I would take a takedown recurve bow as my primary SHTF/bugout weapon

This is the type of opinion that is subject to change.

In the near future, deteriorating political, economic, and social circumstances may result in many people having to rely on weapons to obtain food and defend themselves on a regular basis. Alternately, some people desire to leave civilization for a life of self-sufficiency in the wilderness, perhaps temporarily, and will encounter the same challenges. Generally, firearms are the preferred weapons among people who seek to prepare themselves for these events.

I have owned and used a wide variety of firearms over many years and own several right now. If I had to pick one weapon to serve as a primary weapon (a full-size weapon intended to be used offensively, such as for hunting, and carried in the hand or by sling as opposed to a secondary weapon, which is complimentary, used defensively and carried on-person and possibly concealed, such as a handgun) I just might prefer my ILF recurve over any kind of rifle or shotgun. It's advantages:

• It needs very little routine maintenance and much less in the way of specialized maintenance products. Guns require frequent cleaning and oiling for lubrication and corrosion resistance, solvents to dissolve carbon and copper residue, metallic scrubbers for barrel leading, and often a complex disassembly process to accomplish this. What a hassle to have to deal with when you're struggling to survive, possibly on the move, and can't just stop by Walmart to pick up stuff you need. Modern bows only need an occasional layer of string wax (and one tube lasts seemingly forever), a new string every year or so (strings cost and weigh almost nothing and you can also make them), and a couple odd replacements that don't merit anxiety, like the occasional new rest padding, which can be improvised from many common materials. You need to sharpen the broadheads, but you're going to have to sharpen stuff anyway.

• It's virtually impervious to the elements. A firearm is considered to be weather resistant when, upon carrying it while being caught in an unexpected storm, you think "eh, it'll be fine. I'll just dry and re-oil it when I get home." With a modern bow, you can deliberately carry it for hours during precipitation, put it away wet without giving a single crap about it, and it will generally be fine. You can live with the weapon in the wilderness long-term and not really worry about it's integrity.

• It's a non-intimidating weapon that is legal almost everywhere in the world. Nobody thinks of bows as being the weapons of military, police, militias, terrorists, gangsters, mass murderers, serial killers, or anyone else who may be perceived as a threat. Bows are thought of as being the weapons of hunters, survivalists, hobbyists and sportsmen, and perhaps men who play too many videogames. If circumstances necessitate moving through populated areas or interacting with strangers, and you cannot leave your weapon behind, the bow is far less likely to make you a target for harassment or unsolicited hostility. By contrast, if you make a habit of carrying around something like an AR15, you'll probably never lay eyes on the person who decides to end you and it probably won't take long for that to happen.

• Complementing the above advantage, the bow can be broken down quickly and stored in a very small space. Arrows are long, but very thin and light and can be concealed in numerous ways. It is not difficult to modify arrows to have takedown capability, meaning that the entire weapon system could feasibily be stored in an ordinary backpack or briefcase.

• Bows are virtually silent, often so silent that the very game shot with them does little more than casually glance in the direction of the sound, if that. Firearms, by comparison, are exceptionally loud. Most hunting-capable rifles can be heard and identified from literally miles away under certain circumstances, potentially alerting countless people over a wide area that there is someone in the vicinity poaching game and/or engaging in hostile acts. Or there is someone nearby who possesses a valuable weapon that others may covet. Additionally, most firearms are so loud that they may cause permanent hearing loss with just a single shot if the shooter isn't wearing ear protection. The only way to deal with this issue is to use a suppressor, which creates many challenges of manufacture (especially for automatics), acquisition, and legality, and will still leave the weapon very loud compared to a bow. Alternately, one could use earplugs every time he shoots, but then he is still making tremendous noise, and as importantly he can no longer make quick, opportunistic shots at game he encounters spontaneously while walking, which is the most common type of shot opportunity in forested country. The inability to make these shots would be a serious handicap, probably leading to starvation.

• Traditional bows can be used with "ammunition" that is not only almost infinitely reusable, but readily crafted from natural materials and lumber supplies that aren't in high demand. Firearms require industrially manufactured ammunition that is currently completely out of stock all across America. I have a decent supply of ammo for all of my guns, but I haven't trained with any of them in almost a year, because I want to continue to have a decent supply of ammo for them. It's possible that I may never shoot again except to save my life. My recurve, on the other hand, I still train with almost every day and think nothing of it.

• Bows are incredibly versatile. It is entirely realistic to do all of your hunting with a single bow and arrow setup. A broadhead that will be lethal on the very largest game won't cause inordinate destruction on the smallest game, and if you don't want to use broadheads on small game, it's a simple matter to swap it out for a small game point or just a field tip. With firearms, because they typically rely on an explosive energy dump as a wounding mechanism, there is a tendency for big game capable rifles to be excessively destructive on smaller game, possibly leaving you with no real meat to collect at all unless you take only headshots, which will greatly increase the challenge of hitting a target that is already very small. A .22 is good for small game, but generally not suitable for large game. The only way around this issue is to use a rifle chambered in a very low velocity, big-bore cartridge, such as a handgun round, which deals significant damage through sheer metplat area but won't blow small game to smithereens, but then you sacrifice a lot of the range that lends a rifle it's advantage over a bow in the first place. Archers simply don't have these problems. With a bow, you can just shoot anything that moves.

• Traditional bows are extremely lightweight, often three times lighter than common rifles, and are balanced in a way that makes them very easy and comfortable to carry in the hand for long periods of time, no sling or rig necessary. This would be greatly appreciated by anyone who spends a lot of time travelling on foot, such as someone living in a society where gasoline is no longer available or the roads have been occupied or sabotaged by hostile special interest groups.

• In forested country, one may only rarely get shot opportunities outside of archery range anyway.

• Personally, I am politically neutral and would never be involved in any kind of battle. I also don't own land and have nothing to defend. This means that I would not likely have any use for a weapon designed for sustained combat at intermediate range, such as the popular AR and AK platform rifles. I am better off with a practical, versatile, lightweight, low-maintenance hunting weapon like a recurve, and a pistol as a secondary defensive weapon.

Tl;dr I will have the bow when I need it, it won't be a bigger liability than a benefit, probably nothing will go wrong with it, and it's performance will be sufficient in most cases.

submitted by /u/Own_Economics_5885
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