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what is the best survival gun. a 410 and 22 over and under or a 20 ga and 270 and 22 single shot rifle. i will post the answer later. part 2
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One longarm and one pistol can do it all, if you're a good enough shot with the pistol. With a 10" long, (package size) of quality .22 autoloader, complete with integral silencer (4" barrel but the silencer telecoping back around the barrel) and bushnell holo sight, you can have a 30 oz gun that will quietly take dove sized birds at 25 yds, or rabbits to 50 yds. For the lattter, I have to brace the gun on someething! That's plenty of range for small game taking, tho, and why make noise if you don't have to do so?
For the bigger critters, give me a Remington or (alloy receiver) Browning autoloader in 308. I can practice with it using lower cost milsurp ammo, or reload with surplus bullets/powder, sub 20c per shot, and take the biggest game alive. I"ve got rapdidfire, lightweight and 1/4 mile of effective big game "reach". I'd want both a scope and luminous iron sights, with a QD return to zero scope mount, like the Pachmayr or Griffin and Howe. Some places, you don't want the scope and some places you'd be nuts to not have it.
you have to brain big critters to reliably stop charges. WbComment
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WB Bell took hundreds of elephants with 7mm mauser, by braining them. Given Barnes "solid" bullets (made of bronze rod on a lathe) the 308 can do the same. It can thus easily take Cape Buffalo, lion, Rhino, Hippo. It's just a question of getting inside the distance at which you can reliably hit the 6" circle of the brain. With a set of crossed sticks, you can do that reliably from 100 yds, and muzzleloaders, pistol users, double rifle users get at least that close, all the time. Bowhunters get inside 50 yds and often, inside 50 FEET. Why can't you do the same?Originally posted by Randel View PostComment
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theres no reason to make a lot of noise to take small game, and every reason not to do so. There's no reason to shoot birds out of the air, especially when the shotgun steals your ability to take elk, moose or griz reliably at 300 yds, or deer or antelope to 400 yds, which the 308 auto can handle.
why not have the fast second shot of the autorifle, so you can stop fleeing cripples? Bad hits or failures to stop happen to the BEST hunters. You can't prevent the animal's moving just as you fire! Even if you do have to cycle it for each shot, due to damage or heavy corrosion, the autorifle s just as "fast'as a bolt action. Lubing it with Lockease and protectng the exterior with car wax removes all of the (practical) worries about rust, and you can have the gun's finish changed to Robar cammoComment
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you can't carry 3 longarms, their ammo and a pack, but you can carry an 8 lb 308 auto (scoped) and a 2 lb (silenced and optic sighted) .22lr handgun. Easily. That 10 lb total is no more than an Empty Garand rifle weighs. Our troops in WW2 and Korea carried M1's (and 160 rds, 10 lbs) of ammo and their packs, under horrific conditions.Originally posted by Randel View PostComment
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why would you lug around a 6 lb .22lr rifle and scope when you can do the same job (better) with 2 lbs of silenced, optical sighted .22 handgun? With the silencer, if you miss, the animal or bird just sits there. If you kill cleanly, the other critters just sit there, too. :-)Comment
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if it's REALLY about "survival" why would you CARE about laws, hmm?Originally posted by Randel View PostComment
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animals stop moving, birds all land sometime. animals don't flee the area in which they were born, short of heavy predation, fire or flood. so you'll get another chance at that critter.
.22 rds are 135 to the lb, 410 shells (3/4 oz loads, 3", to be worth a hoot) are 24 to the lb. I'd much rather have the fast repeat shot, silencer, much reduced bulk and weight of the .22 handgun over a 410 shotgun, any day and I'd much rather have the ability to take big game at much, much greater ranges than can be done with a shotgun slug.Comment
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