Fire arms

Hey bigmoe99:
I too agree with you on people needing a variety of firearms.
After lots of discussion and research my wife and I have chosen to each have: 1 handgun, 1 rifle and 1 shotgun for a total of 6 weapons. The one thing we did do was decide to have each of our 3 different class of weapons in the same caliber so as not to have to buy 6 different types of ammunition, so this way we but three types. We could have got by with just three: hand gun, rifle and shotgun but my wife is damn handy with firearms and she deserved to have her own set.
We chose to add shotguns to our armory for when we are hunting game birds or for closer quarter needs.
When you said you missed you FN C1, I figured you might have been in the military about the same time as I was as that was my favorite rifle an the 7.62 has lots of stopping power no matter what you need to bring down.
Again I agree with you about the 5.56 and hope that others are listening.
7.62 is not overkill but definite kill and when you need to put something down you should only need to shoot once and with confidence.
I have a great knife for most needs and a complete skinning set for that type of work as well as hatchet and axe. It is amazing the number of people who go out into the woods without a way to fell a tree and cut it into firewood.
I recommend that people check out various axes and hatchets (they are all different) and find the one that suit them and then make sure to have a good sharpening system and hone them to a fine edge and keep the blades oiled and protected at all times. They can mean the difference between life and death.

Great post.

You and I are of the same school of thought. The FN C1 although thought of as a support weapon and heavier, at least had a penetration power and was not deflected by a twig. The Military/Gov. in their divine wisdom had all the FN's chopped. I still miss my Star Wars pistol, otherwise known as the SMG, and I did on the odd occasion get in trouble for using it as a pistol. When they got rid of the SMG, I bought my FN Browning Hi-power 9mm, and yes, this one was made by FN in Belgium. I use to have a 870 Rem. until my ex put up such a big B session, that I got rid of it and my 7mm mag. rifle.

Ranger,

When were you on the Birds? we might have been in the Jaw at the same time, if not, we definitely would know the same people.

I loved the smg, it was nice to fire.

I am getting tired of waiting for marstar to get more norinco m14, so I am thinking of the siminov sks, for 360.00 you get 1440 rounds of ammo and a descent mid range semi auto rifle, very effective within 500 yards and is better then the ar 15's.

😀

I have yet to see a gun on marstar that I actually want and is also in stock... after 2 years, you'd think they would just remove the weapon from their choices as they obviously ain't getting it back 😥

Maybe I'm just looking for the most popular girl in town like everyone else?

I too, grew up with the FN. There are a couple of things I feel I should point out though. The FN is very robust but clumsy for house clearing. At 600 meters I could shoot soupcans with the FN. Most battles take place within 200 meters, at that range, the C7 is a tack driver. The 7.62 is a good size bullet for killing the enemy. The 5.56 doesn't have the killing power of the 7.62. In battle, the soldier may want to be able to kill the enemy. However, in war the generals don't want to kill the enemy, they just want to wound them. Finally, as many of Canada's allies were already using the 5.56, it just made sense that we adopt a weapon that allowed for better interchangeability of ammunition.
During the years that I used the C7, I came to appreciate it's capabilities, I wouldn't want to go back to the FN.

I have yet to see a gun on marstar that I actually want and is also in stock

True enough.
Canada Ammo has the odd sale with a Norinco M14 clone and 1000 rounds for around $800. They even have some factory short (18.5") barrels. Sometimes steel cased ammo, sometimes brass.

The fit and finish isn't so great, plenty of times the barrel isn't indexed properly, the rear sights are almost always garbage but all have chrome lined barrels and are reliable shooters

Tazwiess, as I'm sure you're aware the reason for wounding is because it takes 3-5 people to deal with one wounded person. It takes 0 to deal with a dead one.

Just thought I would throw that in there.

As for firearms, I'm leaning towards Russian surplus for the time being, mainly because 7.62 is easy and cheap to buy, and has decent power. I have both a simonov SKS, and a Tokarev TT-33.

My other weapons include a Ruger 10/22, Mossberg 702, Norinco Woodsman, and No4 Mk1 SMLE.

As well, I am in the process of building a bow, and stocking up on Arrows. Nothing makes a weapon more useless than running out of cartridges. In addition to my projectile weapons, I have multitudes of blades, including throwing knives and hatchets.

Don't know what else I could add to the list, except a basic understanding of traps and snares.

H

Tazwiess, as I'm sure you're aware the reason for wounding is because it takes 3-5 people to deal with one wounded person. It takes 0 to deal with a dead one.H

Actually, 2 to carry the wounded man off the battlefield. An ambulance driver and a medic to get him to the hospital. The doctors, nurses and medics to care for him while in the hospital. Physiotherapists to help with his recovery. Drugs and medication. Then the cost of food and housing. A wounded man requires the expenditure of far more resources than a dead man.

I don't have anything in 5.56.
A .22lr is fine for small game and I have a nice selection.
For large game 7.62 or .30 cal, 30-30, 30-06, .308 will take down anything we have.
Shotgun for winged things and the great variety of loads will do for many types of game at close ranges.

This is what you should focus on. I suppose there's the odd chance you might have to chase off the odd looter but you can forget about waging a pitched battle, buy accordingly.

Thanks Hammer for making some sense of what really matters. I have seen what small arms fire does to people and how it effets the Living, Africa is a hard place to make a living. I wonder why you guys worry about firefights and such?, not going to Happen we all hope. We all shoud just try to be invisible attract no attention and remain focused on living. Sorry we don't need our old FN's , C7'S and such, though they are very common in South Africa (R4), but we can hope our days are reduced to just finding food, and try to avoid all the 'FIREFIGHTS" that are over in a minute or less. By the time your mag is empty the fight is over, and you have no more problems.

Sorry to be like this, but that's reality. Sidearms are useless for hunting, except .22, and 30/30, sks, mini, bolt action, 12 ga all good enough for Survival/ food gathering. I hope we are all wrong and can all meet one day for a good laugh. I also hope we all don't forget how to laugh when we meet if all goes wrong.

Good luck. 🙂

I know most wouldn’t consider this a firearm but, I have a second hand cross bow that I have had since 1975. Most people would laugh at me, when I take it out because it uses wood shafts/bolts. I have seen the new compound bow and although I think they are neat, I bet that if the string on my bow broke, I would be able to use it again within 10-15 minutes. How long does it take with a compound bow? Now why would I want a crossbow, they are relatively silent, and a lot easier to use than a bow. I have out shot a guy with a rifle at 25 yards, but it takes a bit of practice.

I believe even a crossbow from 1975 would be more accurate then a compound bow made now, mind you i have only ever let loose a compound bow a few times, but i do own a takedown recurve bow with a 40lb draw and a compound crossbow with a 200lb draw, I have never had to restring either as i have only owned them both for 3-4 years each but just looking from the recurve to the compound i say it would take considerably more time to restring a a compound due to the pullies and criss crossing of the string compared to just tying the string off on the recurve limbs. Now a warning to those who don't know NEVER USE WOODEN SHAFTS ON ANY COMPOUND BOW (edit: crossbows are fine) as the shaft has a very high chance of splitting and going into your forearm. the bow only beats the crossbow in its simplicity and restring time and "reloading" time. The crossbow takes the cake for its accuracy, power, miminal fatigue rate and ease of use. On another note my hat goes off to you ranger as even a .22lr is more accurate then the most expensive bow / crossbow on the planet, so out shooting someone at 25 yards at that, in no small feat! and would take quite a bit of practice indeed! lol.

I'm looking to start bow hunting.
I'm not going to spend many hours learning and then many staying proficient with a compound bow. It is a skill that requires much practice to be and stay good.
I'm a rifle shooter - I was debating whether to buy a new crossbow or use my father's 25 year old Dayco crossbow. I was talking to a competition crossbow shooter. Believe it or not he uses a 25 year old Dayco bow. Yes he has custom sights and a custom built stock but the geometry is still the same.
All I'll be doing is making a mount for a scope to assist my less-than-good eyesight and mounting that on the old crossbow.

Shooting a bow is not something you'll pick up in a few hours on a weekend and expect to be remotely good enough for anything worth while.
Even a crossbow is no substitute for the range of a rifle by any means, but I'm already a passable shot with a rifle and the game season is so much longer for bows. 3 months vs 1 week for guns.

Even a rifle requires practice to be any good. If you can set up and use a rest or a brace it's how good your rifle/ammo combination is, you can easily go from 2 inch to dime size groups with the right ammo and a decent trigger.
Standing without a support is much different and is all about balance, breathing and trigger control but at the club I shoot at some folks (not me) get perfect scores on a dime sized bullseye at 25 yards.

I believe this is where I can lend some assistance. First, for bows, I'll always take a recurve/straight bow over a compound. This is because they're much easier to maintain. A crossbow is easier still. As for accuracy, a projectile weapon is only as accurate as the wielder. A crossbow needs slightly different compensation than a rifle, but the mechanics of sight picture and firing technique are the same. A rifle is simply a more intuitive interface. Anything that moves can be difficult to learn. But if you have the fundamentals of freehand marksmanship, the rest is adjustment, regardless of the weapon. There are benefits and drawbacks to each (no pun intended). A rifle in .22lr is much faster to become proficient with, bur ammunition is machine produced, and therefore limited. A bow/crossbow has recoverable shafts, and is silent. And on that note, i don't want to disagree, but wooden bolts were used for hundreds of years before the advent of modern composite materials. I am making my own bolts/arrows and i use wood on a 175# crossbow. The danger is recovery of bolt/arrow. But that's an acceptable risk. Just a little of my experience for you to mull over. I'll add more when I can get to a computer.

H