Firearms FTW!

I've decided to kind of deviate from my regular posts to give some more informational posts about different things I feel are useful. This will probably be a small series and if received well I'll continue. Although I'm no expert on firearms, knives, and survival I feel that I can at least give some insight on the subjects to better inform you. Hopefully for those of you that don't know all that much about these topics you'll gain at least a little bit of knowledge.

Aside from being the anarcho-capitalist that I am I feel that we should all be armed for self-defense, hunting, and survival. Although I don't find this list to be an extensive list of firearms you should own, I find that having these firearms in your collection will prove to be useful in many situations.

RIFLES When it comes to rifles I feel that there are three types of rifles you should have. The first two I'll talk about are pretty much interchangeable. You don't have to have both, you should have one, but both won't hurt. I feel that many of the experts would agree that an AR15 and/or a AK47 would be great firearms with many uses. The AR15 and AK47 have an abundance of cheap ammo available in 5.56 mm and 7.62x39 mm respectively. These firearms could come in handy for self-defense and hunting. For self-defense it is obvious that these semi-automatic weapons will be of great use to you. In a hunting application these firearms will prove very useful for hunting larger game at farther distances than the next rifle I'll be talking about. Either of these rifles will be able to take a beating and still perform when you need them to. As for brands for these rifles I can sit here naming my favorite brands and someone will come and say why this brand is better than the other. Your own research will lead you to a firearm of your liking, but remember you get what you pay for (for the most part). I built my AR15 from scratch from quality parts mostly to have a unique rifle, but if I had to recommend a pre-built AR15 I would take a look into Palmetto State Armory for their quality and price. I have not had much experience with AK47's but the Russian VEPR that I've shot is a damn good shooter and for the price not too bad. Of course your mileage may very.

The next rifle I find to be essential to any collection is a good ol' .22. What's the point of having such a small caliber rifle? It's pretty simple, for hunting and survival needs. When it comes down to having to pack up and get going you usually don't have unlimited amounts of space to carry with you. The beauty with such small bullets is it is relatively easy to carry a few thousand rounds in a pocket of a pack. These small bullets are great for small game and can even kill larger game with a well place shot to the head. A good shooting rifle will allow you to conserve your ammunition for a long time to come. The .22 rifle I would recommend is the Ruger 10-22 and now that they've come out with a take down model that is the one I would recommend the most. This take down model allows you to separate the barrel from the receiver and consolidate the rifle into a smaller package for carrying. Ruger is well known for making one of the longest lasting .22s on the market.

HANDGUNS Handguns have their place in any collection. For discreet carrying around the city or on a hike they are very useful for self-defense. In a survival situation they are best suited to "shooting your way to your rifle" because the rifles are much easier to use in a SHTF situation. When dealing with what kind of handgun you should carry you'll probably get an even bigger range of answers with everyone yelling why they're right and everyone else is wrong. I feel a good deal of research will again lead you to the handgun that is best suited for you. The most important aspect to think about is your ability to control the handgun safely and be able to shoot it accurately. Without having those two down it doesn't matter how much bigger your caliber is over your friends. Personally with semi-automatic handguns I'd stick to the 9mm, .40, and .45 caliber variety. With revolvers you can't go wrong with a .357 or .44. As of right now the two handguns I would have with me would be the Ruger SR40 and the Ruger SP101 in .357. Your mileage may vary with what you feel comfortable shooting so I suggest buying something and trying it or grab a friend with some guns and try theirs!

Hopefully you've learned at least one thing new by reading this and if not good for you you're probably very well prepared for many situations. If there's one thing I cannot stress enough about firearms though is that if you don't practice how to use them effectively they could very well become dead weight for you or even worse turned against you. If you decided that a firearm is for you, which it is, then you must take the necessary steps to be able to use one correctly so that innocent people aren't hurt by your negligence.

In any case, there's nothing like being able to take care of yourself and not having to depend on people that probably can't take care of you anyways.

My next post will be on knives, stay tuned!