The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods:

21 Comments

1. Just a question on the 30 round mag. In what conditions or event would someone need to fire 30 rounds and reload another 30 round mag to engage other threats?

   What type of future are people thinking is going to descend on them?

   1. Skip, I’m neither conservative nor GOP, so I hope my answer isn’t considered “one of them gun nuts”. FBI stats, to the best of my memory, suggest that between 2 to 5 shots have been required for EACH ASSAILANT in most actual self-defense situations to get those bad people to stop harming the regular people. So if 4 guys violently burst into your home, you could easily need more than 20 rounds ready to go (versus fumbling around with reloads). After all, you weren’t all stoked up and ready for an expected fight, you may have been asleep and tired, it’s dark in your house, and you’re startled and probably scared – so your aim isn’t immediately great. Plus you know that the small .223 bullet you chose will immediately start to tumble and lose energy the moment it hits even drywall, and its small mass will quickly lose momentum with each modest barrier it slaps into, making over-penetration worries far less serious. Plus, given the basic human right of self-defense, why shouldn’t you have a decent chance to survive against evil??!! And golly, maybe even have an advantage. Because it literally “serves them right”.

   2. If you think one trigger pull stops each adversary you are living in a Hollywood fantasy. The adversary decides when the fight is over, most times taking multiple hits before stopping life threatening behavior he’s engaged in. I was a fireman/ first responder for 30 years, running many shooting medicals. My record on patients was one man shot 12 Times. If I could come up with an average I would say three or four shots per vic. These were not even multiple opponents. I know of one incident, not my city, where the police shot a violent criminal 42 times, the last two shot were shotgun rounds which finally stopped him. He was at that point reloading a magazine, still in the fight.
      By saying you people you sound like maybe someone who is not a person used to dealing with violence. I hope your education on this subject increases before your path ever crosses with someone intent on doing you harm.

   3. The instructor at my most recent gun training course said he recently had some SWAT guys attempt to hit steel knock-down targets down range. A private citizen took her time and slowly shot three rounds to hit the three targets. One of the SWAT officers – who is trained to keep firing until the threat is neutralized – literally emptied three Glock 15-rd mags and was on his fourth(!) by the time he finally hit the last target. If you have the absurd luxury of taking plenty of time to “sight picture” multiple attackers, then maybe a 10-rd mag is enough. But for most people, the adrenalin and chaos of a gunfight will necessitate as many rounds as necessary to stop the threat to your life. 30-rd mags are the standard.

   4. Ideally you wouldn’t need to reload, less chance you’ll screw up that way. In my case, the most likely scenario would be an aggressive bear or wild dogs/ coyotes, I wouldn’t consider 30 rd magazines excessive.

      That said, 30 rd is as high as I go, when you get into snail drums and all that reliability goes down.

      Ignore people that insist you carry a full combat load of ammunition.

2. Skip asks about need for 30-rd mag reload. Pack of coyotes at night, animal or human, is an easy example, but a RIGHT needs no qualification.

3. To answer your question skip…. From a point of seeing the reality of life in other nations, the better question is, when in the course of human events, you find yourself with only 1round left in your ten round Magazine that you were limited to, and the threat hasn’t been eliminated, what’s your next move? Most with their 10 rd magazines who excepted the policy of only owning a 10rd mag, will have missed the first 9 shots because of their ill planning to begin with… Its almost never the issue they are arguing for, yet always the principal they want you to be blinded too. Don’t take it for face value. The 30rd mag was never the issue…….

4. And Mr. JWR, thank you for being a principal man. It will never be about how we died. Even when we stand before Gods judgement thrown. It will always be about how we lived.

5. Regarding the 30 rd cap mags. When it takes somewhere around 29 FBI agents, each with 30 [round] mags (plus extras) to arrest an unarmed 65 plus year old non violent man with a deaf wife at 6am, thats 870 rds. minimum by my calculations. If the FBI, NSA, secret service, all LEO agencies use 30 rd mags, the military uses 30rd mags, the parks service, IRS and every other alphabet agency uses 30 rd mags, I’m thinking that pretty well describes “in common use”. Since all those agencies use 30rd mags and when it really gets to the nitty gritty and non of these aforementioned agencies are able to do their job, it then rely’s upon the citizens to take up the slack to keep and restore order does it not? Hence why should we be required to step up and protect and restore with anything less? What’s good for the goose is good for the gander. It’s all about control and has been since the advent of gummymint 6,000 year ago. Every single one of them attempted it throughout history, and every single one eventually failed to control their populace.
   Hint Hint, re-read the 18th Amendment and it’s inherent failure!

6. I just happened to see this book on Amazon:

   48 Hours: A Novel – January 8, 2019
   by William R. Forstchen (Author)
   https://www.amazon.com/48-Hours-William-R-Forstchen/dp/0765397919

   “In 48 hours, the Earth will be hit by a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) from the Sun”

   I was wondering if anyone had read this book and if it had additional ideas beyond his EMP Trilogy?

7. Man such a response to the question on what events would necessitate the use of a 30 round mag in civilian life.
   And the assumptions were most unique too.
   I guess we all have very different life experiences and strategies in dealing with threats to one’s life.

   Anyway, I would not have a .223 as my home defense weapon.
   I like shotguns. The 00 buck is an excellent round for multiple targets in the hallways or other rooms of one’s home. It is doubtful one will miss when three rounds are used even in the fog of chaos of a home invasion.

   I also like a layered security for one’s home. Its a good strategy to have alarms, cameras and the faithful dog, that beats them all. Most thugs are lazy and gutless and seek easy targets.

   I have been most fortunate for the last six decades. I was field inspector for 32 years and knew hundreds and hundreds of people and not one person ever had to face multiple threats or even one. And that was in the Bay Area, not a safe zone by any means.

   Now I live in a state that I can carry, drive a tank of a vehicle and have learned to avoid bad situations.
   It’s all good

8. I’ve read it. No real new ideas from a prepping perspective but the premise for the disaster was interesting. It was mostly a lot of philosophical discussion between characters. The best part was the Forstchen’s account of his own awakening to the dangers of an EMP/CME event included in the afterward.

   In my view “48 Hours” offered nowhere near the same quality or entertainment value of his prior books, especially compared to some of the lower priced options on Amazon today. Sometimes my support for an author goes beyond the one-off unsatisfactory experience. Forstchen tackles some of the tougher stuff out there and the moral challenges presented in his books are transferreable to stuff we may have to deal with someday.

9. hmmm, regrading 30 rd mags. Uncle Joe said that all his wife Jill needs is a double barrel shotgun and that she should just stick the barrel of the shotgun out the window and let loose with both barrels. Does Uncle Joe ( Biden ) really think that he has to worry, especially when we ( the U. U. taxpayer ) are footing the bill for his security. Hmm

10. Skip. Concerning your question on 30 round mags and “the future”, only a minute ago I read about a home invasion in January of this year where a surprised homeowner fought off five intruders with a semi-auto AK clone. They came in armed though news report did not mention what they carried. 3 dead criminals and two in hospital with gunshot wounds. Homeowner was fortunate to survive and uninjured. Home invasion in groups is becoming the norm for that occurence. Think of it as a criminal “shock and awe”. No one is telling anyone you need to have a 30 round magazine, but the choice should be the homeowner/gun owner not some random official that lives in a gated community or condo with security and a keycard entry. OUR choice, not some know-it-all that doesn’t know squat about firearms and reality.

11. Sometimes it takes a while for the comments to appear . I was glad to see you checked in on replies to your first comment . Learning to avoid bad situations is definitely a good place to start and I am glad you have had the good fortune of not facing any threats . Knowing your neighbors and building a relationship with your community can be good additions to your other layers . When my neighbors are gone I keep an eye on their places and they do the same for me . I personally believe you should have any magazine capacity you desire . Hopefully we never need to empty a magazine in self defense . Should the occasion arise I believe it is better to have more than you need over not enough. Thank you for participating in a healthy dialogue and keep up the good work . Hoping for the best , expecting the worst .

    1. Skip , I forgot to mention my 100% agreement that a good dog beats all in home defense .Thanks again .

12. Skip , I agree with you 100% , a good dog beats all in home security . I originally posted this late saturday and it seems lost in cyberspace . Thanks again .

13. Some folks haven’t seemed to grasp the constitution as of yet…

    “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

    It amazes me to think Americans do not honor our Founding Fathers and the tyranny they thwarted orchestrated by the LEFT.

    The Second Amendment doesn’t give the citizen a right to bear arms. It DOES however force the government to keep their infringement off the citizen’s gun ownership collection.

    “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots.” Thomas Jefferson. There is a call commanded by our government to overthrow the government should infringement of human rights, which are bestowed by the huaman’s creator, occurs.

    It also amazes me the number of governmental atrocities committed for the “good of all society” in any pocket of human history. The last century alone we’ve seen 171,000,000 murders by governmental programs of the day orchestrated by the Left (these were not right-wing programs to gas Jews and commit genocide in Russia and China where God was banned).

    To further digress, the Black Lives Matters arose out of influence of a figurehead in government. Once the POTUS changed hands, that movement would stop their assault on police. What the LEFT was doing, was painting all American police officers as racist, then it would move to sexist, and even throw in homophobic. Much like Andrew Coumo GOV. of NY painted “Ice is a bunch of Thugs.” Their end game is to reduce the America force due to them being “deplorable” and usher in UN troops. That is their play all along.

    Does anyone seem to understand the issues of having Iranian or Chinese or Russian foreign troops on American soil, orchestrated by the Left, to police your Constitutional rights?

    It’s not about bearing arms, according to the Constitution, for a home invasion. Nope, we bear arms for an occupying governmental force removing all remnant of God given rights.

    Folks wake up!

    1. AMEN J.D. Wish there were many more Attorney’s that knew the Constitution like you sir, Thank You!!!!

14. AMEN J.D. Wish there were many more Attorney’s that knew the Constitution like you sir, Thank You!!!!

15. Should the meth head be posthumously prosecuted for endangering wild life? Just think’in.

    My brother is an electrical engineer specializing in power systems. New battery technology will be based on graphine. Amazing “chemistry” with untold uses and versatility.

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