Love my ARs, have a mini-recce as my primary SHTF weapon, have several others in different configs. I also have an IWI x95.  Fun gun with an RDS on it, great for tighter spaces.  With the current environment and the way it could go, I am thinking of selling and turning it into another recce type AR, know what I want for that.  

My thoughts are it is a non-standard weapon for me, I have tons of AR spare parts and am competent on doing complete AR repairs and builds.  Thinking of turning the funds from a sale into a mini-recce 11.5 barrel with LPVO and a small RDS on it.  I like the x95, but it is heavy and not competent on emergency repairs for it, in fact, they are more difficult.  Really looking at AR only, originally, I considered an AR and the x95 to be weapons to go with me, but seriously thinking of reconsidering it.  I like short, easily handled weapons.

Would really like opinions please, I am conflicted.

Weapons in question, basically doing another AR similar to the first pic:

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Mini recce all the way here.

But in the end go with what your most comfortable with.

For me, mini recce fits the bill of engaging targets from damn near contact out to 400 yards pretty easily. For ECQB you have a pistol.

+87

I don’t know???? I love my AR’s but my Tavor SAR16” has grown on me. I have a couple top top tier AR’s but I still shot a couple single full day carbine courses and I didn’t miss a beat.  No hiccups and for some courses of fire it was actually better [img]/images/smilies/smiley_freak.gif[/ima

It has definitely earned its place in my safe and I topped it with a very nice optic, laser and light.

Now's not the time to experiment or get cute or over think things.
Stick with what you know for now.
Change later when the Doomsday clock doesn't read 11:59

Having patrolled with an M16 I like the 18 inch barrel AR15 for my go to.

It's light weight and I can hit targets at 250 meters with it.

You also have to added in ammo weight on whatever weapon you choose.

Carrying 210 rounds of 5.56 is about the same weight as 100 rounds of 7.62 x 51.

But what ever your comfortable with practice walking around with the rifle and a basic load.

You already have a mini recce and you only have two hands

That Tavor is only going to appreciate in value

Short wins for indoor and close quarter. I have a 300bo that’s shorter than a 14.5” ar even wearing the can. So it’s what I’d grab for almost anything living here in the suburbs. If I had to bug out into the woods? Probably grab my 18” JP

What’s more likely in your situation. Needing defense from inside a car, indoors, or inside a building? Or needing to hunt a deer with it at 300 yards

If you already have several AR's the commonality of parts is a huge plus.  Also to consider, do you have a proper .308 battle rifle? Do you need one for the situation you are planning for. If you envision yourself on the road, then the small lightweight rifle is best. If you are going to be static at a fixed location then having a .308 would be recommended.

So if you want to go to a .308  what's best for you? if you know AR's and have spare parts some could interchange with a AR 10 platform, you know the weapons' platform and already have muscle memory established.  Probably 3k for a nice setup with mags and ammo.


If on a budget you could pick up a Century C308 $700, 20 mags $120, spare parts kit from RTG $65  two cans of Hirtenburger .308 (800rds total) for $700.  You would have a reasonable .308 battle riflr that has real standoff capability for about $1650.

I was told bad people tend to hide behind things when they are trying to shoot at you.

I am probably over-thinking this.  The prices I was seeing on gunbroker for x95s started making me see dollar signs, build a recce and help fund a new gas stove for the kitchen (off a ways still).  I have all the parts to still build another mini-recce, just wanted a better barrel and sweet glass, reality is I don't need it, just really like them.

Probably would regret selling it and a different tool in the toolbox.  If we ever left, it would have to be bad, live in a smaller, rural town.  Odds of me wearing it out are slim.

Need to calm down, take a breath.  Thanks.  

As to .308, thanks, I actually sold all my stuff off years ago and migrated to 6.5 Grendel and heavily invested in the that.

Depends on where you live or where you plan to be?

If you're rural, a high powered hunting rifle with a great scope might be the best bet. Personally I'd choose .308 because there's so much of it out there (or 6.5 creedmore if I had a large stock of it).

If youre suburban or urban, Id stick with the AR platform. It will always have the most parts available.

Do you want a really serious answer?

It doesn't matter.  If you have a decent quality reliable firearm in a decent caliber, you are good. Period.  End of story. Quibbling over the minor advantage of this one over the minor advantage of that one is so insignificant it really doesn't matter.   If your only firearm was a 65 year old bolt action 3 shot 20 gauge Mossberg shotgun, you might have issues.  I'd argue that near anything remotely suitable gets the job done.  AR15.  An M1Carbine.  Garand.  Your Rem 870 turkey gun.  Marlin 1894 in 357.  Grand dads old Win 94 in 30-30.  A new Ruger pistol caliber carbine....   All would get it done.

How often do you actually use the rifle for SHTF purposes?  How often to you expect to use the rifle for SHTF purposes?  

In contrast, can you think of ANY recent event that would represent a SHTF event for people?  I can.  Texas.  Lack of water, lack of food, lack of heat, lack of power (and I'd argue lack of brains but that's another topic).  How about COVID?  Lack of a job, lack of income.  Local family here just totally lost a home to fire.  And lost two family members in it.  (Hmmm....   upgraded smoke detectors, a couple $25 extinguishers, and an exit plan would have been a fantastic prep).  In the middle of the severe lock down back in March, a close friend came down with a Urinary Tract infection.  That wasn't going to be good.... Not easy to access medical care then.  I fixed her up with some antibiotics.  We just got slammed with a lot of snow.  Driving was a bitch.  Proper snow tires, tools in the truck, etc all good preps.  All of these are far more mundane, but each represents a very real and far more likely SHTF "need".   Or at least potential needs the have far greater likelihood of happening than some scenario where the minor advantage of this rifle over that one represents the difference between life or death.

Your rifle...   It does not matter.  Its more than covered.  Pick one.  Either is MORE than adequate for the intended purpose..  go examine your other preps and look for real holes there...

Plus a billion.

If you don't believe that, go play paint ball with the kids.  Find out how fast you will get killed and someone else owns all your stuff.

Doc

Although I get your post and I agree with what your saying, paintball really isn't an accurate portrayal.

I have 3 ARs , a clone 18 inch MK12 mod1, 16 inch AR, and an Pisol AR. Interchangeable optics are an AIMpoint Pro and a ACOG with the Cross hair that’s glows amber at night. If i had to chose one for SHTF, Iam taking the 16 Inch with the ACOG. More than likely you will need magnification and the ACOG is a good balance for close quarters and long range with out having to adjust

I have Four AR's

5.56 10.3" Braced Pistol

5.56 14.5 Pinned light weight carbine.

7.62x39 16" Carbine Piggy Popper

7.62x51 18" Long Ranger...

They share the exact same Manual of Arms, and Control Layout.

Most of them have many interchangeable parts for service or upgrade.

I'd rather be REALLY good with one system, then "OK" between two different ones.

Your Mileage May Vary!

BIGGER_HAMMER

@frozenny the accuracy of this post actually pisses me off. . It's much more fun to talk about guns and whatnot than other stuff, but realistically you are right. I like to carry a custom 1911 with ivory grips but I don't shoot it significantly better than a small 9mm that arguably carries much more easily. I have gear for HD and whatever and I'm happy with where it is, but with ammo and training prices being so high right now I'm focusing on other areas that I may have spent less time with because they are less fun, like lights, food, alternative heat, etc. Seen a lot of footage in Texas and in none of the videos would a rifle have helped the participants.

You will not have a long gun during most SHTF situations. Having a visible weapon will get you ALL the attention, none of it wanted.

I grew up on FAL's, AK's and Galil's. If I could, I would have a 16" FAL or AK...with that said, the ability to repair an AR with very minimal tools, availability of parts, mags and ammo - made me go that way. I dumped all other semi's I had. Only AR's. I enjoyed shooting the AK's, FAL and a few others over the years, but time for enjoying is over now - at least for me.
Keep the AR, trade the X95 for another AR - maybe sell it and buy parts for 2 AR pistols? That Recce setup will do just about anything you could ask of it. How are your other preps looking?

Duplicate post - sorry

Duplicate post again - sorry, again

If SHTF (post-apocalypse w/roving hordes of raiders), I'll be at my place with a half dozen M1 Garands and scoped '03 Springfield .30-06 rifles and the ammo fort.  Multiple rifles for spare parts, and many have proven reliability and have been dialed in during NRA XTC service rifle matches at 200, 300 and 600 yds.  Nearest concealment is 200m from the house, and cover is further than that since I also have a supply of AP ammo.  If I have to leave the place for some rare reason on foot, I have a few M1 Carbines that shoot 1-3 moa and tons of ammo.  Got some ARs and ammo, but they're heavier and not as ergonomic for me as the carbines.  My weak point is that I don't have night vision yet - need to get some anyway for the feral hogs tearing up my pasture.

The key is that I have enough supplies on my 20 ac to reduce the need to travel for resupply.  Defending a fixed position beats traveling any day.

So far my SHTFs have been hurricanes, power outages, and ice storms which have not lasted more than a week or so, and I'm plenty prepared for those.  Having a 3-6 month savings reserve helped when I was between jobs for up to a month at a time, and some cash on hand for grid down purchases is more important than another firearm.

Decided to keep it, I really like it, have plenty of ARs, just built a second mini-recce and putting an ACOG on it with an RDS at 1 oclock.  One reason I chose the the x95 over the SAR is a more similar manual of arms and it with a recce always go the range with me, got inspired by Fauda .  I was starting to get caught up in the money to be made.  I have parts for parts, plus some and mags a plenty!  Food for a year for the family, maybe more, GHB, BOB, multiple iterations for water purification (Big Berkey, Katadyn Combis x2, plus other ones), complete med preps with surgical items and stores of antibiotics with enough for trade, would be dead before I burned through all the ammo, gear for different season, do have cheap night vision, can't justify better with stuff I need to do for the cost, but hope to add thermal later.  Have comms.  Live in a small, rural town.  Starting up home canning.  Have body armor, stocks of hygiene, etc, etc.

Other preps are great, next thing I am going to be getting done is a wood burning stove.  Until a year ago I had a whole home generator the crapped the bed and cannot be fixed.  Debated on a new one but given that the time I had it for 15-16 years, it operationally was only needed for about a total of 20 hours over that whole time span.  Decided on a wood stove as it will be cheaper with an ample fuel source easily obtainable where I live.  Will be buying a smaller portable generator too for freezers.  Would love another whole home generator, but the cost, with annual maintenance costs, relying on an external fuel source etc, is making me move to a wood burning stove.  The TX thing really brought that home to me, especially with NG issues to people.  A wood burning stove would not allow someone else to control my fuel supply.  Store enough gas for a small generator.  Have cooking needs taken care of and adding a gas stove in a kitchen remodel I am doing.

that sounds like reasonable thinking...

Whole house genies are convenient, but they are more about that convenience than about SHTF practicality.  They simple burn too much fuel...  My take?:  Look carefully at your actual needs.  My house was on a well.  My heaviest load was the well pump.  My 4000 xl Generac handled that.  I'd fire up the generator, spent 10 minutes pumping water, switch the pump off, run up the fridge and freezer, sometimes run up the temp in the house.  45 minutes later shut it all down.  Then simply do without electric for another 6 or 8 hours...   it works well, and takes a little fuel and maximizes its coverage....

There is something to be said for a little 2000 w inverter generator.  I've got a small Champion I picked up for about $300.  It's awesome.  It sips fuel, yet readily runs a LED light and a 1500w little toaster sized cube heater, which give me another heat option (which doesn't potentially put carbon monoxide in the home).

Wood stove:  Perfect idea.  If you haven't used one, invest in a GOOD chimney.  Dont cheap out on the triple wall stainless.  And remember your fiberglass rods and brushes for maintenance, and a good battery powered CO detector.  I really prefer models that have a digital readout.  Most units simply sound the alarm once the limit is reached.  With digital monitors, you can see a small, insignificant rise in CO before hitting a limit.  My Hunting camp: I can run the propane lights, the wood stove and the camp stove, but only two of the three.  Once I light all three at once, the CO monitor starts to read 5, 8, 11 PPM.  Its not significant, but its warning me that I'm burning more O2 than I have readily available.  I can crack a window a bit wider, and all is good...

Your stove and generator ideas really are practical (if boring) preps that deserve more attention than quibbling over which rifle.

I have a suppressed recce that is my go to gun on the homestead (that and a 10/22)
gets used all the time

I'm straying away from nonstandard and collecting as I see them as tools.
I have been standardizing and glad I did

The one you train with and are most accurate with and can reload the fastest under stress. I ditched an AK-74 as I just could not load the mags fast enough under stress to feel confident about it.

On another site sorta discussing the 22lr brass into 223 jackets.

As already mentioned, and yeah I saw you made a choice, some of this comes down to round count as well as possible abuse use.

I have nothing against a deal on buying another platform but honestly for my age and what I have owned glocks in the 22/17 platform and basic ar15s in 223/5.56 work best for me.

Simple to work on, few tools and parts needed, mags cheap, and proven pretty reliable in my opinion.

Yes better may be out there but good enough is something to consider if you have other area to work on.

Yeah, sounds like you can keep that x95 without any issues for sure!
On the whole home generator...it is simply too high maintenance for long term use. We had one in the past - glad we don't anymore.
The yellow beast we have now (champion) and it's minions have given far more service than the whole home gennie ever did...and with a lot less maintenance! Good choice on the wood stove though. Try to get one that also has a cook top.

Same...my 11.5" suppressed is my go to.
For farm work - and don't laugh here - an ancient Savage bolt action 410. That damn 410 has done everything from rats to deer. It has a 20 yard barrel, but it is more accurate than anything else. Wife and I both dropped foxes at over 30 yards with 000. Deer with a slug at about the same. Bang- Flop.

I mostly agree.  I think we need to break down SHTF into covert and overt display of firearms.  Personally, covert is the most likely and likely to be necessary during the first 48-72 hours; any situation where you just need to get home in your vehicle, bike, or on foot and you don't want to draw attention.  If I take an AR/AK pistol or broken down carbine, I want to be able to carry it discreetly.  My personal defense is and will continue to be a CCW handgun until the situation escalates.

Once home and/or as the situation escalates to the point law-enforcement is tied up or non-existent, overt carry during that type of SHTF isn't much of a worry.  I wouldn't want to be running around town openly carrying either way, but patrolling the homestead or with a neighborhood watch is fine.

For any initial crisis and/or trying to get home, I would want something I can carry discreetly, but would definitely have CCW on hand for immediate self-defense.  

ROCK6

I agree with your assessment, but will add the following:
We will more than likely see a slow and steady decline of the economy, which will - in turn - result in less law enforcement and infrastructure.
Less law enforcement, doesn't mean no law enforcement, but there won't be anything to stop bad people from doing bad people things...only enough law enforcement to stop good people from defending themselves.
Concealed means concealed. I passed through borders and into state buildings with a concealed handgun all the time in Africa. You can't do that with a long gun.

Good point and I don't disagree.  Heck, we're seeing it right now with accidents and even property theft up to a certain amount are placed on the "we'll get around to it" list for law enforcement.  I do think it will be mainly regional or location-specific.  Here in the Augusta, GA area, you can go from pretty conservative, rural normalcy to getting stuck in certain locations in Augusta or Richmond County and be an immediate target right now if done at the wrong time of day.  We saw what you specifically mentioned about LE targeting those lawfully (and openly) defending themselves with firearms and confiscating them in the aftermath of New Orleans/Katrina crisis.  Not even arrested, just confiscated and left defenseless.  It will likely happen again.

ROCK6

Make sure you have enough spare parts for the toys. If you don't then your done.

It's pretty good for learning just how much you miss when the adrenaline is up.

I might suggest a good multifuel rocket stove   ECOZOOM
Being able to cook efficiently with relatively small quantities of charcoal/ wood/ biomass is a good thing. These are also pretty good for camping and tailgating, and you're not limited by how much gas you can stockpile.