So You Bought the Gun, Now What?

You might have thought that when you bought that gun you were all set to defend you and your family. Probably not; any experienced gun owner will tell you that the firearm is just the beginning. While this write up is intended for Monkeys that aren't gun people or experienced with firearms, I encourage those who are to add to the list of essential and recommended items.

At a minimum you are going to need:

• Training from a person experienced with firearms
  You may have already had this, but if it's been a while since you have handled a firearm it's a wise idea to get some instructional time. This could be informally with a friend or formally with an NRA safety course including hunter safety courses. You can also view a YouTube video, but I think face to face is best in the event you have questions.
  
  
• Practice
  A firearm is worthless if you can't operate it and hit your target under stress. You need to practice until using it is second nature, and you need to practice periodically to keep the muscle and reaction memory. Practice doesn't need to always be live fire.
  
  
• A cleaning kit
  You should clean a new weapon even before you fire it the first time, and you should always clean and lubricate each time you use it. A simple bore snake, some brushes and rags, solvent and lubricant are all you need to get started.
  
  
• Spare parts
  Firearms are machines, and machine parts wear out or brake. For an AR-15 type weapon I recommend a complete lower parts kit, buffer spring, extra firing pins, gas tube, seals, and a complete BCG. Other rifle types have their own needs, so perhaps others familiar with those types can chip in with their thought on FAL, PTR/HK's, etc. Don't forget the tools required to replace those parts like punches, hammers, etc.
  
  
• Back up iron sights (BUIS) if applicable to your firearm
  That fancy scope can break and some become useless when the battery fails. You NEED a sight that always works. If you need to chose between iron sights or a scope pending funds, get the iron sights first then save up for the scope.
  
  
• Extra ammunition
  Here are my recommendations, and this might cause pain to your pocketbook. Keep in mind that if you need to defend yourself and family during a civil breakdown you may go through a lot of ammunition, and it's unlikely that you will be able to get more if there is civil unrest. You can start with relatively small amounts and then progressively work up to the level you need. When money was tight I used to buy a small box of ammo every payday and eventually reached my goal. Don't forget to replace ammunition you use while training.
  
  
  
• Extra magazines
  My recommendations below:
  • Semi Automatic Rifles - 1 in the rifle and 10 extra minimum. More magazines are more better and may save you skin in a prolonged defensive situation.
    
  • Bolt Action Rifles - 2 minimum and at least 5 preferred
  • Magazine Fed Shotgun - treat as a rifle
  • Semi Automatic Pistol - 1 in the pistol with 2-3 spares for your carry rig.
• Extra batteries
  When that fancy scope, flashlight, or laser fails you need fresh batteries. Realistically don't depend on ANYTHING battery operated during SHTF, but if you have electronics that augment your system have spares and make sure you replace any spares before their expiration date. Also, consider the battery type and what it takes to access the battery before you buy it.
  
  
• A holster or a sling
  Unless you plan to carry that blaster around in your hands you need something that allows you to "wear" it. If you use QD sling attachments make sure that they have steel inserts as aluminum will eventually wear out and fail.
  
  
• A gun case for transportation
  To the range or to the woods you need some sort of padded case to protect your firearm.

Now might be a good time to be seated if you are contemplating your first AR system. I've cost estimated an entry level system based on current prices below:


I didn't plan on this to come out to exactly $1500, and if you shop around you could probably knock a hundred or so off. At the same time, the ammo prices are not going to hold and I'd expect them to go up in the next month or two. Note that the cost of the rifle itself is 43% of the total system.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. Here are some other things you should consider in no particular order:

• A lockable cabinet or safe for storage when you aren't home
• A lock box for your vehicle in case yo ucan't carry everywhere you go
  
• A CHL or CCL depending on your AO
  
• A magazine loader such as a Lula
• Stripper clips for faster loading and better ammo organization
• A better trigger to improve accuracy
  
• Grips or stock parts that better fit you and your shooting style
  
• Optics
• Reloading equipment
• Enough tools to completely disassemble and reassemble your firearm
  
• A second identical firearm, a third if you have a spouse. Two is one and one is none. Expect one to fail when you need it the most.

I have found that the purchase price of a rifle is less than half and likely closer a third or even a quarter of the total cost of the system needed to make it effective

 

I am not Gunkid. However, I fully stand by the 22lr rifle or pistol or both as initial training weapons for children, teens, and petite females, and females who are scared of guns, and have never fired or owned a gun. As for how many rounds of 22lr is appropriate to have on hand. IMHO somewhere between 50,000 and 100,000 rds, stored in water tight relatively air tight metal GI ammo cans, and kept in a stable moderate dry temperature. You can't have to many 22lr firearms or ammo. Says me!

 

You are very correct, and each rifle may have different needs. A FAL already has battle worthy sights. In the example I was going for about as inexpensive a system as I could rely on, and the two entry rifles each had A frame sights. Technically neither needed to have the rear sight provided by the manufacturer replaced, but IMO a SHTF weapon needs something better than plastic for the sights.

 

I'm in full agreement, but at the same time you need experience with the rifle you will actually use and IMO you need to run at least 200 rounds through it before it can be trusted with your life.

 

It's been said that guns are cheap, ammo is expensive. Learn your platform and practice,practice, practice!

 

I think that if you buy a gun you should at the least you had either had been a gun person trained and ready or you had better get some training from someone who knows guns. I don't think you have to pay to be trained if you talk to a few folks at the gun shop I know I have showed many a first time owner the operation and SAFETY and safe use of their firearm. But I also believe that if you don't want to kill yourself or your son or daughter coming late from a date or some such you had better get some kind of advanced training. Experience is essential.Learn properly to fire on the move shoot from cover and out of the line of sight. I'm sure most everyone here would call this as I do Common Sense...... My 2 cents and worth as much

 

If you choose a type of firearm that needs a break in prosess, make sure you follow the procedures fully and insure yours is fully broken in before you rely on it for carry use, or otherwise intend to use it for survival. Make sure to have wear parts common to your platform, and make sure to have at least twice the number of magazines you think you will need. Spend the time learning your weapon, it's querks and it' limits ( and yours) and spend the time and money on all the different types, weights, and brands of ammo to find what your weapon likes, and does what you intend it to do!

 

I choose a Battle rifle as my primary weapon, and while it's extremely robust and reliable, none the less, I carry a parts kit I built up and keep in a 4 inch piece of ABS plastic pipe. Spare fireing pins, spare springs, a pair of spare pistons, and springs, a pair of spair gas tubes, a pair of gas plugs, a spair ejector, 4 spair extractors and springs, and spair trigger parts. I also keep a spair hammer and sear, and a spair bolt stop/mag catch and take down lever with spring and pawl! It' a small kit, and fairly light weight. For mags, I keep 13 loaded and ready, and a 10 rounder loaded and in the gun, chamber empty! I also keep mag kits, springs, followers and base plates. Finally, I keep cleaning snakes, rods, a broken shell extractor, speed loader, lubes, and grease, a sight tool, a armorors combo tool ( my own invention) and various sundries!
I do The exact same thing with all my other rifles, especially the ones that would play secondary to the FAL. There are a lot of times I carry a 1903 Springfield bolt action that has been customised for my specifics and requirements, but it' still a fighting rifle in every sence. That one I keep 100 spair 5 round Swiss stripper clips, and I carry 20 Loaded clips with my standard load, and I carry 10 spair loaded clips with specialised loads. I also carry both series bayonets, one on my belt, and one on my LBE, and keep all my fighting gear and kits fitted to that LBE. Pistols are always 1911s and kits and spair mags are also part of that load out.
When I add a shotgun, it gets the same set up, with a maintenance and spair parts kit!
I'm A firm believer in a combat type load out, it just makes sence, it's pretty light weight, it's modular and can be quickly reconfigured as needed! For more daily type carry, a 1911 and spair mags, and a back up pistol with 1 spair mag is my load out, with a fairly large Bowie knife and a small lock blade on my gun belt!

 

My bias living in a semi rural area that was rural 30 years ago is that my first choice of a weapon would be based on the practice area you have. If it is a range with a 100 yard set of butts, I would suggest a 10-22 or similar 22 rifle and a safety course and an Appleseed training. When you are familar with the rifle and have fired a couple thousand rounds, then select the rifle platform you wish and as 3M-TA3 so wisely put it, if you really wish to effectively use the rifle, it has to include all of the other factors that make it work, practice, sights, storage, cleaning, etc. In my limited experience in New Hampshire with the AR platform, a good friend owns a small gun shop and looking at many of the used AR rifles he has for sale, either on consignment or purchased by him for resale, many do not appear to have had 50 rounds fired thru them, batteries in the sights were dead and in some cases corroded, that they were not properly stored, nor were they properly cleaned and placed into storage. It requires gun smithing and cleaning, etc, to make them ready for sale and many were never sighted in. An inexpensive 10-22 that you are familar with and that you can hit the aim point with, is much more effective than a Colt high end AR that you have never fired in my humble experience. Many of the AR's and other "battle" rifles were bought as "investments" at inflated prices during one crisis or another and the owners were really upset that the actual value of the rifle during normal market conditions and with the difference between the gun shops purchase price in order to have enough markup to stay in business and the sticker price on it for resale often results in a cash sale price that is half of what they paid for the rifle.

 

Believe it or not, i do rotate some parts, pistons and springs mainly. And I do relax magazine springs every 6 months or so, just to give them a chance to relax! It used to be the FAL mag springs needed swapped or relaxed, but the new springs hadn't needed this! Stripper clips get a coating of bore butter, and bullets get checked for corrosion if they are loaded in mags or on clips, and cleaned if needed.

 

Now, while you still have internet access to videos on firearm disassembly and repair, is the time to learn these skills.
What tools do you need? That'd be comforting to know. 1911A1 requires one cartridge case rim to do a complete disassembly.

 

I was given by the ODM a Springfield 06 in 1955, shot a few thousand rounds thru it in the last 60 or so years, most of it corrosive, and I can't remember ever having to change a part. Had it "sportarized" about 50 years ago, bolt bent, stock modified and refinished, etc. Don't honestly know what else he did so parts may have been changed. Was taught to rough clean it immediately after shooting and clean it well before putting it away. And yes we did carry a cleaning kit with 2 bottles and a pull thru.

 

Interesting. Been purchasing mags from time to time on sale and stashing most of them at the BOL. They're buried under a pile of some other items inside a shed (intentionally) and now I don't know how many I have. Maybe next trip it's inventory time. I have a few at the principal residence. Maybe there should be a few more. Have to keep an eye out for the next sale.

No restrictions on mags in this state and it has a pre-emption law, so municipalities can't enact mag bans on their own. Leftist, liberal city that I live on the outskirts of tried to buck state law by destroying confiscated firearms instead of re-selling them per state law, and they got their Pee-Pees whacked. They ended up paying the state several hundred grand in fines.

 

I wouldn't put a $70 optic on a rubber band gun.

Now is the time to buy. I put off getting an AR for the entire 0bama administration and the 2016 race. Now I can have whatever I want for half the price.
To anyone who spent $1,000+ for a basic off brand AR, hahahhah.

 

Old rule of thumb in 1980's was that the optics would cost about the same as the rifle. Now a days with night sights, IR sights, etc, it is easy to spend twice as much on sights as on the rifle.

 

Always have back up iron sights if you have an optic installed, even as good as modern optics are, they are not as tough as folks believe, and batteries fail at the worst time! Even in the Military, we carried back up irons for rifles equippd with optics, from bolt actions to Maw-Duce! The old rule; if it can fail, it WILL!

 

Murphy doesn't take days off!

 

So you bought the gun... If you're going to be "the man with one gun" you'd better know it well, practic/e with it often and know everything there is to know about its maintenance. In a perfect world this would be enough. The gun would always go bang, the ammo would be perfect and nothing would ever wear out.

In the real world houses burn down while you're at work, guns get stolen. You lean it against a tree in the forest and can't find the tree again after you've gotten over last nights diarrhea. Parts break, barrels wear out, ammo gets wet, etc, etc. So, rather than knowing one gun intimately and depending on it to last forever, there is greater value in knowing a little about firearms in general, and a little more about common firearms that you might be able to pick up as a replacement. When you are bartering with the remainder of your cash and most of your food, it'd be nice to know the differences between a Ruger 10/22 and a Remington Nylon 66 if all you can afford is one and a box of .22 ammo. (One rifle can be easily maintained with simple hand tools, the other can't.) With any rifle you're worlds ahead of the guy with a stick and no firearm. If you have even basic skills in firearm repair and maintenance you'll be ahead of the majority of the population.

Now's the time to learn, shoot different firearms, learn how they work, see what you like.