I agree with Benjamin, not being prepared opens the door and invites failure to come right in and while failure brings the opportunity to learn, develop and grow - positives - but it can also have negative effects depending on the situation. Preparation doesn't mean success is assured of course, but it can move a person much closer to it or at least help to minimise the damage done when failure occurs.
I like to be prepared, it's a habit and part of my nature - somewhat of a hobby - and I have an ethos of preparedness in all things.
In conversation with a friend recently, we were talking about our firearms; specifically about the suitability of what each of us possesses to situations such as civil unrest, home invasion, SHTF situations, hunting and recreational shooting and other such things; both of us, while extremely focused on such matters, felt we were inadequately equipped for one specific reason; the lack of a .22LR rifle.
.22LR
Both of us have been long-term shooters with a background in long range rifle shooting and marksmanship; we own and operate large centre-fire calibre rifles starting at the .308 moving through to the 300WM, 338 Lapua and so on. We both also shoot centre-fire semi-automatic handguns in various situations and have many years shooting experience (60+) between us. The much smaller rimfire .22LR calibre has never been something we've needed to shoot due to it being ineffective at long range and having almost zero knock-down at much past 50-70 metres; it's not going to stop much at all besides a rabbit or other small game - although, a well placed shot by a trained marksman will do the job on larger things. It's just not a firearm either of us has ever needed...but we both agree it's a firearm that is a valuable addition to a preppers' armoury.
You can see one pictured, a .22LR CZ 515 I had the opportunity to possess for a time and which I spent a lot of time shooting. It was fast, fun, reliable and accurate and .22LR ammunition is cheap, some $6-$10 per 50 rounds as opposed to the $2.50+ per round for the larger calibres we generally shoot.
I was shooting it out to 100 metres and grouping adequately and ended up using it in a little practical/run-and-gun rifle competition I was asked to enter. Nope, I didn't win but top ten out of over a hundred entrants was acceptable. I gave it back to the organisation that had loaned it to me and, despite enjoying it and having all good intentions of buying one I never did.
Use case
Big calibre rifles and handguns are loud, super loud, and that's not always a good thing.
The .22LR is a quiet rifle (in comparison) and that means one can maintain a lower profile in situations where noise-discipline is required or desired such as a SHTF scenario where drawing attention to oneself could be inviting trouble best avoided; also in small-game hunting situations where the game will bugger off when loud noises occur.
60 decibels is about the equivalent to the volume of normal conversation and 150 decibels is the sound of fireworks.
The popping sound (around 60-100 decibels or so compared to over 160db for a .308) which a .22LR makes can help a person avoid attention and the calibre, whilst only good at short range, can still be effective...shooting a rabbit for instance...or something else with a well-aimed shot. The .22LR rifle is also very light making it more mobile than a heavy long range rifle which weighs much more and ammunition is readily available and (usually) easily found considering there's so many .22LR rifles out there.
I've been thinking about picking up a .22LR to add to my armoury for a while and despite enjoying the CZ 515 I'd end up getting a manual bolt action as there's less that can go wrong in the field compared to the bolt action lever release the CZ 515 uses; I like reliable firearms, Sure, the 515 is super-fast to fire and that can have some use but I'd be after reliability over speed and the better accuracy that comes with it. I'm not sure what I'll get just yet however I like the Ruger 77/22 and Sako P94 S and have fired both in the past, but there's other options. What I know for sure is that a .22LR is on the radar and it will round out my armoury nicely which is currently very large-calibre oriented.
I know most of you have no clue about firearms and no interest either, maybe just @ksteem will know what I'm going on about in this post (and I'd love to hear his thoughts) but being prepared isn't only about firearms, there's so many other ways to be prepared for adversity or difficult situations that may arise...I wonder if you think about being more prepared and if so what do you do to move towards it? If you do nothing, what do you think will happen if a situation arose that you were inadequately prepared for?
Design and create your ideal life, tomorrow isn't promised - galenkp
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Image(s) in this post are my own