Survival Arts

I live in central Ohio.

Boston is fairly ignorant, actually. He says stuff like most concealed body armor will be penetrated by a .22lr, fired from a rifle. That has not been true for over 30 years now. A 22 MAGNUM rimfire, using the "solids", as vs HP ammo, might penertrate today's Level II vests, at an ideal angle, fired from a rifle barrel, but it has 50% more velocity and over 2x the power of the .22lr.

He also is very ignorant about the realities of combat. He claims that the 308 has more reach than the 223. That's IF guys are so ignorant as to be in open country in daylight, holding STILL, and offering erect, frontal, fully exposed torsos as targets. In reality, enemies use darkness and cover,and they crouch, dodge, and use head on prone position to make themselves more difficult targets. Everyone misses such targets more than they hit them, at a mere 200 yds, and nearly everyone does so at 100 yds, and most guys do so at 50 yds, too (when being shot-at). So much for the 308's "greater range" than the 223.

Another issue is very "checkable", by going to the NRA High Power rifle site, and checking what WINS, especially at the 600 yd line. What wins nearly all the matches is the 223, in the AR-15. If the 308 was "so superior" at long range, it would be winning such matches. It isn't, however, so it's not superior.

So the 223 "only" hits you as hard at 600 yds as a .45 ACP fmj military rd hits you when fired at 10 ft, so what? It will screw you up enough that you are no threat to a rifleman who is 300 yds from you, much less 600 yds. You might be able to fire a few wild shots after taking such a 223 hit, but that's all. YOu might be dangerous to a guy who was a mere 50 yds from you, but not a guy who is head on prone to you at 300 yds, or using cover, bobbing his head out now and then, at 200 yds, much less at 600 yds. You are going to do nothing to such men. You will simply lay there, bleed out, and cry for your momma.

No, you can't fix the 308's problems by using softpoint ammo, (as can be done with the 223's problems). The 308 will still be heavy and bulky. It still won't be concealable when disassmembled, the way the shorty 223's are. The 308 still won't have a .22lr conversion unit, for low cost, indoor range practice, and quiet foraging of game. The 308 won't be usable with just one arm, while helping a spouse walk or while carrying a kid.

Also, you will be far safer with a shorty 223 and a good sound suppressor, at 300 yds, than with a noisy 308 at 600 yds. You will also be a lot more likely to get the hits at 300 yds, too (given a trigger job, match ammo, scope, cheekpiece, and forend-mounted bipod).

Yes, the "canned" 223 still has sonic crack, but it's non-directional sound. Sonic crack is audible at less than 1/4 of the distance that one can hear normal rifle muzzleblasts, too. So you can be "calling in" your killers from 2 miles around, using an unsuppressed 308.

The can for a 308, to be as effective in rapidfire, using full charge ammo, has to be nearlyl twice the size and wt of the 223 suppressor. Put that 10" and 1.5 lbs of can at the end of a long barreled 308,and the gun is ruined for anything but long range sniper work, from the bipod. A 10.5" barreled 223, with 8" and 12 ozs of can mounted, is still a very handy little carbine.

Do a yahoo search for: Jonathan Arthur Ciener firearms. Check out his $150 .22lr conversion unit for the AR-15. It snaps in and out of the AR in 20 seconds, and has adequate group size and POI-similarity (to 223) to make it quite useful for taking small game, much less for snapshooting practice.

With subsonic .22lr ammo, the conversion unit, fired thru the AR-15 and the 223 suppressor, makes as much noise as a BB gun. That's a very useful attribute in a survival scenario. Why make a lot of noise, chasing deer, getting shot yourself, when you can quietly brain a cow at night, cut off a quarter, haul it a few miles, cut up the meat, and jerk it over the next few days, and end up with more meat than if you'd jerked the ENTIRE deer?

Which worries Big Brother more, a guy who makes a lot of noise, kills a few of his jack booted thugs, and gets caught or killed, or the guy who QUIETLY kills a lot of them, and keeps getting away with it?

At night, the sound suppressor, if it's worth a hoot, eliminates all muzzleflash. That's very nice, since darkness is a major help at getting clear of your enemies, and at striking at them effectively. Silent, subsonic 22lr's still have a lethal 60 ft lbs of power remaining at 150 yds. You don't have to kill men on the spot, you know. In many cases, it's better if you "only" strike lethal wounds (that take hours or days to kill the man). His buddies have to carry him to a chopper evac point,and others have to carry the gear of both the "hittees" and the stretcher bearers. 1 hit takes out 5 guys that way.

Which worries Big Brother more, a guy who makes a lot of noise, kills a few of his jack booted thugs, and gets caught or killed, or the guy who QUIETLY kills a lot of them, and keeps getting away with it?

At night, the sound suppressor, if it's worth a hoot, eliminates all muzzleflash. That's very nice, since darkness is a major help at getting clear of your enemies, and at striking at them effectively. Silent, subsonic 22lr's still have a lethal 60 ft lbs of power remaining at 150 yds. You don't have to kill men on the spot, you know. In many cases, it's better if you "only" strike lethal wounds (that take hours or days to kill the man). His buddies have to carry him to a chopper evac point,and others have to carry the gear of both the "hittees" and the stretcher bearers. then another 2-4 guys have to cover the parade carrying the hittees out of the area. 1 hit takes out 7-9 guys that way. When over 50% of a unit is rendered "combat ineffective", the entire unit is nearly always stopped as a threat.

When guys don't know where silent bullets are coming from, they run the wrong way, hide on the wrong side of cover, etc. Also, if you first brain the rearmost guy, the others often don't know that they are being shot-at, until you've hit 2-4 men, and they start taking cover. So the subsonic, silenced .22 can put the hurt on 4-6 guys in an ambush, instead of just 1-2 like the noisy gun can manage.

308 rds are 16-18 to the lb (depending upon the bullet wt). The steel 20 rd mags for 308 autorifles are 7 ozs each. 223's are 35-40 rds to the lb, the aluminum 30 rd mags are 5 ozs each. The 308 autorifle is 9-10 lbs, the 223 autorifle is 6-7 lbs. The .22lr unit is one lb, and the .22lr ammo is 135 rds to the lb.

You have to carry ANOTHER 30-40 lbs of survival gear, on top of your guns and ammo, and 4 lbs of concealable body armor is a VERY good idea. No, you CAN'T "run and gun" while carrying 70+ lbs of gear. All you can do is stumble along, with your head up your butt. If you drop your "other" gear when fighting, post shtf, you will probably never see it again (and die for the lack of it). There won't BE any supply sergeant to reissue the lost gear to you.

Nowhere in Boston's book does he even MENTION .22lr conversion units, or silencers, nor concealment of the rifle (in backpack, attache case, gymbag, or grocery sack) nor is there any mention of one hand use, or that the 308 is not the GI rifle rd, nor that needing to forage small game, dogs, or livestock is a lot more likely than busting elk or grizzly bears.

Just HOW are you going to carry BOTH a .22 rifle AND a 308 fighting rifle? HOW will you know when it's ok to have nothing but the 22lr, for foraging? You can't know, that's what. 308's make no sense for use on livestock, small game, dogs, or deer inside of 150 yds. The 223 and .22lr conversion unit are far more practical, both for combat and the far more likely sorts of foraging you will need to do.

Just HOW are you going to carry BOTH a .22 rifle AND a 308 fighting rifle? HOW will you know when it's ok to have nothing but the 22lr, for foraging? You can't know, that's what. So you will just be PRAYING that your shots don't call in guys with REAL fighting rifles, or even shotguns.

308's make no sense for use on livestock, small game, dogs, or deer inside of 150 yds. The 223 and .22lr conversion unit are far more practical, both for combat and the far more likely sorts of foraging you will need to do.

With the AR-15 and .22lr unit, you simply keep the rifle in 223 firing mode, until you see a good reason to convert it to 22lr. You make the 20 second caliber swap, fire the .22lr, and immediately swap back to the 223 mode. With a sound suppressor on the muzzle, your shots won't have attracted any enemies, and even if they have, you will be well-prepared to handle the problem.