Firearms /Shooting

From My Cold Dead Hands.....

Firearms articles written by Starvin Larry a flea bittin varment if there ever was

These ladies are getting prepared,so should you....

Weapons N' Stuff We Need to Survive the Coming economic Collapse

Most of you know by now that the people in charge of the government, and financial institutions are not doing a real good job of creating any kind of recovery from the market meltdown, and are well on their way to creating the next, new and improved version of economic collapse. This one is most likely gonna be a lot worse! In this part, we will just cover some basics.

Shotgun...preferably a 12 gauge pump-action, Mossberg 500, Remington 870, or a similar weapon.
Rifles... At least one with scope, and one with open sights. ( I'll get into the reasons why later)
Handguns... Preferably two at a minimum, one a semi-auto, one a revolver. Having the same caliber for both is a good plan.
Crossbow/compound bow... whichever you have, or are better with, personally, I prefer a crossbow for defensive purposes.
Knives...we need to have several knives, for various uses, a good folding knife for everyday use, not some $3.00 wally world special, something at least as good as a Buck 110 folding hunter, with a clip, or belt sheath. A good quality fixed blade hunting knife, with sheath, so it can be worn on your belt, for skinning/butchering game animals, a good quality meat cleaver, for butchering game, doubles as a self defense weapon. The last thing we need in the way of knives is a good quality machete, for butchering, also for clearing brush if needed, and as a weapon.
Hatchet.. again, a good quality hatchet, not a $5.00 toy. One that will chop through bones of large game, split kindling wood, and can be used as a personal defense weapon. Gerber and Estwing come to mind for quality hatchets.
Pepper spray....not just for bears, and women to carry in their purses! Get a large, bear size can, with a clip, or belt sheath.
Baseball bat- aluminum, one you can grip comfortably.
Wrist rocket... don't laugh, they can kill small game, and make the roving groups of gang-bangers we are sure to see run away screaming in pain. Think a half inch steel ball bearing, or a marble feels good when it hits you after being fired from a wrist rocket?
U.S. military entrenching tool.....saw a guy on tv from special forces show how to use one as a weapon-lethal!
Tomahawk....the new ones are awesome, our guys in Iraq, and Afghanistan are using them, I'll give more info later about them.

That about covers personal/home defense weapons, I'll get into ammo a little bit now......

Shotgun- to build up a supply, it is okay to start with a few of the $20.00 100 shell packages from Wal-Mart. After that, I would get some higher powered loads, like some buckshot loads of varying sizes, from a couple boxes of 00 to a couple boxes of #4 buckshot, these are buckshot sizes, not regular shot sizes. Next, get some shotgun shells that have #2 #4 or #5 shot, finally, get at least 50 deer slugs. That should provide enough different loads for any situation that may arise.
Rifle- don't buy cheap military surplus ammo that was produced in Yugoslvia in 1953, buy currently manufactured ammo, in bullet weights/types that would be effective rounds on North American big game, since a lot of us have deer rifles, use a heavy deer round (just an example) Practice with what you are going to be shooting, finding out as you are in some deep shit that the rounds you are shooting with do not hit anywhere near the rounds you practiced with/ sighted in your rifle with is not a good thing, and you could end up dead because of it! (I'll get into quantities later)
Handgun-shoot whatever round gets the best penetration from your handgun, always use jacketed ammo in a semi-auto! Buy as much handgun ammo as you can afford, and safely store.
Crossbow/compound bow- a no-brainer....sharp broadheads and have 1 for every bolt/arrow that you have.
Wrist rocket- 1/2" steel ball bearings, marbles, .38-.50 cal. lead balls, at least a couple thousand total.

That's it for part 1, in part two, I will get into more specific ammo for rifles, and handguns, reasons for more than 1 rifle and pistol, how to sight in your weapons, and how to be able to hit what you are shooting at. Plus the very important correct ways to clean and maintain all of your weapons.

Part II Guns N' Ammo-Shotguns

In part 2, I'll cover shotguns, ammo, and gun cleaning.

Let's start with the shotgun, if you paid attention, you have a pump action shotgun. This gives you some

rapid fire capability, instead of reloading for each shot. If you do not have a waterfowl/turkey hunting plug, (which you need to remove if you have one), that usually gives you 5 shots, depending on model of shotgun.

When you target practice, first shoot at a large sheet of cardboard, so you see how the pellets spread out with your gun.(pattern)

This lets you know where to aim at an attacker to inflict maximum damage. Next, practice unloading all rounds at the same target, as fast as you can, the idea here is to learn to do this accurately. Keep practicing until all of your shots hit center of target.

Practice this with the cheapest shells you can find. Once you hit the target in the center every time, use a few of the better shells,

shoot the different shot sizes at a large sheet of cardboard with each shot size, so you know the patterns from the various sizes.

As a general rule...use the larger numbered shot sizes(7 1/2, 8 for close range, the smaller shot sizes,(2, 3, 4, 5), and the buckshot for longer range targets, as they have more power. Deer slugs for long shots, and targets behind light cover. If your life is in danger from an attacker, load alternating buckshot and deer slugs, this is your highest power shotgun ammo.

Practice shooting at clay targets, or have someone toss cans in the air for you, so you get good at hitting moving targets.

(The crackheads and gang-bangers aint gonna stand still once you start shooting at em!)

Don't bother with a scope like for a deer slug gun, use the bead sight that came with the shotgun, shotguns are for close range, rifles are for long range.

The buckshot loads are the hardest hitting loads for home defense, less pellets, but bigger, with more powder pushing them.

Buckshot penetrates deeper, and has a lot more knockdown power than a target load, or a regular hunting load. If the bad guys are trying to get into your home, or are inside, hit 'em with buckshot, replacing drywall is cheap, your life and the lives of your family are not. If you think you can scare 'em away, use some target loads, put some holes in the yard, shoot the mailbox, a flower pot, whatever gets their attention, and lets 'em know you are serious.

When shooting small game for food, don't use 7-1/2 or 8 shot, try to use 4, 5, or 6 shot, you'll spend a lot less time picking out the bb's. plus, the smaller shot (bigger number) does more damage to the meat. Use deer slugs if you are gonna shoot a deer. This was just a basic overview of the pump shotgun, and ammo for it.

The auto-loader shotguns, or semi-auto shotguns are great, but....more moving parts, more stuff to break, if you have one, by all means use it, but try to have a backup.

Single shot shotguns are great, lighter ,easier to shoot for beginners, but you have to re-load for each shot. I had an old Winchester model 370 single shot that I could re-load almost as fast as a pump, almost, but not as fast. If a single shot is what you have, then use it, practice re-loading as fast as you can, while still being able to hit the target in the center every time.

The most important thing is to have a gun that works...every time. So, use what you have, just practice, you have to be able to hit what you aim at. I say use a pump shotgun because that is the best home defense shotgun, if you are just starting out buying your guns, I highly recommend a pump for your shotgun.

Cleaning your shotgun is one of the most important things to keep it shooting right. Clean your gun after you shoot it EVERY TIME, EVERY TIME NO EXCEPTIONS! Not 2-3 days later, same day!

Use a brass brush, of the correct gauge for your gun, and run the brush through the length of the barrel several times, next change the tip, to hold a clean patch, run the patch, after applying solvent(Hoppes #9) through the barrel several times. Next, using a clean patch, run it through the barrel, and keep repeating this step, using a new, clean patch every time, when a patch comes out clean, your barrel is now clean. Take a clean patch, very lightly oiled and run it through the barrel after you had a patch come out clean. Using a clean rag, wipe the outside of the gun down removing any dust/dirt, apply a small amount of gun oil to all moving parts, cycle the pump a few times, or work the action on a single shot, same with an auto-loader, oil the parts that move, then manually make them move to spread out the oil. Avoid applying a heavy coat of oil, this will just attract dirt and dust to your gun, wipe it down with a clean, very lightly oiled rag.

When storing for any length of time, put your gun in a gun sock, then in a case, then lock it in your gun safe.

Remember....ya gotta shoot! Target practice is a requirement, not an option! Shoot fast, shoot ACCURATELY!

Clean your gun EVERY TIME NO EXCEPTIONS! EVERY TIME! Dirty guns jam, and do not shoot accurately!