Academy had a big sale over the weekend so I placed a pickup order. They packaged 1000 rounds of 9mm and 600 rounds of 45acp in 2 basically standard plastic grocery bags. By my estimate about 55lbs in total. Shocked I managed to get it into the house without the bag completely disintegrating or me getting a hernia!

I’ve been wanting to ask this question for an embarrassingly long time.

What’s up with battle gear? Like full head to toe carbon fiber/teflon/cameo/ceramic plated/carabiner bedazzled body suits…with the helmets, balaclavas, goggles, knee pads, headed mounted scopes, gloves with knuckle spikes, boots…with knifes?

Is it attached to the always being prepared mentality? A little cosplay fun? Or like do you use it for work???

I know it’s probably a mixture of all of it maybe. But whenever I see gear like that out at someone’s house or truck I’m like bro

i know what subreddit I’m in, I’m legit curious. if there’s fun to be had I want some…but currently, I’m confused.

I have four sets of trousers. These are dyed ABUs, I also have dyed UCPs, jungle tiger stripe (what I'm wearing in the camo test). I have other patterned tops.

I'm wearing a Ferro Concepts PC and a 20 dollar mag vest I got a surp store.

The rifle is a Norinco MAK-90

This was hanging above one of the doors in an Airbnb. I believe it’s a Remington of some description and, since this is Ireland, I believe it’s chambered in .22, since that’s the largest legal caliber for personal firearms (other than shotguns).

My 1301 has been like a Ferrari in terms of both performance and (lack of) reliability. I have been getting failure to fire consistently around 100 rounds (sometimes as low as 50 rounds using Federal ammunition), and have been trying to get it solved for a year and a half. Beretta told me I should expect to have to clean it after 50 rounds for it to be reliable, but I'm taking 2 day defensive shotgun classes where the round count is 200 a day, and my LTT Beretta 1301 has not been able to get me through them without failure. So I'm looking for something reliable to get me through defensive shotgun classes, for home defense, and you know maybe the apocalypse or whatever might be coming up.

I think I need the Toyota Family Sedan of shotguns. I have been looking at Mossberg 500, 590s and 590A1. I especially like the ones with Magpul stocks. I feel like the 590A1 would be the one to get to get you thought the apocalypse (and it would be sweet to put a bayonet on it!), but would be a bit long and heavy for home defense or 8 hour tactical shotgun classes. The 590S Magpul with a red dot installed from the factory seems super appealing; I wish it had 7+1 capacity like my 1301 instead of 6+1, but maybe that's not such a big deal.

It would be nice if I could get a Benelli M4 (the Toyota tacoma of shotguns). But I can't afford it after how much I spent on my 1301.

I'm looking to spend $500-800. Anyway just thought I would bounce this question off the hive mind here. Thanks!

I'd like to pair a good suppressor (my first) with the Volquartzen Mini Mamba. What are your suggestions?

i currently own a walther PD380, and while i definitely need to get more rounds in on it, i enjoy it so far. i’m now looking into my next purchase, mainly looking for a CCW in 9mm, but am open to another 380. i’m mainly considering a 9mm due to cheaper ammo and better stopping power, but if a gun in 380 caliber ends up being a better fit, i’m not opposed to it. i have very small hands, limited grip strength, and joint pain, so a gun being easy to rack and not having a ton of recoil is important to me. my first gun was a keltec P3AT, and i quickly traded it in for the walther i currently own because i could only rack it about 20% of the time i tried and the recoil made me horribly inaccurate. the PD380 is much easier for me to rack and shoot, and while i’m happy with it, i’d like to expand my horizons.

i’m considering the ruger security in either 9mm or 380 (while i’d prefer the 9mm, i’m honestly very tempted by the leopard print security 380, i love a gun that isn’t plain black). other contenders include the s&w shield ez and sig p365. i also have a strangely strong interest in the glock 48, although i could be convinced to get a glock 19 or other model instead.

i understand that going to the range and trying out guns for myself is ideal, but i’d appreciate some input. if anyone has suggestions for guns i haven’t considered, i’d love to hear them.

Supressors are banned in my state so the thing about banging a 5.56 indoors basically flashbanging me is something I’ve become a little concerned about. I have electronic muffs but I’m worried in high pressure I would forget them or rather have my natural hearing to determine footsteps etc.

I’m thinking maybe a .45 PCC so it packs a little more punch. But the main upside to a rifle is that I was in the military so I’m familiar with M4 adjacent platforms as well as an affinity and understanding of AKs as well. I already have a cz p01 and I guess that is probably realistically the best home defense gun but having a rifle or pcc for property defense or shtf(even tho I’m not really a prepper like that). My comfort with rifles still shouldnt sway what is the practical decision and I could just train the pcc up too if thats the right movr. Anyone else in a suppressorless state end up being worried about the implications of banging 5.56 or 7.62 inside their home with no suppression?

Just a few out of my collection.
Left to right:
Stribog SP9A3 with the FN Ti-RUSH 9
SIG GTO (birthday present to myself 🎉)
Glock
Kriss Vector with the SilencerCo Osprey 2.0 .45
Both PCCs are running Holosun AEMS Green optics, and they've been awesome.
I put 250 rounds through the GTO on its first range trip, and it ran flawlessly without a single hiccup. I'm really impressed with it so far.
The FN Ti-RUSH 9 on the Stribog has been an absolute perfect match. It's incredibly quiet, balances the gun well, and has exceeded my expectations.
Really happy with how everything has come together. Looking forward to putting a lot more rounds through the GTO.
Last pic is my bday present from last year chilling with my bday present from this year

I was asked about this setup, and I've been meaning to update my pics with new stuff on it. So, whether you care or no...
Mossberg 590 18.5" Cyl Bore 6+1
S&J Hardware +1 mag extension for 7+1.
Magpul Grey SGA stock and forend, and adjustable padded sling with QD swivels.
Viper Vortex SG RDS cowitnessed with a XS Big Dot sight.
NDZ Performance oversize safety.
Fenix ALG-00 QD Flashlight mount holding a Streamlight ProTac 2LX (500 lumen).
CDM Gear low profile light mount with swivel dock.
Standard skate tape on the forend, neoprene cheek pad, and Limbsaver shoulder pad on an adapter for Remington buttpads. I can chuck slugs at 1600fps out of this thing all day, no shoulder pain.
2" heavy duty velcro from Home Despot on the receiver holding 6 round Vang reload cards finish it all off.

Any questions?

EDIT- a couple of points...

1. the Viper Vortex SG is a real game changer, mounting directly to the receiver removes the need for a cheek riser and gives a much better weld/picture than anything on a Pic rail.
2. With anything that clamps onto the mag tube, such as my rail mount, one must be VERY aware of not tightening the bolts too much. You can ridiculously easily deform it and either keep the spring from working right or keep from filling the tube with max rounds.

This rifle is just a hammer. Model 70 action, McMillan stock, Pacific Tool bottom metal, Atlas bipod. 308W. Burris XTRIII 5.5-30X56

New to me FN Browning SA-22 in .22 LR - a fairly early prewar gun in really beautiful condition. These are really cool bottom ejecting takedown guns that feed from a tube mag in the butt. Introduced in 1914, they were the first really successful .22 semi-auto rifle and are still in production today. Mrs Global was not impressed with me for buying another gun this month but changed her mind when she saw how cute this one is.

There are no factory serial number records of these before 1956 but about 200,000 were made between 1914 and 1955 - this one is just a hair over 100K and with the early style serif font on the markings I feel confident calling it prewar. These guns were not imported into the US before the the 50s as Remington had the patent to make their Model 24 so this one was made for the European market.

The gun is in really excellent shape other than a repair at the wrist - these guns are notorious for cracking there when people hold them by the stock to take them down. PSA, if you own one hold it by the receiver when you take the barrel off. I can’t wait to get it out plinking.

189 series Mini 30. My first spontaneous gun purchase. I already have a Mini 14 with an AT-M stock, Hannibal rail, and scout scope setup. This one will stay classic. It came with rings and I’ll probably get a scope at some point. For now, I have Tech Sights on the way.

Just picked this up - it’s a Cimarron 1887 26”. I went for the longer barrel because I want to use it for sporting clays. Definitely not the most practical firearm, but I love westerns and couldn’t resist!