Self Defense

While it would be nice if we lived in a peaceful world where people were rational and resolved differences without violence, that is just not the world we live in. Not only that, as the economy winds down many people will be left hungry and desperate and if you have invested energy, money and time preparing when others did not, it is highly unlikely you are going to want to share the little you have to survive with others.

Many of us may be healthy and trained in martial arts or other self defense skills, but when things get tough, nothing will defend you like a firearm. That is the long and short of it. You MUST be armed if you want to survive a large scale collapse of our civilization.

Now what is the best weapon? What caliber? While I will not pretend to be a professional on this subject, I do have experience with firearms and I have done some reading up of my own. There are three different scenarios that you would need a firearm for. Close combat, field combat and long range. Assuming there will be no parts or machine shops available for some time, you will want to select for durability and dependability.

Close combat is most served by a hand gun. A rifle in this situation will be clumsy and dangerous. I recommend a pistol in the .40 caliber. It is a bit smaller than the .45 so allows for a higher capacity magazine while only sacrificing a little bit of the .45's punch. With a pistol, as long as you are buying a quality brand, the style is not necessarily important. You may want to consider weight if you are of a smaller build. In this case you would want a Glock or similiar type of composite material based pistol.

Field combat will require a rifle. I strongly recommend an AK-47 style rifle. They are rugged and dependable and will fire under the most extreme circumstances. They have few parts and are easy to maintain. There are just as many options available for AK style rifles as there are for AR's accept the ability to swap out the caliber (bullet size).

Long range is when you want to reach out and remove a threat before it is even aware of you. In this case you will want something in the .308 range. I recommend an AR10 in this caliber. However, most AR style rifles are very accurate and a sniper caliber like the .308 may be a bit excessive. But you can never be too prepared.

Another thing to consider is ammunition. It is better to chose a caliber that is more common and readily available. This way you have the option of purchasing in bulk at relatively inexpensive prices.

The most important thing with using firearms for self defense is that you know your weapon and how to clean and use it. If you wait until you are threatened to fire your weapon, you may end up missing your target and becoming a victim. Or worse, hurting yourself or someone you love. Know your firearm. Practice a lot BEFORE you need to use it for self defense.

While it can be disheartening to consider actually killing someone, it will be more disheartening and traumatizing if someone kills you or someone you love. Be prepared.

Thanks for reading and for joining me on the journey of life.

Timothy Dicks
http:\\FutureReferenceOnline.com
futurereferencefarm @ gmail.com

Video of the farm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIxyyGW5RKs