Yes, as I said, much of Tappan's book is quite dated now. I wonder if it could even be done today- models and availability change so quickly now. <br><br>I don't think the BM-59 was ever plentiful, though I saw one only 6 months or so ago... and truthfully, as much as I respect the Garand action, there are 7.62 Nato pieces I like better.<br><br>Of the two books, "Survival Guns" is much the better. "Tappan on Survival" is basically reprinted Q&A from the newsletter that he ran for awhile. Not much new for anyone familiar with his thinking.<br><br>I agree with your assessment of the thread- I responded to Barb & husband without naming my preferences. Too much input is worse than too little.<br><br>I just started to get into air rifles some months ago.. maybe 9. I was looking for some way to stay in practice without driving to the range, which time constraints often prohibit. At the time that my business started to go south and I killed all discretionary spending, I had only acquired one Baikal IZH-61 for target practice across the basement. Very low power, not suited for hunting anything, but it's well suited for indoor practice- at short range, at least, it's much more accurate than I can hold (ragged single holes and the occasional cloverleaf with iron sights IF I do my part) - and it was very cheap. Still, if I had known I'd only have one for awhile, I might have gone with the CZ-631 in the same ( cheap) price range. <br><br>Now that things are easing up financially, I'm beginning to think of others again. I had my eye on a couple of models of RWS side-cockers for awhile, but it seems difficult to load them while keeping a hand on the cocking lever for safety, so I'll probably retreat to break-barrels. I wish they made the Beeman R9 in .22. <br><br>The 5-round magazine in the Baikal spoils you very quickly.<br><br>For survival- of course, it all depends on the scenario.. but I can't help but think that if things got to subsistance level, there are probably a hundred "Nimrod Wildfires" who fancy themselves hunters for every deer in the woods... but we're still vastly outnumberd by squirrels in the suburbs. Air rifles are quiet enough not to attract much attention- I wish springers were more compact and lighter- but you can't have everything.<br><br>Another alternative I explored for practice was a Beamhit (laser) system, which still seems to have a lot of promise.. but money was already a concern, and, as you say, air rifles go a long way on a budget.<br><br>Niven and Pournelle were friends and sometimes guests of Robert (Bob, to them) and Virginia (Ginny, to them) Heinlein. Steve Barnes studied martial arts under Dan Inosanto, who was the leading student of Bruce Lee and carried on Jeet Kune Do after Bruce's death. It changed... but it was bound to.