Rifle or Shotgun?

Date: 29/09/2009
Post-Apocolyptia

Something got me thinking today. What would you have if you had a choice of a rifle-type weapon? By this, I mean what would you have in the ensuing weeks and months afterwards if you actually had a choice? Or, maybe if you were hoping for a gun and you settled on a more “realistic” choice for your primary choice of gunpowder-based weaponry? Whatever ever it is that gives you the opportunity to have one, what one would you have?

If I was to go with a Rifle, then I would do so because of the generally greater range of the gun, the fact that it is more likely to hit the target with some experience of shooting, you can get them commonly find them in bolt-action varieties and semi-automatic varities if know someone, as well as the fact that the projectile you fire is a single bullet rather than a spray of metal BB pellets.

If I was to go with the Shotgun, however, then I would do so because of the CQB (Close Quarter Battle) potential it offers for possible hostiles nearby, the spread of the gun being great for large creatures and beasts and scary off others who mean to bring harm to me, the fact that I only have to aim in the general direction rather than at a specific part and… well, that’s it.

With a Rifle, depending on where you live and what the gun laws and import laws were and how easy it was to acquire a firearm, the types you can get can range from single-shot bolt-action, to clipfed bolt-action, even as far as clipfed semi-automatics (although, the latter might have been a tad illegal back then, so…). Ammunition can relatively untaxing to acquire, especially if you can find it at a gun range along with the guns themselves. The bombs have dropped, so I doubt anyone would have taken the damm things with them unless they had prepared for it or sensed it before hand, eh? Just be aware that some ammunition will be easier to get than others. Big .308 rounds and all that are hard to find — so no High-Powered Rifles — whereas smaller ones like .22 can be easier.

Shotguns are pretty much the same, except that pretty much all of them use shells stuffed with BB pellets inside them and that the most common one you’ll come across is a 12-gauge.. Other shotgun varieties exist, but the most common one would be the pump-action for one. Don’t worry about being a movie hero with it either. You’ll most likely punch your arm back and dislocate it if you do. The ammo isn’t that hard to find around the same kind of areas as rifles and can easily identified by some company’s markings of the shells as red pellets for standard shells or green for threats without any armour or plating strapped on. Semi-Automatic ones and Automatic ones are quite a rare find for a civilian weapons, so don’t count on them- and they’d waste a heck of a lot of ammo anyhow.

All sorts of areas, such as hunting, clearing obstacles, use as a tool and self-defense are all factors to consider when choosing from either a Rifle or a Shotgun. Hunting, for example, would be best suited to a Shotgun for the fact that ammo is buckshot with more stopping power and that the pellets disperse at a suitable range for birds in the air or small groups of ground animals. Self-defense, however, would be more suited to a rifle, as being at range with hostile is one of the most important things to incorporate into your defense strategy and you want to ensure that the round has penetrated rather than stopped them, due providing more pain rather than impact.

At any rate, however, those are my thoughts on the question for now. Maybe not the most organised and thought out, but it is at least food for thought, since I’ve left this blog for too long to focus on its sister blog. Anyway, until next time fellow Wastelanders!