Posted on 09/15/2008 10:58:51 AM PDT by Kevmo
Lol!!
Guns!
Good grub!
A goat!
Life can’t get much better!!
;-)
I googled it and it came right up.
So You Want To Buy A Gun
Philosophy Editorial Opinion (Published)
Published: 18 Oct 1999 Author: Lurker
Posted on 10/18/1999 00:15:13 PDT by Lurker
So You Want To Buy A Gun
Oct. 1999
Lurker
Just Another Opinion
So You Want To Buy A Gun
OK, you have thought about it a lot. You have heard all the arguments on both sides, and you have decided for whatever reason to arm yourself.
This is good.
The second question you have to answer is why do you want a gun.
If you want a gun to put meat on the table, that is one thing. But, if you are buying a weapon with which you hope to be able to defend your life, your freedom, and the lives of those you love that is entirely a different matter.
I will address the self defense aspects of firearms purchases in this writing.
First Choices
So, here we are at the gun store, looking at all those beautiful handguns in the long glass cases, and the racks of absolutely stunning rifles along the wall. The smell of new guns is almost intoxicating. The pistols gleam under the glass, and the wood and synthetic stocks of the rifles beckon you like sirens.
Forget them for now.
If you want just one firearm with which you will be able to both defend your home, your life, and as an added bonus be able to put meat on the table with, you want a shotgun.The shotgun was invented around 1600 or so, and it has been killing both man and beast in amazing numbers since then. Modern shotguns are well built, inexpensive, phenominally reliable, and have an absolutely astounding variety of ammunition avaible for use in them.
There are shotgun rounds which can literally clear a street of opposition in 3 or 4 shots, others which can kill a man or deer at ranges of 100 yards. There are shotgun shells which can kill any variety of game bird from snipe to goose. Smoke and teargas rounds can be had for your shotgun. There are even shotgun shells which can turn your trusty hogleg into a flame thrower if need be.
And the shotgun has the true beauty of a home defense weapon. It’s cheap. You can buy a completely reliable American made shotgun for less than 400.00 dollars. Both Mossberg and Remington make perfectly useful shotguns in this price range. Either one will serve a person very well.
Now shotguns, as good as they are, have their limits.
They are best employed at ranges from point blank to about 100 yards depending on the ammunition you have. And while you can kill large game or opponents at fairly long ranges with a shotgun, realistically for anything over 100 yards you need a rifle.
Also, if you are buying guns for self defense purposes, you shouldn’t count on your shotgun at anything beyond 50 yards or so. At ranges from 50 yards to 100 yards, you are going to need a pistol.
Just because this is my article, I am going to cover pistols first.
Your Second Choice
Handguns. Ah, handguns. I don’t think any aspect of self defense firearms ownership has had more words written or spoken than this one. A lot of what has been written and said is right, and an awful lot more is wrong.
There are two basic types of handguns. Revolvers, and semi-automatics. There are literally dozens of manufacturers, and thousands of models to chose from. Don’t let any of that scare you. If this is to be your first handgun, and you want it for self defense purposes, you want a revolver.
OK, I will give the semi-auto fans a moment to calm down, and I will proceed.
Everyone better? Good. Now, I personally love semi-auto pistols. In fact I own and carry one. It’s a beautiful stainless steel Colt Commander. I will also say that it is a lousy first choice for a handgun, and I am writing to the first time handgun buyer here, so give me a break.
So for the first time self defense buyer, here we go. You want a revolver. Preferably one chambered in the really scary sounding .357 Magnum cartridge. Some reputable manufacturers include Smith & Wesson, Colt, Sturm Ruger, Taurus, Rossi, and Dan Wesson. Handguns from these manufacturers chambered in the .357 magnum cartridge are available for purchase anywhere from 300.00 to 600.00 dollars. The beauty of a pistol chambered for .357 magnum is that you can also shoot the less powerful but still very effective .38 Special cartridge from the same gun.
Don’t worry, the .38 Special cartridge is effective against all kinds of critters, both two and four legged. Police departments the world around have carried this venerable cartridge for almost one hundred years. It has the added benefit of being very widely available, and inexpensive so you will be able to practice with it more than other more expensive rounds.
Don’t get hung up on someone trying to sell you a particular manufacturers gun. Find one that feels good and natural in your hand. For some, it’s a Smith & Wesson Model 19. For others the Ruger SP-101 is better. Don’t sneer at the Taurus because it’s made in Brazil. It’s a well made gun as is the Rossi. Just look around and find the best deal. Put the money you save over the 500.00 semi-auto into ammunition and more importantly range time.
Rifles. Actually, Two Rifles.
Here, I am going to veer off from the strictly self defense aspects of my article.
There are literally thousands of rifles on the market directed at the self defense buyer. Some are military in style, others are mated to a shotgun barrel and sold as “survival” weapons. I am going to beg the readers indulgence here and ask you to trust me.
You are going to need to buy two rifles, but I promise you can get both of the ones I think you need for less that a months pay for most people, and you won’t raise any eyebrows with your(my) selections.
The first one you want to buy is a .22 Caliber rifle. Yes, a .22 caliber.
Most kids in America have fired a .22 at one time or another. At one time it was an American boys rite of passage to have someone put his first .22 into his hands. Those days are gone, but the .22 lives on, thank God.
A good quality brand spanking new .22 caliber semi-auto rifle will run you about 300.00. Ruger makes a really good one. So does Browning. Another good manufacturer is Marlin. The .22 caliber round is accurate and effective at ranges to 200 yards against small game. Believe it or not, the largest bear ever killed in North America was shot by a 65 year old Native American woman with a bolt action .22 caliber rifle. The bear weighed over 300 pounds, the woman less than 150. The bear became a rug, the old Indian woman got famous. Go figure.
But, once again, the true beauty of the .22 is that it’s cheap! A good new one will run around 300.00 and ammunition is so inexpensive that you won’t believe it. A box of 50 rounds of ammunition is less than a dollar, and you can put 500 rounds in the pocket of your jacket. One can literally shoot a .22 all day for under 15.00 dollars. Now that’s a cost effective weapon in my opinion.
The Other Rifle
Just in case I haven’t really ticked anyone off yet, I am going to recommend a large caliber rifle for you, my gentle reader.
If you thought that buying a handgun or shotgun was a dizzying experience, then prepare yourself. Pick a nice day, have a hot cup of tea, and brace yourself for your final trip to the gun store. You are about to buy a rifle for self defense.
Nothing in your life has prepared you for this experience.
When you tell the proprietor of your local gun store why you are there, his eyes will gleam. He will smack his lips and rub his hands together. He will tell you that he has just the thing for you. He will pull some amazing pieces of firearms technology from his rack. There will be one of 3 or 4 models. It will be an AR-15 of one type or another, or it will be an FN/FAL of one type or another, heck it may be an AK-47 of one type or another. If you frequent the finer type of gun dealer, it may be an M1A1 by Springfield Armory.
You should ask your esteemed gun dealer to put all of them back on the rack as any one of these fine firearms costs well over 1000.00 in todays market.
Remember, you are here to buy something that can save your life. That means you have to be able to become competent in the use of that weapon and that means practice. Practice costs both time and money. The more you have to spend on practice time and ammunition, the more likely you are to survive actually having to use your weapon.
Have your firearms dealer show you bolt action rifles chambered in .308 caliber at the minimum.
That most popular and readily available calibers .308, 30-06, or 300 Winchester Magnum. There are other calibers available as well, and I would be remiss if I didn’t tell you dear reader that .270 is a fine cartridge as well. I must also share my prejudice for larger and heavier bullets. To my mind, .308 is the smallest caliber I think you should consider.
In these calibers, Remington, Browing, Winchester, Ruger, Savage, and Weatherby all make very fine rifles. In terms of cost, Remington and Savage are perhaps ones best buy. One should be able to locate and purchase a rifle in one of the above calibers on the 400.00 to 700.00 dollar range depending on the make and model you chose. Remington and Savange being the least expensive and Weatherby being the most expensive.
Putting a telescopic sight on any of the above firearms gives the user a weapon which can stop any assailant at ranges approaching 500 yards providing one has practiced sufficiently. There are documented cases of individuals killing man sized targets at ranges approaching 700 yards with this type of weapon. Telescopic sights add cost, but budget at least what you plan to spend on the rifle itself for a quality one.
Summing Up
OK, I know I was long winded here, but I have had some requests on the subject and wanted to share what I consider to be common sense advice on the subject.
Any individual should be able to equip themselves with this type of weaponry for under 1500.00 dollars and not attract a whole lot of attention while doing so. With the money one can save using this list as a guide, a motivated person should be able to become quite competent with all of the firearms listed here for less than 3000.00.
I know that sounds like a lot of money, but you aren’t going to do it all at once.
Just follow these steps, and before you know it, you will be ready and able to defend yourself against all the evil types in the world as well as provide for your family should things ever deteriorate that badly.
Regards,
L
I have a 590 Mossberg 12 Gage loaded with tactical buckshot for defense and a Ruger Mini-14 5.56 for longer range. I keep both with me during hurricanes along with 200 rounds of ammo for both. I also have handguns with ammo. If I had to chose one weapon for the scenario that you're talking about it would be a good 12 gage. It's a great defensive weapon and a good game-getter for everything from birds to deer.
My father in law lives near Pensacola and when the hurricane hit there about four years ago we went over and helped out. He has emphysema and cancer so I brought a gas generator to keep his a/c, fridge, and oxygen machine running. I had to sleep on the front porch to keep people from stealing the generator at night. I had to run roaming gangs off of his property twice in two days. They had climbed over the fence and were trying to steal the generator.
When my Father In Law was in the handicapped shelter a guy came around volunteering to check up on people's property for them. If you gave him your address he would go out and check to make sure everything was okay. It turned out that he was finding out who was confined to the shelter so he could rob their homes.
There were a lot of great people who came from Ohio and Kentucky to help clear out the downed trees and help patch roofs. There were also the scum of the earth who were looking for someone to take advantage of.
But they would be unlikely to go to residences in that case (too much risk of getting shot). It would be more like several carloads of thugs pulling up to a suburban store or bank, pulling out guns, grabbing what they can, and scooting back to sanctuary in the 'hood.
If there were a lot of them, and they outgunned the police, then after the first few incidents we might find the police rather slow to respond.
I will simply pipe country Music out into my neighborhood. Works like repellent!
***Now there’s an inexpensive deterrent. Lotsa bang for the buck on that one.
I actually find shotguns to be less intimidating on the trigger end than heavy handguns, but that’s probably because I shot those well before I ever shot a handgun of any kind, let alone an effective centerfire one.
***That’s interesting. I fired handguns well before I ever fired a shotgun. I find shotguns intimidating. One of the things I gather from this thread is that I should go with what I’m familiar with. So I’m gonna stick with handguns and rifles but I understand why someone would prefer a shotgun.
that’s the traditional definition of “carbine”, by the way, a short-barreled shoulder piece that employs a pistol cartridge
***Thanks! I didn’t know that. I love learning this stuff.
The IBC can be avoided if you have a CHL/CHP from most states.
***Can you please explain the acronyms for us gun ignoranewbies? I have a natural distaste for... um... paperwork, and I’d like to know what options there are.
I suppose I’ll just chalk up this correspondence with you as an example of the self-selecting nature of such groups as free republic, and how any Clymer can join. If you don’t like the thread, what the Freep are you doing on it? That’s classic troll behavior.
For the benefit of lurkers, Clymer was the guy that George Bush was caught on an open mike saying to Cheney, “He’s a real A$$#0[e” and Cheney said, “Big Time.”
I see it! I seem to remember something about the manufacturing process article saying the molds were sprayed with a brass/wax dust before the lead was poured. It didn’t result in an actual full coating because the lead would mix with the dust. The result was a brass/lead coating they gave the name Yellow Jackets to.
Funny how I can remember something so far back but can’t remember the reason I stood up 10 minutes ago ...... to go to the restroom or get more coffee? So I sat down again. The chair’s not wet yet and I do have a bottle of water here, so I guess all’s OK.
Ummm, I'm with you on that - I was talking about responsible visa vis race riots.
ping. I’m going to need this later.
People are generally responsible or not. Being responsible in one area while being responsible in many others does happen, but how to predict what that one area or several of them might be? If someone has acted irresponsibly (as an adult, teenagers and "early twenty somethings" really don't quite count the same), the way to bet is that they will be irresponsible in another area. It's a personalitiy thing.
True, except that what we were gathered for was to memorialize a friend, FReeper Texas Cowboy (previously Cob1, I think). We'd just as soon forgo the affair and have him still with us.
Of course if he was, he'd have us meeting for shooting, eating, and BSing anyway. He'd even buy, and fix, the grub.
Don't know what he'd think of the goat.
The goat liked Humblegunner but TheMom hated the goat.
I wonder if that range went under water. It's not far from Aransas and Corpus Christi bays, which apparently had a pretty good "surge" from Ike. The place where we are shown stuffing our faces is closer to the water than the range. It's known as Deer Camp South, although there are "nice" houses on the next plot over, opposite from the goat's abode, and across the road as well. OTOH, there is a largish pond with at least one resident gator, maybe more now.
Check, done that. In addition I have one centerfire rifle, one "seious social purposes" shotgun, and one handgun bought before the "Instant Registration" scheme. Yea the dealer has the yellow form, but the BATFE shouldn't have anything. Unless the dealer has gone out of business, which the one for the SKS may have. The other two are still in business, and since one of them is also a range, I occasionaly shoot there while my wife is visiting a friend who lives nearby.
IBC == Instant Background Check
CHL == Concealed Handgun License
CHP = Concealed Handgun Permit
There are of course other terms which vary by state or other jurisdiction. If the license/permit process meets certain criteria, mainly requiring a background check, then the holder of such license or permit can buy firearms, from a dealer, without undergoing the "instant" check (anyone can do so from a non-dealer). That's federal law, your situation may be different depending on state laws.
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