The RS Top 10!
The RS Top 10!

This one installment of a ten-part series.

#10 Hair-Pulling, Eye Rolling Prepper Mistake: Purchasing a small caliber firearm for use as a defensive weapon. It’s true a .22LR round can stop someone breaking into your home. But, the chances are, if your shot is not placed with the precision of SEAL Team 6, and fired in close range, without any sort of obstacle between you and the target, you are likely going to be in for a rude awakening.

Law enforcement officials choose and carry firearms with one basic feature in common amongst all of them: Stopping power. Studies show that small caliber rounds will often have the desired effect on human targets who choose not to be shot multiple times and act accordingly. Unfortunately, these rounds don’t tend to fare so well on targets who, despite suffering painful wounds, make the decision to “press the fight”.

The reality is that bad guys will not politely stop their aggressive movements when you inform them you need time to switch to your higher-caliber firearm because the .22LR you have in your hand isn’t stopping their attack in the manner you had hoped.

The moral of the story: If you actually want to increase your chances of surviving a deadly encounter, get a high-caliber firearm.

Another huge mistake along these same lines is the idea of merely brandishing a firearm to intimidate an attacker from doing you harm with hopes he will re-think his attack. If this is your plan, you may opt for a low-cost firearm in which to use to scare-off the bad guy. One sure way to spend less for a firearm is to buy a small caliber one. In the real world, this is the type of game that gets people killed very quickly. Any defensive firearms instructor will tell you to never draw a firearm in an encounter unless you fully intend to use it as a method of delivering lethal force.

So, the moral here: If you have no choice but to take action to protect yourself or your family, don’t bring “hope” to a gunfight, bring a gun.

News Reporter
RSOP is the co-founder & Executive Editor of Radical Survivalism Webzine, as well as a Family Preparedness Consultant with over seven years of personal experience in the self-reliance game. RSOP's many preparedness roles within his own group include team mechanic, head of security, electrician, and project designer/engineer.