Skills

What ever skills you have , you need to practice, practice,practice. You cannot become proficient just by thinking you are. I practice with my pistols daily. Lots of times it is simply shooting wax bullets or the speer plastic bullets. Most gun fights are close range 7- 21 feet.
I practice shooting into a wooden box with baffles in it, with a 10 inch circle. Just remember a pistol is a last ditch weapon. Its a defense weapon as per your rifle is an offensive weapon. Also if you have a carry permit - then carry everyday. My great grandfather was a real pistolero back in Texas. He shot everyday at a 25 yard target which was a 4 inch circle with all 5 of his shots from his S&W Woodsman 38/44 in that circle. Then he cleaned his gun and reloaded it. He also was quite good with his pre 64 model 70 winchester 30-06 with 150 gr Sierra bullets. He would aslo shoot his pistol into a 55 gal barrel filled with sand and then sift thru the sand retreive his cast bullets, melt them down and recast them.

Ammo

How much is enough? To my thinking for your bolt action rifle, you need at least a 1,000 rds.
22 - 5,000 . Pistol -2,000. These are minimums in my book. I also believe you need to have reloading supplies also - powder,bullets,primers. Which in this day and time are very hard to come by and pricey. But what is not. If you can afford more buy more. To me I still do not have enough. I know of a guy who has dozens of guns and very little ammo. I told him that the guns make for bad baseball bats. I have parred my guns back and am going to make sell some more.
I have 7 rifles that shoot the 308, all my shot guns are REm 870's in 12 gau, pistols 9mm,22, 44 mag. Commonality is the key. Besides the spare parts I have - I can rob parts from the others.

Went to Max's Gun store today

Went to Max's Gun store today in Idaho Falls Idaho. Some regulars were in today, they have their own coffee cups, and the talk was of the Nobel Peace Prize.. Think about it Obama was in office only 12 days when he gets nominated for the Prize!! Holy Bullshit!! This moron is given this for nothing!! What is the world coming to..Fella came in lookin for a rifle..Cannot beat the 06 or 270.. Of course i am a HUGE .308 win. fan..Got my first 308 as a 14th bday present..still got it although I recently put a synthetic stock on it..Talk turned to how socialistic this country is becoming. I feel like there are not enough good people to turn the tide. Max disagreed and felt there are more of us than I think the are...Still NO AMMO..

Survial in the 2000's

In these strange times one never knows what is going to happen next. With the socializing of the United States on track like a space shuttle launch. We can only prepare for the worst and hope for the best. My motto has always been "Be Prepared. It's better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it." In these time it's best to be debt free, as much as one can. First things first would be food storage then weapons to defend your self with. Other skills would be gardening, knowing how to preserve the excess, rudimenatery building skills -to take care of your home- (shelter) maybe an alternative power system and so on. In this day and age one can learn much by reading. It would behoove you to buy several books on a subject and read them cover to cover. Learn Learn Learn and apply what you learn by practice practice practice.
Some books I would recommend would be Bostons Gun Bible, Domestic Enemies, Uninteded Consequences, Atlas Shrugged, Last Babylon , the trilogy by Joel C. Rosenberg, The Ashes Series by Willam H. Johnstone the first series, Last of the Breed and there are several others.