So...about that "accuracy", "reliability", and "stopping power" thing.
Warning; Long ass post. I hope to help anyone with this thread, not bash.
You know, I get a little frustrated with the whole "I shoot .5 moa" or "I killed Sasquatch at 1,500,000 yards with a .22" or blah blah blah. Almost none of this matters as much as you think, especially for SHTF and combat.
Before I go any further, For the record and a little background, my go to rifle is a PTR91k. My next, truck gun, and family handouts are all AK47s. This might make me biased, so what. Unlike a lot of bias people I've actually owned what I am bias against. (Ar15s) As far as the traits listed in the title, I recommend at the very LEAST a 5.56 or 5.45 rifle. That's at the absolute bare minimum. I recommend .308 personally.
but....to be frank....
What matters more than any ballistic table or myth is what YOU are comfortable with, and what YOU don't mind humping around, and what YOU trust with YOUR life. If you trust it, and you chose to carry it, that's YOUR preference. I'm not going to argue why I chose a MBR, or why you need to sell your AR.
So if you have no doubts about your rifle, and your abilities with said rifle, then you shouldn't pay any mind to anything, I, or anybody says about it. If you do, maybe you need to reexamine your choice. Consider your surroundings, possible and likely combat situations and your abilities.
Just make sure of a few things, no matter what tool you carry;
*Zero your rifle.
This to me, is common sense. But some people still don't mind hitting minute of barn at 50m. Also, check your zero from time to time, or after adjustments. Also, a lot of people don't even know how to aim their rifle. Proper sight alignment can mean a lot. Use your manual, or the google search bar, somewhere over there ---->
Here's some over simplified and all inclusive links.
(Russian sight alignment; http://www.ak-47.net/images/sight2.gif
American sight alignment; http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...sight_alignment_FM_3-22.9_(23-9)_Fig_4-17.png
AK47 zero; http://www.ak-47.net/ak47/sightingin.html
AR15 zero; http://ar15zeroing.com/)
Even you AK guys. There's a AK sight tool that can get your rifle 3moa or much better @ 100 w/ practice and time. That is more than enough, as, believe it or not, a 3moa group @100 is widely considered combat acceptable for M16s and M4s.
(AK47 sight tool; http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/49630-6.html )
*Learn your rifle, inside and out.
If you don't know how to completely disassemble your rifle for complete inspection or cleaning, learn. Get proficient with field stripping and cleaning specifically. If you are in the s**t and don't clean good enough, fast enough, you might get in some trouble. I also suggest learning how your rifle works, researching some common issues that could arise, and learning how to trouble shoot. You can't take your rifle to a smith while being chased by evil nazi zombies... or the batf, same thing.
AR15; http://www.ar15.com/content/guides/maintenance/
AK47; http://www.ar15.com/content/guides/assembly/akFieldStripping/ , http://www.guerrillagunsmith.com/akdetailed.htm
*Know your gear
Don't fear looking like a retard to your wife. Dress up in your gear, and practice changing mags, or drawing your ka-bar. Just do it. Learn how you like them situated, and keep them there. Practice it often. You don't want to be bobbling mags around while getting shot at. Having familiarity with where stuff is, and how to get it out is pretty important.
*Know your limitations
I really hope you know how to use your rifle, but also realize exposing yourself, and your position to fire a 450m shot with an AR15 might not be the best idea. Learn the max range of your rifle and what you are comfortable with. Without having to spend 10 minutes on a bench adjusting scopes or steadying on a sandbag. For most people about 250m is pretty much it, maybe a little further if you have a scoped rifle. (and know your rifle, your ammo, your weather conditions and your bullet drop.) Face it, most of us probably have no clue. Hell, most of us probably don't know 200m from 400m anyways. Practice range estimation. Use known distances, like a football field to practice. (Go to one, look from goal line to goal line, some people are truly taken in by how far and difficult a shot that can be.)
*Carry at least 120 rounds of anything.
For me, (Hk g3 pattern) that's 5 mags carried +1 inserted. To me, that's pretty light. I'm a big dude though. Plan on carrying a bunch of survival stuff too, so don't have 1K of .308 strapped on you. You'll get bogged down. No tealing how much other crap you will need to survive aside from ammo. Be sensible. I carry 8 mags+1 at the MAX unless I KNOW I will be in an extended fight with no resupply....(If I knew this I think my chances are pretty nill anyway.)
If you are like me, and think "rifleman" first 120-180rds is nothing to laugh at. If the S has HTF I sincerely hope you don't need 500rds in one firefight, and I also hope you have a base, rally point, cache or depot with more supplies.
*Clean your rifle
I don't care if you can shoot 10,000,000 rounds of wolf through your ar15 (or AK) before it's outstanding reliability becomes an issue. Clean your rifle when you can, and know that your accuracy will diminish a little after a few rounds. Unlike at the range, you can't swab it out every other shot to hit that sub-moa group in the middle of a firefight. Get familiar with your accuracy after your barrel heats up, and gets fouled.
*Learn how to shoot combat style.
This is what i want to stress, if you ignored anything else, at least understand this. Here's to you Mr. I hit dimes at 200m and will be a "sniper" if the SHTF...
You're not going to have a comfortable bench, with a few sandbags in combat. Sorry, your .25moa rifle isn't much better than my 2moa battle rifle if you can only use yours on a steady platform.
I suggest not ever shooting from a bench except to zero. Learn to shoot correctly. Learn to shoot unsupported from prone, crouched, and standing. Practice breath control. Make it all second nature, if not, when the **** starts flying you will forget everything and do whatever feels right.
The importance of practice; making some initially uncomfortable things turn into comfortable muscle memory. Just shooting some paper is not suitable training. Especially not from a bench. Learn to go without bi-pods too.
A decent start is reading some simple FMs or finding a former soldier... (fm 3-22.9, section II works ok...)
I hope this helps someone...
(upd.) Also, while this might sound like "duh" to some or maybe weird to others, learn to shoot with both eyes open, and force yourself to keep them open while shooting. (Wear EYE PRO) Not only does this take all of the fear, and anticipation away from firing, but also allows you to have eyes on target up until the very last moment, and be able to track quick follow ups. (It will take what seems like decades off of your next follow up shot.) You'd be surprised how many people get scared, or anxious blink, fire, and then repeat. Yea, be honest.
-H&C
Warning; Long ass post. I hope to help anyone with this thread, not bash.
You know, I get a little frustrated with the whole "I shoot .5 moa" or "I killed Sasquatch at 1,500,000 yards with a .22" or blah blah blah. Almost none of this matters as much as you think, especially for SHTF and combat.
Before I go any further, For the record and a little background, my go to rifle is a PTR91k. My next, truck gun, and family handouts are all AK47s. This might make me biased, so what. Unlike a lot of bias people I've actually owned what I am bias against. (Ar15s) As far as the traits listed in the title, I recommend at the very LEAST a 5.56 or 5.45 rifle. That's at the absolute bare minimum. I recommend .308 personally.
but....to be frank....
What matters more than any ballistic table or myth is what YOU are comfortable with, and what YOU don't mind humping around, and what YOU trust with YOUR life. If you trust it, and you chose to carry it, that's YOUR preference. I'm not going to argue why I chose a MBR, or why you need to sell your AR.
So if you have no doubts about your rifle, and your abilities with said rifle, then you shouldn't pay any mind to anything, I, or anybody says about it. If you do, maybe you need to reexamine your choice. Consider your surroundings, possible and likely combat situations and your abilities.
Just make sure of a few things, no matter what tool you carry;
*Zero your rifle.
This to me, is common sense. But some people still don't mind hitting minute of barn at 50m. Also, check your zero from time to time, or after adjustments. Also, a lot of people don't even know how to aim their rifle. Proper sight alignment can mean a lot. Use your manual, or the google search bar, somewhere over there ---->
Here's some over simplified and all inclusive links.
(Russian sight alignment; http://www.ak-47.net/images/sight2.gif
American sight alignment; http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...sight_alignment_FM_3-22.9_(23-9)_Fig_4-17.png
AK47 zero; http://www.ak-47.net/ak47/sightingin.html
AR15 zero; http://ar15zeroing.com/)
Even you AK guys. There's a AK sight tool that can get your rifle 3moa or much better @ 100 w/ practice and time. That is more than enough, as, believe it or not, a 3moa group @100 is widely considered combat acceptable for M16s and M4s.
(AK47 sight tool; http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/49630-6.html )
*Learn your rifle, inside and out.
If you don't know how to completely disassemble your rifle for complete inspection or cleaning, learn. Get proficient with field stripping and cleaning specifically. If you are in the s**t and don't clean good enough, fast enough, you might get in some trouble. I also suggest learning how your rifle works, researching some common issues that could arise, and learning how to trouble shoot. You can't take your rifle to a smith while being chased by evil nazi zombies... or the batf, same thing.
AR15; http://www.ar15.com/content/guides/maintenance/
AK47; http://www.ar15.com/content/guides/assembly/akFieldStripping/ , http://www.guerrillagunsmith.com/akdetailed.htm
*Know your gear
Don't fear looking like a retard to your wife. Dress up in your gear, and practice changing mags, or drawing your ka-bar. Just do it. Learn how you like them situated, and keep them there. Practice it often. You don't want to be bobbling mags around while getting shot at. Having familiarity with where stuff is, and how to get it out is pretty important.
*Know your limitations
I really hope you know how to use your rifle, but also realize exposing yourself, and your position to fire a 450m shot with an AR15 might not be the best idea. Learn the max range of your rifle and what you are comfortable with. Without having to spend 10 minutes on a bench adjusting scopes or steadying on a sandbag. For most people about 250m is pretty much it, maybe a little further if you have a scoped rifle. (and know your rifle, your ammo, your weather conditions and your bullet drop.) Face it, most of us probably have no clue. Hell, most of us probably don't know 200m from 400m anyways. Practice range estimation. Use known distances, like a football field to practice. (Go to one, look from goal line to goal line, some people are truly taken in by how far and difficult a shot that can be.)
*Carry at least 120 rounds of anything.
For me, (Hk g3 pattern) that's 5 mags carried +1 inserted. To me, that's pretty light. I'm a big dude though. Plan on carrying a bunch of survival stuff too, so don't have 1K of .308 strapped on you. You'll get bogged down. No tealing how much other crap you will need to survive aside from ammo. Be sensible. I carry 8 mags+1 at the MAX unless I KNOW I will be in an extended fight with no resupply....(If I knew this I think my chances are pretty nill anyway.)
If you are like me, and think "rifleman" first 120-180rds is nothing to laugh at. If the S has HTF I sincerely hope you don't need 500rds in one firefight, and I also hope you have a base, rally point, cache or depot with more supplies.
*Clean your rifle
I don't care if you can shoot 10,000,000 rounds of wolf through your ar15 (or AK) before it's outstanding reliability becomes an issue. Clean your rifle when you can, and know that your accuracy will diminish a little after a few rounds. Unlike at the range, you can't swab it out every other shot to hit that sub-moa group in the middle of a firefight. Get familiar with your accuracy after your barrel heats up, and gets fouled.
*Learn how to shoot combat style.
This is what i want to stress, if you ignored anything else, at least understand this. Here's to you Mr. I hit dimes at 200m and will be a "sniper" if the SHTF...
You're not going to have a comfortable bench, with a few sandbags in combat. Sorry, your .25moa rifle isn't much better than my 2moa battle rifle if you can only use yours on a steady platform.
I suggest not ever shooting from a bench except to zero. Learn to shoot correctly. Learn to shoot unsupported from prone, crouched, and standing. Practice breath control. Make it all second nature, if not, when the **** starts flying you will forget everything and do whatever feels right.
The importance of practice; making some initially uncomfortable things turn into comfortable muscle memory. Just shooting some paper is not suitable training. Especially not from a bench. Learn to go without bi-pods too.
A decent start is reading some simple FMs or finding a former soldier... (fm 3-22.9, section II works ok...)
I hope this helps someone...
(upd.) Also, while this might sound like "duh" to some or maybe weird to others, learn to shoot with both eyes open, and force yourself to keep them open while shooting. (Wear EYE PRO) Not only does this take all of the fear, and anticipation away from firing, but also allows you to have eyes on target up until the very last moment, and be able to track quick follow ups. (It will take what seems like decades off of your next follow up shot.) You'd be surprised how many people get scared, or anxious blink, fire, and then repeat. Yea, be honest.
-H&C