How Many Guns to Own For Survival

Consider The Ammunition First

I'd consider four types if you want to limit your purchasing.  You can buy the weapons that fill out this list.

Four Rounds to Consider:  .22, 9mm, 5.56, 12 or 20 Gauge.

.22 in rifle and pisol

9mm in pistol and carbine/rifle

5.56 in the obvious weapon, an AR-15 style weapon.

12 or 20 gauge in a pump shotgun

What ammunition type to get first. 9mm

What weapon to get first.
If I could only buy one weapon based on one caliber I'd go for a 9mm premium quality pistol. 

Reasoning: 

I would consider going with 9mm just to have a relatively low cost practice round that can fill all the categories you need if you find yourself limited by finances and need to stick to one caliber and two weapons, a handgun and a rifle.   You could get a 9mm carbine as the follow up weapon and stay with those two and only be limited to range  Sure, it's not for hunting or long range shooting but within the boundaries of self defense it is a great choice.  You can load up on that round in FMJ for practice and JHP for actual use.

Handgun Choice

If you want a gun recommendation try the Glock 19, the most popular of the Glock line and probably one of the most popular 9mm pistols ever built.  You can buy a used one and still rely on it.  I've purchased numerous used Glock pistols over the years and never had a bad one.  Of course, you can always just spend the extra dollars for a new one.

Work on your handgun skills.  You can always practice your rifle skills with a pellet rifle.  That might be the cheapest way to improve your long gun skills until you choose to pony up for the bucks to get the rifle, buy the ammo, and find a range to go to in order to practice it.

Carbine/Rifle Choice

The Kel-Tec Sub2000 is a great short range carbine with the added advantage that the price is around $400 and if you can buy one that uses the same Glock 9mm magazines that fit your pistol.  One thing to note is that you need the Glock 17 magazines and not the shorter 9mm Glock 19 magazine that holds 15 rounds.  Other than that you have successfully avoided a cost and logistics issue by having two weapon types that use the same Glock magazine.  

Your other options are the Beretta CX4 carbine at more than $750 or Hi-Point 995 carbine.  The Hi-Point is a very robust weapon and is reliable though heavy and less than $350 though the magazines aren't interchangeable with the Glock and are standard 10 rounds, though higher capacity versions may become available.

Ballistic Realities

The maximum effective range on a 9mm as an antipersonnel round is close to 150 yards though many would say 100 yards.  You'll have close to 200 ft lbs of energy left at 150 yards with a bullet drop of close to 3 feet.  It is workable for  close range small game but your main concern is self defense and anti-personnel.  Sure you won't outdistance a 5.56 or greater but your protection zone within 100 yards is solved.  Anything beyond that is realistically something you won't face in most instances and especially until the SHTF.

Bottom Line:  Get something and train with it. 

Self Defense: Capacity Rules, Chemical Spray Defense, .380 Self Defense

Capacity Rules
Magazine capacity is a big factor in a self defense weapon.    Read this article on ponder.   In the 9mm realm Glock Wins 33 round mags are hard to beat.  Kel Tec makes a carbine that uses the same magazine as the Glock pistol.


Chemical Defense 101
This is a great article.  He recommends  The Triple Action Police Mace Brand.  I'd have to agree since I have carried Mace Brand products for 40 years.  The flip top approach is intuitive and a great safety feature preventing accidental discharge unlike some if the other designs out there.

The manual safeties require too much thinking and fumbling that might not work well in a stressful situation.

380 Self Defense Rounds
If you want to carry a .380 it helps to know what round to use.  This is a great breakdown of the main JHP personal defense rounds available in this caliber.

The great thing about .380 is the low recoil and ability to fire from a small handgun and still manage that low recoil.

Sig P238: My favorite is the SigP238.  It is ultra compact but totally reliable with all American made ammunition I used including Hornady FTX.  It is also the most accurate shooting of all the guns I tried in this caliber due to the trigger and single action 1911 style function.


Glock 42: The Glock 42 is ammo sensitive and needs a firm wrist.  It might help to also add a grip overwrap if it is too small for your hand.  It is very accurate and light shooting.


Walther PK380: Other notable .380 guns include the Walther PK380.  Having owned one I can tell you it shoots reliably and very softly due to its large size.  It is very accurate but feels cheap in the hand and the reverse safety and hammer drop function is not something I want to get used to since it is dissimilar to most other guns that I own.

Colt Mustang:  Nice gun but you might as well get a Sig.  I don't like plastic triggers and reliability is iffy unless you put lots of work into it.

Hornady Critical Defense .380 Ammo Review 

How to Shoot a pistol

Sick World: Good Samaritan Shot during snow storm

Good Samaritan shot
What is there to say about this story but is it worth it to stop and help anyone.  At this point I'll probably just call for emergency assistance unless I am armed.  It is a sad testament of the type of humanity out there that a driver in trouble would choose to kill someone that stopped to help them.

Advice:  Be circumspect when you see a situation where someone is not in immediate danger or undergoing trauma.  Many times I have not stopped for people in a disabled car simply because I didn't want them to fear that I was a threat, so instead I would call in their location and apparent situation after passing them and seeing that they were okay.

Concealed Carry Issues

Getting the right holster is the answer for concealed carry or even open carry. I've found the old tried and true leather holsters are still the best. Anyone that has owned and carried handguns for a long period of time has a collection.

1. Buy one fitted for the gun you intend to carry.

2. Stay away from nylon

3. No fancy mechanisms. I had trouble with one that requires tilting the weapon a certain way to extract it. Something like that is lousy under pressure. Release buttons jam too.

4. Pay top dollar and get the best you can afford and only buy once. If you buy cheap ones you'll have to replace them anyway and end up spending the same.


This one is one of the best articles I've read on holsters.
http://www.shootingtimes.com/2011/01/03/handgun_reviews_carry_100307/