Thread: What is your firearms theory?

What's your grand unified theory of firearms? I'm sure we all have oddities we've bought or range toys but I at least have a core set of working guns. These are the guns I count on to get me home. Do you pair certain guns together? Like hi cap 9s with 12ga for knockdown power? Do you prefer 223 carbines or 308 battle rifles for trunk guns? Do your handgun and long guns compliment each other under your theory?

LR,
Gotta think on that one a while. Einstein worked for years on a unified theory and never quite came up with one.

1. Learn who the real "experts" are on the internet and pay attention to them. Take everything else with a grain of salt. Hint: I don't consider myself one of those people.

2. You will default to your level of training. In my case that would be a 20" AR with irons and a Beretta M9. I'm trying to add lights and red dot sights to my toolbox along with a simpler pistol (G19) but it takes time and training for it to get "hard wired" into my brain.

3. All of my firearms other than above AR and pistols are for FUN. No need to stress over the variety of calibers, mags, and ammo because the personal defense issues have been settled.

I like my firearms to stay simple. simple but effective

I'm a minimalist and I'm trying to make two firearms stretch over a wide range. It works so far for me.

After that it's just a bunch of training and I love what I have.

But after some discussion with others I decided that if I could start over again...knowing what I know now.... I would have gotten an AK for cheap, tons of mags and ammo and a Red dot from LaRue and then put the saved money into even more training.

Interesting thread. Couple of thoughts: (1) Under lethal threat, you won't default to your training, you will default to your lowest level of competency. You will only be as good under stress as your worst day at the range. (2) Making two guns span a wide range of uses is a good idea (i.e. Beware the man with only one gun as he probably knows how to use it.) While we all have our favorites, they might not be able to do what we need them to in some circumstances. As far as 'social guns' are concerned, most name brand pistols will work fine as will shotguns and carbines. However, if we move into the woods a little ways, they may not be as useful. More appropriate guns may be a large bore revolver and a combination over/under rifle/shotgun. Often we tend to think of a social problem like New Orleans after Katrina or now in Haiti rather than a 'survival' situation.

We can have some fun with this thread.

In the woods....my plan for bear is nill. With what I have it'd take sustained fire. Which is why I'd work towards a big bore revolver. But for me personally, the priorities and finance that I have, it's just not a priority to do. Especially with the cost of large bore ammunition for practice to get comfortable with large recoil of .44 mag, .454 Casull and the like.

I have a .454 and a couple .45 Colt shooters (A Blackhawk, and a S&W 25) I think the .45 Colt cartridge in the Blackhawk is the best handgun cartridge in the lower 48..... I can load it just like they did in 1873 (my normal range load) or I can pump it up past .44 mag levels. (300+g 1200+ fps) Not quite to the .454 loads or the .45 Colt loads you can put in a custom 5-shot - but still able to easily take anything around here.

As to cost..... here's where reloading shines. My cost for .45 Colt loads with a 250g RNFP (the 1873 type load, but smokeless) is $8.00 per 50 rounds. You can pay way more than that for some .22 LR target loads. It runs 50% more than that for my .17HMR if I want to shoot it....

I like big-bore. But my GP-100 fits the bill if you want to go the .357 route - I've shot 125g at nearly 2000 fps but most often run SWC at 800 or so in .38 Special cases - costs me about $5.00 per 50 rounds.

And if any Zombies come towards the house.... I've already warned them -if you see the pulsing laser on you, you better run like hell, that's my Glock, and I have enough ammo to make you look like Swiss cheese.

Rifle? I'm not a hunter, but I have a good selection. My .17HMR if I want to be inside 1 MOA at 100 meters, my Winchester .270 is close. My .30 carbine or 7.62x39 Mini-30 if I need sustained fire. My 1022 if I want to shoot cheap. My .35 Rem Marlin 336 if I want to play lever action.

Shotguns - my 12 ga S&W pump if I need some buckshot or slugs to impress an intruder. My 28ga Beretta if I want to impress the sporting clays folks (with the gun, not my shooting ability, or lack there-of....)

I think it's important to have .22 trainers on weapons that you plan to run a long time with ones that are more permanent. I think those .22 conversions for AR's and pistols make great training aids for your weapons, and allow you to save money for more ammo for serious things.