Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns A Shiit Hit The Fan Question???

If the shiit really did hit the fan, would you rather have 7 or 8- 9mm's and a bunch of the same ammo? Or would you rather have 5 or 6 nines and a couple of 45's but you have to store a bunch of different ammo? Just wondering what your choice would be if you had plenty of time to prepair?

I've got handguns in most of the common calibers but in a SHTF situation I'm packing a Glock 19. Plenty of ammo for it , mags and if I would run out 9mm is most likely to be found

Good post! Thank you!

I've got both because that's just the way it's played out over time, along with a few other calibers just because of my addiction to collecting nice handguns.

That said, a friend of mine who used to own a gun shop in the area said he'd be happy with a Glock 9mm because when the SHTF, there'll be plenty more of them laying on the ground.

This is not anything negative about Local Dirt.

I simply find the talk in gunshops to be pretty absurd much of the time.



Funny thing about the gun shop theory about guns laying around, is that it has not really played out in reality.

I spent years in pretty bad places. Observed plenty of war. Definitely what one could describe as SHTF for the people who call those locations home. Never have I seen guns just laying around like Easter eggs.

It reminds me of another gunshop saying of carrying a handgun to fight your way back to your rifle. I have never personally known anyone who was in a gunfight who used their handgun, then fought their way to their car or wherever, retrieved a rifle and then came back to wherever the fight was and rejoined the fight with a rifle. And I have known a LOT of guys who have experience with the subject matter.

As far as the OP's question, I would rather have just 3-4 9mms, plus a .45 and a .38/357 revolver, along with a BUNCH of ammo. The ammo is FAR more important than the guns. You have to feed the guns. There are LOTS of stories from various wars of resistance fighters having a partially loaded weapon as they did not even have enough ammo to load their handgun or rifle. Ammo was an extremely scarce commodity.

Ammo, medicine, food, etc. During tough times, availability and access to those items dry up fast.

9s, .22s, and .357/.38s for me, in suitable specimens. .22s for hideouts and hunting small game. 9mm ammo would be everywhere, and the .357 offers extra power and load versatility while maintaining function.

Interestingly you describe a scenario where you might have 7-8 guns. In that case you could do good having 3 diff CHAMBERINGS. 9, 357, 45 acp example. A 357s doesn’t always give you the best capacity but gives you more opportunity. Popularity becomes proportionate to scarcity when mfg ceases. For example shtf… no more production of 9mm, 9mm becomes most scarce the fastest, though the dead most likely will have said caliber.
S.

A G23 (40 S&W) with 9mm and 357 Sig conversion barrels, along with 9mm mags gives you 3 options in one handgun/holster.

A .357 revolver gives you the option for .357 and .38's.

A 45 Colt/LC revolver, moon clipped, gives you option to use 45 ACP.

Of course a 22 lr handgun as well.

If you have access to all the ammo you need, then one chambering is fine. If scavenging for ammo, it's be helpful to have multiple options.

I would take a .22 and 10 rounds then shoot the guy with all the guns and ammo.

Why break a sweat attempting to carrying an arsenal?

THIS.

I know 20 BRICKS is not a lot to some of you, but my 20 bricks weighs a whole lot less than an equal number of anything else....

and works in the rifles too..

In a chitt striking the windmill scenario setting of the sound detectors ain't your friend....



IMHO,

YMMV

My war fighting was long ago but there were only two rules that I needed to know then.

One, know your enemy.
Two, ammo and lots of it.

For me these rules are still important today.

I don't think Clint Smith ever meant that literally, and yes, he's the origin point of that saying. I think he meant it mainly conceptually, i.e., a rifle is better than a handgun, so fight with that whenever you have the option, and the purpose of the handgun is to be armed when you just have no way of being better armed at the moment.

He didn't literally mean that he expected anyone to actually use their handgun to fight their way to their rifle, although I imagine that situations fitting that general description have happened before. That's not what he was teaching as a plan of action. Ordinarily, Clint Smith would advise you to expect to fight with what you have on you at the time, and nothing more. He wasn't saying that you should actually plan to use your handgun to fight your way to your rifle. That was just his way of imparting to the student that one is far better than the other, and to choose to have the better one (the rifle) whenever that's possible.

In a SHTF scenario you will likely be moving at some point. Having. 4, 5, 6 handguns might sound good, but if you are moving you need to carry ammo, food, equipment etc etc. And in the scenario if moving I want to bring a rifle and/or shotgun with their ammo. All those handguns weigh a lot……. A 9mm is a good idea, 45? Nothing wrong with that idea. A 38/357? Yep

Bug out, SHTF threads are never not stupid.

Their value is that they get people thinking. Never be afraid to think. And, after you've thought, never be too proud to reconsider your position.

Hypothetical questions break most folks' brains. Usually, not liking the confines of the question, they just say whatever they want and fail to answer what was asked.

This question is a simple "A or B" / "this or that" question. If I had to pick one of the two choices, I'll go with "5 or 6 nines and a couple 45's." In a SHTF scenario (whatever that might look like for me) "5 or 6" 9mm's would be more than enough. The space I dedicate to ammo storage is large enough to accommodate two calibers. Between now and then I will enjoy shooting both cartridges.

And to (again) clarify, I'm not saying that this is what I'm actually doing, but I had to pick one choice or the other, that's what I'd do.

Carry on.

The point of a pistol is to fight your way to where you can get your hands on a rifle. If "it" really did hit the fan I want two identical AR-15s and a boatload of handloaded 60 grain hornady soft points. Unless you've been an idiot and let yourself get separated from your rifle, within reason your choice of handgun doesn't matter. If you have indeed been an idiot, then .. consider prayer. My choice is to have a single good handgun with a couple of reloads. I don't care if it's a j-frame 5-shooter, high capacity 9mm, 1911, or a single action .44. This is real life, not a John Wick chapter.

I've always kind of thought of this as "I'm in the yard/on the property doing whatever and a band of urban youths decide they want to dance. I use the handgun to get to the house where I've left my rifle and defend myself from there." Not so much - get the rifle from the house and then go back out and engage targets. If targets continue to try and breach the home - I'm using the rifle, not the handgun at that point. Likely the rifle in a SHTF scenario is closer but a handgun allows the use of tools and both hands while still being armed and a rifle, even one on a sling impedes range of motion some. Say what you want about always carrying a rifle, if you need to get work done - like opening a frozen creek for water or picking food etc - you'll want both hands and "just this one time' set the rifle down. Human nature - next thing you know you feel like the rifle is "ok" just 60 feet away, 100 feet etc. Which eventually it won't be - best carry a handgun to get to it if need be.

Dunno - I don't live in an urban area and while when the SHTF - urbans will spread, while they're tying to get to me 40 miles out of town, I'm already another 60 miles out of town. I'm not waiting around. Sorta like the Soviets running East ahead of the Germans, I keep going ahead of the advance, I don't wait for it to connect with me.

I'm beginning to lean towards fewer guns, more ammo in these resource allocation questions, but that's just me, ymmv. In whatever caliber combo floats your boat.

I spent some time working with the Australian SAS right before I left active duty. When the topic of survival kits came up, they included one or two rounds of 5.56 NATO and 7.62x39 because "...if I have those, I can get more."


This. Don't plan to have anything you can't carry, ideally concealed.


Okie John