1)Concentrating on rifle skills instead of mastering the handgun you can carry every day. âBut I can´t hit the broad side of a barn with a handgunâ. Then practice more! Whatever happens, chances are you won´t have the time to go get your rifle when you need a weapon. At the very least donât count on having the time to do so. Now carrying every day and begin proficient, thatâs how at least youâll be armed when you need it the most.
2) Lack of firearms training and ignoring the local laws (because there will be no law after SHTF, WROL, remember?). Expecting to rise to the occasion is foolish, you wont gain the skill you never developed by magic and target shooting, hunting, skeet, plinking or whatever other activity you do that involves firearms DOES NOT count for defensive shooting training. Ignoring the laws may not kill you but it can land you in jail for most of your adult life. Know when and in what circumstances it  is legal for you to use your firearm. Thatâs how you learn what happens if you âshoot to woundâ or what happens if you shoot criminals on the sidewalk and âdrag them insideâ like its sometimes adviced by self-claimed experts. Knowing the law may mean the difference between rotting in jail or not. As things get worse, these things will actually happen more often, soon enough the odds will be that it may happen to you too.
3) Donât bring a knife to a gunfight. Donât ever underestimate the lethality of a knife. Most fights occur within zero and seven yards, and within that range chances are you will get cut. If you lack the basic training and plan on improvising, you will most likely get killed by a determined attacker.
4) Throwing stuff at armed robbers. I read this one in a survival manual and didnât know if I should have cried or laughed. This expert believed that simply showing hostility of some kind was enough to send bad guys away. The truth is that an excited criminal, probably high on drugs and full of hatred towards you, will shoot you if you do something like that in such a dangerous moment. Either know what to do, have the weapons for it and fight like you´re supposed to given the situation or donât, but acting like a hysterical brat will do little to increase your survival rate.
5) Houses pretending to be abandoned and/or empty. Make it look as if thereâs nothing worth stealing, use blinds or shutters so that no one knows thereâs people inside. How many times have you heard or read these nuggets of wisdom? Truth is that a house with no people inside is a temptation and favorite target of any criminal. Even good people during desperate times may try to take shelter in an abandoned house, maybe see if thereâs something they can use. You want your place to look clearly occupied, and spotlights places around the perimeter so as to make it clear you´re ready to defend yourself is even better.
6) Distance equals safety. It doesnât. Its just a false sense of security and the only reason nothing may have happened to you yet is because no one ever tried to get to you. Its even easier to attack a house that is isolated than pulling off a home invasion with neighbors near by. Isolation and distance doesnât mean youâre too far away from anything. If you go t there, so can others.
7) Bug out! Where? How long will it take? Why abandon a defendable, safe, stocked position? You better have a reason for it. Donât just run like a fool at the first sign of trouble because someone told you to do so. 99% of the time youâre better off staying put. If you have to leave, have a place to go to. Its not just a matter of abandoning your current location. Even if you have a bug out location, if it has been left empty chances are that during the disaster someone may have broken into, stolen what was of use, or even worse, decided to take for themselves that nice place you so conveniently left ready in case there was trouble. If you cant leave the place with people watching over it, then its better to count on friends and family members and make arrangements ahead of time so that thereâs no surprises.
8 ) Gear and Supplies, but no money for emergencies, medical bills, medicines, no financial preps for the future and ending up in the poor house. Certain experts will say money will become useless after the âballon goes upâ, the same ballon many of them have been predicting for almost half a century. You donât need to worry about the system because it will utterly fail, money is just paper with pictures and ââŚ. After SHTFâ, people will barter and trade for whatever it is they need. Thatâs a great way to end up broke once you get old, suffer some injury and have to face medical bills or be in desperate need of a real investment that creates actual income flow.
9) Running and jumping across jungles, forests, and freaking volcanos, Baer Grylls style. You donât run, jump and dash through places you donât know, hang over cliffs with a vine or shrub that just happened to be there. Do that for real in a forest or jungle and youâll break a leg or neck in a matter of minutes. Jumping your way across land covered in lava that may or may not give under your weight, not to mention melt away your shoes, is a ticket to an excruciatingly painful death.
10) Going barefoot. 95% of the survival TV âadviceâ is dangerous. Its about having a minimum rating, not teaching you true survival skills. People actually watching it and having fun is the real priority for them. When you see a guy going barefoot just know thatâs short of actually cutting off your own fingers or pocking an eye out with a stick on purpose, its one of the best ways to cripple yourself, limit your possibilities and endanger you basic mobility. If thereâs debris, glass, and sharp objects after a disaster or terrorist attack youâre doomed. If you have to deal with snow and cold weather, cut yourself in the city and risk an infection, its such a bad idea for so many reasons and has no benefit whatsoever.
The part about the pistol rifle is close, but once shtf, the pistol will have almost no value, because nearly everyone will be carrying a longarm, and under lethal threat and without ear protection, the pistol aint worth a hoot on men beyond 10 yds, if they are fully exposed and stattionary. With them being bobbing heads around cover, it aint worth a hoot at 5 lousy yds.
The pistol is vital for now, tho, cause you can’t carry a rifle around. You can have one in your vehicle, another in your home and busisness, and move one back and forth, especially the M4, which easily breaks down into 2 concalable “halves” in 5 seconds and reassembles to fire in 10 seconds.
The lack of water will force townies to flee. Some, who live near a river, may be able to stay, if they have a large filter and a way to store water, but the cities will be full of dog packs, and be at extreme risk of massive fires.
If people see your home is occupied, many will have nothing better to do than “hole up” and shoot at you with their rifles, whenever they get the chance. It won’t take hordes of people, it only takes 1-2, and your neighbors are the most likely culprits. Not one person in 1000 is properly prepped, or ever will be, so they will have no choice but to become a looter.
First of all, a pistol isn’t “worth a hoot” beyond ten yards? Christ almighty, you must be one terrible shot if you can’t hit a man at ten yards with a handgun.
Second of all, you watch too many movies. Short of an actual apocalypse, such as an impossibly deadly disease or a significant nuclear attack, nobody is going to be carrying around rifles (except for people living far out in the country.) People *have* been in these situations, and they are nothing like Hollywood might make you believe.
to the brainiac that thinks he’ll run around with his ar15 and bandolier-thats in the movies.
ferfal has lived it, and the police, military, tsa, swat and FBI don’t disappear after a collapse. you still have to go to work and to the store, and that rifle will get you dead or in jail fast. roadwarrior is a movie, not real life. not for long, anyhow. the police and military get to openly carry rifles, not you or I. we get pistols, and god help us we have to use them.
The part about the pistol rifle is close, but once shtf, the pistol will have almost no value, because nearly everyone will be carrying a longarm, and under lethal threat and without ear protection, the pistol aint worth a hoot on men beyond 10 yds, if they are fully exposed and stattionary. With them being bobbing heads around cover, it aint worth a hoot at 5 lousy yds.
The pistol is vital for now, tho, cause you can’t carry a rifle around. You can have one in your vehicle, another in your home and busisness, and move one back and forth, especially the M4, which easily breaks down into 2 concalable “halves” in 5 seconds and reassembles to fire in 10 seconds.
The lack of water will force townies to flee. Some, who live near a river, may be able to stay, if they have a large filter and a way to store water, but the cities will be full of dog packs, and be at extreme risk of massive fires.
If people see your home is occupied, many will have nothing better to do than “hole up” and shoot at you with their rifles, whenever they get the chance. It won’t take hordes of people, it only takes 1-2, and your neighbors are the most likely culprits. Not one person in 1000 is properly prepped, or ever will be, so they will have no choice but to become a looter.
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Bob Reply:
March 29th, 2012 at 12:10 am
@John Deere, please tell me you aren’t serious.
First of all, a pistol isn’t “worth a hoot” beyond ten yards? Christ almighty, you must be one terrible shot if you can’t hit a man at ten yards with a handgun.
Second of all, you watch too many movies. Short of an actual apocalypse, such as an impossibly deadly disease or a significant nuclear attack, nobody is going to be carrying around rifles (except for people living far out in the country.) People *have* been in these situations, and they are nothing like Hollywood might make you believe.
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Great article…
We just added it to our site..
TotalCollapse.com
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to the brainiac that thinks he’ll run around with his ar15 and bandolier-thats in the movies.
ferfal has lived it, and the police, military, tsa, swat and FBI don’t disappear after a collapse. you still have to go to work and to the store, and that rifle will get you dead or in jail fast. roadwarrior is a movie, not real life. not for long, anyhow. the police and military get to openly carry rifles, not you or I. we get pistols, and god help us we have to use them.
[Reply to this comment]