.22 must have (repost and upgrade from my files)

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     I can think of no bigger debate in the world of than the question " what rifle should I have, an AR-15 or an AK-47" Much has been written about both systems. These two weapons have been going head to head for 50 years and in that time you would think there would be a clear winner, well think again. Both of these rifles fill a niche but in the end it comes down to preference, skill,  practice or what your comfortable with.

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   For all intensive purposes here in this blog the objective is not to go head to head and battle the universe but for you to stay below the radar and stay safe (That is subject to change in the future). While either of the above mentioned rifles will help you in staying safe they do require time in training and an ever increasing cost to operate I.E. ammunition, again they fill a niche, good for something but bad for others. In an ideal world we would have a special selector switch to go between small caliber short range to say an intermediate caliber to oh my god reach out and touch someone at a mile and a half. Well we don't have that capability right now so we stick with what we have, a rifle for this and a rifle for that but slogging around with two or more rifles is a little more than impractical.

     Until science fiction catches up with reality or we grow more trigger fingers we will have to settle on using  one rifle at a time and again nothing is perfect. Now another age old question you hear a lot is,

"If you could only have one rifle, what would you take and why?"

     Please take into account that opinions are like, well you know the rest of that famous saying but this question for me is rather easy and clear cut. I would take a Ruger 10-22 stainless steel rifle™  in .22 caliber. 

     Why in the world you ask would I want a little .22 rifle, it can't do this and it can't do that, no better than a BB gun. Well yes there is a lot this rifle can't do, I wouldn't hunt a bull moose with it that's for sure, But it does bring a whole lot of other advantages to the table, hunting and portability are a few. Keep in mind again this rifle is not what you bring to take over the world, it is your survival gun not your assault gun and I believe you will be doing far more survival then gun-fighting. Now for the reasons why I picked this rifle, first and foremost is cost and at about $400 with a few bells and whistles you have a rifle that will certainly take care of your small game hunting requirements.

      My second reason would be Ammunition, .22 ammo is dirt cheap as compared to every other caliber out there, it can be found in a hundred configurations from sub-sonic to hyper velocity and everything in between. While this caliber may not be a heavy hitter by any means it is not meant to be, it is primarily a plinking round or a hunting round for small game or birds and this will fit right in to a survival theme, it will keep you feed and provide a basic level of protection. Now will it take a deer? it does every season but it is the exception to the rule and illegal in most states. Will it put a 2 legged animal down? again it does every year but it wouldn't be my first choice. Remember in a survival situation you want to stay under the radar and out of trouble and maintain a minimal footprint, noise is something in this case you will be able to keep low.

      In addition to being inexpensive it is also very light per round and that means that if need be you can carry huge amounts of ammunition, I am talking about thousands of rounds at a time, @ about 4lbs per 500 rounds you can carry a lot of ammo, what you lack in knock down you can sure make up for in capacity.You can break it down in one of two ways, larger caliber with less ammo or smaller caliber with more ammo.

     Accessories for a 10-22™ are as about as plentiful as one could imagine, from mild to wild. One big thing to take advantage of is magazine capacity if you can in your location. The factory magazine that comes with the rifle is a standard 10 round rotary magazine, they are pretty bomb proof and will last for a very long time.

This magazine will take 10 rounds and fire all day long with no problems but 10 rounds is only 10 rounds and thankfully the aftermarket world has been building extra capacity magazines for years
 and the sky is the limit. This is one of the big advantages of this type of rifle, while the .22 round may be small and underpowered for some things  it is offset by ability to send huge numbers of rounds downrange in the blink of an eye.

     Magazine's are being made that have a capacity of 20,30 and even 50 rounds, I think I even saw one somewhere with 100 round capacity. I would stick with the 30 rounders though as they seem to fairly trouble free and inexpensive. 

     In closing there are many reasons for and against a .22 cal rifle, it won't do everything but what rifle will? But as the question stated  "What rifle would you take if you could only have one" this would be mine. Take a 5 or 6 pound rifle and say 1500 rounds at 12 pounds and you can fill a basic rifle role and not break the bank. Keep in mind that if you are faced with some type of situation where you need to bug out on foot  weight will be a huge issue and it adds up fast, especially ammo.  Either way some form of .22 cal rifle should reside in your arms battery as there will always be a demand for one. YMMV

Prepology

Snipers Will Soon Shoot Taliban Three Quarters of a Mile Away

From Wired Magazine 

     Sometimes but not always you can get a feel for the types of equipment that are coming down the pike, sometimes it's Military to Police to Civilian but not always and sometime it is the other way around completely.  I think it is important to keep up with what comes out as gear is an ever changing and fluid arena, As was said there are no obsolete weapons or gear just obsolete tactics in using them. I also keep in mind that newer is not always better, there is always a trade off. To me something older is old for a reason, it means it has lasted usually because it is better built, something to think of when you see the latest and greatest coming out.

Prepology

Navy Railgun sets record

     For you Railgun fans out there the navy is looking at having them on ships by 2025.

Navy Railgun Annihilates Targets From 100 Miles Away

Navy railgun test breaks world record

 Pepology

This just forwarded to me in an e-mail

Clint Smith, Director of Thunder Ranch, is a drill instructor (Thunder Ranch is a firearms training facility in   Arizona ). Here are a few of his observation on tactics, firearms, self defense and  life as we know it in the civilized world. 
  "The most important rule in a gunfight is: Always win and cheat if  necessary." 
  "Don't forget, incoming fire has the right of way.." 
  "Make your attacker advance through a wall of bullets. You may get killed with your own gun, but he'll have to beat you to death with it, cause it's going to be empty." 
  "If you're not shootin', you should be loadin'. If you're not loadin',  you should be movin', if you're not movin', someone's gonna cut your head off and put it on a stick." 
  "When you reload in low light encounters, don't put your flashlight in  your back pocket.. If you light yourself up, you'll look like an angel or  the tooth fairy... and you're gonna be one of 'em pretty soon." 
  "Do something It may be wrong, but do something." 
  "Shoot what's available, as long as it's available, until something else  becomes available." 
  "If you carry a gun, people will call you paranoid. That's ridiculous.  If you have a gun, what in the hell do you have to be paranoid for." 
  "Don't shoot fast, unless you also shoot good.." 
  "You can say 'stop' or 'alto' or use any other word you think will work,  but I've found that a large bore muzzle pointed at someone's head is  pretty much the universal language." 
  "You have the rest of your life to solve your problems.. How long you live depends on how well you do it." 
  "You cannot save the planet but you may be able to save yourself and your family." 
  "Thunder Ranch will be here as long as you'll have us or until someone  makes us go away, and either way, it will be exciting." 
  More Excellent Gun Wisdom....... 
  The purpose of fighting is to win. There is no possible victory in  defense..  The sword is more important than the shield, and skill is more  important than either. The final weapon is the brain. All else is  supplemental. 
  1. Don't pick a fight with an old man. If he is too old to fight, he'll  just kill you. 
  2. If you find yourself in a fair fight, your tactics suck. 
  3. I carry a gun cause a cop is too heavy. 
  4. When seconds count, the cops are just minutes away. 
  5. A reporter did a human-interest piece on the Texas Rangers. The  reporter recognized the Colt Model 1911 the Ranger was carrying and asked him 'Why do you carry a 45?' The Ranger responded, 'Because they don't make a 46.' 
  6. An armed man will kill an unarmed man with monotonous regularity. 
  7. The old sheriff was attending an awards dinner when a lady commented on his wearing his sidearm. 'Sheriff, I see you have your pistol. Are you expecting trouble?' 'No ma'am. If I were expecting trouble, I would have brought my rifle.' 
  8. Beware of the man who only has one gun, because he probably knows how to use it very well. 
  'The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him,  but because he loves what is behind him.' G. K. Chesterton 
  A people that values its privileges above its principles will soon lose  both. 
  "Those who hammer their guns into plows will plow for those who do not..."  - Thomas Jefferson 
  If you believe in the 2nd Amendment, please forward..

Frugal pickings

      I am always on the lookout for deals on the Internet and I have been looking at Craig's list a lot lately. I have seen all kinds of deals especially firearms and ammo. In addition there seems to be a lot of equipment that is being sold pretty cheap, I try to check the tool and electronics sections as often as I can. Keep your eyes pealed for the ham radio gear and other communications gear that makes it on there also.... Enjoy.

Disturbing news on the U.N. front, if true.

     I got an E-mail the other day that I will need to check out further but just the premise alone is worthy of a spot here on the blog.  The long and short of the E-mail was that our darling secretary of state Mr. Hillary Clinton has or is giving serious consideration to the signing of the U.N. small arms treaty, I.E. the backdoor way to kill the 2nd amendment. Now by signing this treaty they (the powers that be) would like to eviscerate a fundamental right that we enjoy and that they so fear.

     Well I think that they should fear us, not because we have the means to defend ourselves but because we have the will to do so. I can think of nothing more that would be so blatant of an act against the American public. I have the feeling that if this treaty were to come to fruition we would be looking at open season on the blue helmets. I would imagine that this would make it all the way to the supreme court and it would garner an enormous amount of support on both sides but I would also expect there to be violence before, during and after no matter what the outcome was.

Riot on, keep your head down it would be one hell of a wild ride.