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The objective of this article series is not to argue who John Titor is, or the possibility of time travel. While many of us on the staff of Cybertech are watching developments in quantum physics and particularity goings on at CERN with much interest, our immediate objective is much more mundane. We have been going through the writings of John Titor and extracting the little bits and pieces as they apply to self-reliance and preparedness. Among his words of advice we found the following:

• Get a gun, bicycle, and five friends within 100 miles you can trust your life with.

• Freewill beats predestination.

• Mobile lifestyle essential.

• Shotgun as survival firearm.

• Spirituality important (versus organized religion).

• Rural versus city.

• Organization near major learning areas.

• The people whom you can trust the least will be the ones with the most to lose when the system changes.

• The enemy will be those detaining and holding people without due process.

In this installment we will be talking about the advice, “Get a gun, bicycle, and five friends within 100 miles you can trust your life with.” This simple sentence closely mirrors the lesson constantly reinforced to every recruit that goes though army basic training, “Shoot! Move! Communicate!” These three basic tasks from the groundwork upon which all military training is built upon. If you cannot accomplish these three tasks, then your mission capability is non-existent. They also apply to preparedness as well. Being able to defend yourself, move around, and stay in touch with your like-minded close friends form the basis of a survival group's actions.

Few preparedness-oriented individuals will argue about the need for defensive weaponry. Samuel Colt was not speaking in jest when he referred to his pistols as “equalizers”, for they allow the five-foot ninety-pound lady to be on the same level as a six-foot, two-hundred fifty pound man when defending her honor. This also works on a larger scale as a good rifle in the hands of a trained individual allows citizen militias to keep foreign invaders and domestic tyrants at bay. Titor in his writings mentioned carrying a shotgun. As a long-time shooter I can understand his choice especially in urban areas, thick forests, and jungles. For defensive purposes within 100 meters and sustenance hunting the shotgun would be an effective tool. Shotguns are also among the last firearms banned in totalitarian states, often making them the only choice of people who decide at the very last minute they need to be armed. A shotgun however is at a serious range disadvantage past 100 meters when going against a rifle, even one in such short-ranged calibers as 5.56mm NATO (aka .223 Remington) and 7.62x39mm Soviet.

The best pieces of advice I have received about firearms came from old-school survivalist writer Kurt Saxon and from an old-friend I will refer to as “Scout”. Kurt Saxon's advice was this: “A pistol for the bedroom, a shotgun over the door, a 30-06 for reaching out; you don't need any more.” Kurt's wisdom regarding a basic three-gun battery is probably some of the most sage advice I've heard regarding firearms. The piece of advice I received from Scout was on the same level, minimalist but extremely profound. He said that whatever firearms one decides to carry, one should ensure that they work flawlessly and practice extensively with them. Despite anything you might have heard regarding gun advice, if you acquire the basic three-gun battery, make sure they work flawlessly, and practice with them, you can consider yourself well-armed.

I will part ways with Titor regarding the use of a shotgun as a primary firearm. While a shotgun is certainly an essential part of ones survival arsenal, the cornerstone of a survivalist's battery is his or her rifle. Many “bad guys” will be carrying rifles, and you will need a rifle to be able to effectively defend yourself against them. You will need a military-style Homeland Defense Rifle in a “.30 caliber” cartridge. This should be a semi-automatic Homeland Defense Rifle, but an older bolt-action Homeland Defense Rifle will suffice if you live in a totalitarian state that has banned “assault weapons” or cannot immediately afford a semi-automatic. The caliber is the most important factor. You will be likely going up against bad guys armed with “rifles” in calibers such as 5.56mm NATO (aka .223 Remington), 7.62x39mm Soviet, .30-30 Winchester, and assorted pistol-type calibers. These calibers are generally only effective out to about 200 or 300 meters depending on the skill of the person behind the gun. With a .30 caliber rifle, a good rifleman can engage targets at ranges of 500 meters or more. That range advantage will help keep you safe.

When I use the term “.30 caliber” I am referring to two cartridges in particular, either the 7.62mm NATO round (aka .308 Winchester), or .30-06. Your rifle should be in one of those two calibers. The 7.62mm NATO is the current round for machine guns and sniper/designated rifleman rifles in the western world's militaries. It is also a common hunting rifle round in the United States. The .30-06 was the rifle round of the US Military in World Wars I and II, Korea, and to some extent Vietnam until it was replaced with the 7.62mm NATO round. The .30-06 is also probably the most common hunting rifle cartridge in the United States. With either of these two rounds, you should not have any problems scrounging ammunition. While there are other military surplus rounds in the .30 caliber class such as 8mm Mauser and 7.62x54mm Soviet that are currently inexpensive to purchase in bulk, their availability will be very limited once existing surplus quantities of ammunition run out, and commercial ammo will cost as much as .30-06 or .308. Back in the early 1990s there was a similar situation with .303 British ammo. Lee Enfield rifles were in $100 price range and milsurp ammo was dirt cheap. A lot of militia-types were advocating them as the rifle and ammo was inexpensive, they offered a 10-round magazine capacity (versus 5 for a Mauser), and being a bolt-action they didn't run afoul of semi-auto Homeland Defense Rifle bans being enacted in some locales. Then the supplies of milurp .303 were bought-up and ammo prices increased. Now .303 owners are in the same boat as every other .30 caliber rifle owner when it comes to ammo prices with the added disadvantage of post-TEOTWAWKI scrounging problems. As long as the Second Amendment isn't totally gutted, you will be able to walk into any hardware store in the rural United States or a Wal-Mart and find .30-06 ammo, and more likely than not .308. Since it is a current military round and will be for some time, you will be able to scrounge .308 post TEOTWAWKI from a number of sources.

Now with caliber choice taken care of, we can talk about actual model choice. The specific model is actually unimportant as long as the gun is ergonomically comfortable, reliable, and accurate. What is important is that you have a military rifle. This can be either a mil-spec “civilian” version of a semi-automatic battle rifle or a military-surplus bolt-action rifle. Why a military rifle? Unlike civilian hunting rifles they have the ruggedness required for rough sustained field use and are generally designed to be reliable under extreme conditions. Your first choice of the two would be the semi-auto, the true Homeland Defense Rifle. This boils down to four choices. There is the M1A which is the civilian version of the M-14 battle rifle, civilian versions of the German G-3 (aka HK-91) and Spanish CETME, and civilian versions of the Belgian FN-FAL, L1A1 and STG-58 which are variants of the same rifle design, and the M1 Garand which was rifle of US forces until the adoption of the M-14. The M1A, HK, and FAL are all chambered in .308, whereas the Garand is in .30-06. Each of these rifles has its advocates and detractors, and each have their pluses and minuses. Having familiarity with all four I'd say any one of them will serve you just fine provided your particular weapon is in reliable condition and you practice with it. My advice is to try out all four, see which one resonates with you, and go with that. When pricing out these rifles, you will find that they cost more than typical sporting arms, and you will find yourself spending a couple thousand dollars when all is said and done for a rifle and all the accessories needed. While this may seem expensive to some, it is just a one-time investment and a properly maintained rifle will last a lifetime. Sell off your excess possessions in a yard sale or take a part-time job if you have to so you can properly equip yourself while you still can.

There may be a situation where you cannot acquire a semi-auto Homeland Defense Rifle. They may be illegal in your state and you may be unable to relocate. In that instance, a military surplus bolt-action would be an adequate choice. There exist several military bolt-action rifles already chambered in .308 or .30-06 calibers. Among them are the Springfield M1903 (.30-06), Enfield P-17 (.30-06), Spanish FR-8 (.308), Israeli 98K (.308), and Ishapore Enfield (.308). My first choice would be either a Springfield M1903 or Spanish FR-8. Additionally many foreign milsurp bolt actions, especially Mausers, have been sporterized and rechambered in either .308 or .30-06. Any of these would suffice, although due to the age of these rifles and inability to know how well they were maintained by previous owners I would have any potential purchase examined by a competent gunsmith. I have seen sporterized milsurp bolt actions in good condition selling at the $300-$500 range. You may even find one for less if you look around. A possible solution for those on a budget is to buy an inexpensive large-ring Mauser such as a German 98K or Yugo M-48 and have it converted to .308 or .30-06. There was one mail-order sporting goods vendor offering Norwegian Mauser 98K barrels in .30-06.

Since I'm sure someone will ask, citing extreme poverty due to the current economic situation, I will offer the extreme bargain basement solution to arming oneself with a military-style Homeland Defense Rifle. This goes against my advice regarding selecting caliber selection, but any gun is better than nothing at all. Go to your local gun-dealer that specializes in used/milsurp guns. You may have to look around and go through all the dealers that cater to the sporting crowd, but every locale has one. Buy a Russian milsurp Mosin-Nagant and as much 7.62x54mm Russian ammo as you can afford. The last time I checked, Mosin-Nagant M44 carbines were in the $100 price range, and a tin of around 300 rounds of surplus ammo was $80. Ten-round boxes of ammo were about $4 each. Aim to get at least 1000 rounds. Practice with the rifle, and replace ammo as you use it (or buy two boxes for every box you shoot through). Keep buying ammo whenever you can afford to, as the cheap milsurp stuff is not going to be around forever. If TSHTF you will at least be armed with something decent. When you can afford something in .308 or .30-06 either keep everything as a spare, or sell it to someone and put the resultant cash back into your preparations budget.

To be continued...