SHTF Rifle - Ideas

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Think about the conditions of the Wild West: no infrastructure, no electricity, people were allowed to carry firearms, dangerous animals, easy to get away with crime - yet the world's most powerful nation, and modern Canada was the result. Society and a well-educated population have a habit of making things better together.
you put too much faith in people today, In the event of a permanent total infastructure failure there is no way for the world to support it's current population. Who is going to choose who lives and dies? and what do you think people will do to survive?

Right now all this would take is a mishap in japan while they move the fuel rods from their leaky home in reactor 4. If you are keeping an eye on these events you would know they are using a rickity construction crane supported by a damaged building to move the rods, this operation is normaly done by computer controlled machines with accuracy to many fractions of an inch. a simple earth tremor while moving the rods could cause the rods to be exposed to air, touch or brake causing them to burn instantly. They have over 1500 rods to move in reactor 4 and just started moving them last month.

They also lied to us and 3 of their 6 reactors went 100% meltdown during their initial flood.
 
dammit some of can dream cant we?!?!? I would love to give up the 9 to 5 grind for a day to day fight to survive, granted I would prolly only live a couple of weeks LOL but it would be a nice change of pace hahaha. hurry up zombies already!!!!!!
 
you put too much faith in people today, In the event of a permanent total infastructure failure there is no way for the world to support it's current population. Who is going to choose who lives and dies? and what do you think people will do to survive?

Right now all this would take is a mishap in japan while they move the fuel rods from their leaky home in reactor 4. If you are keeping an eye on these events you would know they are using a rickity construction crane supported by a damaged building to move the rods, this operation is normaly done by computer controlled machines with accuracy to many fractions of an inch. a simple earth tremor while moving the rods could cause the rods to be exposed to air, touch or brake causing them to burn instantly. They have over 1500 rods to move in reactor 4 and just started moving them last month.

They also lied to us and 3 of their 6 reactors went 100% meltdown during their initial flood.

you have to look for precedence. There's plenty of SHTF precedence, but nothing suggesting you need what doomsday preppers suggest you need.
 
dammit some of can dream cant we?!?!? I would love to give up the 9 to 5 grind for a day to day fight to survive, granted I would prolly only live a couple of weeks LOL but it would be a nice change of pace hahaha. hurry up zombies already!!!!!!

As long as we know it's just fantasy. I'm sure people who do European martial arts have a bit of fantasy element, imagining the middle ages, but they leave it as that. On the other hand, plenty of firearms owners with SHTF fantasies actually prepare to shoot their neighbours. I don't think they're really comprehending the outcome of what they're preparing for.
 
go hide out up north for a week or so, with your favourite weapon, a couple friends and live like a hermit, its actually quite fun, a little fishing a little shooting, some t bone steaks on a open fire, fun stuff, and best part, hopefully no people around to kill your buzz
 
Some more scenarios:

1. Massive economic failure: Look at Greece - no roving/starving bands of bandits
yet...

2. Gradual or Sudden Political Opporession: Look to Argentina, Syria, Egypt, Russia and China - sorry folks, but if this happens in Canada, you're losing your rifle. Quite opposite of your fantasy to use your firearms to bravely defend your family, instead what will happen is 20-30 SWAT officers in armoured vehicles will take you down and anyone standing next to you. There's only one option: flee peacefully
avoiding death squads...

3. Anarchy (like in Sudan): there's no point considering this one. Sudan never had a functioning infrastructure with almost 100% literaracy and education rate. No modern country can be compared with a country like Sudan. Anyway the solution is the same as #2: flee peacefully. The guy with the gun is going to get shot first.
I believe its better to die on your feet than on your knees...

Anyway, for every SHTF fantasy, there's a real-life example. None of the real-life examples have normal families going around defending their homes like a circle of wagons. Normal, well-educated people will just band together to help each other. The guy with the gun will be an outcast.

Even in the American revolutionary war, it wasn't individual families creating wagon circles. It was young men joining an organized army.
Hmm, not sure I agree -- Katrina, some areas during the LA riots.


People who are so martially inclined should consider volunteering for the police force or military, should a situation requiring arms actually happen. Not only will that help provide for the family, but you'd be in a situation to actually use arms in an effective way, as opposed to appearing to such a force as an unstable threat who needs to be removed permanently from the vulnerable community. Look to history to learn from it.

I would also strongly suggest, that as a firearms society, we should strictly advise against such fantasies. It doesn't help our cause to appear to others as well-adjusted law-abiding citizens, when we have paranoid delusions of killing our hungry friends and neighbours. If my neighbour breaks into my house screaming and wielding an axe because she needs food to feed her baby, I'm just going to give her the food, not shoot her in the head.

I agree with folks joining the Army and the Police -- however at the basic level the skills are the bare minimum. I did 16 1/2 years in the CF, 4 years in Afghan and Iraq contracting, and am a reserve (fully sworn) Police Officer currently.
Someone breaking into my house with an axe is getting shot -- want something for your baby, knock and I will try to help, try to take, and I will defend my family.

IF the world does come to the end - I have a community of brothers than can band together, however in the event of a total catastrophic event, I will be looking out for my family - with a gun, the badge is smaller secondary.

If your honest with yourself - you may take a bullet or give your life for the betterment of society - but you will never sacrifice your family.
 
go hide out up north for a week or so, with your favourite weapon, a couple friends and live like a hermit, its actually quite fun, a little fishing a little shooting, some t bone steaks on a open fire, fun stuff, and best part, hopefully no people around to kill your buzz

^^^ this
 
you have to look for precedence. There's plenty of SHTF precedence, but nothing suggesting you need what doomsday preppers suggest you need.
so in the event something does go wrong and as the entire northern hemisphere becomes irradiated to the point it can no longer sustain life what will you be doing? (hypothetically speaking of course)
 
Also, 2 weeks is not nearly enough. You should have enough food and water to survive 6 months without having to go for groceries. I will hunt for fresh meat and rely on my pantry for everything else.
Like I said 2 weeks is the bare minimum recommended to pull through a natural disaster. Everyone has a different mental picture of what SHTF will look like, whether its civil unrest, natural disasters, collapsed infrastructure or a retarded fantasy where youre fighting off Zombies in full MOLLE gear. A lot of people have grand ideas for SHTF, and like to picture themselves as one of the Wolverines from Red Dawn fighting off invading forces. The most likely scenarios I can think of are either a natural disaster where you may be on your own for 2-4 weeks or more, or a collapsed economy. Hunting? Sure, but unless thats how you survive now youre going to starve, being a weekend hunter is not going to cut it. The bulk of your food and supplies will come from scrounging which means your firearm is more for self defense.
Why does everyone always limit this type of discussion to only having one rifle?
Because that was the question, if you want to haul around your entire firearms collection i hope you have a strong back and "6 months" supply of robaxacet.
 
People who have these SHTF kill all my neighbours fantasy don't really read history.

There have been several "SHTF" type real-life historical events, and no results come close to what people are expecting.

During the Great Depression: roving bands of bandits did not go raid people's houses to pillage and rape.

During Hurrican Katrina: no roving bands of bandits either.
Heres a little something about Katrina
Anastasia is a petite, 25-year-old hairdresser who asked that her last name be omitted. She contacted the New Orleans police in October and filed a report that she was beaten with a bat and raped on Sept. 6th in broad daylight next to a flooded McDonald's at Gentilly Boulevard and Elysian Fields, near her father's house.

Anastasia says thugs were still wandering the streets of her neighborhood more than a week after the flood. "I didn't see any police officers — I could have gotten away with murder," she says. "It was that terrible. So I can assume what the criminals were thinking, and that's exactly what happened."
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5063796
 
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so in the event something does go wrong and as the entire northern hemisphere becomes irradiated to the point it can no longer sustain life what will you be doing? (hypothetically speaking of course)

well, I would be checking to see if I glowed in the dark or had super powers....
 
Now please, let's go back to talking about the best round to stop a grizzly charge!! ;-)

Obviously it's the 22lr!

<tinfoil hat on>

Comparing a modern SHTF scenario to the Wild West doesn't work. 150 years ago the population of western North America was probably less than 10% of what it is today. Villages and towns were remote and there was much less competition for available resources. If modern infrastructure failed for whatever reason and the food trucks stopped rolling into the cities for 2 weeks we would have a problem. In the southern Alberta floods I heard of issues that arose as a result of a rumoured boil water alert and a lack of available bottled water at local retailers. Imagine what would happen if the scarcity dragged on for 10 to 20 days. As a society we are only 9 meals away from anarchy.

What would cause this failure? A EMP is possible but, as you mentioned, it would be an act of war. I believe the most likely scenario for a SHTF would be an epidemic. SARS, swine flu and MERS have cause a fair amount of social anxiety without being as widespread or severe as the Spanish flu. If we were to experience another Spanish flu with a mortality rate of ~10% society would shut down. In 1918 the reports of the flu epidemic were censored and tightly controlled by the wartime governments so that panic would not spread. In today's world this type of censorship would be next to impossible and people would panic. No one goes to work, no schools, no hospitals, no stores, no truck deliveries, no food, no law and order as people go hungry and voila SHTF.

The infection would pass as they always do and society will return to normal within a few months, maybe a year at most. Survival during this period will be difficult and many people will die as a result of the infection, hunger and lawlessness. People with resources and the means to defend them will have the best chance of survival but there would be no guarantee as the infection would have to be widespread to cause the panic required to cause society to collapse.

Zombies aren't real but roving bands of starving, desperate people are.

<tinfoil hat off>
 
you have to look for precedence. There's plenty of SHTF precedence, but nothing suggesting you need what doomsday preppers suggest you need.

I wouldn't be so sure about that. Have you ever hear Selco's story? Check it out at his website (http://shtfschool.com/) or listen to this interview with him :http://www.thesurvivalpodcast.com/932-selco-survival-during-the-balkan-wars

Podcast notes with the TLDR version of his story:
In the 1990s as Yugoslavia broke up a series of conflicts erupted that are often called the Third Balkan War. In fact what this was amounted to a series of regional conflicts that were in essence several different civil wars.

In the middle of this region lived a young man we shall call Selco who simply was happy to have friends and a job along with playing in a local rock band. Something that could have come right out of Americana. Then almost overnight the entire dream became a nightmare. The region was in the middle of a war, there was absolutely no support for over a year.

During this year Selco and his group lived without running water, no electricity, no food service or grocery stores, no distribution of any goods and absolutely no legitimate law enforcement. It was a time when simply walking down certain streets during daylight hours would be met with a hale of sniper fire. A time when a man who stood alone would meet with certain death. A time with very little medical care, abysmal sanitation and where most people buried dead comrades and family members in their back yards.

Today Selco still lives in this area and he runs a website called “#### Hit the Fan School” where he provides information on what happened, what worked, what didn’t and how order was eventually restored. There is no other source of education on survival of a complete breakdown better then from someone who didn’t just live it, but survived it.
 
People who have these SHTF kill all my neighbours fantasy don't really read history.

I find it very distasteful to put it that way. I for one would never want to be put in a situation of SHTF. Life is to good the way it is.

I do not like or enjoy witnessing death, or injury of animals either. But it is a part of life and one has to grow a pair and deal with it. That being said, in a WROL scenario, I would maintain a stance of no harm to others unless it is purely self defense.

That is the difference between the preppers and the "bandits".

Preppers prepare for disasters so we are self reliant. When you have something that others need because you prepared and they didn't, they are not going to hesitate to take it from you with force. So that being said would you protect yourself and your family, or let whoever it may be just take what they want as a freebie because they didn't do there homework. Defense is as much of a part of prepping as food, water, and shelter.
 
Forget about fleeing the city, I'll hide in Kevin B's couch fort.

I plan to start doing bucket farming next year, I figure that's worth as much as any of my guns.
 
I find it very distasteful to put it that way. I for one would never want to be put in a situation of SHTF. Life is to good the way it is.

I do not like or enjoy witnessing death, or injury of animals either. But it is a part of life and one has to grow a pair and deal with it. That being said, in a WROL scenario, I would maintain a stance of no harm to others unless it is purely self defense.

That is the difference between the preppers and the "bandits".

Preppers prepare for disasters so we are self reliant. When you have something that others need because you prepared and they didn't, they are not going to hesitate to take it from you with force. So that being said would you protect yourself and your family, or let whoever it may be just take what they want as a freebie because they didn't do there homework. Defense is as much of a part of prepping as food, water, and shelter.

Agreed almost 100%. Though, if my preps ran out, I doubt I could watch my babies starve knowing that I could take food from someone to feed them... Not too sure what kind of a man that makes me.
 
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