Sustainable Guns.

[CharlesHarris]

I am with MB on this one.

A few simple, rugged, reliable firearms which use common ammunition which can easily be hand loaded using home-cast lead bullets, improvised bullet lubricants, and either smokeless, or if necessary, even home-made black powder.

Best bang for the buck is a sturdy Ruger single-action Blackhawk revolver, factory fitted with extra cylinder, so that you can use more than one type of ammunition. These are readily available here in either .357 Magnum, with an extra cylinder for 9mm Luger/Parabellum; or in .45 Colt with an extra .45 ACP cylinder. Also possible with some gunsmithing are a revolver in .44 Magnum with extra .44-40 cylinder, or .30 M1 Carbine, with extra cylinder for .32-20 Winchester.

Having a rifle and revolver which use the same ammunition makes the best sense, even if it is a .22 LR.

If you also have a 12-bore shotgun and a bolt-action rifle of military caliber for which surplus ammunition can be found, whether .303, .30-'06, or 8mm, that would be icing the cake.

Lean to cast bullets and reload your own. Common shotgun powder can be used for moderate power game loads to make your factory-loaded full-charge stuff so farther. Pistol primers can be used for low-powered rifle loads if you are careful, so it is necessary to stock only one type. 50,000 primers take little space, and 10kg of shotgun powder will load a great many reduced load rifle or full charge revolver cartridges for your cowboy rifle and "wheelgun."