If you had to arm a 50-man local or retreat militia (5 10-man squads), what weapons would you choose, and how would you allocate them?
My answers:
Super Low Budget: Moisin Nagants (or Lee Enfields) for everyone! Bayonets, slings & cleaning kits included. Redundancy, redundancy, redundancy. Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity. A couple of surplus stainless steel .357 police revolvers thrown in if the budget allowed.
Low Budget: I'd probably go for the Chinese SKS (7.63 mm x 39 mm w/fixed magazine & integral bayonet) as the main armament, as I admire it for its durability, quality and low price. Russian ammo is plentiful and cheap, as are stripper clips and Chinese ammo pouches. Plus, the fixed magazine, with its 10-round capacity, favors methodical shooting over rapid fire. Every tenth man would carry a 12 gauge Remington 870 pump (20-inch barrel), and a 9mm Glock, instead. I don't particularly like Glocks, but who can argue with their price and performance, and the ubiquity of the 9mm round?
Medium Budget: I'd probably go with the best AK-47 I could find, 40 rifles all told, all AKs would be of identical make/national origin for purposes of redundancy. Half the rifles would have fixed wooden stocks while half would have metal folding stocks. Bayonets all the way around. Every tenth man would carry a pump 12 gauge Mossberg 590A1 (20-inch barrel), and one out of ten men would carry a scoped AR-15. One AK per squad would be converted to full auto come the Apocalypse. One or two 9mm Glocks per squad.
High Budget: Each 10-man squad would be armed with 5 M-4s, 2 7.62mm Galils, 2 Springfield M1A1s & 1 Mossberg 12 gauge pump 590A1 (20-inch barrel), plus a couple of Model 1911 .45s. The fifth 10-man squad would also be armed with several Stoeger 12 gauge tactical double barrel shotguns, which would be cut down come the Apocalypse.
OK, enough of that, now I gotta go clear my mind.
