Survival guns

[natedog]

I was just thinking about a combination of guns that would serve pretty much any survival purpose in North America...this includes harvesting game and possibly fending of bears and such. I was thinking a Marlin Guide Gun .45-70 and a double-action .22LR revolver would be ideal. The guide gun could be used for bear, deer, elk, moose, etc. and then the .22LR revolver could be used for squirrels and such that you don't want to oblitereate with a .45-70 round. Is 2 guns too many? What would you choose?

 

[Tamara]

I've always had a sneaking desire for a Savage Combo gun, maybe in .30-30 over a 12 gauge. If you used quad-aught buck in the lower barrel, it'd be pretty ultimate, don't you think?

 

[Harry Tuttle]

a 22lr beats a sharpened stick by a long shot

its a proven elephant round

 

[TamThompson]

2 guns is too many? Now that's just crazy talk!

A 45-70 or Win .300 magnum, a .22 semi-auto rifle, a .357 mag revolver, and a 12-gauge shotgun would be a good start.

Explanation: 45-70 for big game, .22 rifle for varmints, .357 for personal protection sidearm (including the occasional bear), and 12-gauge for birds and home protection.

 

[joab]

12 ga, 30/30 or 30.06, 41mag

12ga
all around round. I grew up hunting squirrel mith a shotgun and know many oldtimers that hunted deer with them, also great home defense round. With the right load it's very versatile at shorter ranges.

30/30
Standard Fla starter gun for hunting. Great for deer, smaller hogs and even smallish bear. Good for home defense, the original assault weapon, the Army rejected them initially because they they felt the high cap mags would encourage wasting ammo, which is probably why Custer got wasted.Really not worth a damn on squirrels, Thats OK cause squirrels don't taste like chicken they taste like rat, trust me I've eaten all 3

30.06
Probably the 2nd most versatile long gun on the planet

.41mag
Originally designed for LE. Load up for larger game load down for small game, anywhere in between for home defense


If I could only have 2 I'd go with the 12ga and the .41 w/4or 5" barrel, if I could only have one it would be the 12ga. lukily I've got about 40 more, but strangely no .41mag. Guess it's time to go shopping

 

[armoredman]

Nice reliable Mosin Nagant or Mauser....

 

[7.62FullMetalJacket]

I assume you are required to carry all of them.

12 gauge with all loads from slugs (large game) to 6 or 8 shot (small game). Well, and for defense against other critters.

Large frame revolver in .357/41/44 mag.

If there was more than one in the survival party, then diversity is allowed. Probably a .308 bolt or MBR and another shotgun (redundancy). A .22 LR will put smaller game on the table with a light ammo burden

 

[Andrew Wyatt]

H&R 20 gauge with chamber inserts for .22 LR and .45ACP is the ultimate.

 

[winstonsmith]

Vulcan Cannon.... attached to a AC130 gunship. Err.. I guess I'm just an out of box thinker...

 

[Lobotomy Boy]

Pump-action 12 gauge would be the number one choice--it would provide all the food and all the protection you would ever need in the natural world.

My second gun would be a large caliber, long-range, bolt-action hunting rifle with a scope. Since the 12 gauge would take care of all close-quarters work, I would want at least a .308 or a 30.06.

I would also carry a potent handgun for backup, ideally a 10mm autoloader, though for practical reasons this would probably see very little use.

 

[El Tejon]

natedog, check out Mel Tappan's "Survival Guns" written long before you were born. Interesting read.

 

[cooter]

over the yrs,,,

have ran into those who were not gun nuts-persay--but lived back out of the way,,,,and lived well with what they had,,,,most just had a 12ga, others the 12, and a .22, and others who had the above but with a rifle ,a 30/30 , 35, or something in the 06 catagory,,,and some of them people had just- a box of ammo for each, and when asked of,,dont you need more ammo,,,the reply was,,well this box has lasted me more than 10 yrs ,,, ,,( a hard to handle answer, for someone who has more than a few boxes of ammo rolling around just in the cab of my truck,, )

 

[Lobotomy Boy]

My brother is an excellent long-range shot. Using a 30.06 760, he's managed to bag between 3 and 7 deer each season for at least the past dozen years. (My family hunts as a group, and traditionally it is considered a food-gathering activity rather than a sporting activity. We hunt until all our tags are filled, regardless of who shoots the deer.)

Anyway, he mounted his current scope and sighted it in about 12 years ago. He has never adjusted it since then, although last year one of his shot missed the heart by about three inches, so some resighting may be in order.

I recently decided to start hunting deer again after a couple of decades away from the activity and want to familiarize myself with my new deer rifle so I asked him what range he uses for practice. "I don't practice," he said. "The only time my gun gets shot is when I'm shooting a deer." In other words, he fires his gun maybe three to ten times per year. Those three to ten shots have been enough to keep my freezer full of venison for the past couple of decades.

I guess he subscribes to the ideology of "one shot, one kill."

 

[MrMurphy]

Guy I used to know subscribed to the same theory. He was rich, and definitely had the money to go to the range. But as he put it, 4 years, 4 shots, 4 deer. Why practice? He did shoot his pistols quite a bit though, and practiced with his .44 a bit for use against wild pigs.

 

[Joe Demko]

A drilling. 12X12x30-30. Make with modern materials and metallurgy. Carbon fiber furniture optional for the tactical set.

 

[jercamp45]

Survival Guns! Well, depends on what your need to survive!

'Survival Guns' is a great read, think I got it when it first came out...but according to Mel, the average 'survival arsenal' was large and bulky, with many redundancies...and that did not include ammo, holsters, the years supply of food, a gun safe to keep them in and a large truck to transport all your goodies to your 'retreat'
And too, if this is after some SHTF scenerio, game is gonna be REAL scarce! The most common and dangerous critter running around has two legs and thinks(I have seen the enemy and it is US!!).
I, at one time, thought the shotgun with its incredible versatility was King of the survival guns...but ammo is bulky and very heavy and ranges are short.
Then,I liked the 308 Battle rifle as a general purpose all arounder....but it ran into the ammo, bulk equasion too.
One of the best for harvesting game and general survival duties is and will always be the lowly .22. A brick of ammo takes up no room and the report is small so you will not attract as much attention of the hungry hordes. And in a pinch, it can tag larger critters and serve as an emergy defensive tool.
The various entries from Savage in the combo rifle/shotgun format are excellant...and many that do live off the land have nothing more dramatic than a 30-30, 30-06, 303 or 308. Coupled with a good .22 pistol and you have a very good combination here.
Skeeter Skelton wrote an article on 'one gun for survival' and his pick was his 5 inch M27 .357 and some reloading gear. It would do pretty good in that role too!
My, um, battery is very simple, but I am not planning for major stuff, nor am I doing the back to nature 'chop wood, carry water' thing again(been there, done that, lotta work!). At the moment I have handguns, cause that is what I like, primary in the collection is my .45 auto..not not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but I know it well and very familiar with it and the long distance tragectory of the 230 grain bullet out of it. I have bagged a variety of game with .45's over the years(mainly cause it is what I had at the time) and though limited in range is does have authority when it arrives. And I live in an Urban environment now, so I want a concealable weapon that can do everything I might need done. I have a very accurate .22 too. Spare parts and spare ammo is in my Bug Out Bag.
Perfect survival gun is the one you have with you when it is needed. And the environment and situation you may find yourself in reflect different needs, The urban scenerio with masses of unruly people struggling to survive is far different than the back woods setting,
Jercamp45

 

[Dave R]

I think Natedog got it right the first time.

Nothing magic about .45-70, but I think a good centerfire rifle and a .22 handgun ARE the minimum and close to optimum for survival guns.

The only things those two won't do well are:
-take upland game (birds) on the wing (so cheat and take 'em on the ground)
-take small game at long range (need a .22 rifle for that)

 

[Ala Dan]

My choices would be:

.22 LR- Smith & Wesson model 18 for the handgun
and a Remington Nylon 66 "Apache" for the rifle

.357 magnum centerfire revolver- Smith & Wesson
6" 686

High power rifle- Remington model 700 BDL in 7m/m mag

Semi-auto pistol for personal defense- .45 caliber SIG P220A

"Dedicated Always Firearm"- NAA .22 magnum w/1-1/8" bbl


Best Wishes,
Ala Dan, N.R.A. Life Member

 

[TallPine]

I think a good centerfire rifle and a .22 handgun ARE the minimum and close to optimum for survival guns.

You might be right, but I have put quite a bit of thought into this, and think I might go the other direction:

* a good 22 rifle (bolt or lever - NOT semi-auto) and lots of ammo
* 357 magnum revolver

The idea being that the rifle is for getting food and the revolver is for protection, which is going to be close range. This is assuming you are basically limited to what you can carry.

You can kill a deer (especially a small one) with a 22 if you have to, and you can carry a LOT of ammo.

If in grizzly country, I might want something bigger than the 357. But, heck - you take your chances. Nobody lives forever.

 

[W Turner]

Glock 20- 10mm will do anything I need it to from personal defense to taking deer-sized and all but the smallest game

Ruger 10/22 with a folding stock and a bunch of regular capacity and high cap magazines for smaller game, quieter hunting and the high caps would suffice for suppressive fire........


Mino

 

[M67]

I'm with the last two speakers.

.22 rifle and full caliber handgun.

Choosing from the safe by my elbow, that would be a CZ with a muzzle can and a Ruger .44 single action.

 

[WYO]

A bolt action rifle in .35 Whelen. The loadbooks list light loads for use with 158 gr. .357 pistol bullets, and I bet you could load up shot charges as well. Because the post mentions bear, elk and moose, I like the Whelen for those uses. You can easily make brass by resizing .30-06 cases, and even the primers and powder from the 06 would be reusable in the Whelen. The only problem is that .35 caliber big game bullets are not as plentiful as other types. However, with a bullet mold in that caliber, you could use the lead from other caliber bullets.

 

[Ky Larry]

I agree with Tamara. A Savage combo gun with a 12 gauge barrel and a .30-06 would do about anything I would need.

 

[Brian Williams]

KY Larry Tam suggested a 12 gauge and a 30-30 not 30-06.

I would go with either my marlin 1894 in 357 and a 4" S&W 586 or a similar setup in 22lr. I see no reason for a shotgun in this situation because when you live off the land you do not need to be sporting and shoot stuff on the run or wing. A 357 can be loaded up to and including a 200gr slug and down to a round ball or two. A 22 lr has been used to take almost any animal.

 

[Kooter]

A bolt action rifle in .35 Whelen. The loadbooks list light loads for use with 158 gr. .357 pistol bullets, and I bet you could load up shot charges as well. Because the post mentions bear, elk and moose, I like the Whelen for those uses. You can easily make brass by resizing .30-06 cases, and even the primers and powder from the 06 would be reusable in the Whelen. The only problem is that .35 caliber big game bullets are not as plentiful as other types. However, with a bullet mold in that caliber, you could use the lead from other caliber bullets.

well if you have access to 30-06 shells why not just use a 30-06? why mess with resizing brass, punching out live primers, molding bullets? with the 30-06 you can go from a 55 grain accelerator for varmints and small game, and upwards of 220 grain for larger "dangerous" game.

if i only had 2 choices i'd go with a 12 gauge pump and a 357 handgun. if i could add a third it would be a 30-06. a 22 pistol would be nice also, but nothing the 12 gauge couldn't take that the 22 could.