Say you have a family of four shooters with one who is trained and three who have a limited degree of expertise with firearms.

One man, one women, two adult sons.  There are four firearms available for a SHTF event in a rural mountain area with lots of trees and lots of open areas too.  The four self-defense firearms are:
Benneli 12 guage semi, a DSA 308,  an AR15, and a .45 pistol.  Who would you give what weapon too and why?  Assume all parties are carrying enough ammo to reload 3-4 times.

I know, too many variables but I'm really looking to see how one would divy up the firearms.
Thanks!

ill play...i would keep the 308 for myself assuming i am the best shot and most expeirence it would make sense for me to have the weapon with longest reach out and touch someone ability, plus handling the recoil as opposed to ar. then the shotgun and ar would go to the two adult sons(there is a reason why there are way more men in the military than women), and the 45 would end up with the female as last line of defense. speakin as if these were a wife and sons, although i would want to be able to protect my entire family, i would want to protect the wife the most therefore giving myself and sons the most firepower.

dont have kids or wife, so i would keep all the guns and ammo and haul a**

disperse to the best shots and who has the most familiraity w/ each firearm

Thank you Bill,

I was wondering if I should have the 308 or the AR.  Sons are big and can carry more ammo, but then they just might waste it........the wife would be tougher for the bad guys to deal with.  

Get your sons to learn how to use firearms.

Without regard to who is most capable with each weapon, i'd have the AR, sons the 308 and 45 and the wife the 12 ga with instructions to point and disembowel with it anyone who comes through the door.

If you're talking about multiple BG's and assuming equal levels of proficiency between the sons and the wife, the wife gets the shotgun, the sons get the 308 and the 45 and the AR goes with me.  Reasoning?  I put the wife in a room in the middle of the house and tell her to shoot anything that comes through the door that doesn't identify itself as a family member first.  The AR has good capacity and is small enough to use for CQC and clearing.  The sons get "stationed" such that the 308 carrier doesn't have to sweep wide areas and the 45 carrier in an area where close range is likely.

This is a pretty far out question, with too many variables to really answer effectively, but my response is a quicky based on my assumptions.

I'd give myself the .308. And one of my adult sons gets the 12ga.


My wife would get the Ar-15, and my other sone the 45.


The most vulenerable of all would be my wife. She must have something powerful that can stop someone fast, yet has little to no recoil, and is easy to shoot accurately at pistol ranges. AR is the best choice.


My son can partner up with her with the 45 and defend the house or our "base".


With the 308, me and my other son would be able to defend at longer ranges. One guy with a 308 and the other with a shotgun makes for a good combo, just like an AR and 45 does for the other pair. We could go out and scout for food and supplies. I could make anything from short to long range shots, while my son could easily take out any short to medium range surprises that might pop-up.

You hand out the weapons according to experience with them although every one should know how to operate every weapon you have.

I'd go on patrol with the AR15, I'd have one of the sons at a high point to provide supressive cover with the .308and finally, I'd have the wife and other son under concealment/cover with shotgun (son) and .45 (wife).
If something were to happen to me, I would instruct everyone to move out to the next post.

LOL...I must say this thread is quite entertaining.   "Family...MOVE OUT!"

my wife the .45 and she would be hidding.  one of my sons would have the shotgun, to protect the wife.

the other son would have the AR, to be my backup as i lay .308 down in the badguys before they get close.  too close and my son opens up the 5.56, if they get past us, my son will protect my wife, if he fails, the wife can shoot 6 of them before turning the gun on herself (this sounds bad, but i'm only thinking of the bad things that happen to girls, rape and such...)

of course none of thsi would take place for me, as me and my wife have no kids, and there is no way someone is getting to my wife, period.

I would take the 45 as I can hit mansized targets at 100 yards consistantly, Wife then gets her pick, scumbag grown sons get left overs because they are old enough to have started their own collection.

I'd go chuck norris on the bad guys.  I wouldn't have to dodge the bullets, but the bullets would dodge me.  

Quoted: ill play...i would keep the 308 for myself assuming i am the best shot and most expeirence it would make sense for me to have the weapon with longest reach out and touch someone ability, plus handling the recoil as opposed to ar. then the shotgun and ar would go to the two adult sons(there is a reason why there are way more men in the military than women), and the 45 would end up with the female as last line of defense. speakin as if these were a wife and sons, although i would want to be able to protect my entire family, i would want to protect the wife the most therefore giving myself and sons the most firepower.

Yep same here.

I am fortunate enough to have enough ARs for the entire house, never mind the M1A Supermatch and the rest of the toys. And the scenario described is exactly how I live, so when that shtf day arrives there will be no free lunches here for the bad guys.

Quoted: I'd go chuck norris on the bad guys.  I wouldn't have to dodge the bullets, but the bullets would dodge me.

LMAO

With enough ammo and firearms on hand and a food and waterr supply the bodies would just stack up out side our house the wife and I.In the event we cant move out welcome to the fort.I think firearms,ammo supply,water supply and food supply would be the most important things.I keep a 2 month water supply in the form of 5 gallon cooler bottles and plenty of canned goods.

It depends if my wifes mad at me for buying another AR or any of the guns listed.  If shes real mad I might just give her the 45 without any ammo.

Man with the 12ga, son #1 with the .308, wife with the AR, son #2 with the .45.

Forced into a situation with requiring movement that would be the weapons distibution, with movement made in that order. The man would be running point, hence thd shotgun. The shotgun is a close in weapon, and CQB is where weapons skills are needed the most as everything is happening so damned fast.

Son #1 can easily be called forward with the long range rifle.

The last two were tough decisions. I decided the AR should go with the wife due to the low recoil. That just left the .45 for son #2. Having the rear guard armed only with a handgun was a difficult choice, but I decided a male on the rear would be less tempting of a target for a "snatch" from the back of the line.

That's my .02 anyways, generalizations and all!

Lots of complex variables. Is the house breached? Or do you do the hunting? You said, " woods". First they have to get past the dogshe
GOOD LUCKChalmers

Quoted: Say you have a family of four shooters with one who is trained and three who have a limited degree of expertise with firearms.

I'd buy four firearms that all use the same ammo and have similar operation.

Wolverines!



Sorry, kind of reminds me of the movie.  

308 Self (best shot / most experienced shooter)
AR15 Better shot of the sons
.45 Stronger of the sons
Benneli to wife, easiest to hit targets with (assuming she doesn't like or practice shooting)

I have to smile at the "protect the wife".... we don't have kids in the house anymore and wife is proficient with any weapon that I have here.  But it's really "mind-set".  Here's an example of what I mean.

I used to travel for business, introduced my wife to firearms when we met.  Did she embrace the idea?  She bought me a PSS with a 10X mill-dot for a 10th aniversary present, LOL.....  but I digress....

Anyway, years ago, I call home late at night while on the road.  She tells me that she came home to find the garage door open when she pulled up.  I asked her what she did.  
"I went through the house with the pistol", she says....  "Are you carrying in the car now?", I ask....
"No, I grabbed a hammer out of the tool-box, and went in to get MY pistol".......  

We DID have to "review" a bit about simply calling the cops and waiting at the neighbors.. and she admitted how stupid it was to have done that......  BUT, I had to appreciate her spirit !!!

Putting myself into this situation, I would take two weapons and one son with me, our position would be outside perimeter on high ground with any cover we can find and a good zone of fire that would let us see approaching bad guys and within 100 yards of the home/shelter place. Son would be instructed to keep my .308 ammo full and ready to hand off, keep his head down, and only pick up the AR if bad guys are within 100 yards. Reasoning, I am the best trained and best shot, every shot needs to count, so no ammo would be wasted if I am doing the shooting and he is feeding me ammo.  If my position is being overrun, then son picks up the AR and starts stinging them with lead, with me by his side to coach if he freezes up. The .308 can start engaging at 500 yards, the AR would be most effective as bad guys close in to 100 yards or less.  If  bad guys get past me and son and are between us and the house, I would take-over the AR from my son, and quit using the .308 because it could penetrate the house where wife and other son are holed up. Son is instructed to use these same tactics if I am hit and no longer in action.

Wife and other son remain in protected positions in house, making last stand in close range positions.  Son busts intruders dumb enough to come through the door with the 12 gauge, because he can handle the recoil better than wifey. Wifey finishes 'em off with the .45.  

Before engagement read Bible, say prayers.  

I love this thread

Sorry, I haven't seen the other responses until now. You guys have a sense of humor too.

Yes, way to many variables but a lot of good responses I hadn't considered.  I think I need to get the rest of the family a bit more serious as far as a good working knowledge of firearms.  They haven't been that interested and the two adult sons don't live with me but would be up here when things warrented.  All my neighbors are heavily armed friends and many are combat vets, so there is another whole organizing thing to plan.  As terrain goes, I'm not that many miles away from Ruby Ridge as the crow flies, but a whole other type of people here.

I like the idea of lots of the same calibers. Easy to borrow each others ammo, weapons etc.  I thought the person with the.45 would be the reloader/ammo carrier but it's all hypothetical and I hope it stays that way.

I think that the important question is -- what would Jack Bauer do?

Quoted: I think that the important question is -- what would Jack Bauer do?

Or his daughter who went from babysitter to opererative in one season..... lol

heres the simple answer...

before you need the weapons, go buy 4 glocks and 3 more ARs, added slings to the ARs and holsters for the glocks. All the glocks are 9mm and all ARs are 5.56, arm each person with each gun and you will be gtg.

Quoted: Quoted: I think that the important question is -- what would Jack Bauer do? Or his daughter who went from babysitter to opererative in one season..... lol

Not to mention 1 season is one day. She musta got trained in another dimension.



But he would probably shoot everyone with his USP with perfect double taps and pull mags from thin air. Kidding aside, love the show.