In Arming A Squad Of Untrained Family Members: Part 1, I discussed the makeup of my group and general issues with security that we faced. In Part 2, I intend to continue with the actual equipment & supplies needed to at least attempt to make my plans effective. Please remember that situations vary and what I have chosen for myself, may not be appropriate for you. 😊
Peoples Republic of New Jersey Battle Rifle!
Long gun:
Given the training requirement, .22 rifles will be staple equipment . My preference is for Ruger 10/22s. (Not Salty’s choice!) These will be used for training and small game. They are common, and parts are available. For a more serious rifle, I will stick to AR-15s. 5.56 is still a very low recoil caliber. (Okay, I wrote about building an AR-10, so there may be an AR-10 in the mix, after all we have bears!)
The AR is relatively simple, easy to get parts for, and as of this writing, you can acquire a “modern sporting rifle” for under $400. Given the pricing chaos after Sandy Hook, the relatively low price of AR-15s today is subject to change. Now is an excellent time to start acquiring parts, particularly stripped lowers, if you wish to assemble them yourself. I suspect we are at, or near, a low point for prices on ARs, and AR parts.
You may recall my recommendation to acquire stripped lowers. If you only want the stripped lower at the present time, I have seen prices under $40.
You can make a different equipment choice, but I’ll go with AR-15s as they are both cheap, and easy to operate by people with limited training. They are light and have light recoil. If you bought Mosins when they were cheap, keep them. If ARs skyrocket in price as they did after Sandy Hook, you may need a different choice. Today ARs are my choice.
Salty’s Pink Glock
Handgun:
I like Glocks. Acquiring a Glock Gen 3 police trade-in is inexpensive, as they are generally available for under $400, occasionally well under. These may show a bit of holster wear, but functionally are fine. Eating donuts doesn’t put a lot of wear on a Glock sitting in a holster. If the holster wear bothers you, you can have your Glock Cerakoted pink. 😊 There are cheaper handguns, but with Glock’s reputation for reliability, and being easy to clean, I’ll stick to Glocks. If you don’t like Glocks, that’s okay, get what you want, but I figure someone who shows up without a handgun won’t be picky. I have also never had a failure to fire with a Glock.
Ammunition:
Obviously, ammunition is needed for the firearms you choose. .22LR was in short supply after Sandy Hook, but availability has definitely improved and seems to be mostly normal at present. Going into the Sandy Hook shortage, I was stocked up on everything I wanted, except .22LR. Murphy wins a round. ☹
Watch for sales. All calibers are currently available, albeit the commie MilSurp stuff is not as available, or cheap, as it once was. Whether ammo prices drop lower remains to be seen, but overall, they are reasonable at the present time.
I wrote previously about ammunition requirements for the entire group. As a result of the methods used, I do not include the cost of ammo in the cost of my “loaner package”. Ammunition is budgeted for the MAG regardless of who supplies the firearms. Note that ammo is expensive, and in sufficient quantity will exceed the cost of firearms.
Accessory Equipment:
Each long gun will require a sling, magazines, and ideally a case. I also recommend a drop bag to hold spare magazines. Each handgun will require a holster and magazines. I also recommend a few heavy belts. Ladies fashions often do not contemplate wearing a belt, let alone a handgun.
Magazines:
In the People’s Republic of New Jersey, and several other jurisdictions, limits on magazine size essentially require that you compensate with more magazines and practice changing them. The same is true in other anti-gun states. Currently, New Jersey has a 15-round limit, but there have been efforts to reduce that to 10. Where this issue goes in the future remains to be seen, but I suggest at least some 10 round magazines, where ever you may be, in case the local law changes adversely. For California, I recommend a Mean Arms MA loader. (Actually, a bunch of them.) or a true “featureless” rifle.
Cleaning supplies:
Cleaning equipment & supplies will be needed. Fortunately, I have a tendency to keep trying new products and have a stash of stuff I tried, and then moved on to try something else. In a SHTF situation all the leftover supplies will get used. Don’t forget an ample supply of rags and patches. If you get desperate, all sorts of stuff will work. (I am planning a post on gun cleaning for a later date.)
Tools:
The weapons I have chosen need a few tools, but fortunately they are not expensive. For the AR-15, an Armorer’s wrench, and an upper and lower vice block is convenient. Glocks can be disassembled with a punch and not much else. If you choose different firearms you may need different equipment.
Parts:
Having some small parts and replacement springs for your chosen firearms will be very handy when replacement is not possible.
Light:
If the power is out, you’re going to want to have a stash of flashlights, batteries, and battery chargers. In addition, you will probably want weapon lights. Good ones tend to be expensive. In this case, cheap lights from Amazon, or a similar source, will do just fine. Again, someone who shows up with nothing, can’t be choosy.
Optics:
Optics are great for rifles. In this part of the country, long distance shots tend to be challenged by trees and other obstacles, so acquiring a cheap red dot and 3x flip up magnifier is something I would like to do for each rifle, but nothing fancier. More exotic optics like night vision, or infrared, are too expensive for this application, but maybe someday they’ll be less expensive, or I’ll have more available to invest in preps. 😊
Armor:
Tactical vests, plates, etc. would be nice to have. I don’t expect to obtain these due to cost, but again, maybe someday. ☹
Summary:
While this whole package may sound expensive, you can outfit one person for about $1,000 at today’s prices. Depending on your perspective, that is still a lot of money, or a bargain. It certainly adds up if you are outfitting a large group of people. The price will also go up depending on ammunition supplies, and the number of magazines you are comfortable with.
If prices hold, I will be able to outfit my MAG, or Squad, with the equipment I have described, over time. Training will begin upon SHTF, right after moving all the furniture and dog food up against the outside walls. 😊 Maybe dog food makes a good backstop? In addition, if SHTF never happens, I’ll have left a nice Prepper Estate for each of my children and grandchildren. Who wouldn’t appreciate one of Grandpa’s guns? 😊
If you wish to prepare in a similar manner, determine the number of people you may have to outfit, set a budget, choose your products, and watch for sales.
Thank you for the article. It convinced me to write an article about my home defense plan should it become necessary.
Please do tell how I can get an AR for $400.
I wrote that before the school shooting in FL, so prices may have changed, but for current pricing I tend to check here:
https://www.wikiarms.com/group/ar15rifles
My personal preference is to assemble from parts, which may, or may not, save you some money, depending on the part chosen.
On the topic of body armor…
You can go significantly cheaper than $1000 and still do quite well for rifle protection provided that you’re willing to make some sacrifices to your “tacticool” look.
Below is my carrier set up and the prices of each piece. [Keep in mind that I did NOT set this up for combat, I set it up for reviewing training courses where I don’t know the caliber (pardon that pun) of the other people in the group and I’d really rather not end up with a bullet inside/passing through me because that will really ruin your day and even with insurance it’s a heck of a lot more expensive than even a high end carrier rig.]
Again, this isn’t meant to “look cool” or be full battle rattle. Realistically if you need more ammo than this carries you’ve really screwed up already. All this stuff is high end. No Condor crap here but I’m also not going into Mayflower or Crye (ultra high end expensive gear).
Carrier: Warrior Assault Systems DCS-R Releasable Carrier System. $140-$150 IF you pick a discontinued camo pattern. $210-$240 for the new “look”. I like A-TACS-AU. It’s been discontinued and is therefore pretty cheap compared to Multicam or Coyote.
Front and Back plates: HESCO SRT (Special Rifle Threat) Plates. 5.4lbs each, Available around $180 a piece. Rated for multiple hits from up to 7.62x39API-BZ. This is stand-alone armor, no other pieces required.
Side Armor: Stealth Armor Systems GTX K-3A Soft Armor. Rated to stop .44 Mag. ~$90/pair.
======= So at this point you’re pretty well fully armored and have a carrier for about $600.
At this point you can add pouches to the carrier if you want/need.
I put a single 5.56 mag pouch on my rig. It’s a double mag pouch (holds two mags). $30.
Double pistol mag pouch: $25
Admin pouch (chest): $45
Regular Pouch (medical): $25.
For context, if you add two more double 5.56 mag pouches to this and full load your six GI mags the whole kit, with two IFAKs and a radio comes in at about 24lbs. Take off the 4x extra 5.56 mags and the radio and you’ll be down to around 19lbs.
Total: $725 or so. You can get cheaper if you’re willing to shop sales and find some coupons codes. You can probably get the whole rig like this for about $625 if you work at it. Regardless, even paying “full price” right now because you want this in the mail tomorrow you’re still at 27.5% less than the quoted number in this article. Truth be told you do not need .308 rated plates. They’re heavy/expensive and they will seriously reduce your mobility. Plus, you really won’t run into many .308 rifles that you need to worry about. Most people can’t shoot for crap (sorry, true) so they’ll miss and .308 rifles don’t come back on target fast (which is why the military switched to 5.56 back in the day). If you do run into someone who can shoot they’ll skip your carrier and shoot low in which case you’re pretty screwed anyway.
Thank you for that detail. My reference to $1,000 included both the rifle and handgun, and accessories, so while your carrier with all it’s attachments is also under $1,000, it would bring my total package closer to $2,000. Since I am setting up my “loaner packages” for a MAG of 20 and perhaps half will need firearms, that would bump my cost from about $10k closer to $20k. It would certainly be nice to do, but I’d probably be wiser to use the extra money for other preps. Maybe someday. 🙂
I don’t pretend to know your situation but one of the nice things about armor is that you can buy the rigs in pieces since they don’t go bad.
The only thing to really try hard to take into account at that point is size. Sizing the carrier properly is key. You don’t want it flopping around and you don’t want it too small or the plates don’t cover your heart and lungs properly.
For training purposes you can replace the rig with a cheapo weight vest and a cheapo chest rig to simulate the extra weight and still carry spare mags and equipment.
Well, my situation has been gradually revealed over the course of quite a few posts. If you are a new reader and enjoyed this post perhaps you’ll be interested in going back and reading some of my earlier posts. Key facts to understand are that I have been in a number of disaster situations, which have shaped my thinking, and I am prepping for a family based group of approximately 20 people. This is a different situation than most, but it sometimes gives rise to some interesting spin on prepping.