OK, I'm a gun person. What I know about khukuris, I learned on this list. Of the ones I own, the one that I pick up the most when something needs to be cut is my $49 15" Villager with wood handle. It does the job and I don't worry about hurting it. Now that Yvsa has sharpened my 19" Gelbu Special I will have to give it a try (if the ice ever ends).
Rifles: how much do you want to spend? How hard do you want to hit? How accurate does it need to be? Etc. Etc. Lots of choices including what "feels right" to you.
Most US military veterans of recent vintage have a soft spot for the civilian version of the M-16, the AR-15. In some ways it is the most versatile rifle you can own. BATF considers the lower receiver to "be the gun." Therefore you can buy one lower receiver (or one complete gun) from a dealer and then everything else can be ordered by phone or internet and delivered to your house (unless you live in one of the cursed states like the People's Republic of California or Mass). The standard rifle is .223 of course. It is easy to make up an upper receiver for .17 Remington which is a super mid range coyote gun. You can also make an upper that will happily shoot .22 LR all day long. With no real modifications you can set up an upper for the AK caliber of 7.62 X 39. I don't have the bookmark to the company on my home Mac but there is company out there that specializes in heavy caliber conversions for the AR. You can get ready to shoot uppers in .440 Corbon, .44 Magnum or even .50 AE. Big time deer or wild pig thumper. You can even get a single shot upper that converts your AR over to .50 BMG. That's the largest civilian legal cartridge you can own. Here's their URL:
http://www.watsonsweapons.com/ Click on "Products."
The AR can be very accuate. I've fired some custom jobs that would happily keep five shots inside one half inch at 100 meters. Those would be long heavy barrels though. One of the joys of the AR is how light and short you can make it. Put a 16" barrel on and a collapsible stock (if it is a pre-ban model) and you have a short light rifle in .223 that you can carry all day. Go get one. Do it today. Mr. Versatility.
The FN/FAL is sweet as well. There is a good web site where you can learn:
www.fnfal.com . The message board link is at the bottom. You can build your own from parts for $600-$850 or you can buy the best ready to go from DS Arms:
http://www.dsarms.com/
Inexpensive bolt action military rifles: how nice. First go get your Curio and Relic FFL for $30. You can then buy anything made before 1950 and have it mailed directly to your home. No paying dealer markup. I've got a Lee Enfield Jungle Carbine in .303 British but I wouldn't really recommend it. You would be better off listening to these people:
http://forums.ar15.com/Forum3/HTML/027805.html
I'm a big Swedish Mauser fan. I'm an even bigger fan of their cartridge: 6.55 X 55mm. It is everything a round should be. Plenty for deer, flat shooting, extremely accurate, easy to find components to reload.
8mm is ok but you need to find imported ammo. The American loaded stuff is anemic at best. Go to a gun show and look on the ammo tables, you'll find some import stuff.
Almost forgot the Garand! How could I do that with a really nice Springfield Armory model hanging on the wall about 25 feet from me? I like them. They are easy to learn to shoot well. The semi-auto action takes some of the sting out of 30/06 recoil. I actually like the little 8 round enbloc clips. It is nice to not spoil a rifle's lines with a large detachable clip. They are heavy. I carried mine all around my property one day looking for a coyote and after a couple hours I was happy to put it down.
Speaking of old semi's, the Hakim is a neat gun too and inexpensive. It's long and heavy but fun to learn how to operate and sweet to actually shoot.
Everybody should have an AK and a SKS. Good AK's are getting harder and harder to find. We're working on it. I bet we see a total US manufactured model soon to get around the import ban. They have decent accuracy but their appeal is really in their ruggedness. They don't care if they are full of mud, they go bang and feed the next round. The SKS is the much less expensive model that usually has a fixed ten round clip. Still 7.62X39. Actually a much better deal than the Ruger Mini 14 or 30. I see them at gun shows for less than $200.
And you need a T/C Contender carbine. And a Ruger No 1 single shot (love those rifles). I have a little Springfield Armory Scout with a .22 LR top barrel and a .410 lower barrel that is handy and tough as nails. Everybody should have at least one Remington Model 700 and one Winchester Model 70 (especially since you can now get one with the pre-64 style action). I want to get a M1A someday (civilian M-14). My most accurate rifle is a Sako single shot bolt action in .22 PPC. I can't quote group sizes here; you would have to see it yourself. Don't forget several .22's. I love my 10/22. I'm sure I have more rounds through it than anything else.
No, I won't bring everything I own to your house for you to look at!
Gregg
