[longshot38]

not to be confused with the improvised weapons thread. i was thinking, what if you cant get a resupply of ammo, what you have is what you have. your stocks of ammo by the case will, eventually, run out and you will eventually use all of your reloading supplies or something breaks that you can't repair/replace. what do you do? you will still need to hunt and to defend yourself. what do you use, it has to be renewable/reusable and be something effective.


so what would you think to use.


dean

 

[Ernie]

I've always liked snares for hunting. There's enough wire out there for a few lifetimes.

Ammunition will run out, but it will take awhile. My personal stockpile will run out, but I can buy/trade for more if there's any contact at all with the outside world. The watchword is going to be not wasting anything.

A good powder rifle might be the key. There will always be lead and you can make black powder (or so I understand). It might not be optimal, but it could get you by. People hunted that way for a long time before modern light arms came into being.

Traditional bowcraft is something I've been enjoying, but I don't yet know how to lathe and fletch arrows.

 

[Freeholder]

Ernie, get a copy of The Traditional Bowyer's Bible, Vol. 1 -- there's a chapter on 'self' arrows. Actually, get all four volumes (I'm still waiting to get vol. 4). Anyway, you do not need a lathe to make good arrows.

Kathleen

 

[meddac]

Just buy thousands of rounds...it would take me a lifetime to run out of ammo. I have several guns of the same caliber or gauge so if one malfunctions I have plenty of back up and I don't have to buy many different calibers. Get it now before the Democrats ban it all!

 

[texican]

I'm pretty good with a spear. Doubt if I could kill anything other than a carp or sucker with it though.

Dip nets, throw nets, trot lines, come to mind for fish. Snares for small game

I have a compound bow... if needed, I could, scratch that, WOULD find all of my spent arrows.

However, it's amazing what a person can do with a .22 bullet, which currently costs around 3 cents each. IF I knew I could never buy more, I could stretch my stock to last five lifetimes, if each bullet needed to bring home meat.

 

[PhilJohnson]

I have thought about this issue myself. I have a compound bow and one of those high powered air rifles. I could always cast lead pellets and shoot small game with that and use the bow for larger animals like deer.

 

[radiofish]

Besides using a bow and arrows, spears, snares, and black powder weapons.... I could always use a bayonet on my weapons, and stick it to them!!!

Edged weapons were killing things, long before gunpowder was invented!!

Worst case scenario, would be like the beginning of the movie "2001 - A Space Odyssey" - I would find a thigh bone, and use it to beat things into submission! Blunt force trauma would do them in, if everyone was out of ammunition - then getting close would be the action taken by everyone!

 

[wvstuck]

Cross bows comes to mind first. Plus if I have run out of ammo and there is an army patrolling the country (worst case tin-foil scenario) then I will have ammo and weapons from a renewable source. As far as having a few thousand rounds of ammo, thinking you will never run out.. Wrong... You could use 200-300 rounds in a single battle for protection of your place. I have used as many as 500 rounds in a sustained firefight in less than 2 days. Have a back-up weapon, and always look for stragglers, they have ammo and weapons and a cross bow will reach out and take it. Always be prepared to make due with what you have and always be on the lookout for an easy upgrade.

As far as not needing all the ammo for self protection, what most folks have on hand will probably last them a very, very long time. A thousand rounds of double 00 for a 12 gauge will go along way towards bringing large game and wild hogs home for dinner, salt for curing the meat will run out before the ammo does for taking them down. Like was mentioned before .22 LR is CHEAP... 10,000 round for a few hundred dollars and with good discipline will take down almost anything roaming around. But fishing, trapping, snares, spears, harpoons, knives, baseball bats, hand dug pits with spear tips.... The list goes on and on.

Remember... Necessity has always been the mother of invention... Or as my FIL says: "Invention because of necessity is a mother"!

 

[bowdonkey]

Also don't overlook Conibear traps, much more useful than snares in some respects. Learning to trap is an art. I would use Conibears more if you're in an environment where you'll be in place. If you're on the move then snares for their minimal weight would be the way to go. Unless you're moving with a vehicle and trailor, then carry what ya want. A couple things about snaring, learn to anchor them so the animal can't escape, and use killing locks and sets. Snared meat tastes awful if the animal fights the wire to long.

 

[YuccaFlatsRanch]

Make sure some of your rifles and pistols are the same calibers the Gov't is using such as Nato Standard 7.62 x 51 (.308), 9mm, etc. That way you can liberate more ammo from the source that would take yours away.

 

[poorboy]

i have enough powder and lead set aside for deer hunting for the rest of my natural life, If it came down to fire fights would run out quickly..small game can be trapped much more efficiently than hunted.. even better is raise your own meat.. Their was a good reason people turned from hunter gatherers.. small scale agriculture wood be best for feeding the family... if all relied on hunting for all their meat there would soon ,1-2yrs., be none .:buds:

 

[BRYAN]

I'm pretty well stocked as a reloader and pretty well set up to cast bullets, but I always try to plan for the next contingency. I tend to plan for my ammo being transitionary to the next lower tier of weapons, like my bow for example. While I ration out my ammo I improve my skill and tactics with the bow ( I've been bow hunting for years, so I don't mean start from scratch). Next level would be spear, heaven forbid I ever get down to there.

 

[Elizabeth]

At the first sign that we might not be able to obtain ammunition as needed, we would begin conserving what we do have.

Crossbows would come into use immediately, as well as compound bows.
Hunting would be easy- we have plenty of traps and snares.
Self defense would be a little more of a worry, depending upon the threat.

 

[Mike in Ohio]

I wouldn't get too concerned.

Lots of alternative methods....malaysian mantraps and pungi sticks come to mind pretty quick as very effective and not taking much effort. I've helped a frined build a small trebochet so I suppose that is within the realm of possibility. Oh, those are for defense, not hunting per se.

Bow, spear, snares for hunting. We have lakes and plenty of hooks, lines and sinkers put by so no worry there. I've always said that I'd eat fish when they learn to go moo but in cases like this I guess I'd make an exception.

Mike