There are five rifles on the wall. Four lever action and “Mrs. Pink”, an AR-15 platform with pink furniture. Don’t ask.
They are known as “Bear”, “Deer”, “Raccoon”, “Squirrel”, and “Mrs. Pink.”
Bear is a Henry Big Boy in 45-70. Deer is a Winchester model 94 in 30-30. Squirrel is a Henry Golden Boy in .22LR.
We do have bear around here, and I know that Bear has enough stopping power, with rapid follow-ups.
Deer has taken a couple of deer. She does a fine job with iron sights for me out to around 150 yards.
Squirrel isn’t used for squirrel hunting, but damn he’s fun to shoot.
That leave’s Raccoon. Raccoon is a Rossi R-95 in .357 Magnum. She eats .38 special just fine. She is a little loose where the stock attaches to the receiver, but she will put rounds on target out to 100 yards with no problem.
The lever action in .357 is a nice, mid-weight, rifle. I’ve used it for taken fat raccoon and opossums. One shot and they are down.
She is easy to reload for, and it is easy to police up all the brass. I cast hollow point bullets for her and have some commercial bullets for her as well.
All in all, she is a great rifle.
There is a matching wheel gun in .357 magnum. I don’t have enough time with that revolver. It is more than capable of putting rounds on target, I’m not. It doesn’t shoot like my Sig nor my 1911s.
Would I recommend an R-95 for a first-time gun buyer? No.
They don’t have a great reputation. The loading gate is nasty sharp, it needs a little care to get it to function easily. I found that finding ammo for it was a bit of a pain. With reloading, it is a joy.
Mrs. Pink as a red dot on her. She belongs to my wife. We run the manual of arms every so often, but I figure she has 30 rounds before she needs an assist to load the next magazine. But I know that those 30 rounds are going exactly where she wants them to go.
The iron sights on the four lever guns work fine for me today. I have another 30-30 that has a scope mounted on it. I need to spend a few dollars to replace the scope with something modern and then sight everything in.
All in all, those rifles make up the “go to” when needed now.
The other part of this are the LBV that are available for use. Each vest has 6 30 round mags of 5.56, at least 2 spare mags for the pistol that goes with the LBV, and a first aid kit.
Past Plans
When I was considering buying my first firearms, I was looking at “what happens if…” My thought process was based on the concept of availability of ammo after the fall.
That lead me to an AR-15 in 5.56, an AK type rifle in 7.62×39, a 9mm Glock, a bolt action in 7.62×51, a black powder revolver, and a black powder rifle.
The firearm I have the most fun with, to this day, are the AR’s. They are gentle on the shoulder, the ammo isn’t too expensive, they are easy to carry and are just plain fun.
Though I will note that they eat ammo rapidly. It isn’t an unusual range day when I won’t send 300+ rounds down range.
I still have .308 from the original ammo buy. I’ve augmented it with reloads, but I don’t feed much through that rifle.
Of course, once I started buying firearms, it hasn’t really stopped.
Regardless, as more than one person has said, when the SHTF, the best firearm is the one you have.
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