Got a new "survival/pack" rifle - show me yours

JShirley said:

Perhaps I wasn't clear. Bufferless rifles like the FM15 require no assembly. Since they have no buffer, they can have a brace or stock that folds, making the entire weapon barely longer than an AR upper alone.

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I think he just meant drawing from a holster is lightning quick relative to taking a bag off the shoulder, unzipping, and deploying. But it would certainly be faster than putting both halves together!

The FM15/BRN180 really shines as a pistol without any brace at all as far as compactness. You could always use the picatinny rail version, and just attach a brace or stock (if compliant to laws) when using it to hunt for sustenance. I want to get one later this year in pistol form.

re: survival rifle

Think .22 mag. as one option. I've a pump .22 mag. and a bolt action and a ... .

The .22 mag out of a rifle has over 340 ft.lb. energy at the muzzle and one can carry numerous boxes (50 round each) at very low weight. The .22 LR is a dynamite small game rifle caliber. For small game, the .22 in subsonic loadings puts food on the table. The .22 mag. does horrendous tissue damage = good for varmints 4 and 2-legged -- BUT DESTROYS SMALL GAME. I once turned a rabbit inside-out with a .22 mag. I wanted it dead. It was getting into my garden. I couldn't believe the damage my new .22 mag rifle did to that bunny. Its insides came out its shoulder / gory to the max.

In a survival situation, do you really want to touch-off a round that everybody in the county can hear?!

Tricky loading in .357; bullet stabilization issues; one must work to find a subsonic solution. No easy matter:
https://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?378587-Henry-357-amp-heavy-bullets

Subsonic in .44:

https://www.iqmunitions.com/2019/09/13/44-mag-subsonic/

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=+subsonic+.44+carbine&t=newext&atb=v320-1&ia=web

sarduy said:

This is mine for 2022
View attachment 1046333

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You may need that survival gun if you don't put some air in that tire.

Sorry. Old habits....

Excellent thread @chicharrones .
Let's keep it rolling.

I'm not touting this as an "ideal" survival rifle, but it would do if needed.
Handi-Rifle in the popular. 223. 4-12x44 Vortex Sonora. It has the take-down forend bolt.
Probably not my firstest choice, but certainly viable.

The original survival gun was a flintlock trade gun.

No, I don't want "loudness" in my rifle, especially a survival rifle. That's what silencers are for.

Marlin 70PPS Papoose with 25 round mag and some factory 7 and 10 round mags.

Would like to find some Marlin OEM 15 rounders, but they are as hen’s teeth. Barrel is threaded, although no silencer as of yet.

Embarrassed to say I’ve fired hundreds of rounds through this and have never cleaned it. On the other hand, it has never skipped a beat.

chicharrones said:

Hmmm.

Seems like some folks equate survival with competing against the remnants of human kind, while others equate survival with being temporarily stranded in the "wilderness".

In the first scenario, I can understand where a quieter firearm would be wanted. But it might not matter so much if confronted with other competitive humans.Thinking of sudden self defense with a holstered centerfire handgun here.

In the second scenario*, does a quiet firearm matter? Are all the non-suppressed rifles in this thread wrong?

*Which is really the intended spirit of this thread.

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I think in any case a quieter gun is good, if for nothing more than saving your hearing.

Not alerting people or game you're around is probably not a bad thing either.

chicharrones said:

I'm definitely a fan of .22 WMR. Speaking of loudness in survival guns, what of the ol' M4 survival rifle in .22 Hornet?

https://www.swatmag.com/article/long-guns-us-m4-survival-rifle/

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The .22 Hornet beats the .22 mag. ballistically and reliability. Reliability in that it is a center-fire. Both are loud, but they are not exactly Cape Buffalo rounds. They have a piercing "crack", but it is composed mainly of high frequency registers. Larger calibers also "BOOM". Low frequency sounds carry further (the same is true of electromagnetic radio waves). Survival: I don't want to be heard in the next county.
.

Yet another fine argument for a silencer.

Old Hobo said:

The .22 Hornet beats the .22 mag. ballistically and reliability. Reliability in that it is a center-fire. Both are loud, but they are not exactly Cape Buffalo rounds. They have a piercing "crack", but it is composed mainly of high frequency registers. Larger calibers also "BOOM". Low frequency sounds carry further (the same is true of electromagnetic radio waves). Survival: I don't want to be heard in the next county.
.

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Lower frequency sound waves are more omnidirectional however so harder to pinpoint. Consider the home stereo and tweeter positioning as opposed to subwoofer.

Whatever the scenario, having the capability to carry a hundred rounds or more without weighing yourself down trumps other considerations for me, be it handgun or rifle. There will likely be cardio involved and little if any actual shooting.

I've got a short rifle / LONG handgun in .22 mag. I put a see-through scope mount so the wife and I could use the open sights. On the second floor I put a laser.

Post-SHTF I want this as a dog-pack eliminator. The metal sights do well. I'm shocked that this chopped Henry lever is sooooo accurate.

Post-SHTF, people are going to let their dogs out and hope that they somehow survive. 90% will NOT survive. Those dogs that do survive will revert to their hard-wired brain circuitry and form packs. Once in a pack, dogs lose all individuality and revert to wolf behavior, which is to say, "very dangerous". Many humans are not so very different.

I reamed this .22 Hornet to a K-Hornet. Use two loads, a full snort 35 grain ballistic tip and a flat nosed traditional Hornet 40 grainer at about 1,200 feet. Basically a .22 Long Rifle. Through the suppressor the hammer fall is the loudest noise. The silencer you see is for rimfire rated up to K-Hornet. If I screw on the .22 center fire one all you hear is the hammer fall. Even the full snort is quiet, there's no need for ear pro at all.

Originally the company was called Harrington & Richardson. They went bankrupt and reorangized into New England Firearms, late '70s.

Unscrew a quarter inch screw in the forearm, pull it off and the barrel comes right off. There can be some barrel interchangeability. I have one that is set up for .223 & .30-06.

I like 'em.

chicharrones said:

Any of you fellers have one of these take down bolt action .22s?

https://www.gunsamerica.com/9966878...Takedown-Bolt-Action-22LR-FREE-SCOPE-BASE.htm

https://tacticalsol.com/Detail.aspx?PROD=1431175&CAT=13472

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I have been super tempted by one of those for no particular reason. I have a 10/22 takedown the Tacsol barrel and it shoots great, so I don't see an accuracy advantage over the 10/22. However, it looks like a cool design and would be fun to pack up into to the mountains for marmot or ground squirrel shooting.

I am actually kind of surprise Ruger has not done a T/D American rimfire. That would be a cool gun.

The only "pack" gun I have that's really dedicated to the concept is my folding hatfield shotgun in 12 gauge:


Thinking about adding an old Poly-choke that my gunsmith has in the back of his shop. She currently has ten mini-shells in the buttstock pouch.

As far as "survival" goes, for the woods that would be my .308 mauser my dad sporterized long before I was born, coupled with a 22 pistol. Ruger MK 2 stainless.

There was an article posted a long time ago by a kid that tried trapping for a couple of seasons in Alaska in the 70's. A 30-06 bolt action and .22 pistol were his weapons and they worked well for him. My 30-06 is getting refurbished so the .308 it is.

For the city, that means a lightweight, sit, scoot, and shoot rig that has enough punch to get it done but with lightweight ammo.

probably something like this broken into halves:



It's getting either an Aimpoint PRO, or a SIG Romeo7 on the handle, and a flashlight up front. That is easily the lightest AR I own.

I don't know the weight but it suits my purposes.



Red dot up top, green laser down below. I like being able to pull and shoot without having to unfold or assemble