I have a very specific situation that I welcome your thoughts on. I am mid-60s in age and kids are all gone. Oldest two are active Air Force, the younger three will probably want to come home if it gets really bad. I just sold my house and don't want to buy another one. So creating self-suffiency is not easy. I am in good physical health and have hunted and been around guns but don't consider myself very good with them at this point. We will probably join with my wife's sister on some land in southern Indiana if things get really bad. So we will have a nice garden and some land to raise animals on ... as well as proximity to good hunting areas. It is on the edge of a small town, but down a long and "hidden" lane. But would probably need constant protection if people knew we had a lot of resources. At my age, I can provide protection better than I can provide heavy field labor. So my weapons could be very important. My wife's family is not into guns at all. But they are very good with growing food and other important survival skills. They won't have many/any guns to contribute to the cause.
My main question revolves around your thoughts on what weapons are best for my specific situation. I hope I will only be protecting our home and land. I don't anticipate going after anyone/anything. I also anticipate needing to do some hunting.
I have VERY limited funds to invest in guns & ammo. I currently have a Beretta 92 and a Hi Point 995 - both 9mm. I have 2,000 rounds of basic ammo. My wife and I can easily use both of these and my kids will quickly be able to.
My thoughts are that I want to stay with one caliber as much as possible and still accomplish my goals. I don't want anything in a larger caliber unless there is a strong reason to. I don't see a use for another pistol. I would like a .22lr rifle so we can shoot a lot more rounds inexpensively. But, i wonder if I am just as well off investing the cost of a .22 rifle into 9mm ammo and just shoot what I have more. That makes sense to me. It does leave me without a good squirrel rifle (at least I think it does). I am thinking a shotgun would be a good investment for my situation. It would give me a solid defense weapon as well as a good hunting weapon. I am leaning toward a 20g 870 so it was easy for my wife to be ultra-confident in using. I don't really see a benefit in a 12ga for my situation. I am also thinking about getting at least one more 995, for my wife or kid(s) in case we all need a gun at the same time. Maybe even two more.
Am I on the right track? or not? I'm open to all ideas.
My main question revolves around your thoughts on what weapons are best for my specific situation. I hope I will only be protecting our home and land. I don't anticipate going after anyone/anything. I also anticipate needing to do some hunting.
I have VERY limited funds to invest in guns & ammo. I currently have a Beretta 92 and a Hi Point 995 - both 9mm. I have 2,000 rounds of basic ammo. My wife and I can easily use both of these and my kids will quickly be able to.
My thoughts are that I want to stay with one caliber as much as possible and still accomplish my goals. I don't want anything in a larger caliber unless there is a strong reason to. I don't see a use for another pistol. I would like a .22lr rifle so we can shoot a lot more rounds inexpensively. But, i wonder if I am just as well off investing the cost of a .22 rifle into 9mm ammo and just shoot what I have more. That makes sense to me. It does leave me without a good squirrel rifle (at least I think it does). I am thinking a shotgun would be a good investment for my situation. It would give me a solid defense weapon as well as a good hunting weapon. I am leaning toward a 20g 870 so it was easy for my wife to be ultra-confident in using. I don't really see a benefit in a 12ga for my situation. I am also thinking about getting at least one more 995, for my wife or kid(s) in case we all need a gun at the same time. Maybe even two more.
Am I on the right track? or not? I'm open to all ideas.