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I have been thinking about this for some time. It's a small niche in the BOB (Bug-Out-Bag) concept, but an important one - how many and what guns and what ammo will/can we take?
The reality is, food, clothes, people take up a lot of room in a car, even in PUs, especially to live out of for two or more weeks on a self sufficient basis. So, there is not going to be unrestricted space for guns and ammo.
As far as ammo goes, there seem to be four aspects that need to be considered: quantity, weight, space/storage requirements, and type.
From the start, this is not a “my caliber is better than your caliber because…” thing. It’s just some real things to think about. It's really hard to predict how much ammo one would need for an unspecified period of time, but my comfort level is about 500 rounds. Ammo is heavy; lots of ammo is really heavy. I just weighed a box of Walmart/Winchester 100 rd. box of 115 gn. 9mm; one box weighed 2.67 pounds, 5 boxes (500 rounds) would weigh 13–1/3 pounds - that's not light. 230 gn, .45 ACP would weigh over twice as much - 26.6 pounds! Is weight a problem? In a car it may not be, but if you have to walk a considerable distance and carry your ammo it can be a real problem. Where would we even carry it! Cargo pockets won't work and that almost means a back pack. And carrying 13-3 up to 26.6 pounds of ammo alone would undo most of us. 9mms will store in about half the space of .45 ACP.
Addressing the ammo type, we all talk about the HP (hollow point), high performance ammo, but do we actually have 500 rounds of 124 gn +P Gold Dots on hand at any given time? I don't! But I do have about 1000 rounds of WWB and realistically that's probably what I’ll have to settle for. I suppose I could procure HPs for bug-out purposes but that means I have to keep the supply fresh and current which may require shooting it as it gets older and replacing it with newer – it’s just too expensive.
As far as guns go, among my many favorites, I have a Beretta 92G by Langdon Tactical Technologies (no longer in existence as far as I know) and a Beretta 9mm Storm. Both guns shoot the same ammo and use the same mags. That seems like it would be a definite advantage in a survival situation where space and transportation is critical. I have three 15 round mags, two 17 round mags, and two 20 round mags that fit either gun. The handgun is for what handguns are for - a constant companion, and the carbine is for longer shots, higher capacity, a little more fire power, etc. I know a 9mm carbine is not a .223 AR, but then the AR implies more mags and more ammo and in all likelihood, a 9mm carbine will suffice since we aren't talking about an all out war/battle.
So the issues are:
How much ammo can you realistically carry/take with you?
What kind of ammo?
What guns?
Your thoughts?
The reality is, food, clothes, people take up a lot of room in a car, even in PUs, especially to live out of for two or more weeks on a self sufficient basis. So, there is not going to be unrestricted space for guns and ammo.
As far as ammo goes, there seem to be four aspects that need to be considered: quantity, weight, space/storage requirements, and type.
From the start, this is not a “my caliber is better than your caliber because…” thing. It’s just some real things to think about. It's really hard to predict how much ammo one would need for an unspecified period of time, but my comfort level is about 500 rounds. Ammo is heavy; lots of ammo is really heavy. I just weighed a box of Walmart/Winchester 100 rd. box of 115 gn. 9mm; one box weighed 2.67 pounds, 5 boxes (500 rounds) would weigh 13–1/3 pounds - that's not light. 230 gn, .45 ACP would weigh over twice as much - 26.6 pounds! Is weight a problem? In a car it may not be, but if you have to walk a considerable distance and carry your ammo it can be a real problem. Where would we even carry it! Cargo pockets won't work and that almost means a back pack. And carrying 13-3 up to 26.6 pounds of ammo alone would undo most of us. 9mms will store in about half the space of .45 ACP.
Addressing the ammo type, we all talk about the HP (hollow point), high performance ammo, but do we actually have 500 rounds of 124 gn +P Gold Dots on hand at any given time? I don't! But I do have about 1000 rounds of WWB and realistically that's probably what I’ll have to settle for. I suppose I could procure HPs for bug-out purposes but that means I have to keep the supply fresh and current which may require shooting it as it gets older and replacing it with newer – it’s just too expensive.
As far as guns go, among my many favorites, I have a Beretta 92G by Langdon Tactical Technologies (no longer in existence as far as I know) and a Beretta 9mm Storm. Both guns shoot the same ammo and use the same mags. That seems like it would be a definite advantage in a survival situation where space and transportation is critical. I have three 15 round mags, two 17 round mags, and two 20 round mags that fit either gun. The handgun is for what handguns are for - a constant companion, and the carbine is for longer shots, higher capacity, a little more fire power, etc. I know a 9mm carbine is not a .223 AR, but then the AR implies more mags and more ammo and in all likelihood, a 9mm carbine will suffice since we aren't talking about an all out war/battle.
So the issues are:
How much ammo can you realistically carry/take with you?
What kind of ammo?
What guns?
Your thoughts?