Best Riot Rifle

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I once read a bit by Jeff Cooper recommending a .30-30 lever action as an ideal law enforcement rifle. He was not a fan of .223's.

Myself...for urban use I would prefer a .357 magnum lever action. Ammo is less expensive than .30-30. There is less chance of overpenetration. It is good for 100 yards or less, a typical urban distance. You can couple it with a revolver.
 
I like the smaller lever guns for this urban stuff

Pistol caliber gives you about ten in the tube. Not bad for urban problems and you can feed spares into the the rifle without disabling the gun. My Puma .45 weighs less than 6 lbs, is good enough out to 100 yards and quite effective for anybody not wearing body armor. I'd bet that those big slugs have a fair ability to punch through vehicles to get at occupants inside. It doesn't look like a terrorist weapon and may less likely for law enforcement to try to disarm you for openly carrying it(highly theoretical I know)in an open riot situation.
I'm not a fan of the M-1 carbine for defense. The .30 carbine in military ball configuration lacks the kind of thump I'd like to have in that kind of situation.
 
You asked "best riot rifle" but as others have said, up close and personal, you can't beat a 12 Ga. shotgun. I like a pump because just racking a 12Ga. is usally enough to quiet down most. And if not, well, not much more to the story.
 
A 357 lever holds 9 rounds and i beleive 10 38s. Mine is my overall favorite gun. A 44 mag would do just as well.

Krocus is right with the 7615. I love mine. Shoots anything that will fit in the mag and doesn't depend on gas pressure to make it work.

A Hi-Point 9mm or 40 S&W would be a good choice also. Nice and cheap so if its stolen its not that big of a deal. I love the sights on these guns. They are really fast to pick up. The only failure to feed i have had was when i tried to use lead bullets. The nose dug into the feed ramp.
 
This is really quite simple, the best riot gun in terms of stopping power and limiting collateral damage is: A 12 gauge with slugs. Cheap ammo, and good ammo capacity. Personally I would use a remington 1100 tactical. Look it up on wikipedia. It can hold 8 slugs also you could extend that capacity with little modification. Fairly easy to do reloads also. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combat_shotgun check it out I think you will agree. Because you dont want to much collateral and you can interchange between buckshot and sabot depending on the situation I think it wins hands down. It's what im gonna use when anarchy reins here soon.
 
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Or a remington 7615 for higher mag capacity. Your question was for riot sd right>? Well everyone keeps telling you these rifles or assault rifles but unless your attacking pakistan soon it is impractical and unneeded for handling rioters.
 
The question of the politically-correct repeating rifle for fighting scenarios, in order to help show the mildly anti-gun LEO which you may run into that you're a "good guy", not a "bad guy" on the offensive, so s/he will let you on your way, since all you have is your ol' huntin gun, just protecting yourself from a riot, is a question that comes up often under the topic of "truck gun", etc.

As has been said many times in many threads, some of your better choices are leverguns and milsurp turnbolts, particularly easily fed turnbolts like a No. 4 or No. 1 Enfield, No. 2A enfield, Swiss K31 - those have both detachable mags AND ability to be fed with stripper clips. A tanker Garand would be pretty good too, though. As mentioned, an old wood-stocked shotgun would fit the bill as well.

An M1 carbine, though wood-stocked, may make an LEO uneasy what with the long mag and evil heat shield, esp. if you have a folding stock - probably not the best choice if your goal is *very* P.C.

I have a No. 4 Enfield, sporterized, which is usually in the pickup truck - 2 full mags, separate from the gun (so that it's not loaded). One mag has military ball ammo, and one mag has 180 gr soft points.
 
Same here, I'm not a cop. You won't see me standing there with a rifle or shotgun and pistol for no reason. If you do see me...don't do anything stupid!
 
Since you live in California and are limited to 10 round magazines, I would say the SKS with plenty of clips. The ammo is cheap and has substantially more energy than most handgun rounds. It doesn’t recoil much so it is easy to stay on target.
 
An AR-15 lower that has been made California compliant by redoing the pistol grip:

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=96719809

And either a traditional AR-15 upper in .223 - for practice and to save $$.

or more likely an upper in .50 Beowolf
http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=96448519

or .458 Socom
http://www.teppojutsu.com/

Hopefully you have some hi-cap pre-ban mags. If not make sure that you get some mags directly from Alexander or Teppo that have the caliber and company written all over them- hopefully you can use 20 rd. .223 mags with 7 larger rounds in it if the manufacturer calls it a ".50 beowolf" mag. - Does anyone know?

This is the "rifle" I would like in a California Riot situation, although I'm not sure it's legal there as I'd like it.

If you permit me to go off topic -

The weapon I would really want is a flame thrower. As long as you are outside there is no more fearsome or effective short range weapon- (sorry 12 gauge fans its not even close). You can take out a couple dozen rioters in a single trigger pull- and scare the bejesus out of the rest of them. And best of all it is not a "destructive device" even in CA. http://info.sen.ca.gov/pub/03-04/bill/sen/sb_1751-1800/sb_1781_cfa_20040622_081502_asm_comm.html

I am also a fan of the awesome power of an F-150 (with or without a snowplow) when it comes to taking care of rioters blocking my exit.
 
If Saiga's are legal in CA, that might be an option. I am leaning toward an ordinary, unmodified Saiga in .223 as my fun plinker gun and SHTF.

If the Saiga or SKS is not acceptable for any reason, I definitely agree with the lever gun option, and I would prefer the higher capaciy of the pistol-calibers over the greater power of the .30-30. Cheap to buy and shoot, low profile, and you can load the rifle with high-powered rounds that would be fairly uncomfortable in a pistol. With a Marlin 1894C and a companion .357 revolver I would feel quite secure in most situations.

Heck, if you live in a really gun-unfriendly place, a Ruger 10/22 with hyper-velocity rounds and a couple of extra mags will do the trick. I think that in most situations, the bad guys won't stay around to be shot at, or shot, more than once.
 
Since the gun must be transported unloaded, a lever gun is not ideal; they're slow to load. You want something magazine-fed, or at least something that can be fed by stripper clips. You can keep loaded magazines in the car, so long as they are not attached in ANY way to the firearm.

An SKS would be an good choice, especially since they're inexpensive. Of course, it must be CA-legal (fixed 10-round mag only, no grenade launcher). I wouldn't want to keep an AR in my vehicle, since many LEO don't understand the OLL situation (they're illegal by statute, and legal only by case law). The same is true with RAA Saigas and other off-list AK types.

An M1A or M1 Garand would work, but battle rifles may be a bit too much for urban situations (use frangible ammunition?) and I wouldn't want to store a $1500 rifle in my car. :uhoh:

The Kel-Tec Sub-2000 is a perfect "truck gun" but it's not legal in California. :cuss: But the SU-16CA would work well, I think... fold-able, .223, CA-legal, and magazine-fed.

A Ruger mini-14 or mini-30 would also do well, though IMO they should be more accurate for the price. :rolleyes:

A semi-automatic shotgun that accepts a detachable magazine is an assault weapon. So, no Saiga shotguns.

Also beware of local laws... for example, Berkeley has a complete ban on semi-automatic long guns. BTW, I don't think there's any destination requirement for pistols; the only difference is that pistols must be in a locked container (can be the trunk). See PC 12026.1.
 
Any of the Ruger .44 mag carbines, semi-auto or lever, would be an option as well. Non-threatening appearance, quicker to load from empty vs. a tubular magazine, plenty effective at urban defense ranges. The downside is the small mag capacity (4+1) and the fact that both the semi-auto and lever guns seem to have been discontinued by Ruger.

It would also be great if someone would make an inexpensive lever gun along the lines of the beautiful and expensive Browning BLR. Remington has a nice idea with their 7615 pump rifle that takes AR-15 magazines. An inexpensive lever or pump that took standard AR-15 mags (just five or ten rounds is pleny) would be very handy. Many Ruger Mini-14/Mini-30 aftermarket mags seem pretty good as well. A lever-action 7.62x39 would be a great all-purpose gun.
 
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To me "riot" meand lots of potential threats in large marauding gangs relatively close. I would choose something that can be reloaded quickly with spare, pre-loaded detachable magaziens. An M1 Carbine, AK variant or AR would be on my list with a preference to the latter two.
 
What about a KelTec SU-16 CA? California legal 223 semi that takes AR-15 mags and folds up for compact storage. It's not my first choice, but it is CA legal and doesn't look like an AR.

Ruger Mini-14 might be another option. This rifle is not known for its accuracy, but 4 MOA is probably all you need in a riot. I handled the new 6.8 version and the barrel looks substantially heavier. It would probably hold up better as a club too.

Finally, if 'cheap' isn't a necessity, something like an M1A SOCOM, which is short, reliable, club-like and has all the power anyone could ask for. Also CA legal.

Nothing against the AR, but it makes a poor melee weapon. Even the Ruger pistol caliber carbines are much more rugged when it comes to abuse (i.e. make better clubs)
 
SkS - it will get the job done and it's cheap enough that when the police confiscate it from you after you shoot someone in a riot, you won't be too heartbroken about it.
 
Siagia 12 gauge with one mag filled with screamers, bird bombs, and smoke. The rest 00 buck and maybe a mag of slug for any trucks headed your way.
 
Nothing against the AR, but it makes a poor melee weapon. Even the Ruger pistol caliber carbines are much more rugged when it comes to abuse (i.e. make better clubs)
Click to expand...

You must be kidding? The AR pattern rifle has been rugged enough for the U.S. government for the last 40+ years. I'll take an AR any day over a hunk of junk Ruger designed for the civilian market. Unlike the AR, the Ruger is a civilian toy designed to fire a limited number of rounds before it goes toes up. Civilian guns are constructed to shoot a few boxes of ammo through, and then get stuck in the corner of a closet. Contrast this with a true military grade weapon like an AR that is designed to shoot thousands of rounds of ammo and keep on ticking.

Regarding the AR's use as a blunt instrument, I believe a weapon is designed to fire bullets, not be used as a hammer.
 
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