# Arming yourself after the Apocalypse **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 9, 2014, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arming-yourself-after-the-apocalypse/695175 "2014-08-09T16:32:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![August\_West](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/august_west/32/18069_2.png) [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2014, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arming-yourself-after-the-apocalypse/695175/41 "2014-08-13T14:34:34Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Not that _I_ intend to ever arm myself against humans, but are there any airguns that can be used for defence against people/large animals? Would eliminate the need to produce propellant (Although it’s perfectly possible to produce nitrocellulose with medieval tech ) Lewis and Clark used a [Girandoni air rifle](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girandoni_Air_Rifle) on their expedition. I seem to remember reading in the journals that they used it to harvest game, but all I’m seeing online is that it was used to impress the Indians along the way. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2014, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arming-yourself-after-the-apocalypse/695175/42 "2014-08-13T14:56:47Z")
Modern arcery tackle in general doesn’t strike me as all that great of a choice for use after the poxy clips. Modern high velocity compound and crossbows require aluminum or carbon fiber arrows. Wooden projectiles, if you manage to make any of useful straightness, will shatter on the bow. Restringing these bows virtually requires a bow press, usually hydraulic. You absolutely aren’t going to string a compound bow or compound crossbow by hand. Crossbows, btw, are notoriously hard on strings. The high performance ones use all manner of waxes and lubes. The strings themselves aren’t something you are going to braid out of plant fibers or boot laces. If archery figures into your survival plan, start learning primitive archery skills now. That includes learning how to make your own bone errors. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2014, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arming-yourself-after-the-apocalypse/695175/43 "2014-08-13T14:57:57Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Not that _I_ intend to ever arm myself against humans… Of course _you_ don’t. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2014, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arming-yourself-after-the-apocalypse/695175/44 "2014-08-13T15:34:43Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Not that _I_ intend to ever arm myself against humans… Mutants? Zombies? Morlocks? C.H.U.D.s? ---
**Author:** ![DingoelGringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@DingoelGringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DingoelGringo)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2014, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arming-yourself-after-the-apocalypse/695175/45 "2014-08-13T15:41:28Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > Anybody who ever says “\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ would be fairly easy to make/do” should go ahead and try it now in times of peace and plenty. Extra points if you use no power tools and materials no better than you might scavenge. Get back to us on how well you did a makin/doing whatever it was. Got that right! My brother is sure he could make car batteries in an after the apocalypse scenario. Not that he makes them now you understand. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2014, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arming-yourself-after-the-apocalypse/695175/46 "2014-08-13T15:51:29Z")
A feature of my mis-spent youth was attempting to make stuff like gunpowder from scratch, using proportions gleaned from a book. I produced stuff that burned with a fizz, but nothing that went boom. Of course I was only 12 at the time. Maybe it was a good thing I failed. 😃 I very strongly suspect that there is a lot more “tradecraft” in making gunpowder than simply mixing up the right proportions of sulfer, saltpeter, and charcoal; and that those planning on making this stuff to survive in the future would do well to take an apprenticeship in making it now. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2014, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arming-yourself-after-the-apocalypse/695175/47 "2014-08-13T16:49:06Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > Despite what you may have seen in movies, compound bows are not very accurate over long distances. A trained archer using a compound bow can hit a single man-sized target at out to about 150 meters; a trained marksman using a Sharps-type rifle can hit a similar sized target at over 500 meters. Compound or recurve bows do have a firing rate superior to muzzle-loading weapons and comparable to falling block actions, and were superior to muzzleloaders in direct force engagements in terms of overall firepower, but once rifled barrels capable of accurately firing on single targets became available the bow and arrow fell completely out of favor. > > As a substitute to firearms, the bow (or crossbow) is desirable only in terms of relative silence and lack of chemical propulsion. However, given that any genuine effort to retain the necessary technology to rebuild society will include manufacture of industrial chemicals including those used for electrochemistry, agriculture, and explosives, making blackpowder and other propellants should not be a showstopper, and in fact the ability to retain such chemical industry should be paramount to any effort to a long term plan for ensuring the continuance of modern civilization. > > Stranger Sure, if in the aftermath of Armageddon we can retain the capacity to make rifled guns and modern gunpowder, bows are not going to be competitive. But there was some speculation upthread that we’d have to go back to black powder and flintlocks, and I was wondering how competitive a modern bow would be to THOSE devices in terms of range and accuracy. ---
**Author:** ![August\_West](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/august_west/32/18069_2.png) [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2014, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arming-yourself-after-the-apocalypse/695175/48 "2014-08-13T20:31:04Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > A feature of my mis-spent youth was attempting to make stuff like gunpowder from scratch, using proportions gleaned from a book. I produced stuff that burned with a fizz, but nothing that went boom. > > Of course I was only 12 at the time. Maybe it was a good thing I failed. 😃 > > I very strongly suspect that there is a lot more “tradecraft” in making gunpowder than simply mixing up the right proportions of sulfer, saltpeter, and charcoal; and that those planning on making this stuff to survive in the future would do well to take an apprenticeship in making it now. I think I was 10 when I tried to make “gunpowder” by mixing charcoal dust and an obscene amount of charcoal lighter fluid. Burnt off both eyebrows and a bit of forehead hair on that experiment. ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2014, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arming-yourself-after-the-apocalypse/695175/49 "2014-08-14T05:08:03Z")
Just a general note to say let’s not talk about killing each other any more in this topic. Some of you have already made your points on how you’d act during this situation, arguing or debating the point goes off topic and starts to get into “against the rules” territory depending on how personal it gets with other posters. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2014, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arming-yourself-after-the-apocalypse/695175/50 "2014-08-14T08:45:13Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Mutants? Zombies? Morlocks? C.H.U.D.s? Nope (I wouldn’t want to shoot Jean Grey, no, not _shoot_…). Yep. Yep. Yep. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2014, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arming-yourself-after-the-apocalypse/695175/51 "2014-08-14T11:25:34Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > Modern arcery tackle in general doesn’t strike me as all that great of a choice for use after the poxy clips. Modern high velocity compound and crossbows require aluminum or carbon fiber arrows. Just as well I don’t have a “high velocity” bow. Nonetheless, it is adequate for self defense as a would-be truck thief found out some years ago. The error here would be buying a bow with all the bells and whistles all you need is something basic. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2014, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arming-yourself-after-the-apocalypse/695175/52 "2014-08-14T13:12:19Z")
> [@August\_West](#): > > I think I was 10 when I tried to make “gunpowder” by mixing charcoal dust and an obscene amount of charcoal lighter fluid. Burnt off both eyebrows and a bit of forehead hair on that experiment. A fellow pyro kid! 😃 I had a buddy who pulled a stunt like that - he “found” some blanks used by black-powder recreationists staging a War of 1812 battle at old Fort York; we was scraping the powder out of them into a dish when he made a spark with his scraping and his powder-pile went “foosh” in his face, burning off his eyebrows and some hair, and making a stinky mushroom cloud. He had some mild burns but was not seriously hurt. The funny part was that this happened in his basement and his sister was watching TV at the other end of the basement, and was so glued to her program that she didn’t notice - the explosion (well, “foosh”), the cloud of stinky smoke and burnt hair, her brother staggering around clutching his face and screaming, etc. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2014, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arming-yourself-after-the-apocalypse/695175/53 "2014-08-14T13:45:02Z")
[Like this](http://affordablehousinginstitute.org/blogs/us/wp-content/uploads/acme_risk.jpg)? ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2014, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arming-yourself-after-the-apocalypse/695175/54 "2014-08-14T14:09:31Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > [Like this](http://affordablehousinginstitute.org/blogs/us/wp-content/uploads/acme_risk.jpg)? 😃 Pretty much, yeah. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arming-yourself-after-the-apocalypse/695175.md?page=2)