Weaponry

Firearms

The reason there are all kinds of handguns, rifles and shotguns is there are widely differing views about what constitutes the ideal weapon. 

Take shotguns alone: There are single barrel, double barrel, pump and semiautomatic actions with all kinds of different features and barrel lengths.  Some are designed for tactical use, some for hunting and some for target shooting.  They come in different gauges: .410, 28, 20, 16, 12, and 10.  And some are better suited for multiple roles (because they have interchangeable chokes, etc) than others.  And there's all kinds of ammunition you can get for them, including slugs, buckshot, and different sizes of regular shot.  There are all kinds of specialty rounds (flares, breaching, etc) as well.

Rifles and handguns are equally diverse, so it can be difficult for a novice to determine what weapons best suit their survival needs.  The  information and links in this section will hopefully help in sorting all of that out.

Ammunition

One thing is for sure - if you run out of ammunition for your firearm, you now have a poorly designed club.  So stocking a sufficient amount of ammunition for each type of firearm you have is another survival necessity.  Ammunition, like many of the other survival items, need certaain long-term storage requirements to prevent deterioration, so you'll need to take these into account.

Firearms Accessories

Firearms accessories can include sights and lights that use batteries, and even if you stockpile lots of them, batteries have a shelf life, so in a prolonged survival situation, your battery-powered items are going to cease working.  It would be wise to have back-up, non-battery-powered sights on all of your weapons.

Firearms Practice
 

You'll need to practice with all of these firearms before the survival event happens.  Most indoor ranges restrict firing practice to handguns, so you'll probably need to find an outdoor range or place in the country to practice with your long arms.

Cleaning and Repair

You'll need to learn how to disassemble them for cleaning.  You'll have to have cleaning and lubricating supplies (oils, solvents, patches, brushes, rods, etc.) that are designed for the firearms you've chosen.  You'll want to consider having some spares for the parts of your firearms that are most likely to break or wear out.  So you'll need to be skilled in making minor repairs.

Storage

And you'll need a safe, but readily available place to store the firearms and ammunition.

All of this may sound daunting, but if you are interested in surviving a catastrophic event, it's one of the most important things you'll have to consider.  Because having all of the food you need won't do you any good if you can't prevent others from taking it away from you.  And fresh meat on the table will go a long way to lifting spirits after a few weeks of eating nothing but beans and rice.

More to come...