "poodle shooter" calibers, touting the ability of the .308 to penetrate such obstacles as trees. While this puzzles some, I suspect that the members of the FAL cult may have some mysterious knowledge that common gun owners do not. Perhaps when the SHTF and hordes of trees rise up to destroy the human race we will all wish we had a FAL.

The M1A:
The M1A is the ultimate SHTF rifle. We know this because M1A owners remind us of this constantly. Like the FAL, the M1A is capable of stopping a tree in its tracks. When the hordes of killer trees take the rest of us, FAL and M1A owners will likely be the only ones left to hash out who has the better rifle. Of course, we know the answer (because M1A owners remind us of it constantly). The M1A not only has superior penetration, it is extremely accurate at distance. Therefore, when the hordes of killer trees have all been mowed down, FAL owners will fall quickly to the hordes of paper silhouette targets come to avenge their woodland brethren. The M1A owners will stop the avenging targets with neat, 1 MOA groups center mass at 600 yards. At that point, the standard M1A owners will have to hash out which is the better gun with the SOCOM 16 owners to determine who will inherit the earth. A glaring design error in the M1A is that it's not black, which is why they invented the SOCOM.

Other military style rifles:
There are, in fact, other military style rifles, which I have not mentioned. It is, however, widely understood that all of these other rifles will fail as soon as the stuff hits the fan and being less common than the others, parts will not be available, rendering them all useless.

Pistol caliber carbines and sporting rifles:
Aside from the biggies, there are carbines in pistol calibers, but as Jeff Cooper says about the .32, if your shoot someone with one, and they notice, they'll probably get mad. Therefore, pistol caliber carbines are fun toys, but not a serious SHTF choice.

Sporting rifles are right out. They are not designed to fire the required volume of ammunition in a short period. Under such stress, their barrels will melt and droop like wet noodles, leaving the user defenseless.

Well, that's about it. Thanks to the Internet and the plethora of gurus on it, I now have a comprehensive understanding of every possible SHTF rifle, even one's I've never owned or even shot. Naturally, I had to pass this know-how on.

But Wait……
You bought the wrong gun!!!

M14/M1A:
Clunky, heavy, and overpowered. Essentially a Garand tarted up with a removable magazine, in a half-baked attempt to adapt a 19th century rifle design philosophy to the mid-20th century. Most often named as favorite infantry rifle by people who never had to hump a 10-pound wood-stocked rifle with lots of sharp protrusions and no collapsible anything on a three day exercise, or try to make it through a firefight with the standard battle load of five 20-round magazines.

AK-47:
Crude and inaccurate bullet thrower designed by and for illiterate peasants. Chambered in a caliber that manages to cut the ballistics of a proper .30-caliber battle rifle in half without passing on any weight savings to the grunt. Ergonomics only suitable for Russian midgets. Archaic cable trigger spring, crummy sights, no sight radius to speak of, no bolt hold-open device, and a clumsy safety. Favorite infantry rifle of Middle Eastern goat herders, guys named Abdullah, and backwoods militia types who like the fact that it shoots cheap ammo and has ballistics like their familiar .30-30.

H&K G-3/HK-91:
Ergonomics of a railroad tie. No bolt release, and a locking system that requires three men and a mule to work the cocking handle. Fluted chamber that mauls brass, and violent bolt motion that dings the brass that didn't get mauled too badly by the chamber. Stamped sheet metal construction, yet just as heavy as a milled steel M14. Safety lever that requires unnaturally long thumbs, and a trigger pull that feels like dragging a piano across a gravel road with your index finger. Favorite infantry rifle of Cold War nostalgics and third world commandos.

M-16/AR-15:
Underpowered varmint rifle burdened by a crummy magazine design. Nasty direct-impingement gas system that poops where it eats. High sight line, flimsy alloy-and-plastic construction. Generally favored by range commandos, tactical disciples, military vets who have never fired anything else for comparison, and Brownells addicts who a.) enjoy spending three times the cost on the rifle on bolt-on accoutrements, and b.) never have to use their rifle away from a dry, sunny range.

G-36:
Flimsy plastic rifle with non-user adjustable fair-weather optics that fog up when a gnat breaks wind in front of them. Magazines that take up twice as much pouch space than others in the same caliber because of the "clever" coupling nubs on the magazine housing. Skeleton folding stock that is about as suitable for butt-stroking as a plastic mess spork. Twice as expensive as other rifles in its class because of the "HK" logo on the receiver. Preferred infantry rifle of SWAT cops, and soldiers whose militaries haven't been in shooting conflicts since the 1940s.

Glock:
Butt-ugly plastic shooting appliance with the ergonomics of a caulking gun. Five-pound trigger with no external safety makes it ill suited for its target market (cops who shoot a hundred rounds a year for qualification). Favored by gangbangers because the product name is short and rhymes with other short, rap-friendly words.

Beretta 92F/M9:
Clunky and overweight rip-off of a clunky and overweight German design from the 1930s. Shear-happy locking block, ergonomics that are only suited for linebackers, barely adequate sights that are partially non-replaceable, and low capacity for its size. Favored by Eighties action movie fanatics and John Woo freaks.

1911:
Overweight and overly complex piece of late 19th century technology. Low capacity, useless sights in stock form, and a field-stripping procedure that requires three hands. Favored by people who are at the cutting edge of handgun technology and combat shooting…of the 1960s.

H&K P7:
Wildly overpriced, heavy for its size, low capacity in most iterations, and blessed with a finish that rusts if you give the gun a moist glance. Gas tube has a tendency to roast the trigger finger after a box or two of ammo at the range. Favored by gun snobs who think that paying twice as much for half the rounds means four times the fighting skill.

SIG Sauer:
Top-heavy bricks with the rust resistance of an untreated iron nail at the bottom of a bucket of saltwater. Ergonomically sound, if you have size XXL mitts. Some minor parts made in Germany, so the manufacturer can charge 75% Teutonic Gnome Magic premium. Favored by Jack Bauer fans and wannabe Sky Marshals/Secret Service agents.

S&W Revolvers:
Archaic hand weapons from a bygone era, the missing link between flintlocks and autoloaders. Low capacity, and reloading requires a lunch break. Heavy for their capacity, unless you're talking about airweight snubbies, which hurt as much on the giving end as they do on the receiving end. Rare stoppages, but few malfunctions that don't require gunsmith services, which are hard to come by in a gunfight. Favored by crusty old farts who just now got around to trusting newfangled smokeless powder, and Dirty Harry fans with unrealistic ideas about the power of Magnum rounds vs. engine blocks.

SMLE/Enfield:
Refinement of a 19th century blackpowder design. Weapon of choice for militaries who either couldn't afford Mausers, or had ideological hang-ups about Kraut rifles. Rimlock-prone cartridge that only barely classifies as a battle rifle round because of blackpowder derivation and insufficient lock strength of the platform. Favored by Canadians with WWII nostalgia, and people who think that semi-auto rifles are a passing fad.

Browning HP:
Fragile frame designed around a popgun round. Near-useless safety in stock form that's only suitable for the thumbs of elementary schoolers. Strangest and most circuitous way to trip a sear ever put into a handgun. Favored by wannabe SAS commandos, wannabe mercenaries, and Anglophiles who think that hammer-down, chamber-empty carry is the most appropriate way to carry a defensive sidearm.

Benelli shotguns:
Plastic boutique scatterguns made by people with the martial acumen of dairy cows. Hideously expensive, and therefore popular with police agencies that get their equipment financed by tax dollars.

FN FAL:
Long and lightweight receiver that's impossible to scope properly. Overpowered round, twenty-round magazines that run dry in a blink, and an overall weapon length that's only suitable for Napoleonic line infantry, but utterly useless for airborne and armored infantry. Made by Belgians, a nation with a military history that is limited to waving German divisions through at the border. Favored by Falklands veterans, Commonwealth fanboys, and people who think that dial-a-recoil gas systems are the epitome of infantry technology.

And now, YOUR CALIBER SUCKS TOO!!!
9mm Luger:
European popgun round that's only popular because the ammo is cheap for a centerfire cartridge. Cheap ammo is a good thing for 9mm aficionados, because anything bigger and more dangerous than a cranky raccoon will likely require multiple well-placed hits. Wildly popular all over the world, mostly in countries where people don't carry guns, and cops don't have to actually shoot people with theirs.

.45ACP:
Chunky low-pressure cartridge that hogs magazine space and requires a low-capacity design (if the gun needs to fit human hands) or a grip with the circumference of a two-liter soda bottle (if the gun needs to hold more than seven rounds). Disturbingly prone to bullet setback, expensive to reload, fits only into big and clunky guns, and a recoil that has an inversely proportionate relationship with muzzle energy.

.40S&W:
Neutered compromise version of a compromise cartridge. Even more setback-happy than the .45ACP, and setbacks are much more dangerous because of higher pressure and smaller case volume. Manages to sacrifice both the capacity of the 9mm and the bullet diameter of the .45. Twice the recoil of the 9mm for 10% more muzzle energy.

.357SIG:
Highly overpriced boutique round that does the .40S&W one worse: it manages to share the capacity penalty of the .40 while retaining the small bullet diameter of the 9mm. Noisy, sharp recoil, and 100% cost penalty for ballistics that can be matched by a good 9mm +P+ load. Penetrates like the dickens, which means that the Air Marshals just had to adopt it…only to load their guns with frangible bullets to make sure they don't penetrate like the dickens.

.38 Special:
Legacy design with a case length that's 75% longer than necessary for the mediocre ballistics of the round due to its blackpowder heritage. On the plus side, the case length makes it easy to handle when reloading the gun. This is a good thing because anyone using their .38 in self-defense against a 250-pound attacker hopped up on crack will need to empty the gun multiple times.

.32ACP:
Inadequate for anything more thick-skinned than Northeastern squirrels or inbred Austrian archdukes. Semi-rimmed cartridge that is rimlock-happy in modern lightweight autoloaders. Doesn't go fast enough to expand a hollowpoint bullet, and it wouldn't matter even if it did, because the bullet would only expand from tiny to small-ish.

.44 Magnum:
Overpowered round that generates manageable recoil and muzzle blast…if you're a 300-pound linebacker with wrists like steel girders. Often loaded to "Lite" levels that turn it into a noisy .44 Special while retaining the ego-preserving Magnum headstamp. Considered the "most powerful handgun cartridge in the world" by people whose gun knowledge is either stuck in 1960, or who get their expertise in ballistics from Dirty Harry movies.

.50 Desert Eagle:
The Magnum of the new century. Realizing Hollywood couldn't escape their Magnum fetishes, they had a handgun that fits the same stopping power quota of .44 Magnum and all of its filthy drawbacks. Popular amongst steroid filled movie actors who needs big guns to compensate for the steroid struck testicles. Comes in a baby variant for junior.

10mm Auto:
Super-high pressure cartridge that beats up gun and shooter alike. Very brisk recoil in anything other than all-steel S&W boat anchors, with a shot recovery that's measured in geological epochs for most handgun platforms. Often underloaded to wimpy levels (see ".40 S&W"), which then gives it 9mm ballistics while requiring .45ACP magazine real estate.

.380ACP/9mm Kurz:
Designed by people who thought the 9mm Luger was a bit too brisk and snappy, which is pretty much all that needs to be said here. Great round if you expect to only ever be attacked by people less than seven inches thick from front to back.

.357 Magnum:
Lots of recoil, muzzle blast, and noise to drive a 9mm bullet to reckless speeds in an attempt to make up for its low mass and diameter. Explosive fragmentation and insufficient penetration with light bullets; excessive penetration and insufficient expansion with heavy ones. Still makes only 9mm holes in the target.

5.7×28mm:
Ingenious way to make a centerfire .22 Magnum and then charge quadruple price for the same ballistics. Awesome chambering for a police weapon…if you're the park ranger in charge of the chipmunk exhibit at the zoo, and you want to make sure you can take one down if it turns rabid on you.

.25ACP:
Direct violation of the maxim "Never do an enemy a minor injury". Designed by folks who wanted to retain the bullet diameter of the .22 rimfire round, but take a bit of the excessive lethality out of it. Favored by people who don't feel comfortable carrying anything more dangerous than the neighbor kid's rusty Red Ryder pellet gun.
 

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