22 Magnum as a survival rifle?

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Balrog

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Curious what the thoughts of the group would be on the use of a 22 Magnum bolt action rifle for survival purposes would be.

There are some advantages. First, the rifles are usually light in weight. Both Savage and Ruger make 22 mag rifles with weights of six pounds or less. The ammo is light also, meaning you could carry a good bit.

As for the cartridge, it is admittedly weaker than most centerfires. But for small game and varmint sized animals, it is fine. It is a little marginal for self defense against people, but out of a carbine or rifle, the 22 mag is not bad.
 
You could do a lot worse-and, the more I think about it, the more feasible a .22 Magnum rifle might serve as a "survival rifle". As you say, you can carry a lot more ammunition with a lot less effort and space requirements; not much heavier or bulky than .22 rf and more potent to boot.
 
Survival is a somewhat vague word. What circumstances and for how long?

I have a bug-out/survival/range military surplus ammo can that contains a Taurus 22 magnum revolver, holster, 500 rounds of ammunition and earplugs.

For a rifle I would be thinking of keeping several thousand rounds on hand since it can not be reloaded. The small size of the cartridge means a lot of loose rounds can be stored in a 30 or 50 caliber ammo can,
 
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Survival is a somewhat vague word. What circumstances and for how long?

I have a bug-out/survival/range military surplus ammo can that contains a Taurus 22 magnum revolver, holster, 500 rounds of ammunition and earplugs. For a rifle I would be thinking of several thousand rounds on hand since it can not be reloaded. The small size of the cartridge means a lot of loose rounds can to stored in a 30 or 50 caliber ammo can,


Well, the vagueness is intentional. In a survival situation, you don't necessarily know the circumstances or for how long, right?
 
Well, the vagueness is intentional. In a survival situation, you don't necessarily know the circumstances or for how long, right?
Well, if we are considering ANY situation, including TEOTWAKI, then I would avoid it since scrounging .22 Mag. ammo post-apocalypse could be tough. :D

Also, .22 LR can be found anywhere in the world, I think Magnum is probably mostly unknown outside North America?

Thirdly, as many folks here have suggested before, there are many options for adding a .22lr conversion kit to your AR SHTF kit, but does anyone make a .22 Mag. Kit? Ive never heard of one......

For a weekend hiking trip, or something to throw under the seat of your small plane in case you need to walk home to civilisation, Mag. would do fine.
 
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Well, if we are considering ANY situation, including TEOTWAKI, then I would avoid it since scrounging .22 Mag. ammo post-apocalypse could be tough. :D

Also, .22 LR can be found anywhere in the world, I think Magnum is probably mostly unknown outside North America?

Thirdly, as many folks here have suggested before, there are many options for adding a .22lr conversion kit to your AR SHTF kit, but does anyone make a .22 Mag. Kit? Ive never heard of one......

For a weekend hiking trip, or something to throw under the seat of your small plane in case you need to walk home to civilisation, Mag. would do fine.


I always sort of wonder about the idea for scrounging for ammo. If you start with a thousand rounds of any ammo, what are the chances you will need more before you get killed? A thousand rounds is a lot of fights.
 
I would choose a powerful air rifle ammo is really light and it is quiet so 'predators'` won't take your game ...

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Well, the vagueness is intentional. In a survival situation, you don't necessarily know the circumstances or for how long, right?

Then under that criteria my answer is no it is not. As commented resupply sources are limited. Even worse is if your gun is ammo sensitive. 22 L.R. is dang near universal in America. If anything the silly .22 panic a few years ago proves how many people own at least one 22 L.R. In fact the most value the 22.Magnum will have is as barter to the folks that are low or out of ammo.
 
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Well my Two "survival" rifles are Springfield M4 (no petunia not as in the new M4 Ar carbines, that was military M4 Survival rifle as used by Airforce way back) in .22 Hornet and .410 . I have two , called M6 from Springfield ; One is Stainless and one in Black which has a scope on it. The military spent a lot of money coming up with these as the ultimate air crew survival gun. The 45 grain Military FMJ load at 2650 FPS in the 14" barrel (mines are 18") will take about anything with a brain hit . It will take edible game with out much damage.In the .410 Barrel I put 000 5 pellet loads in or nasty Russian steel cased sabot rounds that shoot hard 97 grain FMJ pointy bullets at 1800 FPS . Either one should take a deer to 50 yards pretty certainly as the the factory sights are good !. So when you are a lone survivor :) you make your choice as to what you can carry and wheat it can do for you. I thought about it and my son did and we came up with 5 pound AR SBR s :) although we keep the two Springfield if things settle down after the balloon goes up !
 
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I always sort of wonder about the idea for scrounging for ammo. If you start with a thousand rounds of any ammo, what are the chances you will need more before you get killed? A thousand rounds is a lot of fights.
Well, the purpose of a survival .22 would really be for hunting or suppressive, discouraging fire to allow you to avoid and evade fighting anyone better armed, though it can stil be used for such in a pinch, of course. While were are on the subject of suppression, a silenced .22 would be even handier for taking game and eliminating hostiles quietly. In a pitched fight, 1000 rounds can go quick.
 
If I had to live off the land and possibly defend myself I'd be using a Ruger 10-22 in 22LR with a low powered scope along with a compact 9mm pistol. Make mine a G19, but there are other good options. Some 25 round mags for the Ruger would be along too. In my opinion the 22 mag is either too much, or not enough. I can buy 223 cheaper and just go with an AR before I'd choose a 22 magnum.

A shotgun is tempting. I have one of the 870 youth 20's with a 21" barrel that takes interchangeable tubes. That would be tempting, but I'd can carry 500 rounds of 22 LR in the same space as 25 rounds of 20 ga shells.
 
I'd prefer something with re-loadable brass that you could barter, but I could think of worse choices. One thing in the .22 WMR's favor is that loaded cartridges are compact and light weight, so you could carry a bunch with you if you had to bug out.
Well, you can cast your own bullets, and make yer own black powder, but primers are gunna be hard to come by in the wastelands......:confused:
 
I would think 22 Magnum would be just fine.
It’s probably just as good as any other selection for use in the unknown situations that may arise.

Think about it. 22 Magnum could be a perfect choice if “survival” is a few day haunt home on foot.
It may not be if the poles reverse and the entire world is in chaos.

Who knows? I sure don’t but the main thing is is that you are happy with your choice and confident in the selection you have made. If you are a crack shot with that gun and no other, then that is a good gun to pick.

I always look at things like this along the lines of “regret”. Regret kills attitudes. It kills confidence. It kills Drive. Don’t look at it as if “Is this the right gun for a survival situation?”. Look at it as if “Is this a gun I have confidence in and will I have regrets if I don’t pick X,Y,Z?”

I have news for you. None of us are going to be standing next to you when the crap goes down. You will be on your own...What would make you most comfortable as your doomsday or survival gun?
 
I have a couple, they really don’t have any use for me but I guess you can’t have one of everything without one.

I don’t know what you are surviving but I would pick something more common, quite, accurate or powerful, depending on what the intentions actually are.
 
For TEOTWAWKI 22 mag wouldn't be my choice, that hands down is gonna be 5.56, 9mm and 22LR territory. But for lost in the woods 22 mag would be good in fact make it the top barrel of a Savage 24 the other being 20g and IMHO you have the near perfect survive the woods gun.
 
On paper it sounds great, enough energy to take a wide variety of game but not so much to overly damage it. I personally am waiting for Henry to come out with a 327 with a side gate because I reload for the 32 family already, could carry a handful of 32 long and 327 for different uses, and I'm a hipster like that. If Ruger added a 327 to their 77 series rifles I could easily be convinced to go that route but last I checked the ask the Tell The CEO feature on the Ruger website has been unavailable for awhile.
 
As the old saying goes, "Yous pays your money and takes your choice". Few "survival" scenarios last very long. If you can walk, in the continental US, you really aren't ever that far from help. This is assuming you aren't surviving because you stupidly relied on a GPS and had no map and compass to back it up. If you are lost, and don't know how to find your way, it's really not that hard most folks just panic of kill themselves, just stay in the immediate area. People will come looking for you.

If you are injured and can't move, you want the loudest firearm you can imagine. It may be the only way to attract attention if you aren't smart enough to have EPIRB.
 
The old Marlin Midget Magnum bolt action 22 WMR, would be a fine choice of a get home rifle. 5 shot magazine and a simple take down design. I would love for one of the manufactures come out with a new version, with a few improvements. Stainless steel construction, rear peep sight, polymer stock with hollow cavity, threaded barrel, sling swivels, and possibly several 10 shot magazines.
Marlin%20Midget.jpg
 
Its not a bad idea I suppose, except for ammo cost and availability. Of course, if I were lugging a 6 pound rifle around I'd want something with a little more oomph, but I get the ammunition storage aspect of it from a size to weight ratio. Maybe a carbine in 9mm would be more economical, and serve more roles?
 
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