Dropped into Jamestown, VA in 1607...

[TR675]

The Glock/Beretta in Iraq thread got me started down this path, which is kind of fun and was popular on an old forum I used to post on...

You have bumped into an anomaly in the time/space continuum and, Army of Darkness style, find yourself in Jamestown, Virginia in 1609. This is during the "Starving Time" so your goal, for obvious reasons, is to GTFO and make it to California to see the coastal redwoods and to found your own colony, Liberteria, pop. 1, before the lunkhead Californians can ruin the place. You've had all of your shots, and you're travelling on foot.

Lucky you, you'd just been shopping at my favorite place on earth, Cabela's, where due to a weird premonition about just this sort of thing happening you'd picked up a bunch of camping gear and (1) knife, (1) rifle, (1) handgun and as much ammo as you can carry. Remember that you have to carry everything else, too, unless you can tame and saddle an elk, so your ammo will be limited!

The question being: what knife, pistol and rifle do you take along, and why? Bonus points for including stout recommendations on other gear.

[PPGMD]

No horses?

[TR675]

Nope.

[RevolverRob]

CZ 452, a stack of magazines, and a ton of .22 LR - 40-grain solids. I don't care so much about the knife, but I'd pick something thick, full tang, and a good set of ceramic and diamond stones to sharpen it. Preferably a serrated blade to go with it. I wouldn't bother with the handgun. Otherwise, several good pairs of boots/shoes knowing once they are gone, they are gone. Fire starter, thin sleeping pad, and enough silver and gold to trade into whatever I need. And I'd go as far as the Mississippi River before stopping, trading with the French and Caddo would be my focus.

-Rob

[Jeep]

CZ 452, a stack of magazines, and a ton of .22 LR - 40-grain solids. I don't care so much about the knife, but I'd pick something thick, full tang, and a good set of ceramic and diamond stones to sharpen it. Preferably a serrated blade to go with it. I wouldn't bother with the handgun. Otherwise, several good pairs of boots/shoes knowing once they are gone, they are gone. Fire starter, thin sleeping pad, and enough silver and gold to trade into whatever I need. And I'd go as far as the Mississippi River before stopping, trading with the French and Caddo would be my focus.

-Rob

Don't bet on the French. None of their permanent settlements had worked yet and they were a long way from exploring the Mississippi. I think that you might want a shotgun also.

[Glenn E. Meyer]

Sonic screwdriver, Tardis, beautiful companion. That's the best other gear. Sorry!

[RevolverRob]

Don't bet on the French. None of their permanent settlements had worked yet and they were a long way from exploring the Mississippi. I think that you might want a shotgun also.

The French had settlements starting in 1600 in Canada, but you are correct, they were just beginning to move down the Mississippi. But I would still focus on that area. The Natives, primarily Caddo, where valuable trading allies and peaceable when dealing with the French and Spanish, seems like a safer place to be. By 1609 the Caddo had already been exposed multiple times to the Spanish. Plus I grew up in that area, abundant resources, remote places to shelter away, and generally good weather year round.

-Rob

[Bigguy]

Sonic screwdriver, Tardis, beautiful companion. That's the best other gear. Sorry!

Well shoot! I'd figure that's how you got there.
Also keep an eye out for daleks with mohawks.

[Lester Polfus]

This is an interesting thought experiment.

First, let's remember that North American Fauna in 1607 was very different. There were Elk all over the East Coast, as well as American Bison that would be more than happy to stomp a mudhole in ya', not to mention that the historical range of the Grizzly Bear was much bigger than it is today.

The flip side is, the numbers of critters that are tasty and good to eat were much bigger too. When we think of people foraging or "living off the land" we have visions of them shooting big critters, like deer and elk. The real money though is in small game: rabbits, grouse, pigeons, doves, racoons, porcupines, turtles, fish, etc.

So Here's what I would do.

Long gun:

A Savage 24 with a .30-30 rifle barrel, with a 12 gauge barrel underneath.

The .30-30 get's over looked but ballistically it's more than enough for deer sized game, and one lone person shooting anything bigger than that is pretty stupid. Even then we should only shoot a deer if we have time to stay awhile and jerk the meat. This round also would provide an advantage over uppity Frenchmen with flintlocks, and angry locals with bows and arrows. Yes, it's a single shot, break open rifle, but if your plan revolves around volume of fire, you need to get a new one, as I don't think it would be practical to hump more than 200 rounds of ammo or so.

That leads us to the 12 Gauge barrel. We can carry a small selection of: Brenneke slugs, Buckshot, BB shot, and 7 1/2 shot. The problem is going to be that 12 Gauge ammo is HEAVY so we aren't going to carry a bunch of it.

I'd carry 5 or so brenneke slugs for Big Bear terriroty. Giving the Bear a Brenneke, followed by a .30-30, is a start.

I'd also pack 5 rounds of 00 buckshot. That's for sleeping at night and other situations where you might encounter critters or n'er do wells at close range suddenly.

I think you could realisticly pack 100 rounds of mixed bb and 7.5 shot. That isn't very much to get you to California. I'd save that for when foraging by other means isn't going well.

Short Gun:

I'm going to pick a supressed .22 pistol. This would probably be one of the integrally supressed Ruger Mk2/Mk3 platforms out there, that has a field servicable supressor. This would be for small game hunting. You could hump a few hundred rounds of mixed Stinger, Mini-Mag, and Sub-Sonic ammo.

Knife:

I'm partial to my ESEE RC-4 for general bushcraft duties. I would want to have a good sharpener.

Other stuff:

I want a good axe. Something along the lines of a Wetterling forest axe. Couple that with a 21" Sven saw with some spare blades and you've got a light weight pair of tools that can be used to process firewood quickly, and build shelters.

A good quality modern recurve bow, with about a dozen arrows, with an assortment of broadheads, field points, and judo points, along with some extra strings. This is silent, and most of the time the arrows are recoverable.

A good Wiggys or Kifaru sleeping bag. Synthetic. I'd err on the side of too warm.

Some kind of shelter. A good tarp, again ala Wiggys or Kifaru, or maybe a bivy.

Some good boots that fit my feet. Danners usually work good for me.

A qualty set of rain gear. Camouflage.

Wool Midlayers. Maybe some polypro long underwear. Some good synthetic backpackign socks. A good wool cold weather hat and a nice broad brimmed sun hat. Some heavy gloves with light weight liners.

A good stainless steel pot. A magnesium fire starter. A compass.

I'd want a comprehensive, lightweight guide to edible plants. That's gonna be tough. You might wind up having to carry two Peterson's, one for East, and one for West, and figure out how to keep them dry. I'd memorize those bad boys by the fire at night.

I'd want an assortment of Sea to Summit Event compression dry sacks. They aren't perfect, but they are light.

I'd also want some drugs. They don't sell them at Cabela's, but some good, broad spectrum antibiotics would be a good thing to have.

I love camelbacks, but for long term, I'd want a couple of quality stainless steel water bottles.

To carry all this, you'd need a bomber pack. I'm thinking something like an Eberlestock Battleship, with a gun scabbard attachment. When you are toting the bow the Savage 24 can go in there. When toting the Savage, the unstrung bow should ride nicely in the scabbard.

All that stuff is going to be heavy, and by the time you make it to California, quite a bit of it is going to be used up or broken. But its definitely enough to bootstrap you along your way.

What it would really take is knowledge and some awesome outdoors skills.

[farscott]

For the rifle, I would pick a T/C Contender with two 21" barrels, a .22 LR and a .357 Magnum, with a synthetic stock. Both barrels would have Williams Foolproof peep rear sights and a Lyman front globe sight. That is what I use now for small-game hunting, so I know it works. The assembled rifle weighs about five pounds. I would bring a spare Contender action as well. I know I can carry a few to five bricks of .22 40-grain solid standard velocity ammo or subsonic .22 LR with no issue. The .357 brass would have to be reloaded as loaded .357 is heavy and bulky, especially in the 158-grain lead SWC I like. That means I need a Lee Loader, some bullet moulds, lead wheel weights, primers, and powder. One of the reasons for .357 is that it can be easily reloaded with a Lee Loader; otherwise, I might be tempted to go for a .243 Winchester Encore or Browning 1885. The other issue with the Encore is changing from centerfire to rimfire is not as easy as flipping the switch on the Contender hammer. The 1885 is also centerfire only, giving the nod to the Contender.

Not sure I would bring a pistol, but if I did it would be a stainless Ruger Mark II. Knife would be something fixed in 420C or 440C stainless as it can be sharpened on just about anything. No wonder steel that needs diamonds to be sharpened.

Outerwear would be Filson as nothing is better in the brush. Quiet and tear resistant (unlike modern tech gear) and can carry ammo and game in Cruiser pocket. Boots would be a pair of Wesco Jobmasters. Need some Obenauf's LP to keep the boots going. More than a few pair of wool socks would come along as well. I would need spare sets of eyeglasses and hats to protect my scalp from sunburn.

Need a decent compass and a good set of maps to navigate and one heck of a first aid/survival kit. Something to purify water (and cook) like a stove and a small Lodge dutch oven, some water purification tablets for emergencies, and a ton of antibiotics, colloidal silver, and aspirin.

Need a wheelbarrow to carry it all as I have not even covered shelter or food.