common caliber contentious

COMMON CALIBER CONTENTIOUS


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I know I’m pretty subtle about the whole thing, so you may not have noticed, but I enjoy being contentious. First off, I’m usually always right and it just so happens that everybody else always seems to be wrong. Secondly, it is rather fun to argue when you know it is going to raise other people’s blood pressure. Hey, don’t blame me. It’s not my fault you are incorrect most of the time. Today, we point out the fallacy of common calibers, at least insofar as scarcity and communism. It might be tactically prudent, but only as relates to modern doctrine of using plastic carbines like shotguns and assuming a helicopter is enroute to resupply your ass. You know how I feel about that. Here, I’ll just bring up a pertinent point you may have failed to ponder. Which brings me right back to yet another book review. The book is “Shut Down” by WR Flynn, which is what gave me this idea ( well, that book and Lucifer’s Hammer, but I had forgot all about it in the older book ). I’m rating this book right up there with “The Unit”. Not the top twenty of all time, but darn close. It’s faults were few and it had a lot to appreciate. With the caveat that you enjoy economics. It wasn’t boring ( I finished the book in about five hours ), it wasn’t overly technical, but it was basically a novel about the economic collapse globally leading to the die-off ( a bit of Peak Oil thrown in, just to warn the FracGas Fanatics to NOT buy the book ). If that is your sort of thing, you should enjoy this book. There was a basic plotline about escaping the suburbs and battling Zombie Bikers, a bit of Semi Auto Erotica, but it focused on economics and resource depletion. There were a lot of times I thought I was reading a fiction version of Bison. Perhaps this book will tie it all together for you better than I’ve been doing.

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As in “Lucifer’s”, Shut Down has the town coming together and pooling resources to survive. For those unfamiliar with history, “pooling resources” is what communism really means. You work like a beast of burden, lay away supplies by cutting the budget to the bone, stay away from theatres and bars and nice restraints, and your neighbor makes twice your salary and owns three AR’s, two boxes of ammo and three packages of Top Ramen. When it is time to form a defensive organization, you get to keep your neighbor alive with YOUR food and YOUR ammo. This obviously sucks a golf ball through a garden hose, but usually it is your only option if want warm bodies in the militia to help in your families defense. Sometimes this is a clear cut benefit, other times your neighbors decide you are going to share regardless of your input. Now, to a certain degree I can see sharing food. You can all pool your labor and before you know it you have grown new food. That’s the great thing about food. As long as you never touch your seeds, you can usually survive baring locusts or global ice ages or what have you. But ammunition is a one time deal. I’m sorry, but scavenging is simple not an answer. It only cushions slightly ( I read the book “They Fought Alone” as was recommended to me by a minion. A damn enjoyable read, but to me sorely lacking in Apocalypse instruction [ fine in guerrilla tactics and strategy, however ]. Their rearmament strategies? Gunpowder by mixing landmine powder and dynamite powder. Bullets by taking 30 caliber curtain rods and rock sharpening them, and primers by getting mercury from thermometers. Scavenging, and no where near sustainable. They were quickly resupplied by submarine, with factory munitions ). You can stretch out the time until you are out of ammo, but it won’t be long before you are screwed.

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Giving the finite nature of your ammunition supply, it is basically suicidal if you are forced to share it. You end up with only a few rounds, because most people, 99% of them, are supreme mouth breathing banjo playing special education kids. They see a threat at every corner, and they fail to buy enough ammo for all their guns. And yet, YOU are penalized for their stupidity. In effect, the message is “if you want a bunch of vacant eyed brain dead knotheads to MAYBIE, if you are really lucky, help defend you so you can sleep, you will give them all your ammunition and hope the jerkoff leprosy brains don’t get you killed”. You can’t refuse. One, if they find out, they take everything you own and banish you. Or two, you don’t have much choice if you want a group to help you survive. So, because I am such a swell guy and am always looking to help a brother out, here is a possible solution. Make everyone else share in the pooled resources. If you have an oddball caliber rifle, say, oh, I don’t know, a 303 British, no one else is going to own that gun and you will be excused from having to share. Hey, it’s bad enough you are sharing all your wheat, no need to share the ammo also. No one is going to have much food either, so you’ve done more than fair share with your grain stash. Morally, you are ahead of the game. So when the time comes that the town is overrun by zombies and you bug out, you can with a clear soul leave still carrying some ammo to help protect yourself. And the town will fail. Remember, it is comprised of mostly stupid people.

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We’ll leave aside the questions of the advisability of even joining a group right away rather than waiting for after the die-off. Here, I’d just like to point out there is at least one very good reason to NOT own a common caliber.

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