Was reviwing my spreadsheet of things to buy (147+ different items, different quantities of each) and also reviewed my list of projects…things I want to get done. They include building a UPS for lighting the main room of the house, installing an isolated lighting system leading to the bunker, installing emergency lighting in the bunker, building new shelves in the basement, and a bunch of other things. Things that need to be done and that will, ideally, make my life a bit easier and more secure.
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Saw a Yugo SKS for sale yesterday. I’ve been meaning to get a few SKS to keep around and to store. Theyre cheap, better than a 10/22 for repelling boarders, and can always be traded off for something usefull. The Yugos have flip-up ‘night sights’, grenade launcher spigot with gas-tube cutoff and generally seem pretty decent. They are sooooooo not my first choice as a defensive longarm but theyre price and ubiquitous caliber make them an ideal ‘stash’ rifle, truck gun or loaner. $150. What I’d like to get is a couple AK’s but I really just dont have the money right now. For an urban environ, I think the AK is far superior than the AR…the cartridge is better for short-range entanglements, the mags are robust, the guns are compact, etc.
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So the terrorists are possibly plotting another strike. *yawn* What else is new? I have to fly on 12/28 and 1/4 … hopefully those two days will be quiet. I’ll be visiting relatives in a major city so hopefully nothing will happen. The relative I’m visiting has only two guns in the house. A SIG .40 and a Browning A-5…but when the neighbors dont have any guns at all, thats quite an arsenal. In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
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Speaking of, my surplus 400-meter spools of two-strand wire should arrive today. Just the thing for my field phones and my AN/PSR-1A seismic alarm set. Matter of fact, I should get on the phone and get a couple more spools…
Notes From The Bunker
For an urban environ, I think the AK is far superior than the AR…the cartridge is better for short-range entanglements, the mags are robust, the guns are compact, etc.
It seems that you’re suggesting that the cartridge for an AK is better than the cartridge for the SKS. I was under the impression that they both used 7.62x39mm.
I’m not sure I agree with you on the AK vs AR thing. The AK is made for close in shooting under horrible conditions. Makes a great swamp gun, much like the 30-30s its ballistically similar to. And if I had to pick one assault rifle for some kind of Heinlein-esque Tunnel in the Sky mission, where I didn’t know what I might be stepping into, I’d pick an AK.
But the urban environment is another thing. Comparatively little mud and dirt, since everything’s paved, and you get a nasty mixture of very close ranges due to buildings, and long ranges due to streets. The AR is fast as hell close in because of its ergonomics and light weight, but the 5.56 is so flat shooting that you’ve got point-blank range out to 300 yards. If you know that’s where you’re going to be operating, an AR is definitely the gun to use.
I thought I was going to sell all my ARs and AR parts once I got my M1A, but I’m seriously reconsidering that now. The AR is just too perfect in that particular niche.
I have to disagree with you on this. First of all, a cityscape may very well be a clean and dustfree environment…normally. But the circumstances under which you’re “Omega Man”ning your way out of a city is hardly normal. There’ll be choking smoke from the burning buildings, mounds of debris to climb over and who knows what else. Think Beirut..or Mogadishu, if you live in a warmer clime, or Bosnia. Muck, mud, dirt, rubble, etc., etc. While those environs may offer you the opportunity for a 300m shot, where the AR has the advantage over the Ak’s ballistics, I think they are *far* fewer than the across-the-street-down-the-block shots. Additionally, I think the penetration of the 7.62 bullet, even at the middling velocity of the 7.62×39, is better than that of the somewhat frangible hi-speed 5.56 and this is borne out in tests on things like cinder block, wood sheathing, etc, etc. Im a strident fan of the AR and own two of them (and am working on #3) but then again Im not really living in an urban environ. I’m ten minutes in about any direction from Jeremiah Johnson country.
Nonono..Im suggesting the cartridge for the AK (and SKS) is a better shoice in the urban environ than the cartridge for the AR. While the SKS and AK (generally) use the same cartridge (lets not talk about the AK-74 cartridge) I think the AK is preferable to the SKS just for its detachable magazines. However, the SKS would be a better choice than trying to go it with a 10/22 or a .30-30.
On second glance, I realized that I completely skipped over the part where you said the AK Was better than the AR. I assumed you were still referring to the SKS. Certainly, the AR-15 has some benefits, but I prefer just about any other round over the 5.56. As far as the SKS vs. the AK, I might be biased since I own an SKS and can’t own an AK here in the Republic of California, but I tend to prefer the one over the other. Certainly there’s a benefit to having detachable magazines when the shit really hits the fan, but for a general-purpose, cheap long-arm I think the SKS can be much less menacing and if you’re shooting semi-auto, I’m not sure there’s going to be a lot of difference.
As far as which SKS to get, I don’t like the Yugos much as they all came equipped with grenade launchers. You won’t miss a deal if you choose not to get it, a lot of different places are selling them for under $150 still.
The Chinese SKS tend to be more common than the Eastern Bloc ones, but the Chinese ones are usually regarded as being of lowest quality. The Yugo SKS is, as I udnerstand it, better made. The grenade launcher spigot is pretty useless but the flip-up night sights are pretty nice. Since I’m looking for something durable and reliable I’ll take the Yugo over the Chinese for qualities sake.