Best guns to stock up on

[Guest Papabear]

I am along with OhShoot on this one. I have a pair of Stainless Rugers and a Stainless Marlin Carbine in .357 Mag. If your going to go that route I would drop the 10/22 and pick up a Henry or Marlin lever .22 That way you can teach your family on the .22. I have a pair of Ruger single sixes and a Henry so I basically shoot the same type guns when I practice with the .22's A Henry will be slower to reload than a 10/22 but holds more in the tube and it will shoot short/long/long rifle cartridges. And a brick of CCI CB's in .22 are very quiet out of the rifle to take small game. Toss in a H&R handy rifle in the caliber you like and your pretty set. The single shot rifle breaks down and packs up real compact. And with a little practice you would be surprised how fast you can reload a single shot. Just my 2 cents.

[gjohnsoniv]

I just thought about the Rossi Wizard. Might be something to throw in just because it has so many different barrels. Only problem is that it's single shot, break-action.

[Dolomite_supafly]

Avoid the 770. They are very, very cheap guns. They use polymer for parts that should be steel. I have seen a lot that have headspace issues (way too tight). I have also seen them fall apart within two boxes of ammo. And replacement/repair parts are non existent. Spend the extra $100 and buy a used 700 if you must have a Remington. Parts are available everywhere for 700's and they are built to last several lifetimes.

Almost the same thing can be said for the Axis. Except it is a much better built gun overall than the 770. But parts for it are also non existent. You can't find anything aftermarket for them. Spend an extra $75 and buy a Stevens 200 or a used Savage. Both of those are leaps and bounds better than the Axis.

One great thing about Savage compared to Remington is they are owner serviceable. Bolt heads can be swapped in 5 minutes. Barrel changes take 10 minutes and can be done at home with nothing more than a hammer and punch in a pinch. No need for a smith to do anything to a Savage. WIth a Savage you just set headspace on the ammo you are going to be shooting. Tight headspace is not a bad or dangerous thing, too loose is where problems come up.

Remingtons require a lot of machining to fit a barrel, even a factory take off. Even if the Remington barrel is a take off barrel odds are it will NOT headspace correctly. And that will require time on a lathe. And if you swap bolt head diameters is requires a whole new bolt which is expensive. With a Savage it requires a $20 part to do the same.

This is why I always use Savages for my builds. It makes life so much easier. And as much as the rest of the brands want to deny it most Savages will out shoot most other factory brands. Not every Savage but more often than not. I konw my factory 223 will shoot under .3" inch pretty reliably with handloads and will do <.75" 95% of the time with quality factory ammo.

Dolomite

[Ratfink]

ak ak ak ak ak cant get a better rifle wont stop running and it shoots minute of man to quite a distance 7.62x39 punches through cars doors cinder blocks and other things people hide behind i got shot at be them in afghan and iraq and they are fantastic weapons i own seven of them and three ak74's my many ar's just gather dust in the closet

they are accurate and dependable and easy to operate just get quality ones ( arsenal or have jim fuller, krebs build you one)

[Guest 6.8 AR]

And those guns in Afghanistan and Iraq were built by? I haven't really seen any AK's

that were bad.

[Blitzen]

Glock 17 or 19

AK47 (Century or simlar throroughly checked out for quality of build)

Ruger 1022 (Synthetic stock)

Glock 26

All of these are good choices for the used market. Make you $1600 go further then you may have some funds left over to get a pump12ga shotgun. When you go out to hunt leave the Glock 26 and a couple of happy sticks with your better half.

[subsonic]

I'm liking the idea of rifle and wheelgun caliber sharing, decided to get a .357 lever action soon, likely a Marlin 1894C......damn, they're hard to find!

[Dolomite_supafly]

And those guns in Afghanistan and Iraq were built by? I haven't really seen any AK's

that were bad.

And those guns in Afghanistan and Iraq were built by? I haven't really seen any AK's

that were bad.

+1

If they go bang the first time you pull the trigger they are gonig to go bang for the rest of your life. We had locals that had AK's from the 50's with 10's of thousand,s if not more, rounds down the tube. And they have been cleaning them the same way for decades. A knotted shoe string with oil on it was pulled down the bore. The bolt and gas pistol pushed around in snad and dirt to get the carbon off. Then a wipe down with a oil rag. That is the amount of maintanence they did. A lot of them looked chrome because they had no finish left on them. And guess what, the majority of those guns could hit man sized targets at 350 yards the majority of the time.

No need to have a high end AK. A Saiga is made in a factory that has been building AK's forever. There is a reason why most custom builders use them.

And now I have convinced myself I need one.

Dolomite

[Moped]

Dolomite, you DO NEED ONE!!! LOL! I love my Saiga! Got to agree with the statement about AKs. Toughest rifles out there for the money. Decently accurate, go bang every time, require little maintance, simple to operate and to learn to shoot (just ask all the Gorilla fighters since the 1960's. Ammo is plentiful and cheap. What's not to love!

The two bad things about the lever action .357s are the price for the rifle and finding more than 1 at one store, otherwise, I think it's a perfect combination. When you find them, they are very expensive. I haven't seen one for less than $600 and I've never seen any store that actually had more than one in stock. It's just not a rifle you see a lot of. If you really want .357, other options are the little Ruger bolt action ( http://www.ruger.com...357/models.html but they aren't cheap either and probably had to find too) or as stated earlier, the H&R Handi-rifle (again hard to find).

I love the idea, especially when you pair it with a .22LR lever gun, but if you are wanting to pick them all up at one place at the same time, I think you're going to have trouble with that.

Edited March 25, 2012 by Moped

[Guest Lester Weevils]

I'm liking the idea of rifle and wheelgun caliber sharing, decided to get a .357 lever action soon, likely a Marlin 1894C......damn, they're hard to find!

Saw a couple of lever guns at wally-world for less than $400 last friday. One was henry .22 (closer to $300) and one was a Marlin (closer to $400), but it was in 30-30 with a "wood appearance" plastic stock. Then again, the plastic stock might make for a much lighter weather-proof weapon, though this plastic was such an ugly brown wood simulation it would have looked better as unapologetic black plastic. Asked the feller if they ever get any .357 Marlins in stock and he said he didn't recall seeing any. Maybe wally world could order you one.

[Guest cardcutter]

I went in a slightly different direction for my SHTF guns. I decided that if as bad a situation as that happens I will not be able to hoard enough ammo for a years long survival situation. I figured that the most abundant calibers would be police and military. That means 9mm,45 acp , 223, 308, and 12Ga. I threw in 38/357 because the ammo is so plentiful. I have had a 22 since I was 16. Ammo is still cheap for the .22s. I was given a 30/30.

I figure 200 rnds for each pistol. 500 to 1000 for the AR. 100 rnds mixed of buck and slug for the shotgun a brick or two for the 22 and I can probably last long enough to replenish the supplies from time to time.

I also shoot blblack powdernd have several pistols and rifles and all of the possibles for each gun and cal.

I did not set out to get set up by any certain date. I am constantly adding to or modmodifyinge collection.

I am looking more at equipment now than guns.

[LI0NSFAN]

I like the AK for the stock up gun. It just does not share ammo with a handgun. I did encounter not finding more than 1 of the 357 lever guns in stock. I did find a place that will order everthing I want and not charge a transfer. They are ordering them in at there cost and sell to me at discounted retail because of the number of each. It looks like I am getting the setup done this June. I have decided to go the 357mag wheel gun, 357 mag marlin lever action, mossberg ati 243, ruger 10/22. I will be buying as many as I can on the private market until its time to order and then order what I have not gotten yet. That should help the budget and lessen the chance of having TBI at my doorstep for getting 20 guns in such a short period of time. I will post pics. Now I need to work on a way to have all of this mobile for each person and getting speed loaders for the wheel gun(still have not picked a maker on that).

[Guest Lester Weevils]

I had to order the Henry Big Boy .357 mag. The local gun store I most-frequented at the time, he stocks lots of hunting-type rifles and had several Winchester and Marlin lever guns, but no .357. A grumpy old guy, fine marksman, been in the biz forever. I liked the Henry brass receiver, but asked him if it would be better to order a Marlin or Winchester. Surprisingly (because he had several new winchester lever guns in stock) he said he was not lately impressed with winchester. He had some marlins too. Said the henry was probably as good as the marlin, and at that time marlin didn't have any brass receiver models. Am not saying his opinion is reliable or not, only reporting what he said.

The Henry works fine as best can tell. No plans to sell it. if I run into a good deal on a side-load marlin or winchester .357 would impulse-buy unless I'm strapped for cash. Would rather have side-load than magazine-tube load, assuming either style gun works just as good otherwise. Am not prejudiced against blue guns, but have seen pictures of stainless 16" barrel carbines that sure do look handsome. Preferably with octagonal barrel of course.

Edited March 25, 2012 by Lester Weevils

[Wheelgunner]

I have decided to go the 357mag wheel gun, 357 mag marlin lever action, mossberg ati 243, ruger 10/22. Now I need to work on a way to have all of this mobile for each person and getting speed loaders for the wheel gun(still have not picked a maker on that).

I think that's a good combination. Be sure to post some pics when you start rounding them up.

As far as speedloaders, take a look at speed strips, too. You might be able to use speed strips with the Marlin.

[subsonic]

.

Saw a couple of lever guns at wally-world for less than $400 last friday. One was henry .22 (closer to $300) and one was a Marlin (closer to $400), but it was in 30-30 with a "wood appearance" plastic stock. Then again, the plastic stock might make for a much lighter weather-proof weapon, though this plastic was such an ugly brown wood simulation it would have looked better as unapologetic black plastic. Asked the feller if they ever get any .357 Marlins in stock and he said he didn't recall seeing any. Maybe wally world could order you one.

Went to the Cool Springs store over the weekend, lady at the counter said she's had an 1894c on order for a customer for 11 months now. I have found several on an auction site, but budget won't allow doing the deed for at least another month, hope there's one left by then.

Read a 3 way comparison between the Marlin, Henry Big Boy and some Italian make. The Italian gun had the smoothest cycling action, but the Marlin would reliably cycle when held at tilt to the side, while the other two had some cycling issues in that position. Also Marlin is the lightest and easiest to carry and has the quickest swing, least expensive as well. All three were comparable in the accuracy department.

Edited March 26, 2012 by subsonic

[East_TN_Patriot]

I would opt for a rifle in .223/5.56, a handgun in 9mm, and a 12 gauge shotgun. The 5.56mm and 9mm are extremely common in the US and are standard issue for our armed forces. Ammo like 7.62x39 or 7.62x54R are primarily imported. If we see TEOTWAWKI, those imports are going to dry up in a hurry. No matter what, those two calibers are going to be much easier to get a hold of.

For something in .223, you could look at one of the Kel Tec SU-16 rifles. They are around $500, use AR mags, and some variants fold up. I would go for a basic AR rifle due to the easy availability of parts, but at least the mags are interchangeable.

For a handgun, I would go for a Glock 17. Parts and mags are easy to get, they are reasonably priced, they are simple to work on, and they are reliable (this coming from a guy who normally carries and shoots a Sig P226).

For a shotgun, I would opt for the Remington 870. They are reasonably priced, parts are plentiful since they are one of the most commonly owned and issued by police agencies, and they are durable.

If you did some shopping around, I think you could get all three within your budget. Then start collecting some ammo.

[Dolomite_supafly]

I am far from an AK newbie although I never got into the nuts and bolts of the gun. In addition to an AR I also carried an AK when I would interact with our locals and not expecting trouble. I did it to give the locals more confidence in the weapons they used because they got issued AK's. Now if I was expecting trouble I would, without a doubt, grab my AR. And the AK paltform can be quite accurate providing you have quality ammo. We had quality, brass cased ammo for ours overseas. And with this ammo getting hits on man sized targets (steel) was attainable 7 out of 10 times using iron sights. Now with my AR and a red dot getting the same hits was attainable 9 out of 10 times.

I am in the process of downloading a movie maker to reduce the video size of me firing the AK I carried on my last trip.

Here it is:

What really amazed me is how beat up and worn out looking these guns were and they still ran 100%.

If I get it sorted out I'll upload a few videos. But in the meantime here is me with a suppressed MP5:

Dolomite

Edited March 26, 2012 by Dolomite_supafly

[LI0NSFAN]

I know a lot of people believe that you need to stock up on guns that you can get parts and ammo of bodies laying in the street. I see 2 problems with that for me.

#1 I do not plan on leaving my property. I will have everything I need here. Well water, plenty of dry goods, small garden, wild game if needed. I fell in a necular fall out I will either be dead of evacuated. I am secluded enough that I wont have mobs of people coming to my place looking for supplies. If 30,000 rounds of ammo can't hold them off nothing will

#2 If you do plan on taking something off people why not stock up on what YOU like and if needed take the gun as well as parts and ammo off them. I personally never expect to do this because I am neither going to roam the street looking for ammo or trying to take over the world.

I am sorry if this offends anyone but I just don't think that things will get bad enough in E TN and the mountains to have to go all out and prepare for EOW and repopulation. Knoxville has a population of just 200,000 and I dont see all those people coming 20 mi into the hills to my doorstep trying to take me out.

[Dolomite_supafly]

I agree with what you are saying that not everybody will come to the hills. But there are a lot more than you think that plan on heading to the hills. I am in the hills, for the most part, and I can assure you I will protect what is mine from squatters. I don't care if I have more than I will ever need I will not share with strangers. Anybody who comes to the group must bring something very substantial in the way of skills and there are very few people who would be an asset to my family and I.

I hate to say it but in order to survive you must suspend any compassion you might have. You must be able to turn that pregnant teenager away as well as that elderly person. And on top of that you must be able to protect yourself from those same people.

Dolomite

[subsonic]

I am sorry if this offends anyone but I just don't think that things will get bad enough in E TN and the mountains to have to go all out and prepare for EOW and repopulation. Knoxville has a population of just 200,000 and I dont see all those people coming 20 mi into the hills to my doorstep trying to take me out

You might find it interesting to study up on the civil unrest that occured in Argentina about 10-15 years ago. People poured out of the cities to either get away from mob violence, or parts of the mob went looking in nearby rural areas for easy targets to victimize for food and supplies within driving distance of the cities.

[LI0NSFAN]

I agree about protecting what is mine and my family. I also don't feel that there are a lot of people that can add to my family/group. I just don't see more than 1000 people coming up to my place looking for help and i don't expect to HAVE to shoot all of them. I just dont see me going on a killing spree and needing 1000 guns and 1 million rounds of ammo. We can survive on our property for al fairly long period of time barring enviromental issue, ie nucular fallout, airborn bio attack, or anything that makes breathing difficult. In the safe house we can last a couple of months of not leaving.

[LI0NSFAN]

I did look at that ( it was interesting to read what happens during those times" but I just dont feel that every person that flees the city is coming to my doorstep. There are a lot easier places to get to than my place. It is a 3/4 mile 2 track to "my place in the hills" I have a clear vantage point for the last 1/4 mile the other half mile to the road is dense vegitation other than the 2 track.

[mikegideon]

I have a decent collection but most are hunting rifles. I have near 20 but no doubles of any one gun. So no matter the route I go I would have to buy at least 4 of each gun. I agree on getting the 223 or 308 in something other than the AR but all the AR slappies keep post to get an AR. I like the platform but the cost does not out weight the benefits, Especially when you can get a quality rifle in same caliber for half the price.

I wonder if the folks that do combat for a living are aware of those half price savings? I guess I'm an AR slappy. I figure I'll just use a platform that was designed and PROVEN for the job. If you want to put your life in the hands of a "bargain" rifle, it's fine with me. Just trying to explain why some folks don't see the wisdom in it.

[LI0NSFAN]

I understand the AR arguement completely, I have one and love it. I got a decent dealon mine and did not buy a top of the line flattop and after buying sights It came in right at 1,000. I also have a Mini 14 that has good iron sights and function just as well as my AR and I got it for 550 used. It is not quite half but close. I would also not call a mini a bargain or POS gun, I would trust both with my life as I have never had a problem with either. It is just when you are buying 5 a cheap AR at 800otd compared to 600 that would save 1000 dollars. I know that you can get ARs for 600-700 but I feel that the Ruger is a better gun for that price range.

[Jonnin]

I wonder if the folks that do combat for a living are aware of those half price savings? I guess I'm an AR slappy. I figure I'll just use a platform that was designed and PROVEN for the job. If you want to put your life in the hands of a "bargain" rifle, it's fine with me. Just trying to explain why some folks don't see the wisdom in it.

The military is not rushing into battle with consumer grade ARs either. Some are better than others, but the ARs that are available to the public (in general, the build your own or brand X's take on it new made stuff) are not flawless, ultra rugged military hardware. Not saying a cheap alternative is any better, but calling bubba's home-built AR "proven" is also not exactly accurate. The web has a fair number of discussions on consumer grade AR failures from problems eating the cheap steel ammo to complex gas piston aggravations and more. In general, most are pretty good, but proven in battle? Not this stuff. If the criteria is battle proven, the only way to get it is milsurp, and that probably means a real AK or SKS or similar 50 year old weapon.

The mini 14 is as proven as the consumer grade AR. It is, after all, a M1 garand, a proven design to be sure.

Edited March 26, 2012 by Jonnin