New preppers are told that 9mm is “the” caliber for every situation by the professional prepping community. Then those new preppers begin to see that the same people talk about .40 Cal, 357 Sig and a host of other rounds in the past in almost religious tones while maintaining that 9mm is all you need. Not to mention as you expand outward into prepping sibling communities like Bushcrafting you get completely different advice as to what “the” caliber should be. It’s very confusing without some historical knowledge.
I don’t mean knowledge of the 9mm which is interesting and a story in and of itself I mean knowledge of the history of the survivalist movement. This history created many of the myths about what guns/calibers are best and knowing that history will help you figure out is the round is really for you.
Prepping is the politically correct version of survivalism. Not to get too much in the weeds here but in the mid to late 90s the media really went in hard on us survivalists. For example articles called the Branch Davidians a “survivalist cult” or there was a famous case of a homeless father and his sons who lived in the woods who came across a couple and murdered the man and kidnapped the girl to be their “wife” and the media called that in some articles the survivalist killings. Prepping is a modern attempt to distance survivalism from the media image of survivalists as dangerous loners or groups of degenerate criminals.
But prepping has inherited many survivalist theories. One is post collapse ammunition availability. This theory is that in your arsenal you should have guns that take the most common calibers in your area so it’s more likely you’ll be able to find some or trade for it. 9mm is the most common self defense caliber in America at this point. But preppers stocked 9mm long before it became popular.
Survivalism is the product of the Cold War and as such it’s basic premise is that war will destroy the world. In that era people assumed the Warsaw Pact countries would invade Europe and America so many survivalists would stock cheap SKS rifles (when I was young you could buy them for $50 basically) or Mosin Nagant rifles with the theory that though these platforms were no longer in service the ammunition for them was still in use in the new Soviet weapons. Since the Soviets and other communists favored human wave tactics as our vets in Korea and Vietnam learned survivalists would in theory never run out of ammo while the invasion was on.
In the 90s survivalist began focusing more within, looking at what they saw as a political communist insurgency that was destabilizing the US. The media bias and policies like NAFTA helped solidify that perception. Now many survivalists were looking at a civil war where corrupted parts of the state would take the place of Soviet led troops. This was also the time when they started seeing the UN as the bad guys. So 9mm weapons (as well as other common American calibers like 5.56) were now considered survival calibers.
While modern preppers shy away from open civil war talk the theory of having arms chambered in what government bureaucracies would be issuing has remained popular.
But that’s not the only reason 9mms are popular:
9mms are light recoiling rounds compared to most other combat effective rounds.
9mm ammunition is very cheap even in times of inflation and shortages. Right now Sportsman’s Guide has boxes for sale for as little as $15 for a box of 50 FMJs.
Bullet technology has made the 9mm much more effective than it was 30 years ago.
The most popular “cool guy” guns are chambered in 9mm.
9mm zips through light armor like frag vests and steel helmets. Old German frag vests have been showed to stop .22 and 12ga by way of comparison:
So there’s a lot going for it.
But what are the negatives if any? Much of this is my opinion so relax:
The 9mm zips through people, which can be good or bad. A person with a 9mm hole in them is probably still able to fight. As recently as the GWOT Special Forces were underwhlemed by 9mm performance and demanded (and got) 1911s in .45ACP :
However the military uses FMJ. Hollowpoints significantly improve performance by making sure all that energy that makes the round zip through things is actually dumped into some goblin’s central nervous system.
9mm still suffers from that perception of underperformance for many.
The second and most important negative of the 9mm is the the best asset of the round. High capacity pistols are the target of the media and government. You may not care about this – until you’re in court and a jury of MSNBC watchers decide you’re a terrorist for having a 17 round magazine or the ATF kicks in your door and kills your dog. If you live in a blue state you need to be more circumspect about what kind of guns you own unfortunately.
For me the main negative is that the 9mm is just not particularly versatile for a post collapse scenario. It excels at civilian self defense – and that’s about it. A good 12 or 20ga can be used in self defense and harvest any game from chipmunks to elk. A woodsrunning prepper who just escaped the city with one backpack can have up to 10,000 rounds of .22 LR in their pack and barely notice it. With the right load my “old fashioned” .45 can put down a bear.
9mm is for putting down goblins. Period. It doesn’t have the versatility of other rounds when it comes to foraging, use as a garden gun, hunting etc. So for the survivalist on a budget it may not be worth getting one until you have your primary survival arms sorted out.
This might sound like I’m not interested in the round but actually I’m in the market for one. The Taylor’s and Company TC-9 which is a exact clone of my big iron but has a special cylinder that allows it to chamber the rimless (and much cheaper) 9mm. Feeding my baby a steady diet of .45 Colt is expensive. But my preferred survival arms are still scatterguns and .22s
There is nothing wrong with the 9mm for everyday carry in certain areas. It’s a fine round. If you’re on a budget and are really looking for post collapse utility it’s not the round for you. If you’re a night owl in a city or need to be in high crime areas it probably is.
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Author Rob Taylor
