Class War Survival Tips: Gun Shopping Guide

post apocalypse gun guide
Deep in your heart of hearts you know this day will come. It may come tomorrow or 10 years from now, but its coming is as inevitable as your funeral. The TV will go silent, the Internet will cease with a shudder, the police and army will vanish. Whatever the reason, our civilization as we know it will cease to exist and will be replaced by a makeshift barter economy filled with lawlessness, disease and ravenous humanity. Mad Max’s time will come, but there will be no pretty hero to save you.

Eventually, the situation may stabilize. But in the first few months, inaction will weed out the weak, the timid and the infirm. Whether you and yours survive depends only on you.

Your survival will depend on the tools you have at your disposal. A lot has been written about earthquake survival kits, flood survival kits, tornado survival kits and the like. Those articles contain great information on how much and what kind of provisions and tools to store, but none of them cover the tools and supplies that will really matter: firepower. Yes, the most important tool you can have in this type of situation is an appropriate firearm and a big supply of ammo. If you chose wisely, and your luck holds, you will live, perhaps long enough to see order restored. If you don’t, you will die.

The whole thing is simple, really. If you are to have only one firearm, make sure it is a reliable rifle in a potent caliber. A sidearm can prove very valuable, as it can be easily concealed and operated one handed, but a sidearm is inferior to the rifle in most other scenarios.
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The preferred caliber for your one weapon is .308 Winchester (7.61×51mm Nato). The .308 is a very common round and will be available long after the factories that make it are reduced to smoldering, empty rubble. Any local Walmart or Sportmart is likely to have crates of the .308 – just make sure getting additional ammo is on the top of your “shopping” list when the big day comes. But you’re better off stocking up well beforehand.

The ballistic characteristics of the .308 are excellent as well. It is accurate to 700 yards, has a fairly flat trajectory and has excellent stopping power. Some of you who know a thing or two about weapons may have read that the .223 is the best round for a modern rifle. It is, but not for the scenario we are considering. The .223 has less range than the .308 and its stopping power depends largely on using frangible ammunition. In a time of crisis, you have to be sure you rifle will protect you with any ammo you can get your hands on. And compared to the .308, the .223 is a highly specialized round, meant to ensure that a squad carrying M16 carries more ammo and can put more lead on target then a squad carrying AKs with a larger caliber ammo. Shot per shot, however, the situation changes.

The .308 round will incapacitate a zombie-size target with one well-placed shot, while a .223 is likely to require several rounds to put them down. In most states, it’s not even legal to hunt deer with the .223, because too many deer are just wounded, rather than killed, by the small bullet. If you can’t reliably kill a deer, what chance do you have against a pack of desperate people?

There are many rifles chambered in the .308, so the choice of the rifle should be dictated by its intended use. For dense urban environments, a semi-automatic rifle with 16-18 inch barrel length is preferable. This will assure the rifle is easy to handle in confined spaces and still maintains a 300-500 yard effective range. Some good choices are the AR-10/SR-25, M1A SOCOM 16, and the AK variants available in .308. The Springfield M1A is probably the best compromise between accuracy and reliability, but it is expensive, at over $1000. The AR-10 is highly accurate but requires a lot of maintenance, making it suspect as a survival rifle operated without access to gun-smiths.

Whatever rifle you chose, make sure it is equipped with iron sights and practice using them. A close-quarter battle optic like an Eotech maybe added, but keep in mind that it will require batteries, which do not last forever! Besides, over-equipping a rifle makes it heavy and without transportation you will have to move around on foot. Remember, being mobile increases your tactical advantage – you want to survive!
scout rifle
If you live in a rural or otherwise sparsely populated area where you can see and identify targets at more then 500 yards, a bolt action .308 rifle is recommended. This rifle should have an 18-20 inch barrel to assure accurate hits up to 800 yards away and a robust scope system. Bolt action rifles are lighter then carbines, which is advantageous as there are greater distances to cover. The Scout rifle, invented by Jeff Copper, would be ideal. Its main distinction is a forward mounted scope, which allows the operator a wide field of view when not using the scope, and a quick transition to the scope when needed. Due to the forward placed scope, it can be used adequately in close-quarters, and also functions amazingly at long distances. Savage and Steyr make excellent Scout rifles.

Remember, acquiring tools is only the beginning. You must get proficient with whatever rifle you chose. More impotently, you must prepare mentally. You must imagine what will happen when the television tells you not to panic and then goes silent. Where will you go, what will you do? Make a mental list, practice the scenarios in your head. If you panic, you will die. Plan, prepare, stay calm and enjoy your imminent post-apocalyptic future! I can’t wait.

[Via Exiledonline.com]

5 Responses

  1. Spook45

    Hmmm, Interesting; I have to disagree. While .308 is a great caliber, it is not nearly as common as many of the sport hunting rounds or the more common and current militay and police rounds. In todays world of terrorism this and that, nearly every police car in America now has an AR 15 in it which is 223, while lacking the knockdown of the 308, it has great intermediate range and sound ballistic qualities. When 308 has dried up and gone, any unfortuante GI or cop that got wasted in the melle will likly have some spare ammo. Also as distastefull as it is, The 40 s&w almost all federal agencies and police throughout the country use this round so in a total grid down situation your chances of scrounging stealing or trading for ammo is much higher in these calibers. I would also recommend a good sound 22. While not a lot of punch, it will feed you forever on pocket change, it is probly the most common round in the world and in a pinch it will do the job as a defensive weapon. I love my old 308, but realisticly the other calibers are better due to commonality, space conservation and weight.

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  2. FEDS <---acronym

    If I had to pick between a .308 &.223. I would pick the .308 for a zombie attack. The .223 is cheap but won't have the force of bringing down a deer or a zombie while the .308 can. Also, each bullet is commercial and isn't the same as the NATO brand as the casings differ in thickness so if you use the .223 cartridge in a 5.56 NATO chambered rifle it will lose accuracy and reliability. Using 5.56mm NATO mil-spec cartridges (such as the M855) in a .223 Remington chambered rifle can lead to excessive wear and stress on the rifle and even be unsafe. This also complies to the .308. Even though the end of the world won't come till 4027 I would use the .308 due to its reliability and used commonly for sniper training and target practice and is common to my Wal-Mart store. Happy zombie hunting plus if the end of the world happened, many stores will black out and stuff will be free. 0.o

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  3. digger

    don't forget the 30-06 springfield. It is by far the most common hunting round in the lower 48 states. I have a mini 14 and a 1903 Springfield with scope thats much more accurate than I. It's effective range is 800 meters and it will shoot any old ammo including steel cased without issue. I live at 6500' and will have visibility to the horizon in all directions.
    The springfield was built for battle and was in both world wars.

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  4. jim

    What is the black rifle in the last picture?

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  5. old soldier

    To begin with, calibers that are available throughout the United States and Canada, both rural and urban zones is essential. However, you need to look at weight to carry ratio as well and this means one on foot most likely will only be able to carry so much gear, .308 is a great "Snipers" round but you can carry twice as much .223 as .308. As well as it was mentioned many individuals thrust into this situation are not expert marksmen and are women, not suitable for a .308 as a primary. 'Digger", sorry to say the 30-06 is not a common hunting round in the lower 48. Ask many guides, look at all the sales and availability and the 30-30 sales over all other hunting center-fire rounds is more than 3-times. I know of no non-military personal (ie police, etc) that carry any .308 other than select swat units. As for the pistol, 9mm is the most common, then .40 cal. My bags have AR-15's in .223 with .22 upper assembly to convert when needed. I also keep a lever action 30-30, easy use for my daughter and a tactical 12. A .357 revolver for her and a Glock 9mm for me.

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