Survival Caliber Rifle

My choice is a highly accurate 20" flattop AR chambered in 5.56 with a fast twist barrel and equipped with a good quality scope such as a Trijicon Accupoint 3-9 w/ mil dot reticle in a quality QD mount with good back up iron sights as well.

It's what I have in my safe as I type this and was chosen as I feel it is the best all around rifle to deal a very wide range of possible threats and to give the best shooting opportunities.
 
Same thing I always bring in the "sticks" AR-15 (5.56) and my Glock 23 under my arm in a shoulder holster. I know you said one gun but who really ever leaves the house with only one?
 
As already mentioned, it is relitive to your surroundings but a .22LR would be my choice. Cheap, light and will take down small game without a problem. No way to preservs game...dont need to kill an elk.
 
Went on a survival trip with my friend as a kid,,hiked across a county in 4 days,,in the summer..we travelled pretty light,,,took no food,,we had hard tack candy,alot of cigars, seasoning,instant coffee and levi garrett.

Weapons,,a tc contender 44 mag,,hollow points and rat shot(snake country)rem.bolt 22 rifle open sights.

Total eating,,couple crows and 1 groundhog....never seen one squirrel,,of any kind/.

All the water was leech infested,,we had to boil it on a open fire,,,i can still remember drinking warm smoked water,,,and smelling it every time i exhaled.mmm mmm.

If a guy is just setting tight"surviving",,you may be able to find enough food to sustain life,,barely.

Humping across a county,,is a differet matter all together,,burns alot of calories,,,and animals dont move in the heat.

All in all i look back at this and i do not regret it,,learned more in those 4 days than most will ever know.

Its a great weight loss program.

X
 
Originally Posted By: coyotexWent on a survival trip with my friend as a kid,,hiked across a county in 4 days,,in the summer..we travelled pretty light,,,took no food,,we had hard tack candy,alot of cigars, seasoning,instant coffee and levi garrett.

Weapons,,a tc contender 44 mag,,hollow points and rat shot(snake country)rem.bolt 22 rifle open sights.

Total eating,,couple crows and 1 groundhog....never seen one squirrel,,of any kind/.

All the water was leech infested,,we had to boil it on a open fire,,,i can still remember drinking warm smoked water,,,and smelling it every time i exhaled.mmm mmm.

If a guy is just setting tight"surviving",,you may be able to find enough food to sustain life,,barely.

Humping across a county,,is a differet matter all together,,burns alot of calories,,,and animals dont move in the heat.

All in all i look back at this and i do not regret it,,learned more in those 4 days than most will ever know.

Its a great weight loss program.

X

Great story. I've seen posts on hiking and survival sites about folks wanting to go camping or trekking and take no food. They think it will be easy to find/kill food. You're story points out that it's not. At some point Murphy's Law kicks in. You know the law that says you see more deer when yote hunting and more yotes when deer hunting and you catch more fish when pleasure fishing but fishing stinks when you are in a tourney. We're going to the boundary waters this year and I've had folks tell me that we don't need much food cause the fishing is so good. I believe em. But I'm taking full rations anyway!

CB
 
http://www.predatormastersforums.com/for...0342&page=1

Wonder how this kid will get along?

I dont think i would like to try it solo,,too many variables,,broken leg,snake bite,,bad laceration.

I think one of those short rossi combos would be about as good as anything 22lr,20 gauge barrels,,take down in a pack.

also a interesting fact,,if you dont eat much for a period of time,,your stomach shrinks/contracts and will make you feel stuffed after only a few bites of food.
These are some of the early stages of starvation,,cannot fit the amount of food in there,thats needed.

I remember distinctly when we got picked up,,i had half a hotdog and 3 cheezits and was stuffed.

X
 
Savage 22/410 O/U. Ream most or all of the full choke out of the 410 and use almost a cyl bore in it.

Between the little shotgun and the 22....you can get about anything you might want to skin and clean
 
Hey guys,

This thread is going great. Keep the opinions coming. I am learning a lot of good things here. There is a lot of great ideas I hadn't even thought of. 53 posts and I'm amazed. This has been a fun and informative topic for me. Keep them coming.

TONY
 
I'm getting into bushcraft and will eventually trek like what coyotex did. Probably go with .22. Small game, birds, rabbits, ground squirrels. Most of my survival efforts will be water and shelter. I've nailed a few birds just chucking rocks.
 
All in all,,its called surviving for a reason,,its just that.

The only 2 reasons we did our trip,was to answer the question...can we live off the land,,as folks did in the past? answer locally..nope not during the late summer.

The second reason for the trip was ginseng,,,trekking where others wouldnt....that part worked out...but the last day we were too exausted to dig..still had a combination of 4 pounds,walked past about that much.

I asked my buddy a couple weeks ago if he wanted to do a anniversary trip...that was a quick "no" lol.

X
 
OK, since this is my topic and I said I would save my selection for last, because I wanted to see what all of you had to say. After reading all of the post, I have rethunk my opinion a bit. I've received alot of opinions and all were great for the conditions you would be in.

Here is my opinion. Here in Nevada, I would have to choose a .22 lr/mag and a shotgun in bird shot/slug combonation. The rest of the firearms would have to remain in the safe. I was originally going to say a .22 RF/Mag. and that is all. After reading I've changed my mind. Thanks alot guys, you have all been a big help.

I could survive by myself or with another person in the wild,
but not with a bunch of other people unless they had survival skills and common sense.

This has been a great post and all excellent replies. Please coninue if you want to.

Tony
 
kind of a loose question id say.

if it were a situation like "end of the world" brain eatin zombies, mall ninja's, haji comming for ya, overthrow of the govenment, have to defend life / family / stores of food and supplies from PEOPLE and ANAMIALS and get dinner. i would have to say my new SD in 223. can handle takeing down small critters and anything in the midwest with no problem. could also lay down some fire or snipe off the bad guys if need be. ammo is around, reloading, millitary, police, common caliber.

if it were, surviveing off the land, with minimal need of personel defense and i was to stay in the midwest...marlin 22 mag bolt action with a 3x9 scope with iron sights as a backup and a couple extra mags in your pocket. could carry a stock of ammo, accurate, deadly on anything up to and includeing deer size game (remember, no refigeration, no NEED of killing more than you can eat / perserve at any one time)

if i had to do it in a place where the top preadator is not man, (ie, the mountain west, alaska, aferica, ect) i would go with a common caliber, like 308 win. in a bolt gun and a 3x9 scope WITH iron sights still on the rifle. it can take any game on earth, includeing large pissed off stuff like elephants. is a known man killer just in case. ammo should be in supply around the world, milltary, police, sporting goods,gas stations, other people, reloading.

the reason i would stay with the popular calibers is the avelability of ammo, also i would stay with common rifles like rem 700's, wincherster 70's, ruger 77's any AR variant just incase you broke something, the chances of getting a replacement part is better.

the reason i say "with iron sights on the rifle as well" is well....you get it.

if i would have to be droped ANYWHERE in the world, not knowing where, and expected to set up camp or whatever and defent it and myself from whatever might come along, as well as hunt for food for a unknown peirod of time (in the years bracket) and i had to pick just one rifle, i would go with the 223 i think. just too many ways it could go.

that was fun, thanks
 
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