Five Guns for the Homestead – Part 1 – Rifles and Shotguns

Sensible Survival ^ | January 18, 2012

[2ndDivisionVet]

There are, in my opinion, three kinds of people in the world with regards to guns. There are people that hate guns. They think that guns are inherently evil and that the world would be a better place if there were no guns at all. Then there are people that love guns. They collect guns, they clean guns, they read about guns, they go to gun shows, they just generally enjoy everything about guns. Some of these people, I have noticed, enjoy having guns more than they enjoy shooting guns; but hey, to each his own. The third kind of people are folks that see guns as being tools that are useful to perform specific tasks. These people have a chainsaw to cut firewood, they have garden tools to raise food with, they have hand tools to build things with, and they have guns to hunt with and to protect their families.

If you tend to be a no gun type person you’re probably not reading this anyway, and if you are a gun lover you already know more about this stuff than I could every tell you; but if you are a guns-as-tools kind of person then this post is for you.

It is my belief that the average American homestead only needs five guns to handle any possible situation. So I am going to outline what my choices are, why I have selected these particular guns, and the circumstances under which each of these guns would be useful.

First on my list is a good Shotgun. The shotgun is like the multi-tool of the gun world. Depending on the ammo that you use the shotgun can be a small game hunter, a medium size (deer) game hunter, or a home defense weapon...

[patriotsblood]

One of the things to keep in mind in using a shotgun for home defense is this: at the ranges you will face in a typical home defense scenario, the pattern spread is something to consider at various ranges. Good video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahiF5aT7MfE

[Carriage Hill]

It's bolted to a HD pallet and bolted to the floor, at middle and back, thru safe, 8" into concrete floor. At 2½-tons, it'd be a tough move with any pallet jack, since it had to be brought inside horizontally with >½" clearance to spare on all sides, by front-end loader w/ extra-long forks. Once inside, 4 employees and I used JD-317 Skidsteer to stand-it-up on pallet and begin bolt-down op. I'm thinking of going "boating" this week, with the contents along...

[Chode]

well, we've got half that covered anyway...

[Carriage Hill]

Sweet! 12 or 18 long gun capacity?

[doorgunner69]

What I was wondering, considering the .40 S&W is going to be plentiful with all the millions of rounds the feds are buying up. The 9mm may start becoming less plentiful that is is now.

I continue stocking up .45 ACP and .308 to keep my ammo needs simple.

[Chode]

48... very small shelf in the back for boxed pistols/ammo but since it's only a little over half full there's still room on the floor for boxed stuff also

one side is mine, the other side is my cousin's

it has a 30min 1200deg rating, we bought it last year from Central Tractor for $700.00

i hope someday to need one as big as yours... 8^)

[Carriage Hill]

Mine's a 2002 T65. Split in half; r/s is 4 lg upholstered shelves for 'goodies' and handguns, l/s can hold 24 long guns. Full-width top-shelf for gun bags. Pressure-activated, 6 interior LED lights. 90min/1800° fire rating. Dbl-door storage insert panels. 2 electric dry-sticks. 3 silica gel dehumidifers. 4,800lbs. $4,250 model closeout at local distributor in PA; reg $5,495. 11 weapons, 7 calibers, incl Class IIIs & Barrett. All ammo is stored external to safe on multiple lg shelves. (old pic; no ammo on safe top)

[Chode]

sweet... using silica packs now but gonna get the elec dry-sticks also

i live in NY, so... no Class-III 8^(

[Carriage Hill]

Silica Gel Packs:

http://www.cannonsafe.com/options-accessories.html

Dry-Sticks:

http://www.libertysafe.com/accessory-dry-rod-dehumidifier-ps-16-pg-15.html

[Chode]

thx much...

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I have owned a .40 Glock since it was introduced and have never found a shortage of ammo. It was surprising to me how quickly the .40 caught on.

[doorgunner69]

Yep, a lot of law enforcement took the FBI lead and switched to the .40 after them. If I was to get a new auto, it would probably be in .40 S&W if not a more modern .45 ACP..

[Eric in the Ozarks]

One round that seemly went nowhere was the 10 MM. I recall some federal agencies (FBI maybe) carried these handguns but they didn’t keep them...

[doorgunner69]

American Rifleman had an article recently on the history of FBI firearms and did mention the 10mm as being too hot for the average street agent, resulting in the reduced power 10mm that became the .40 S&W. Still a potent round, quite a bit hotter than a 9mm I believe, at least in standard loads?

Never fired a 10mm, maybe should try to find one someday.

[dangerdoc]

Take up reloading. The used brass for calibers used by the government is relatively cheap.

Primers and slugs are pretty pricey regardless of the caliber though.

[Tijeras_Slim]

It’s about like a .41 Magnum in the hotter variants.

[tacticalogic]

Rem 7600 .308 w/10 round mags.

[Tijeras_Slim]

Mine is 1000 pounds. I’ve told my wife that when I go to the big range in the sky to weld handles on it, stuff me inside, and given her a list of 6 guys I don’t like much to carry it.

[Carriage Hill]

LOL. 6 guys lugging 1,000lbs, plus you; you just might have some “company” at the big range in the sky...