A buddy of mine emailed me concerned about the usual stuff. You know, UN takeovers, corrupt gov't, etc...

This was my advice.

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Step one:    Buy a high powered, military style rifle.

The American AR-15 is at a four or five year low price currently. A nice Bushmaster AR-15 carbine with a 16 inch barrel can be purchased new for around $700. Probably even less. People say all kinds of things about this weapon system, about how they jam, and are unreliable and all that stuff. Mine now officially has 1000 rounds through it, and hasn't jammed yet. Not once. A thousand times I've pulled the trigger, and a thousand times it's gone BANG. Hell, if I never shoot it again, I'm still happy with that level of performance. I wish my wife was that reliable.

Step two:    Buy LOTS of high capacity magazines.

Used AR-15 (read appropriated military) magazines are about 10 - 20 dollars. New In Wrap mags are about thirty bucks. You need to own about 25 mags, cause you're gonna wear some out, and a full combat load will consist of about 12 - 30 round mags. They're gonna be extinct because your elected representatives don't want you to have them. Get 'em now while the gettin's good.

Step three:    Buy ammo.

One thousand South African 5.56 X 45 (.223 Winchester-not exactly the same thing, but close enough for this discussion) can be had for about 130 bucks a thousand. Buy two thousand rounds.

Step four:    Eat Ramen noodles and drink Kool-aid for a month.

Take the 520 dollars you've saved, and buy more ammo. That's 4000 rounds worth. You'll then have 6000 rounds, minus what we go out and shoot. It's a good start.

Step five:    Practice.

At the range. At home. You can dry fire these things all you want without breaking them. You can learn alot about proper aiming and squeezing the trigger without firing a single round.

Step six:    Go about your life as usual, but keep an eye out.

They're coming for you. May as well give 'em your guns when they ask for them. Just give 'em your AMMO FIRST!

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Made ME feel better, anyway.

Miller

Garand_Shooter:

I'm with ya on the Big-Rifle-and-Big-Bullet thing. After all, my moniker is FAL_762.

I've found that the Big Guns can be intimidating and my buddy is about 5'9", 150 soaking wet.

When things get ugly around the house, I'm grabbing my AR-15. It's never failed me. Not once. The FAL is, well, a used rifle. (of course, so is my Bushmaster, now) A kit gun, so to speak, even though it was assembled by Entreprise using their parts and their own receiver. It's a good shooter, and has only had one failure since I got the gas setting dialed in, and I think that was due to crappy ammo.

I have 99.999% faith in my FAL, but 100% faith in my AR. I just wish bushmaster made an AR in .308 (yeah, I know about Armalite, but while I'm wishing, Bushy could use FAL mags, not altered M1 mags...)

If you are like me and live in the PRK, but can't afford an M1A, your best bet is a CMP M1 Garand.  They're on a strong batch right now, as when I asked for a high-serialed H&R receiver, i got a beut of a rifle w/ a nice shiny bore.

alphabeta121

you grab the AR everytime things get ugly around the house?  christ how often do you grab the thing :)  I could see if you live in compton, but usually when "things go bump in the tonight" a pistol would, um, seem more wieldy.

i'm just bullshitting you,
alphabeta121

Maybe I'm nuts, but sometimes I just get 'em out of the safe just to have 'em nearby. Only when the wife's not home though.

And yeah, the truth is, things don't get ugly around here very often...