"I'm out of ammo!" ("I sure hope you are too!")I went to this link from KeepandBearArms because it is a serious question. Unfortunately, the answer provided -- learn swordsmanship -- is, to me at least, no alternative at all.
There is a place for primitive weapons (bows, tomahawks, knives) as supplements to modern firearms. Remember, I'm the guy who believes that there are no obsolete weapons, merely obsolete tactics. But SWORDS?
Go, read his post and see what you think.
Mike
III
19 comments:
I'm buying another 1000 rounds Monday.
A sword against the most well armed and best armored troops on the face of the planet!!!
I always thought the idea behind combat was to cull the enemy's heard, not to make it simple for them to cull from ours.
Shame on anyone who hasn't backed up their ammo supply with reloading equipment and supplies.
MikeH.
I think the post was meant to get you thinking about the possibility of no ammo and about alternatives.
To that end with 80+ comments it seems to have worked. After all you linked to the post.
I've been a reader & subscriber to the survivalist blog dot Net for over a year now and I have to say the blog offers great advice on how to prepare on a budget.
I think it is a better and more practical site than survivalblog.com but that would be a matter of personal opinion.
I have to agree with anon 10:23am that the post was meant to get you thinking and not a call for us to sale our guns and pick-up a sword.
I wouldn't go whole hog on swords, although they do make excellent backup weapons.
But look into a full-size Ka-Bar or even a battle-ready gladius reproduction.
I put it on the origional blog, and I'll say it here as well. Swords...Right. I have reloading gear and thousands of components for everything I own, but even more to the point, I have every book on black powder I can find, several black powder pistols, 100,000 primers, lead from car batteries, wheel weights etc. I'll put my homemade black powder and bullets in my stainless cap-and-ball revolver against a sword ANY DAY...if I run through the amount of loaded ammo I "have laying around".
Eventually, cases fail. You can only reload them so many times. Knowing how to use melee weapons well isn't exactly a bad thing. Don't think broadswords, rapiers, and katanas. Think machetes, axes, and spears. We use axes and machetes for bush and woodcraft all the time. Also, many of us own firearms with bayonets. What is it to learn some useful fighting techniques and practicing them? Even the ammo holds out in your lifetime, will it hold for your childrens? If you have knowledge that can be passed down, why force them to reinvent the wheel, so to speak?
A good sword might be handy for clearing brush.
Wouldn't want to go into a gunfight with one though. And if it gets to the point where there is absolutely no ammo left, I think I'd rather have a spear.
Presumably though, by the time there is no ammunition left in your AO, there probably won't be any aggressors left either.
Forgive me, but doesn't a good bow and arrow have a longer reach than a sword?
If we're going to assume that weapons and weapons systems devolve to older tech-then why wouldn't they devolve in the exact reverse order they evolved?
Well I would hope that pretty much all of us all of us have good knives*, so theres that...and most of us probably have machetes, axes, ot tomahawks that will serve well as last ditch weapons in addition to being tools.
Me, personally...I'm looking at getting into historical re-enactment as a hobby. So before long I'll probably have be a proud collector of historically correct swords, axes, spears, whatever...
And I also find archery to be a fine sport, ya know?
But like I said, that's because I'm into that as a hobby.
To me, running out of ammo would suck, but it'll probably happen. But if there's shooting going on, that means there's ammo. And you can get ahold of some more without charging out with your longsword with a prayer to Crom on your lips. Think more like a dagger against a lone enemy soldier taking a piss. If ammo is so rare that we're forced to march with nothing but edged weapons...we can cross that bridge if we get there.
(*If you don't, get off your butt and go get at least two decent blades...right fucking now, kthxbai!)
The underlying point is not to get everyone to join SCA, but rather to keep your options open. A short sword, aka combat knife, is a multipurpose tool that many a dogfoot has put to good use for anything from opening cans, to hacking through the hull of a downed chopper, to cutting brush, to digging a field expedient foxhole. Almost always there is a better tool for any one given situation, but there is no better single tool that makes do in such a wide variety of needs.
Thank you for sharing the link to the survivalist blog now I have another daily read to add to my list.
Swords, bayonets, nunchaku, small and large fighting axes, bow and razor broadhead arrows. Each could prove useful if your gun and the other guy's both go "click" at the same time, having expended all your reloads.
Guy I know has at least 10,000 rounds for each caliber gun he owns, "most of which I'll have to leave behind when I bug out." Along with his powder, bullets, primers and reloading press. Caching is a great idea, but in an extended conflict, assuming long survival, a good knife will be very effective in recovering the gear and supplies your enemy has been kind enough to bring you. And quietly, too.
On "The Deadliest Warrior," a weapons historian used a 15th-Century kilij, also called a shamshir or Turkish scimitar, to cut completely through a pig carcass, and then did it again and again, all in about five seconds. Clean cuts through spinal column and everything. Devastating.
My 20+ cases of ammo + additional reloading supplies + ability to make black powder will last a long time. I prefer my firearms to bladed weapons.
However, bladed weapons - particularly tomahawks and machetes do have their uses. So do bows and crossbows.
Do not underestimate how fast an opponent can move towards you and attack you with a bladed weapon before you can pull your pistol and shoot him. The ones who know how to use a knife can be very dangerous.
I have to agree with some of the other posters here about the survivalist blog compared to survivalblog.com the sense of community is great and a breath of fresh air compared to survivalblog which doesn't even allow comments from readers making it kinda dull. And Mr. Creekmore writes 99% of the content posted on the survivalist blog JWR writes may be 1% of the content posted on his site and that is just a repeat of the same post day after day - "today we present another entree in the survival blog writing contest" we've all seen it.
It's been a while since I saw "Gettysburg." I vaguely recall a scene when one union commanding officer (I forget the name of the commander or the name of the actor) defended a hill with his unit when the South came charging. He was armed with a revolver in his left hand and a sword in his right (or was it the other way around - can't remember exactly), but that's the idea. Two-handed fighting! One could have range coverage and also handle anything up close.
I've studied martial arts and a sword is very effective in close quarters. Now adding a pistol or revolver could make it a very lethal combination. That's how the Japanese officers also fought in the jungles of World War 2 if you recall.
Saving ammo or not I think it's a great idea and have added it to my bag of "tricks." I'm right-handed but have been practicing firing my .45 left handed, freeing my right so that I could use my katana. You would never know when you're going to need it. To paraphrase Mike: "There's no outdated equipment, only outdated tactics."
Nguyen
III
One of the reasons the low cost, effective firearm became the "equalizer" was that, compared to the sword, the skill set was relatively easy to master.
Most have seen the fight in Rob Roy, the scene, one of the best ever filmed, illustrates the issue quite well. Sword fighting masters could and did kill people with lesser skills quite regularly, that was the expected outcome in this instance, only quick thinking and fortunate circumstances allowed the man with the lesser skills to win.
The gun stopped that disparity for the most part. This is also proven beyond doubt in Guns and Violence: The English Experience by Dr. Joyce Lee Malcolm.
Funny you should mention the SCA, Uncle Lar. As I hear it, while SCAdians may be woefully deficient in gunnery, some of them are positively frightening in the close-combat department.
Hey, any tool you can keep in your head is a good one, after all.
If you are protecting your home from goblins a 1000 rds for battle rifle is a lot. 50 rounds per fire fight 20 fire fights =1000 rds. How lucky do you think you are? 20 firefights will be a lot of luck for most.
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