The best survival rifle Cartridge

I kind of think the best survival rifle would be something in a .22lr. YMMV.

It would depend upoon where you were, the conditions, and the game or threat you would encounter.

If I were in the Alaska or Canadian wilderness I would want a rifle capable of taking big game, and preferably one that would "discourage" a bear. The .308 would probably be my choice.

In the southern USA a .22 long rifle might be the best answer considering the game available.
In the Rocky Mtn area I would probably still go with the .308.

Regards,
Jerry

Mosin-nagant M44 carbine. 7.62x54R, and many rounds. Hits hard, cheap to purchase, spend the rest on scope and fiberglass stock.
Main choice for M44? Bolts are a little klunky, but work each and every time.
Or a .308 Mauser. IMO, can't go wrong with old milsurp technology - it was designed for ruggedness, which, in the end, is what you want in a Survival rifle.

Or, if you've got the $$, a Steyr Scout. Properly used, it's got some great potential to it.

the area I am in?

AR-7 hands down.

I kinda lean towards the 22 too.

If I had to pick a single rifle for survival I would pick a suppressed 10/22.

1. Can be used for any game animal including deer with proper bullet placement.
2. Can take down game without telling everyone in the county were you are.
3. 5000 rounds weighs approximately 35 pounds. And costs well under $200.00.
4. 22 rimfire firearms are the most prevalent firearms in the US.
5. 22 rimfire ammo will be a great barter item.
6. Will take small game with little meat damage.
7. For distances up to 100 yards a 22 will do for SD if needed. It may not quickly kill but very, very few will keep advancing with 3 or 4 22 rounds in the chest. Anything further away than 100 yards calls for leaving, not engaging.

I lean toward the 10/22 myself, but a combo O/U in .30-06 and 12GA would come in handy.

Impartial, I'm sure you have your reasons for wanting to increase your blog traffic, but your input here amounts to a "non-post" and I consider it bad form for a forum. I don't mind if you cut and paste your blog posts here, but asking us to click through to another page defeats the purpose of this forum. And it's annoying.

As for the topic, I agree with .22lr, but I would be far more inclined to carry a pistol in that caliber and carry a rifle in a more persuasive caliber. 5.56, .30 Carbine, or .308 would be a good choice, with the former two being common and lightweight.

The Perfect RIfle

Pretty much any rifle you choose will be a compromise.

A 5.56x45/.223 shooter will be lighter and permit carrying more ammo, and this is a good thing. At range, however, it doesn't have a stellar record of performance on big game. On the other hand, for self defense this is a very serviceable cartridge.

A .308/7.62x51 shooter will be heavier and so will its ammo, but you can expect pretty good punch at most useful ranges. Self defense becomes a problem, though, because the majority of self defense scenarios are going to be at close quarters. A "battle of the snipers" is way down the probability tree.

I happen to be a fan of the M1 Carbine. It delivers the sort of punch you would expect from a .357 magnum, and does it at 100 yards. It's not a high-performance round, and any big game will probably require a second shot. On the other hand, it's quite acceptable for varmint-sized game, and it certainly will serve in a defensive scenario. It has the capacity and rate of fire needed for close engagement. The rifle itself is exceptionally light, and the ammo is lighter and more compact that either of the two above.


But, as you said in your article, it all depends on what you're trying to survive.

In a conventional end-o'-society situation, there is the initial chaos and people scrambling to stay alive and/or get the upper hand. Okay, so that plausibly involves "social encounters" of the me-and-my-rifle kind. However, if you find yourself in a shootout of the kind requiring high-cap mags and rate of fire, your strategy has already failed, and your actual problem isn't the wrong rifle, it's a failure to have enough people on your side and/or a failure to avoid such engagements in the first place. Even if your situation is some kind of riot in your part of town, you're not going tango hunting; you will want to use just enough persuasion to keep the action away from your place.

Remember, you haven't parachuted into hostile territory with orders to engage "the enemy" in large groups, and neither has anyone else. You might well have a bigger problem with people who figure that since you're the guy with the gun, you've been elected their guide and protector. Once the chaos phase passes, your primary problems (at least the ones that might involve a rifle) will be random predators and hunting game (assuming you're anywhere near game).

And, speaking of game, what are the odds that you will find yourself subsisting on marmots and squirrels and rabbits instead of deer and elk? Squirrels with a .308? Should be interesting.

In a natural disaster, you're less likely to have to "shoot your way out" of anywhere. You might have to defend your family and your stuff, but probably not in any assault-on-the-castle fashion. Once again, you could wind up with an entourage that you didn't count on. And, once again, if you're out in the country, it's more of a random predator/hunting game thing.


That leaves simple misfortune.

You're driving through a snowy pass and something knocks your truck off the road. You're out fishing and when you come back, your truck battery is dead and you have no cell signal. You've gone hunting and gotten a flat tire and discovered you don't have a lug wrench (happened in Idaho last year). You're out hiking with a friend and he gets hurt and can't walk back out. You're out having a good time with family in the Jeep and accidentally drive into deep snow up to the fenders, and you're well and truly stuck, without any cell reception (had family members do that two winters ago). It's not hard to come up with oh-crap-what-now scenarios that have nothing to do with the breakdown of society or large scale disasters.

Against things like that, your "survival" rifle will be whatever you keep in the truck.


I keep a Marlin 70PSS Papoose (take-down rifle) in the truck, along with a hundred rounds of .22 LR stingers and five hundred rounds of bulk-pack Federal .22 LR hollow points.

No cell signal? Well, besides building a fire with the other stuff I keep in the truck, I can use the rifle to signal for help. I'm not worried about being short of ammo. If I have to handle random predators, I'm good for most critters, excluding bears of course. Bad people? A .22 rifle will seriously ruin your day, and has adequate range to keep heads down at 100 yards. The Papoose will do just fine for small game, and there's likely to be more of that than large game. Oh, and the Papoose don't really weigh nuthin', either.

I suppose I could carry the M1 Carbine in the truck, but I'm thinking I'd need a beater spare if I were going to do that. My current M1 Carbine is not a beater.

If I could find a nice Marlin 1894C (in .357) for cheap (ha -- mine was like $750), then I'd have a viable rifle for small game, varmints, and medium-to-large game, and certainly viable for the little social encounters. And the ammo isn't too heavy. No, you're not hitting stuff out at 300 yards with it, but that's mostly likely not your biggest problem anyway. I'd sure like to have the dollars to make one of those the "truck gun." 'Course, it's not all that light, and you really can't carry 500 rounds of .38/.357 with you.

Tell you what, if I get a nice fat bonus at work, I might consider changing the truck gun over to something heavier and more expensive, otherwise I'm sticking with the Papoose.

It's more appropriate for the things I'm most likely to have happen here.

Now, it should be noted that I don't live in San Francisco, or Houston, or Chicago, or Miami, or even Denver. I live in small-town-North-Idaho. You see, this way I don't have to solve the get-out-of-Dodge problem. I already got out with my Dodge.

The Blog says nothing about rifle, just the 308 or the 223.

^^^exactly

If the author rulled out the 30-30 and 7.62X39 for various reasons, then the .223 should also be ruled out for it's lack of killing power of large game animals at just about any distance. Which leaves the 308 caliber as the round to choose.

Head shots.

Springfield Armory M6 Scout. .22 Hornet over .410 or .22LR/.410.
A no nonsense survival weapon.
Also...very hard to find.
Pete

For general survival? .22lr 500 rounds of .22lr is much more useful than 10 rounds of .308, for most of the time.

If you are worried about large animal defense, either a 7x57 mauser or .308 rifle, in a lightened bolt action.

I will say the .308 or .223 if we are just talking rifle. If any long gun I would say the 12 gauge do to the advancements in slug technology you have a very versatile weapon. You have bird shot for hunting small game, buckshot for defense and hunting larger game and slugs for large game and defense.

I think I would be leaning toward a 22LR. Get an accurate one, and learn how to use it effectively. Much easier to pack 5k rounds of 22LR than any of those that were mentioned.

There are too many variations:

1. Summer or winter?
2. Here in Alaska or elsewhere ?
3. In my plane or in my truck ?

While I change things around due to seasons and the areas I am flying over... I ALWAYS have a 22lr in the plane or on my person.

If were talking north america, I would take a 30-06. I'm not trying to live on squirrels skunks. If I was forced to kill to survive I would probably be taking squirrels down with rocks if it got to that point. I need something that can take big game down and protect myself at the same time. Not everyone can make eyeball shots on big game with a 22 at 100yds consistently either. I want something that can reach out on good meat. You see more game outside 100yds than you do at 50. Think about it, give yourself the best possible chance to survive. The extra weight isn't a concern, food and water is.

.22lr will be my choice.

.22lr

survival means meat for the stewpot

I'm gonna pay attention to what the Alaska bush pilot has to say about a survival rifle.