I have tried to learn a little on my own by reading and your advice seems pretty close to the consensus I’m hearing (I don’t even bother to listen to the blow-hard gun-nuts). I love your advice for “… if you had $200″.

I finally figured out what you meant with the “Low End” its a package you had in mind for someone to purchase everything on the list. So with my budget, I will be on the low end. What order would you plan getting those if I have to space out those purchases over a few years? Also is the new england “slug gun” the same shotgun you mentioned in the $200 plan?

I have two little boys 2 and 4 mos. in a pretty small 1200sq ft. home. I will probably be keeping all guns locked and in very out of the way space (like a nearly impossible to get into attic or in the rafters of my garage.) Would someone like me still have a reasonable need for a handgun. Should that be last on the list? If I happen to inherit a shotgun would you then recommend adding the Marlin 336 to the list?

Bernard,

Very true! However, as I stress in the article, putting too many resources in any one direction is not advised. In the internet forum world you would be called a whatever-tard. Guntard. Foodtard. Powertard. Gold/Silvertard.

Life is about balance. At your recommendation, I may try to write a basic food storage guide, time and site owner permitting.

(Hehehe. Bait!)

Forgot to tell you: Ignore your 9mm detractors. Its a fine round, economical and many very fine pistols and very inexpensive pistols are chambered for it. If you’re comfortable with it, keep it.

Rule of thumb: If you can hit a 6 inch paper plate at 25yds most of the time, you’re good to go for using it for self defense.

With 9mm ammo, the cheap stuff is simply full metal case, non-expanding. In other words, it just punches holes. Now, its not like stabbing somebody with a .356 in. rod because its going 700 or 800 feet per second. So, even non-expanding ammo “blows” a hole. However, for maximum effectiveness I would recommend something loaded with Hornady 115gr XTP Hollow Points, or equivalent. That would be your primary defense round. But, they aren’t cheap. They’re probably 4 times the cost of full metal case ammo. So, get you a few boxes (as much as you can afford) of the hollow points, then, round out to 1000 rounds with the FMC stuff.

With shotguns, there are many loadings. Mainly smaller pellets (commonly called “shot”) are for smaller targets. Larger shot (which creates a more sparse pattern) is for larger and longer range targets. Bigger shells with heavier loads (3″ mag and 3 1/2″ supermag) get you more shot and a denser pattern.

If I had to choose 1 loading, I would go with 1 1/4 oz. of #4s. A couple hundred rounds of that will tide you over. However, If you can, study the usage a bit and get 2 or 3 boxes of each:

#8
#6
#4
BBs (lead)
#00

Add a few deer slugs

I consider #4s prime for self defense.

Good luck!