The Laughing Wolf

Patrolling With Kim

I must start with a confession here: I don’t read Kim DuToit as much as I probably should. I have mentioned my top three before, and I do have several that I try to read as often as I can, but I usually hit Kim on Sundays to catch up on the skin and see if there are any weapons-related posts that catch my eye.

Doing this, however, caused me to miss his patrol challenge. Leaving aside the fact that the Government is never going to admit it needs its Citizens, this is a very interesting and fun thought experiment. Go read it, and then come back and read the rest.

Okay, I presume you have so I will now give some of my thoughts. Patrolling is just that. It is humping over hill and dale, checking things out, and serving as a tripwire to get word back to higher command if something isn’t right. In this function, a patrol can observe and report, hiding or on the move, or it can call out “halp” as all chaos breaks upon it. In that case, one of two things will happen. They will either be overrun, or they can try to hold out until relieved. In the latter case, you hope and pray that it is John Wayne and not Henry Fonda coming over the hill. If you don’t get this last, go watch the John Ford westerns.

Unless you are going out against the Posleen, you don’t need heavy artillery. You want to be fast, mobile, and with enough firepower to deal with everyday problems. You are not playing Spartan at the Fulda Gap or Rambo. Given all this, and given that water, etc. is supplied, I was left with the following thoughts.

Weapon of Choice 1: Shotgun. Works well, light, and can be used for a variety of projectiles and situations. Including getting dinner if there is no problem with noise discipline. Ammo is heavy, but the easy way to deal with that is to take less. You are a patrol, remember? I would probably take 2 flare rounds, 2 incendiary rounds, 10 #1 buck, 10 rifled slug (improved munitions if possible), and 16 flechette rounds. I would also probably sneak along some 6 or 8 shot rounds for improving the larder.

Weapon of Choice 2: Lever action rifle. If the patrol was in the Southeast, I am going to give strong consideration to the Marlin 336C lever action rifle in .35 Remington. This is a country of heavy brush and undergrowth, with gives some serious complications to things. The .223 and similar rounds spin at a high rate of speed, so that they tumble wildly when they hit something. They do a lot of internal damage as a result. This is why Dad never even considered these type rounds for hunting, since we hunted for food. What was needed was stopping power that would not excessively damage meat, and would not go off Ifni-knows-where if it hit a leaf or twig on the way to the target. The solution was the .35 Remington, which can drop a Grizzly and makes its (relatively) slow and steady way to the target through obstacles. You can fire the lever action pretty darn fast if needed, and the basic mechanism is very accuracy friendly. Probably would not hump 100 rounds, 40-60 more likely.

Weapon of Choice 3: FN. Yep, my tried and trusty FN. Heavier than the M-16, but rugged, accurate, and with a scope on it that lets me do some of my snooping from a safe distance. As with #2, it is accurate and I can use it for precision shooting at fair distances. It is also semi-auto so I can do something closer to pray and spray if needed. More thoughts on that subject later. No more than 60 rounds of ammo, most likely.

Caveat #1: If at all possible, I would cache additional rounds for each within the patrol area. Carry only enough to get by, and boogie to the cache if needed. Again, this is a patrol, not the last stand at Red River. We hope. I want enough to get by, and more nearby as needed. Plan ahead and be prepared.

Given all this, what would I take? The right one for the circumstances. It is going to depend on the patrol, the situation, the support and resupply situation, and my condition at the time. These are the ones I would consider highest for around here. Elsewhere? That changes things, and is a thought experiment for another day.

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