Sub-cartridge chamber adapters & reduced loads
I am rather surprised that .35 Remington has not been mentioned.
Seems to be a pretty versatile caliber for a variety of uses.
(Not to mention barrel inserts could be had for .357 and all them)
One of the 10 lb. rifles I mention (which by the way, I DO lug around the mountains in addition to a 10 lb. backpack. Sitting on your butt in a deer stand with your Wanna Be a Mercinary rifle is not physically challenging. Sorry...couldn't resist
I'll stop now!) is a 35 Whelen. I looked into having a chamber adapter made for it so it would fire 38 Colt/38 Special/357 Mags, but the rim on these cartridges is too large for the Whelen chamber, so it definitely wouldn't work in a 35 Remington. But excellent idea!
This talk of one rifle for survival got the ol' cranial gears turning. As a result, I spent some time in the shop this afternoon experimenting with light .308 loads. (My Scout Rifle is a .308) I broke down some 00 buck shells and robbed the pellets. I then ran them through a .308" cast bullet sizing die and loaded them over 1, then 2, and finally 3 grs. of Bullseye. The balls were seated to where they just protruded out of the case mouth. This rifle, my back-up, back-up elk rifle
, is currently sighted 2.5" high @ 100 yds. with a 180 gr. handload running a hair over 2600 fps.
I tested the loads on my 25 yd. range here at the house. The 1 & 2 gr. loads shot 4"-6" below point of aim and grouped bad...about 6"! The 3 gr. load however, showed promise. It for the most part hit point of aim and I got 3 of 5 shots in about a 1" circle. Two others shot low and right. For some reason, there was quite a bit of unburned powder in the barrel and I think this may have a negative effect on accuracy. Also, the buck I pulled was copper plated, so when I sized the balls, there were slivers of copper on the buck.
Soooo, I think next time, I'll try cleaning the barrel between shots and try to get my hands on some soft lead buckshot.
If I can get these loads to group 1" +/- @ 25 yds., that should be all that is required for most small game hunting. I know here at my house, it's no big deal to get within 25 yds. of a cottontails, squirrels, turkeys, etc.
I also have a mould for a dinky .30 caliber bullet that weighs right around 100 grs. I may try it too.
If someone wants to ridicule my suggestion for a survival rifle them I'm going to respond and ask them to come up with something better than insults. Is this survival rifle of yours supposed to be as light and handy as an umbrella for wheezing toads who measure their hunts in feet?
In Post #38 of this thread, you'll find my idea of "something better". In the pic below, I'm you'll see the "wheezing toad" bent over a bull elk, killed with said 10 lb. rifle at a hair over 10,000 ft. It's about a 2 - 2 1/2 hour ride in by horseback. After skinning, quartering and packing a few hundred pounds of elk on the horses that day, I walked the whole way out.
Sorry about getting off topic. I'm finished!
35W