A One-gun Solution

by JB

If I can only have one gun, what should it be? Simply answered, guns are merely tools, and there is a correct tool for any job; or else one needs to be created. If you could have only one tool, would it be a hammer, a screwdriver, a chisel, pliers, pocket knife, maybe a bottle opener?

For academic argument, let’s say that this is your first gun, you have limited financial resources, and you want to know which one to buy before society collapses, the aliens attack, or the zombies start munching on Aunt Sophie. So, you're bugging-out with only enough time to grab one gun and its ammo… which will it be?

AK-47’s and their ilk are considered by many to be the world’s greatest rifle, it’s on the internet, it must be true. They are inexpensive; and since a soldier is useless without a weapon, the piece of junk a government can rob its citizens to afford putting in a soldier’s hand is far better than the perfect weapon sitting on some factory’s shelves. So, worldwide use of the AK-47 testifies to its value as a small-arms system.

But, YOU can’t buy an AK-47 because an AK-47 has full-auto capability; what you can buy is a neutered or imitation AK-47, and this dramatically affects reliability. The AK was designed to be used at short range in “spray and pray” mode, neither accuracy nor power where ever serious considerations in its design, therefore, its reliability as a semi-automatic weapon is seriously compromised by its inability to hit a target.

In the event you will need this gun to defend yourself, distance between you and your opponent will save your life. By the time the zombies have gotten into your house, you need to make peace with your maker while grabbing your pistol. If you need this gun to feed your loved-ones, or even just impress the girls, you might want a firearm that can hit a target smaller than a killer-watermelon at a distance greater than 50 yards… let’s say, a rabbit’s head at 100 yards.

“But, they have killed more people than any other weapon…” you defiantly shout. True, because there have been over 100 MILLION of them built and used primarily by economically challenged, autocratic dictatorships, rebel forces, and terrorists: to win hearts and minds by killing their owners and cutting them out… The political, economic, and propaganda forces which launched the AK-47 into the world’s small arms universe, allowing them to flow through the communist food chain into third world nations, terrorist organizations, and onto the shelves of your local neighborhood gun shop is efficiently detailed in, The Gun, by New York Times writer and Pulitzer Prize winner, C.J. Chivers.

The AR-15 “rat-shooter” is much more accurate than the AK, but its direct impingement system needs faithful, detailed cleaning to function reliably; and, its small, fiddly-bits blend-in well with both carpeting and forest debris. Another disadvantage of the AR design is the buffer system which, even in a piston-driven version, extends into the butt stock, negating any possibility folding this rifle into a non-descript sports bag. Because it uses a varmint cartridge, it will demand a substantial waste of energy chasing down wounded deer or other food-source animals. Your first shot will merely alert the zombies to your presence, but, your follow-up shot will inform them of your direction and approximate distance as well.

Finally, there is large contingent of true-believers in the shotgun’s superiority, but I would like to remind folks that one of the functions of the, “one gun solution” is self-defense. You may not be inside your home, so, if you can reach out and touch someone before they can reach out and touch you, you win. A 12-guage shotgun will find you outgunned as you frantically reload that seven-round tube magazine after several intermediate-distance misses. And, either buck-shot or slugs make a mess out of squirrel meat.

The most versatile cartridges out there are the 30-06, and its derivative, the .308 Winchester. These cartridges are sold at sporting goods stores, convenience stores, hardware stores, Wal-Mart, K-Mart, and, in some parts of the country, even at gas stations. The loads range from the Remington Accelerator 55 grain sabot round all the way up to 220 grain locomotives capable of causing a bad day for a grizzly bear. The configurations span boat-tail hollow point match, full metal jacket, ballistic tip, round nose, soft nose, solid gilding material, A-frames, frangible, and damn accurate factory match-grade. Rifles using the 30-06 are fairly cleanly divided between hunting rifles and combat rifles, with none of the combat rifles offering significant interoperability of ammo, an impediment to using gran'paw's Garand “Ol’ Bessie” for hunting.


Due to the use of massive quantities of NATO 7.62 X 51 ammo (the fraternal twin of the .308 Winchester) by the international military community, there are volumes of research and data on the cartridge’s performance, impressive amounts of work done to optimize firearms using it, and boat-loads of cheap ammo with which to practice. It is virtually ideal for hunting 150-pound mammals, which explains why the US military has brought so many M-14s out of retirement to augment the myopic M-16s and M-4s.

I can’t overstate the importance of practice, which brings us back to the .308 Winchester, and its sibling, the NATO 7.62 X 51; there needs to be a ready supply of ammunition for sufficient marksmanship practice. NATO 7.62 X 51 is currently (Dec 2011) going for about $.47 per round (Radway Greene – Accurate, clean-burning, FMJ) that's 640 rounds packed in 4 fairly pristine, latch-top, metal ammo boxes. While twice as expensive as Russian 7.62 X 39, you will need half as many to kill any type of 150 lb. mammal from 400 yards, and the cost of practicing will induce careful, considerate, well-placed shots that will actually hasten your learning curve. If you pay more attention to what you do… you figure-out what you do wrong much quicker. Remember, the accuracy of any rifle can be nearly doubled by simply learning its idiosyncrasies and practicing proper technique. And, in a post-apocalyptic world, ammo will be way too valuable to waste shooting from the hip at those killer-watermelons.

If you wish to hold the fort against Indians, repel the Mongol Hordes, or keep the zombies at bay, you’ll need box magazines to keep that steady dietary supplement of vitamin Pb flowing down-range, and a substantial barrel to handle the build-up of heat from prolonged fire, and here is where I state that my preference trends towards military rifles, as they make-up in durability what they lack in accuracy by being designed to handle prolonged rates of fire and survive the hostile environments of dirt, wet, and neglect. This limits us to a short but distinguished list: The FN FNAR, AR-10 and kin, M14/M1A family, FN SCAR 17, CETME Model 58 based variants, and, my personal preference, the FAL design, and a few exotic weapons made from Unobtainium.

If you truly believe that you NEED a rifle… and it will only be ONE rifle… then it needs to be a rifle with a broad spectrum of capabilities, and, you NEED to choke up real money to buy the best for which you are willing to work and save for the sake of defending your love, your life, and liberty.

Affectionately known as, “The Right Arm of the Free World”, the FN FAL and family are potent, simple, and dependable, at one time second in popularity only to the AK-47 equiping 90 militaries of democratic societies around the globe. And, it can still be found earning its keep some places today. On the civilian market, there are kits, clones, collectables, metric, inch, wood furniture, polymer furniture… in all grades of condition... the varieties are too numerous to elaborate on. The fact is, if you want one, and it is legal for you to own one… you can get one.

While the FAL is an old design (read “tried and true”) this weapon offers world-class combat rifle reliability and durability, low maintenance, easy availability of parts, environmentally-resistant polymer furniture, true long-distance power with the accuracy to deliver it, and very importantly, an adjustable gas-operating-system tolerant of a full range of military and commercial ammo. And, it is avialable with a folding butt stock for a reasonable price.

Springfield Armory, Inc. once assembled match-grade SAR48s and 4800s from Imbel parts. I own one of these sporting a Nikon 8X Monarch scope, and it will hold 10-shot groups under 1-1/2 MOA using Radway Green mil-surp ammo, and 3-shot groups under an inch using Gold Medal Match. Scope-base dust covers are available from multiple sources.

If you believe you will have only One Gun… make sure it does what you need, but, more importantly, that you know how to use it… because YOU make more of a difference than the choice of firearm. One well-placed shot compensates for a huge difference in caliber.

JB