Posted on 10/27/2015 9:17:30 AM PDT by w1n1
The AK family of weapons is reliable and rugged. It was designed to be operated by illiterate teenage conscripts with little to no training. It was never intended to protect a family after a natural disaster and is ill suited to that purpose. If the answer comes down to supportability and simplicity, you need a shotgun.
Everybody has their own ideas about guns, that is part of their charm. There are near-infinite combinations of precision, wounding potential, and magazine capacity. There is much opinion on this. I will give you mine. You are welcome to violently disagree; it is your God-given right.
I have been to some bad places around the world and have seen bad things happen. When I lived on the Gulf Coast, I went through the aftermath of several major hurricanes. I now live in a rural area and maintain a wide selection of weapons. When I hear a noise in the night, I grab the shotgun.
Simplicity
The AK was designed for wartime production. The elimination of a bolt hold-open feature saved three parts. In Soviet Russia, magazines are scarce and valuable, so you are driven to hold the magazine to work the flapper magazine release. This is meant to make you hold on to magazines rather than let them drop free, since itll be in your hand before you insert the next magazine. The sights require a tool to adjust. This keeps recruits from messing up the fine zero the factory armorers put on it.
Semiautomatic rifles have their place. In the proper hands, with quality ammo and parts, they can shoot a lot of rounds a long way. There is also a place for bolt guns, but the relatively slow rate of fire demands that they be employed with some stand-off. At distance, even a Lee-Enfield or Mosin-Nagant could be effective.
My vote for home protection? The all-American choice is the Remington 870. The pump shotgun is incredibly simple. The controls? A safety button and a pump. Work the pump and shoot. Got a jam? Work the pump and shoot. Repeat as necessary and reload. Read the rest of the shotgun story here.
All kidding aside thanks all for the recommendations. I'm a cheap b*sturd and would rather not by another barrel. Seems alot of peoples weapons end up in the lake. Odd.
I encourage folks to have several of these on hand. They have no peer as a handoff gun in terms of safety, reliability, simplicity, power and affordability. One for each unarmed person you can imagine at your home during an emergency for final protective fire. Carried hammer down it is completely safe for firearms newbies.
The barrel can be easily cut down to a legal 18.25" with a simple tubing cutter.
Secondly, there is no better force multiplier than several of these premounted to cover avenues of approach, exterior doors or interior fatal funnels. Operation by a pair of 550 cords, one to cock, one to fire is a completely safe method. Cord runs work reliably from your interior cover/concealment through house framing to attic or crawlspace through pvc pipe and fittings.
This Rossi 12 Gauge model costs only $159 brand new.
>> Wanna start a real argument? Start discussing 223 v/s 556. : )
Mini-14 vs. AR is also good popcorn entertainment.
Roger that. Inside I want my pump shotgun and .357 revolver at the ready. Outside I want a semi-auto 9 mm handgun and a rifle. Preferably a .30 caliber rifle. An AR-10 or M1A will do just fine. Saying one firearm is always better than another in any situation is like saying it's always better to use a wrench than a screwdriver.
Do you happen to mean the AA-12??
This illustrates quite well the benefits of simple and reliable for a civilian in caught in SHTF.
For those that are impatient, go to about minute 3:00 and watch him strip and reassemble the AK in the snow with gloves on. For a guy like me that is a lot more important than that slightly tighter grouping at 100 yards.
Tribute to Mikhail Kalashnikov and the AK-47:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IndgJBheS5s
The Stereo pair seem to work well.
Oh, they are loverly!
Goggle 'em up...there are so many variations available, all kinds of stocks, multiple calibers, 10, 20 30 round mags, even a drum!
Some variations can be pricey, but you can find something in there that works and fits for a pretty good price.
Seems there is always some self-appointed expert in weaponry who will spout off on what he knows so little about ... congratulations, you’re it!
** Does a Saiga qualify as both? **
Yes, And I would prefer that to a pump shotgun.
Buy some slugs, Foster slugs. Buy some slugs for you 12 gauge ... and stop with the silly mischaraterizations. And serious home defense shotgun should be shot for patterning, to know what the particular gun will do with particular rounds fed to it, 12 or 20 gauge.
I fell in love with a Ruger Mini-14 Tactical in RI...collapsible stock, ghost ring sight, flash suppressor, 20 round magazine, .223 and 5.56 capable. All for $650.
But alas, all but the optics are illegal in MA. No FFL would do the transfer. Oh well. I'll just have to move out of MA.
At least one poster on this thread knows the score about the long ago debunked ‘rack and scare’ baloney. Besides a possible jam that will happen when no one EVER wants one, (and jams do/can/will happen), it also gives your position away. I can’t believe that there are still folks who buy into that garbage.
I did not know that. I will look into it at the soonest possible opportunity. (After some research)
I did not know that. I will look into it at the soonest possible opportunity. (After some research)
We have both because you just never know. :-)
I wouldn't do that. The constriction on a .410 shotgun can be down to .396 depending on choke. To force a .452 bullet through it is asking for problems. Also .45 Colt loads are in the 15,000 psi range, and .410 shotshells usually run less than 11,000.
See my #77
You can find some really bad advice on these threads.
Dicks has been having some pretty good sales lately. Just this week my local Dicks had boxes of 20 count Remington core-lockt .308 ammo for $14 a box. That's 5 bucks cheaper than wal mart.
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