jesus, more rimfire

JESUS, MORE RIMFIRE


Once again, a bit of filler before we start ( as if I were being paid by the word ). Yesterday I was in Wal-Mart for a donation and noticed a new pallet of “emergency food”. In our case it is to survive the end of the world, but in the case of our favorite importer it is about surviving another quarter before bankruptcy. In other words, it is just a potential profit item. If the executives knew they would soon be in the stew pot after mobs of angry Food Stamp recipients blamed the store for running out of food they wouldn’t be selling it to us but keeping it for themselves. But, live by the import, die by the import, it is hard to feel sorry for their comeuppance ( it is actually the central banks behind the general trend, but the corporations readily took advantage of the situation ). My point here is that the buckets of wheat are from a new company and they are 25 lb. square rather than the old 45 lb. six gallon buckets. The old were about forty cents a pound, so keep that in mind when the new ones are shelved and priced. Here is a bit of info e-mailed to me. I can’t say it is authentic, just a “for what it’s worth”. How to read bar codes for country of origin. The first three digits are 690 through 692 China, if it starts with a 00-09 it is US or Canada. 30-37 France, 40-44 Germany. 47 is Taiwan. 49 Japan and 50 the UK.

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Okay, back to rimfire. I forgot to mention that if I quickly duplicate a subject, it is allowable if I call it the second part of a series. Don’t complain, or I’ll go back to Peak Oil. A loyal minion reminded me that I was underrating rimfire due to the infection factor. Despite all the Yuppie Survivalists puffing out their chests in manly soldier like fashion and bragging on their arsenal and the number of Red Cross first aid classes they have taken, the fact is that shortly after the collapse modern medicine will be as dead as the dodo. After a few patch ups everyone’s supplies will be gone and then gunshots go back to being almost guaranteed fatal after a few days of infection and pain. It isn’t just the antibiotics keeping gunshot victims alive now, it is also the quick long distance transportation to the ER, the steady electrical supply keeping them operating, the infrastructure keeping qualified doctors employed, the cross country resupply of spare parts and plasma, etc. You don’t even need a total collapse but just semi-permanent disruptions. Like almost everything else from the welfare state to the Information Age economy, modern surgery and medicine can only exist with a surplus of energy ( try running a hospital with solar. If you can, try transporting overseas equipment with solar ). Oil. Again, this isn’t about comparing penis size. A larger bore centerfire will trump a rimfire most of the time. I’m not suggesting taking a knife to a gunfight. A rimfire keeps you in modern firearms long after the larger ammunition is gone ( despite the components being able to be replicated primitively, lack of nitrates and the shut down of trade may just kill your hopes to use modern arms ).

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If you aren’t up against larger weapons ( or, if larger, no where near as accurate ), the rimfire becomes an instrument of slow death rather than the deliverer of stopping power such as you need today. Even if you are up against modern weapons, the rimfire isn’t totally useless. If you are practiced on it, you can harass your enemies. Not engage them in a frontal assault. Again with the machismo. I would rather scurry away like a rat, then slink up behind an AK wielding assailant and shoot him in the back from behind cover. I’m not staying in position and get in a pissing contest if I can help it. The 22 can easily be silenced, but even if not the report is low enough to be slightly camouflaged. You can keep the site picture continually through your scope ( scope it, it triples your efficiency ) as you fire multiple times. Also, range finders for short range are really cheap, such as used in golfing, and you can inexpensively have the equipment for a short range sniping system. Even with 22 ammo doubling in price ( I wonder if Rawles link to the article on the coming zinc shortage might help realistically explain the ammo shortages/price hikes ) you can still stockpile cheaply. Not at obscene levels such as before, but even five thousand rounds should be easily affordable.

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If you are concerned with being underarmed, you should also carry a good size handgun. My choice would be a 357 revolver. Now you have real knock down power if ambushed, or have bears or feral dog attacks to worry about ( no, it doesn’t compare with an AK or M16, but nothing we do is optimal- rather, it is cheap and Better Than Nothing ). This would then be a possibly viable arsenal. At least as far as long term ammunition. Despite my shouting the pleasures of bolt action surplus rifles, they do have compromises and problems. Too heavy, a kick to kill a mule, overpowered for a lot of applications, other than the Russian bolt the ammo is pricey. You could do better than a rimfire and revolver, given the money, but you could also do passably well with a 22 rifle and a 357 if money is tight and you want to assure a good stockpile of ammo. The equipment isn’t as important as attitude, training and sound tactics. I would worry more about a hillbilly able to shoot possums from a tree branch with a single shot rimfire than I would an office worker with an HK-91 ( at least in the woods ).

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