Survival Rifle?

[pwd72s]

If I were still young enough to worry about finding myself in a survival situation, here's what I'd probably pick. Backpackers, pilots, off roaders, etc...

https://www.henryusa.com/rifles/us-survival-rifle/

[flatbutt]

.22 LR for survival? I've always said that if you put enough LR rounds into a guy he's done and it's OK for small game but...

[Rick Lee]

IIRC, in Into the Wild Chris McCandless brought down a moose with a .22, but it was so much more meat than he could use or preserve, that most of it went to waste.

[Tobra]

That would not be my choice for a survival rifle.

[ramonesfreak]

I like it. I think I prefer my PC Carbine. Fits in a backpack, good enough for me

[HardDrive]

If it’s something I’m going to be carrying long distances, .22 would be my choice. You can carry a hell of a lot of .22 in a small space. Lots of edible critters you can kill with a .22. Obvious step up would be to a compact 5.56 platform of some kind.

[Jeff Higgins]

My survival rifle is a stainless steel single action revolver in either .45 Colt or .44 mag.



Short, lightweight, easy to pack, weatherproof, and enough to bring down anything I run across. Accurate enough for head shots on smaller animals. As far as the larger animals, if I'm truly in "survival mode", I'm not going to care one whit how much meat I "waste". Besides, there are ways to dry and preserve meat without refrigeration or salt.

Yes, ammo is heavier than .22 ammo. But how much are we really going to need in a survival situation?

[pwd72s]

Good enough for James, good enough for me.

[TimT]

I have one.. When I had a boat it was always stashed somewhere easily accessible.. Small, rugged , cheap...which is good in a salt water environment without a lot of storage options...I did graduate to a Mossberg SS pistol grip shotgun..

[LEAKYSEALS951]

I like it.

The lightweight is good. Should be able to plink some small critters and leave enough chitlin's to eat..

[herr_oberst]

It reminded me of this little number from Lonesome Dove

https://www.imfdb.org/wiki/Lonesome_Dove

Remington 1858 "Cattleman's Carbine" - .44 caliber.

[MBAtarga]

I"ll stick with this one.

[id10t]

Survival in what context? Dropped 10k years into the past? How about 1500 years ago? Or post apocolyptic with mutant zombie biker hoards? Or far more likely a post-Katrina or other relatively local natural disaster?

First two have much different needs than the ladt two ... and I think the last one is really the only one likely to happen and that you should prepare for ...

[Zeke]

Not adhering to the rifle genre, isn't this survival?



Might not be any meat left to spoil.

[ben parrish]

Originally Posted by pwd72s

Good enough for James, good enough for me.

That’s a Belgium Browning SA Takedown .22. I have one and it is a very sweet shooting gun

[ben parrish]

If I had to bug out with one rifle, I’d be hard pressed not to grab my little bull pup and a backpack full of vacuumed packed, 80 rounds per pack ammo. The FN is short, light and very accurate..good for Zombies, deer and rabbits. I’d also grab the Ruger single six .22 and the interchangeable magnum cylinder.
..pull the trigger and it goes bang every time.

[varmint]

Originally Posted by id10t

Survival in what context? Dropped 10k years into the past? How about 1500 years ago? Or post apocolyptic with mutant zombie biker hoards? Or far more likely a post-Katrina or other relatively local natural disaster?

First two have much different needs than the ladt two ... and I think the last one is really the only one likely to happen and that you should prepare for ...

Your light plane goes down on Adak and you have to eat puffins for a couple days. That Henry would be ideal.

You go down on Kodiak and have bears staring at you while waiting for rescue it’s entirely inadequate.

[Rick Lee]

I can't think of many rifles I'd like to carry on a sling for long distances. When I've shot Garands and M-14s, I can't help but to think how tough those soldiers were who carried them in the field for days or weeks at a time and used them in gunfights with no ear protection. No thanks. Plenty of ARs are lighter and more compact. My SIG 556 has a folding stock, but it's otherwise kind of heavy.

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by id10t

Survival in what context? Dropped 10k years into the past? How about 1500 years ago? Or post apocolyptic with mutant zombie biker hoards? Or far more likely a post-Katrina or other relatively local natural disaster?

First two have much different needs than the ladt two ... and I think the last one is really the only one likely to happen and that you should prepare for ...

Yea, there is just no situation I can think of that I would ever need a survival gun. The biggest baddest tornado ever on the planet hit Moore, OK and several other small communities. With 300+ MPH winds and it killed over 50 people. Just a mile away was full civilization, and help poured in. Hospitals, motels, shelter and food is right there. We have a tornado shelter of our own, and there is almost always a lot of warning. Sometime a week before they are telling us the conditions are ripe for an outbreak on that day. We watched the May 3rd, 1999 for hours on TV and we were told just where it was going. We never got as much as a power blip.

Zombies and bigfoot are just make believe, so no worries there. My version of camping out is a hotel with slow or no internet, but a view of the woods, so I will not get lost in the woods or stranded outside.

[id10t]

Originally Posted by varmint

Your light plane goes down on Adak and you have to eat puffins for a couple days. That Henry would be ideal.

You go down on Kodiak and have bears staring at you while waiting for rescue it’s entirely inadequate.

In that case my 22 AR SBR (19.5" oal, fits in a back pack) and a 762x39 or 6.5grendel upper and a couple of high capacity mags, hopefully loaded with some of the old steel core in the x39 or similar for the grendel (6.5x55 steel jackets pulled from surplus like Bell used on elephants)

Keeps same packability as the ar7 but seriously increses firepower available

If the SBR isnt an option then a 12ga pump for big fuzzies and a 22 pistol for belly filling would be next though just a shotgun with a variety of ammo (slugs for mean fuzzies and 1oz "5 lead for food) would do fine too