tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7892342121119950405.post58611057816317744..comments2023-11-17T08:13:06.646-06:00Comments on Best5Zach Outdoors: Commonality: How to be Efficient in Material SelectionsBest5Zachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14849661332187171438noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7892342121119950405.post-78458122232553230902012-12-11T10:27:49.128-06:002012-12-11T10:27:49.128-06:00All terrific points. You caught me in some errors....All terrific points. You caught me in some errors...I must admit. Not sure why I had added Remington to that 30.-06. Might have been thinking ahead. <br /><br />Speaking of the -06, you raise an EXCELLENT point about the .308. In fact, I really wanted to buy my first AR in a .308. I am still thinking about building one.<br /><br />I admit that while I knew it was the military predecesor, I didn't consider it to be as common...at least around here with all the deer hunters. But, it's a bet we could never settle HAHA!<br /><br />Dead on about going more in-depth on the caiberxlength. Lots of .45s out there (ACP, GAP, LC). <br /><br />Speaking of the .45 not being the "right" choice. I completely agree, but since I already had 2 .45s and lots of ammo before I started all this...it was hard to get away from it. HAHA! <br /><br />Man. I love comments!Best5Zachhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14849661332187171438noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7892342121119950405.post-16853120879054208702012-12-10T22:11:32.378-06:002012-12-10T22:11:32.378-06:00(Ok, three posts).
.45 ACP:
Not my pick. Like Za...(Ok, <i>three</i> posts).<br /><br /><br />.45 ACP:<br />Not my pick. Like Zach says, it's fairly expensive. It's also quite heavy per round, has fewer round per magazine and has poor long range performance. It is, however, quite common, can be easily reloaded for, you can actually manafacture the brass yourself from .308 casings and it does punch really big holes in things. I don't prioritize big holes so much, but if you do, it's a good choice.<br /><br />Like the 9x19mm, it matches up well in pistol/carbine combos, with the M1911 and Marlin Camp combo coming to mind immediately<br /><br />Usual note: There are several calibers named .45. Zach and I are discussing the .45 ACP.<br /><br />Ok, this went on way longer than I intended. If Zach wants, I'll come back later and make some more suggestions for useful calibers. The M6 Scout with the .22 LR/.410/.45 Colt combination is especially worth considering.<br /><br />--NathanAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7892342121119950405.post-10417224204984765272012-12-10T22:10:47.199-06:002012-12-10T22:10:47.199-06:00.223 Remington/5.56x45mm:
Important Side note: T....223 Remington/5.56x45mm: <br /><br />Important Side note: These two calibers are slightly different. Just slightly enough that they'll often chamber in each other and just different enough to explode in yourself sometimes. But not all times. Prefer a firearm chambered in 5.56 x 45 mm, as it's the more tolerant caliber.<br /><br />A good choice for all of the commonality reasons Zach gave. And it's big enough to take deer with, an excellent varmit and small game cartridge and an effective combat cartridge. And there are a lot of good options chambered for it, the AR-15 being the most notable.<br /><br />12 gauge: Probably the best shotgun choice, I agree. Careful selection of a 12 gauge weapon, probably a pump shotgun like the Remington 870 -- what Zach called an Express -- gives a reliable firearm that can fire multiple lengths of 12 gauge (2.75 in and 3 in). Different shot loads and the possiblity of slugs, flares, etc give you a weapon effective for large game at over 100 meters and frightfully powerful at close range. Also important to note is the ability to reload shotshells by hand, without a press. It's not exactly easy, though, and you still have to be able to extract and seat the primers. The 12 gauges weaknesses are that it's fairly heavy per round and the recoil can be fierce, particularly for smaller shooters.<br /><br />Side note: 12 gauge shotguns and shells come in a variety of sizes. I'm only considering 2.75 in and 3 in shells/chambers.<br /><br /><br />9 x 19 mm Parabellum: <br />On a worldwide level, "the world's most popular and widely used military handgun cartridge", says Wiki. This is the best overall choice on Zach's list, particular for someone in Zach's geographical area and assuming you're not in a warfare scenario wear body armor is common.<br /><br />It's lighter than the rifle caliber rounds, but is still effective at over 100 yards, particularly out of a longarm. There are a variety of off the shelf loadings, but I'd recommended the 115 grain +P loadings for general use. There are a wide variety of specialty options avaiable from shotshell to subsonic. <br /><br />Reloading the round is reasonably straightforward. Notably, it's velocities are low enough that you can use cast lead alloy bullets without gas checks. This compares well with the rifle caliber rounds including the 5.56 x 45 mm and the .308 Winchester, which really need jacketed bullets. There's less throat sizing difficulties and less danger of snapping off a long primer extractor pin, too.<br /><br />Nearly any reasonably common pistol or carbine gets chambered for the 9 x 19. And a decent number of carbines can use certain pistol magazines, so you get commonality in your magazine choice, too. That can be quite useful. The Beretta 92/M9, Smith and Wesson Model 59 and Glock 17 are good choices for pistol, and you can pick a carbine (Berreta Storm, Marlin Camp, Keltec Sub2000) for taking game for each of those magazine styles.<br /><br />There are also plentiful AR conversions to 9mm, which gives you multicaliber flexibility without the extra weight of a full rifle. It potentially complicates the magazine situation, though.<br /><br />So, incredibly common, doesn't dictate firearm, works well in both carbines and pistols, effective at range, large enough to take medium game, fairly lightweight per round, easy to reload compared to rifle calibers, it makes a great choice.<br /><br />Another important note, there are several 9mm pistol calibers. Zach was talking about 9x19mm Parabellum. Be careful not to mix it up with very similar cartridges, particularly 9x18 mm Makarov.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7892342121119950405.post-55198457383782647132012-12-10T22:09:00.496-06:002012-12-10T22:09:00.496-06:00Thoughtful article, Zach. I think you cover severa...Thoughtful article, Zach. I think you cover several vital trade-offs, including scavengability. Like in rocket science, the primary driver of your trade space is weight, so anything you can scavenge <i>in situ</i> is that much more water you can carry. And commonality definitely addresses that driver quite well.<br /><br />I'd be careful about overprioritizing the combat capability of a weapon over maintainability and lightness, but that's a largely situation dependent choice. If you're in a highly urbanized environment, combat and deterrence are likely to be primary drivers. If you're in a highly rural environment, low carry weight, flexibility and the ability to take game will be more important. And there's a continuum in between. It's best, I suppose, to have options available so you can make the choice when you have more information.<br /><br />Just focsing on the ammunition discussion, I think there are a few more things you should cover. First, the ammunition and firearm choices place constraints on each other. I'm not sure you can make a good choice without iterating, but I do think your approach of focusing on ammo selection *first* is correct. It's the ammo weight and performance that will matter most, rather than the choice of firearm.<br /><br />Second, the utility of a high powered air rifle or a .22 Long Rifle is considerable. The ammunition is light, cheap and, particularly in the case .22 LR, it's extremely flexible, dangerous enough that it can't be neglected in a firefight and very capable of taking small game (which should probably be favored over large game unless you've established a community .<br /><br />Third, it can be worthwhile to consider reloading options and reloadability. On the plus side, you can, for a large enough ammo stock pile save on weight while reducing your reliance on scavenging. On the con side, there's additional base weight, more items to keep up with, lose, maintain, etc. The larger the ammo stock you're considering, the more useful reloading is, and some caliber and caliber mixes benefit better than others. More on that later.<br /><br />Fourth, certain calibers benefit from being enough like others to function in the same weapon. The best known combo is probably .38 Special and .357 Magnum, but there are others that I will get into. Particularly if you favor revolvers, single shots or lever guns these are worth considering.<br /><br />Now, because this is an excessively fun exercise and what's a response without some contradiction, I'm going to pass judgementon Zach's caliber choices. I'm going to limit my reference situation to long term survival situations. If you're anticipating warfare, join the National Guard. If you're considering a zombie apocolypse, you might be better off focusing on flamethrowers and explosives.<br /><br />From the top:<br /><br />.30-06: The worst choice Zach made. He makes a good point about it being common, except it's not a standard military caliber anymore. 7.62 x 51 mm/.308 Winchester, the caliber that replaced it in US service is (practially) equally performant, lighter per round and still in use as a military caliber. I'd bet Zach a six pack of decent beer that the .308 is more common the '06, it terms of extant cartridges. Not sure how to settle the bet, though.<br /><br />The available weapon choices for the .308 are superior, too. AR-18, Springfield M1, etc. But that's getting even farther offtopic than I intend to go.<br /><br />Side note, I've always heard it referred to as the .30-06 Springfield. I've never heard ".30-06 Remington".<br /><br />(Ok, I had to break this into two posts. There's a 4096 character limit on comments).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com