Jim:
I’m writing in response to: Selecting a Prepper’s Firearms, by Frog. First I can say that I like the idea of adding a Bushnell red dot to a few of my ‘tools’ – I wanted to add one with out getting stuff that would fail, and have been unwilling to buy anything overly expensive due to today’s crazy market with it’s inflated prices. Red dot scope for say a 10-22 with a folding stock would be perfect match. (and it’s around $100) – totally good call.
I only see a few issues with selection of firearms like the glock pistols and Remington 870 ( I have one – love it too.) – just one thing about Glocks I didn’t like, and it might very well be my fault because they were my first reloads back a few years ago…- these are great accurate shooting pistols with stock factory ammo. I gave my reloads (that worked great in my Ruger P95DC) to a friend to shoot when he ran out of ammo, his Glock choked on them, badly enough that my friend had trouble clearing the ammo with out the aid of my leatherman. That was not a good day, for him…glad we were only putting holes in paper.
It is just worth mentioning that some pistols have tight tolerances, and reloaded ammo might cause issues… When times are bad, reloads might be more prevalent might not work in them as well as stock factory ammo. Almost all ammo has a warning on it saying not to use reloaded ammo.
Being as it was one of my early loads before I started using a ‘case’ gauge, it could have been all me… reloaders might want to take note and invest in case gauges to prevent that same issue…you pop a finished round in the case gauge to test the brass for fit… if it fits in the gauge it should work in anything standard for what your testing. This should be one of the last steps before storing rounds you’ve reloaded up for use.
I started loading ammo back in 2003 or 2004- and like I said even if his Glock didn’t like reloads my used Ruger would eat them all day. This issue is why I have gauges for 9mm, .223, .308, .30-06 – and anything else I’m planning on loading I would plan on buying now, before things get bad…I’m not saying don’t buy a Glock, or one pistol is better then another, any pistol is better then no pistol at all – I’m just saying be aware that some pistols and rifles are finicky in what you can use in them. How you use that information is your call – like be prepared and have a good supply of stock ammo, and only feed it stock ammo if you already know reloads might have issues. You should take the time now in good times to figure out will your selected defense weapon work with reloads, because in the future… (Ah you got me… ammo is already scarce!) you’ll want to know.
[JWR Adds: Glocks are notoriously temperamental with cast lead bullets and copper washed lead bullets in reloads, and the occasional expensive and potentially dangerous “Glock Ka-Boom” can be expected with their use.]
The other note is the first thing a guy/gal should do when buying an 870 is get an aluminum tube replacement for that little plastic piece that pushes the shells up in the shell holder… the plastic ones wear out at the worst times- so that is worth mentioning too. Someone I know gave me this advice when I got my 870 home defense shotgun. Good advice is worth repeating.
And finally, sure! – if I could afford a PTR91 with lots of cheap mags I’d have purchased one already… that weapon was close to $2,000 before the prices inflated, it’s probably way out of my price range now. Get what ever you can get, learn how it works, practice with it, take care of it well.- Fitzy in Pennsylvania