Guns

I realize now that I have yet to discus weapons; specifically guns.

Living in California makes it particularly difficult to buy or own guns. And I won't even go into concealed carry or automatic weapons.

The basic list, in my opinion, of fire arms ownership is as follows:
Pistol
Shotgun
.22lr Rifle
Heavy caliber rifle (.556m/.223cal or higher)

And you should probably buy them in that order, although pistol and shotgun can be swapped I think, depending on you situation and need.

Please note that I WILL NOT discuss here what brand, type or caliber of fire arm you should purchase. I can't. Those decisions will always depend on you. I will give you some things to think about before purchase.

The way to think about what to get would be similar to when buying a car or computer: How much are you willing to spend? What are you going to be using it for (hunting/property protection/personal protection)? How easy it is to repair and availability of parts? And for guns, can you handle that one? With most fire arms you can often go to a firing range and rent them to find out if it something you are comfortable with.

Pistols
Something to think of for women is, smaller is not necessarily better, bigger frames means more mass to control recoil when you fire. Women also seem to be more comfortable with and better shots than men with revolvers.

Question to ask yourself: Are you going to carry concealed? Then is that pistol too big? Should you carry extra ammo? How much? Where?

My suggestion if it's only for home defense and you are not going to carry it would be the biggest damn gun you can find. The .50cal Desert Eagle is stupid huge, but it is the only handgun in the world that comes with it's own special effects! And believe it or not it doesn't kick as hard as you think.

Shotguns
Hunting, property/personal protection
Yes, you can do all three with this firearm, but, you will need a variety of shells to handle your different needs. On the plus side, because of so many different loads available you can do a lot with just this one firearm. You  have many choices of models and prices so you should do your homework about what you are going to need it for to better decide which one to get. Shotguns may be the most modifiable firearm available (depending on make and model) For size length, capacity, options, color, whatever.

.22's
This is basically for hunting small game or rodents.
It is a very small bullet and won't kill anything much bigger that a medium sized dog at best. I personally would go with a .22 rifle over a .22 pistol, simply because I aim better with a rifle, and if I'm hunting the shot must count. Your millage may vary.

Rifles
Hunting, property/personal protection
This one you should consider very carefully as they are expensive and fit a tight niche. On most survival blogs and sites you will hear a debate between .223 and .308 (which happens to be NATO standard military calibers and therefor assumed to be plentiful in case of SHTF {Shit Hits The Fan}) I originally had a .308 until my Ex stole it, but as the years wear on that this was getting heavy! What with rifle and ammo (In the rifle plus extra mags to carry on me) was weighing in at around 30-35lbs. It doesn't sound like much until you have to cary it in your arms hour after hour, day after day. Plus, my kids would not be able to shoot it for at lest 10-15 years until they get big enough to handle it.

One last thing to consider; If you are going to be with a group, or even just your family and they are all (or most) going to be armed, then everyone should have the same basic tools, so that the parts and ammo are interchangeable.

The Middle East and How it can Effect Us

If you've seen the news in the last couple of weeks, you are aware that the middle east is exploding in revolution and/or civil war. I would like to discuss how this will effect us. But first I would like to congradulate and show honor to those individules in the middle east who are standing up to tyrany, showing there faces (rare in the middle east) and willing to say "Enough!" to brutal governments.

Unfortunately, there is fall out that we must be concerned with. While different countries import and export different things with us, the middle east is known for one thing primarily; Oil. And when oil is even imagined to be threatened, oil prices rise. Now I haven't heared any threats to the oil field yet, but my local gas station price has risen .20 cents in a couple of days to $3.45 a gallon, and I don't think it's going to come down again soon.

Now I'm sure some of you are saying that yeas this is bad, but that price, or even a little higher is survivable. But, have you considered all of the other things whose priced will be skyrocketing at the same time?

Like food. clothes. Anything that has to be transported will now cost more. Think about it;
Food is grown and harvested-Tractors need gas
Then it is sent to say granaries - trucks need gas to get it there
It may or may not be proccesed there - more gas used
then shipped to canning/bottling plant - Even if by rail, oil must be used
Shipped to packaging/shipping center- lots of gas, plus gas or propane used in these plants to move the forklifts around
Shipping by rail to local distributors - oil
Trucked to local stores - gas
You drive to store and home - gas

Can you begin to see how much oil is used in getting everything you buy to you, and ordering online only stops you from driving, the UPS guy is doing it for you instead.

So, as preppers, what do we do?
My answer:
Keep as much gas in your vehicle as possible and drive as little as possible so that you use is minimized, and that you can stretch out the time between fill ups to give you the best opportunity to find cheaper sources.

Buy bulk food items now, before the price goes through the roof. I was comparing the price for honey, when all of a sudden the price shot up $4 a bottle. I should have bought anything before that point as all prices were cheaper than the cheapest I can find now.

If you were planning on making a major purchase soon, you better get off you butt and do it, before the price goes beyond what you were planning on being able to afford.

If you have disposable income, I would recommend investing in precious metals or oil if you can keep track of the market.

If you don't have a gun yet, get one. Start with a hand gun or shotgun. And get it quick, their prices are rising as well. (Oh, don't forget the ammo)

Band together if you can to buy in bulk to help keep the cost down, as most places give volume discounts.

See if you can come up with alternate energy sources. If you can heat your home without using the heated you will save money, cooking is probably not a big deal, but its good to know how to cook without a stove anyway. Electricity prices will be going ups as well, so try to use as little as possible. And for your info Refrigerators, microwaves, and space heaters are the high energy users not light bulbs.