All of us are in different places. Some of us are well established in our careers, others just getting started. Some are like me and have drastically changed their career path, perhaps more than once! We might have a wife and kids or be on our own, retired or just starting out in life.
Depending on where you are in life and your specific circumstances, your financial means and a host of other factors will be different. As a personal example, our main small business provides us with all of the income we need for the household basics, plus some savings here and there and we are still able to splurge on unnecessary stuff, eating out and trinkets, pretty much whenever we want. It helps that we don’t have expensive tastes in general, while I grew up thinking it was normal for a kid to eat out weekly and have steak or crab legs, now our idea of a treat is a local Mexican place where we can both eat including the tip for under $30. Our little side-gig gun shop is mostly for fun and also a way to fund my firearms purchases. That also means buying my gear at wholesale, something most people can’t do.
Thanks to the utter ineptness of the ruling junta, and if we are to be honest the incompetence (often intentional) of every administration stretching back at least to George H.W. Bush, including Orange Man, the personal economic situation of people right now varies drastically. Some people are doing absolutely great, an OTR trucker I know says young guys who are pushing are pulling down $40k per month, while others are really struggling. Jobs are plentiful in most places and wages are way up but inflation is destroying those wage increases and then some.
If you are one of those doing well, and even if you have lots of guns already, you might be tempted to…BUY MOAR GUNZ!
I get that and might occasionally indulge in some of that myself. Something I heard a little about on a podcast and that got me thinking might be worth considering, at least for those who are doing well right now.
One, you can only shoot so many guns at a time. One is none and two is one is the rule and most of us stretch that out. But after you have enough rifles and handguns for yourself and everyone in your household a few times over, the extras are just….extra.
Two, not everyone who is useful is going to be prepared as well as you. Your initial reaction might be “fuck ’em, they get what they deserve” and in many cases that might be true. Your asshole nephew who voted for Biden and is quintuple jabbed, the one who treats you like a leper? Whatever happens to him is on him, not you. But what about your cousin the carpenter who just kept his head down and tried to follow the rules, until there weren’t anymore rules to follow? The one with a sweet wife and three wonderful little kids, are you going to let them get devoured by the mob because he didn’t heed your warning? Or your neighbor the deer hunter who is lethal with a 30-06 and maybe has a revolver for protection but never thought he needed anything more?
There are going to be a lot of people who are not prepared but still deserve your help, either because they are blood or because they are useful. It is short-sighted to dismiss them. You have to sleep sometime and playing the Lone Wolf Survivalist Dude is a great way to end up a corpse. In short, you are going to need friends and those friends might not, in fact probably will not, be as well prepared as you. You can smirk at them when the feral urbanite hordes are overrunning you or you can be smart and think ahead a little bit.
So perhaps instead of buying some safe queen gun you don’t really need, you get an inexpensive but reliable AR set-up or three? Or maybe a few decent 9mm or 12 gauges? There are a ton of inexpensive 12 ga pump shotties out there that are decent quality. Maybe it isn’t a gun to impress the boys at the range but it works.
Right now is a great time to stuff the safe with guns, even if it isn’t a great time to get ammo. There are lots of guns I would like to get but few that I need to get right now. Sure I haven’t ever owned a .44 magnum revolver and that sounds like fun to have but I don’t really need one. Having a few extra AR-15s might be a better investment.
In the same school of thought, maybe invite those same people out to shoot a few with you. You don’t need to hard sell them on “prepping” necessarily but getting them used to shooting will pay dividends later. Handing out rifles to people who don’t know how to load them isn’t all that useful.
Not everyone will be as tacticool as you, so you can either die alone with a smug expression about your preps on your face or maybe invest in other people now. Of course this is not intended to replace your own preps, if you aren’t personally in the place you need to be, invest in that but if you have a good foundation and if you have some extra income, maybe it is time to start thinking about being a resource for people who can in turn be a resource to you…
***Edit*** Check out this follow-up post, more good thoughts on this topic from Matt Bracken: Addendum From Bracken
a lot of people think they be able to get by on their own. that never happen. you right about arming friends or others. if you can trust them. same thing with ammo. ar's and semi's are nice, but people tend to waste ammo with them. a couple of good bolt guns on the other hand make better sense.
back in the day of 100 buck mausers was the time to stock up. same with the mosin's . not fancy, but they did the job rather well. pump shotguns are a good idea, like old single barrel ones as well.
Wise advice.
The picture in the header is one view, if you turn around the other 2 walls are stacks of ammo. Have been making this prep for a long time. I tell the invites to my end of the world party this is the priorities when bugging out. Clothes for all weather including boots. Food and Medications. Guns and ammo LAST except for what is needed for self protection when bugging out.
I agree with you and with the comments.
Semi-auto promotes area-denial thinking. Single-shot or bolt action promotes fertilizer to bury beneath the lilacs and grapevines. Hits count.
The door is open right now but it can slam shut quickly.
I found a few gaps in my medical preps back when I had covid. I almost never take aspirin or other pain pills like tylenol. I had some left in a small bottle of tylenol but it wasn't enough for what I needed to deal with the high fevers I suffered for almost two weeks. Fortunately I could just have a neighbor drop off some for me at my doorstep but in a SHTF situation I wouldn't have that luxury. I imagine in a disaster there will be small things you will have overlooked when focusing on prepping, and enough of them together could cause problems.
Can you suggest a make and model of shotgun for someone who has never owned one before? Maybe one that the wife and teens could handle as well? Thanks.
I stocked up on SKS's back when they were cheap and plentiful. It is my goto resupply rifle for anyone who forgot to bring their own for whatever reason, things went pearshaped too fast, got caught away from homebase without stuff, or similar reasons. If I trust you enough to arm you you can learn the operating system for the SKS quickly.
I didn't pay more than 250$ for any of them, most of the stripper clips were .10$ each and I set up 200rd chicom ammo belts for each making it easy to issue as needed.
I am aware that 7.62×39 is not the newest latest or greatest round,but with steel cased ammo reloading is problematic, and I am able to supply who I want.
No, they are not AR's, but they do go bang, and are reliable enough to satisfy anyone.
Not just anybody would be issued a weapon, you need to be bringing something to the table, labor, foodstuffs,skills, or knowledge that makes you useful, otherwise move along.
there are a few good deals left out there, savage makes a good basic bolt gun that can be had for under 400 bucks, sometimes with a scope on it as well made. simple, easy to understand, and very accurate
for the money. a hit with a 22 rifle is better than a miss with a 308 or 5.56 any day.
something to think about. just about anyone can use a 22 rifle, the problem is a matter of will.
it is the main reason why the gov't uses the targets it does over round bulleye ones. it takes time for people to shoot at a human form thru sights. might be a good idea to stock those type of targets
for when the time comes.
That is a good point.
A 20 gauge is a lot easier to handle in general than a 12, Stevens is a decent reliable pump gun that won't kill your wallet. Many of the more popular brands like Mossberg have exploded in price since 2020.
That is why I mentioned a pump shotgun, it doesn't require a ton of skill but it isn't easy to blow through all of your ammo. I am not sure that an inexperienced shooter will be of much use with a bolt rifle and glass.
The Mossberg Maverick 88 is a decent inexpensive shotgun. Pump action, holds five cartridges.
For recoil adverse folks the Maverick in 20 gauge is a great option.
The SKS was an ideal stack 'em high rifle back in the day, it is a shame they price has gone up so much but if they come back down? That is a great option to set aside for others.
The Ruger 10/22 is still a great semi-auto .22, easy to use with basic iron sights. It wouldn't be my first choice but it is serviceable as a deterrent plus you can shoot bunnies for meat.
Even without things getting SPORKY, everyone needs a pistol or five (I prefer Glock 17s) that you can lend to that 26 year old niece with the abusive ex boyfriend who is terrified to live alone in her apartment.
I am a lifelong shotgun shooter but even I was taken aback the first time I shot buckshot out of a 12 gauge.
My 80yo mom got a 410 shottie after dad passed. She has arthritis, but she can still handle it, and she feels safer knowing it's by the bed.