If you could only have one gun in a SHTF survival situation, would it be this one?
Contributed by ‘Night Owl’
Reposted for your interest and comment.
Original post: JUN-2012
Ruger 10/22 (.22 long rifle)
More specifically a Ruger 10/22 with a folding stock, a decent scope and lots of 10 round factory magazines and 25 round Butler Creek or Ruger factory mags. Now, I am prepared for the crapstorm of criticism and dissension about this choice, but that’s inconsequential.
Killing power
From everyone I have talked to, things I have read, I would MAYBE try to take a deer if it were a clear, close shot. NOW LET ME REPEAT- THIS IS IN A SURVIVAL SITUATION! You and your family are hungry, there are no grocery stores open and your little girl is crying because there is nothing for supper. I’M GONNA TAKE A SHOT AT A DEER or anything else edible to put meat on the table! A good head or neck shot, preferably a “double tap” will have a decent chance of bringing down a deer if you don’t chase him and just let it run a few yards, lie down and die in peace. Physiologically speaking, deer are about the same size as humans, and I don’t think anyone would doubt the .22 long rifle’s capability to kill a human being.
We can reasonably accept that all animals smaller than deer should be easier to kill as their body weight and size diminishes- possums, badgers, raccoons, rabbits, squirrels, small birds, etc. Old timers and country folk, who have actually hunted for their dinner at some point in their lives call the .22 rifle a “meat gun”, meaning it’s the best at just that, putting meat on the table. A .22 makes the least amount of noise so you have a lesser chance of scaring the critter (or his friends) off if you miss the first time. A .22 does the least amount of damage to the meat that will soon be your dinner. And a .22 is just right for dispatching domestic animals like pigs, goats and cattle.
Obviously shot placement becomes more important with a smaller caliber rifle, but when your supper depends on it you will fast become a more accurate shooter! And with the small size, lesser weight and lesser expense of .22 ammo you will have opportunity to practice a lot.
The economy of .22 ammo cost, weight and space!
(Note: Prices and availability of .22 ammo have changed drastically since this original 2012 posting (although improving again), however the article itself remains valid in it’s question regarding the gun itself.)
In the summer of 2012, bulk packs of .22 ammo can be purchased in my town @ $17-$23 for approximately 500 rounds. On the other hand, .223 ammo in bulk packs of 500 rounds are selling for between $150-$250 online, not including shipping or tax. And .308 is going for $220-$350 for 500 rounds. As you can see, .22 long rifle costs 1/10th or less than .223 or .308- which most would agree would be the most obvious contenders for survival rifle calibers.
.22 long rifle will cost approximately .4 to .6 cents per round, .223 will cost about .23 to .65 cents per round and .308 will cost anywhere from .41 cents to $1.45 per round. When you consider all of the other things a prepper needs to buy and stock and spend money on preparing, the cost savings alone makes the .22 long rifle very attractive!
But wait! We have not yet discussed weight!
500 rounds of .22 long rifle ammo weigh about 4 pounds, 500 rounds of .223 weigh about 14 pounds, and 500 rounds of .308 weigh anywhere from 36 to 38 pounds! For the same weight of 500 .308 rounds you could be carrying approximately 4500 rounds of .22 long rifle! That’s a lot more game on the table and more ammo to barter! Physical volume and size savings are comparable with weight savings.
Ubiquity- Just a fancy word meaning .22 ammo is everywhere
.22 ammo is the most widely produced ammunition in the world. Your chances are very good to find .22 ammo in a country store, a K-Mart, a Walmart, a hardware store – hell, I’ve even seen it in gas stations Down South!
The .22 long rifle cartridge has been produced in America since 1887. Almost ANYBODY who owns a gun has a .22 rifle or pistol and the ammo to go with it. We have all seen the survival/zombie/apocalypse films where everybody has a gun but no one has ammo. Your best bet to stay out of this situation is to carry a gun that uses THE MOST COMMON caliber on the planet!
Defense
This is where I expect the SHTF. I KNOW some “expert” is going to rebuttal me on this one. REMEMBER, ONLY ONE GUN! FOR EVERYTHING!
No, a .22 is not the ultimate “manstopper”, no; it will not drop a bad guy instantly like a well placed .45 or .44 magnum. But you can’t hunt rabbits and squirrels for dinner using a hand-cannon.
A .22 long rifle has a realistic range of 100 to 150 yards, which should keep the zombies off most people’s lawns. If you are shooting at someone farther away than 100 yards then YOU are most likely the bad guy!
A lot of people are killed in this country every year by .22’s, and if you are a good shot and have some 25 round magazines you have a very good chance at defending yourself against most realistic threats. Practice shooting “double taps”, put some helium balloons on strings and shoot them as they bob and weave in the breeze, actually go hunting with your .22 rifle. As with any tool, practice makes perfect.
Cost
A new Ruger 10/22 will cost between $300 and $500 depending on options.
I just bought a stainless steel, poly-stocked rifle with an integral laser sight for $450. Just about every accessory imaginable is available for the Ruger 10/22: Sniper stocks, tactical stocks, folding stocks, scopes, red dot sights, laser sights, accessory rails, flashlights, flashhiders, suppressors (silencers), high capacity magazines, target triggers, cases, etc., etc.
If not the ONLY gun then a .22 rifle should certainly be one of the FIRST guns you add to your Prepper equipment.
Now if we wanted to expand this discussion to “One Rifle and One Handgun” we just add an 8 or 10 round .22 revolver and you have a perfect pair of survival guns!
I know I forgot something that someone will point out to me, but this should give some good food-for-thought to those Preppers who are newbies or just open-minded enough to consider some well-thought advice.
-Night Owl
I would recommend that you learn to disassemble and clean it too. A dirty semi-auto will jam often and be a pain for hunting, never mind self defense.
i completely agree!!!
my 10/22 was purchased as Dunham’s for $210 including tax. just bought a grip of magazines with that gearhog deal for brownell’s. they had boxes of 525 .22lr for $16.
with an ar or ak, you can sure put a lot of lead downrange, but it’s going to cost you at a time when resupply may be out of the question.
I love my ruger 10/22. Was a standard carbine. Added a ATI folding stock and a truglow red dot sight.
Also, for a BOB you can’t beat a Henry AR-7, US survival rifle.
I’ve got both a 10-22 and a Henry AR-7 and would not recommend the AR-7 unless for whatever reason you absolutely have to have the compactness. While I have killed snowshoe hares with body shots from an AR-7, I’ve not found it reliable enough for consistent head shots and it is somwhat prone to jamming. Any take-down will exhibit these characteristics. The stock is not ergonomic but I have found the recessed peep to be super. The front plastic sight on mine can be moved by hand and is more prone to damage than an iron sight.
The hollow plastic stock on the AR-7 I owned long ago made a lot of noise at the slightest tap. Not good. It was also horribly inaccurate (at a time I was getting quarter size groups at 100 yards with my 10-22). It would not hit a quarter at 20 yards.
A quarter being about the size of a squirrel’s head.
No arguement, there! A family member of mine, who worked for the Forestry Dept.years ago, had to kill an elk during a survival situation in the deep backcountry. It took one lung shot. He put a baby bottle nipple over the muzle to quiet the shot, then the elk, thinking it was just a bite of a horsefly, probably, died after a brief wait.
The 10/22 is a fine weapon. I vied for the Marlin model 60 with 14 round tube magazine. A little less expensive, $160, and no protruding clip. Not as quick to reload though so I made up some 14 round copper tubes. Can reload the mag in under 10 seconds. Staying quiet while taking game means someone won’t be trying to take it from you!
There’s no protruding clip with the Ruger 10-22 10-round magazine as it’s completely recessed in the receiver. The problem with a tube magazine is that if you put a dent in it you now have a single shot rifle.
Pros and cons for both.
If you lose the magazine, it also becomes a single shot.
While always possible with a good fall on the right (or is it wrong…?) spot, I have yet to ever dent any of the tube magazines I’ve had, but I have lost the occasional detachable magazine.
I have both rifles and love them both but I do agree about the tube feed on the Marlin. While I have never fallen and dented mine as you say and I understand it’s easier to lose a clip I can’t carry extra tubes in my pocket either.
Hey Chiller, for reloading your marlin m-60, have you ever tried using old or damaged aluminum arrows from archery shooting. One of the guys I have cooffee with went this route.
There are advantages to a tube-fed magazine. If all you can find are .22 shorts or .22 longs, a tube gun will handle them, while the 10-22 magazine will not. Also, most folks are obsessed with .22LR hollow points. Standard velocity and high velocity solids feed more reliably in a 10-22. The holy grail for a .22 rifle is Remington Viper hyper-velocity .22LR truncated cone-if you can find them.
I’ve used .22 shorts from my .22 WMR rotary ruger magazine and I can assure you it handles them fine.
Agree. You will typically see a ton of small game in the woods, compared to a very small chance of seeing a deer on any given day. Plus a .22 is nice and quiet, way safer to keep quiet and not attract attention for miles around like you will with a 30-06.
OK, Now for your crapstorm of criticism: You have mentioned the perfect gun. I can almost see the shares in Sturm Ruger going up as I write this.
As a college student, I used to compete in small-bore competition simply because it was the most affordable by far to shoot and practice with frequently. I also have many fond memories of hunting squirrels in the trees on a sunny but cold fall days. If you cannot shoot a 22 rimfire well then you will have trouble shooting any other caliber well. Master the rimfire and those skills transfer over to other weapons. (with exceptions of shotguns)
I used to compete in both rifle and pistol so I have both rifles and pistols in 22 long rifle. The one gun I have used to put more meat on the table with and has killed more critters is my Ruger single six revolver. I won turkey shoots in the pistol catagory in the fall. Ham shoots in the spring. I shot 172 skunks with it before I stopped counting. (I shot skunks from 15-20 yards away so I did not get sprayed)
Another gret post.
Been prepping for quite sometime. Have all the big bores up to .50 cal, however, the very first weapon purchased for myself and each of my children, and now grandchildren is the reliable .22. The ability to use it plain, or fix it so that it looks like some space weapon is up to the imagination. Bottom line is that in the crunch, a .22 (you pick the maker),in the hands of someone that has practised and knows their weapon will be an extremely useful tool for survival.
10-4 on that. A .22 is light enough that when you are out doing other chores you can still put meat on the table.
Love it. I have to add my name to the list of those in agreement. Love the folding stock option on the recently released 10/22. Thanks night owl.
To Night Owl: No crapload of criticism from me. I agree. It is the perfect choice.
Has anyone shot the new 10-22 take down model? I saw an advertisement for one but do not know anyone with one?
For my purposes, Ruger didn’t go far enough with the take-down concept to make the Ruger 10-22 take-down competitive with the Marlin Papoose or Henry AR-7. I don’t have a 10-22 take-down but I’ll make the assumption it is more reliable than the Marlin and Henry. My problem is that it is not compact enough for what I would use it for, i.e., something I could fit into a small backpack. If Ruger comes out with a 16-1/2 inch threaded barrel and an abbreviated stock around 16 inches in length I might consider it. Until then I’ll stick with the standard 10-22 as a primary rifle and the Henry or Papoose as a back-pack rifle.
If you can find one, buy it…..even my scope stays aligned to target after take down and re install. the back pack comes with just one strap, I added another and can now wear it as a back pack and also shoulder my rossi lever action 44 mag, both are my survival guns and in my duff bag I carry a 7.62 X 54 broken down sniper for that deer that is a ways off in open country, if you have to go to the woods, take enough ammo. and less food if you have to choose.
i would add a 8$ bipod for stability as i have shaky hands and i found my accuracy which was pretty good got better and stayed that way(knock on wood) very good choice of weapon
I own four ruger 10/22 models. The SR22 rifle is dead on with a nice scope.
I am a big fan of ruger and there guns are made in america. I also own two 9MM Ruger pistols. Shoot a lot, never had any problems.
GOOD LUCK
In a SHTF situation, I wouldn’t worry about violating game laws. Game wardens and other law enforcement personnel will have a much higher priority and that will be civil law enforcement. At the very least, they would not be enforcing game laws and might even encourage you to do whatever it takes to feed your family. This being the case, jacklighting and baiting deer would be the order of the day.
Back in my youth days, I had a Winchester single shot bolt action 22 rifle. In the mid 1950’s, we had tough times because of job losses in Oregon. My dad and I would go deer hunting to put food on the table. I was a darn good shot with that 22 and I always made my shots count. I had no problem taking down the coastal deer with a head shot. Some my shots had to be be from behind,so I took a spine shot. Although that didnt kill the deer, my second shot did.
So, in all due respect, if you have the patience, you can kill many deer with a 22. Im just sorry that I didnt have a 1022 in those days, that would have really made my day. Oh by the way, most of my shots were an average of 30 to 40 yards.
Well, you probably already know, but I like that .22 caliber. Doesn’t matter what kind of weapon you shoot it with. I personally have a liken to a CB.22 short. Has no powder, takes small game and varmints without the neighbors getting all riled up. Nobody hears a thing! Believe me, I tried it.
If a person was needing food, just the silhouette of a rifle in your hand will get some people upset. So, by using shadows, landscaping, & building structures, game can be gotten in small communities. Also, wait till the neighbors go out for evening, then the field is all yours. Oh, that scope helps when you wear bifocals.
I have no doubt in my mind that in a situation of complete collapse I would want to keep close by my .22 rifle, .22 handgun and 12 gauge shot gun. If I had to pack and move quickly I would definitely take at least my .22 handgun and as much ammo as I could carry. If I had more room or carrying capacity I would next throw in my .22 rifle. I would only have to worry about carrying one kind of ammo, light weight and versatile. Keep in mind, in a true bug out situation. water and food would be more important to load up on. My .22 handgun and ammo wouldn’t take up as much space. A well made solid knife is also a must.
Good day all In my youger days I have killed several Pa bucks avg weight 175 + Lbs with a 22cal placed shot wright in the ear and it did not run far at all.
Now the more powerful 22 wmr will knock a deer right down with a well placed neck / head shot. Buck or Doe.
I have a 10/22 and it would be my choice as well. However, I’d want a small bolt action option for CB shorts, etc. and dead nuts reliability for food gathering in a long term situation. Given that, I’m also thiking of adding one of the new Savage Cadet youth rifles as a pack gun. Most likely the Green/Olive Drab version.
For me the best all rounder, for a gun in survival world. Big bore PCP with rifle and good scope plus hand pump, like poss the Sam yung 909s big bore. Ammo easy to carry, .45 cal big bore will take almost anything out up to around 3 to 400 yards, real big stuff up to 70 yards. Less noise, less weight too.
Any semi-auto in a survival situation is not preferable.jamming,parts breaking due to extreme cold,the bolt parts expanding then contracting also due to the temps.
The best would be a breakaction..410,20G,3030,iron sights,if your scope breaks,falls off gets lost etc.and you have no iron sights then your stuck.Stock cuff to hold extra rounds,a robust leather sling and maybe a tac light.don’t forget the cleaning as well, a bore snake, solvent and clean cloths,oil.
Breakaction single shots will last longer then most of those would who use them.
And they ARE the most accurate.simple to use and clean,not much to break,light,
just my .02$
.22 ammo is the most basic prepping round.
Got a 10/22 with over/under sights,
AR15 with a .22 conversion kit & over/under sights
Glock 40cal with 9mm and .22 conversion kits
Plus Old faithfull mossy 590A1
I have other as well, but if I could only take 1 it would be the AR with the .22 Conversion. I get the reliability of bolt actions, but a multi caliber rifle wins hands down.
A hit w/22 is better than a miss from a large cal. Cheaper to practice with! This is important, practice, practice, practice! If you own a lever, bolt, pump or revolver you can interchange 22 cal ammo. It was a great post. Thank you. Carl
In any survival situation,unless you have logistics high tech in a primary or backup weapon is i believe not preferable.With all that people will b carrying the last thing you need is something to break, fall off, or jam up.single shots(savages new over/under),H&R,TC,s with extra barrels,.Side arm chambered for the same as the long rifle,revolver.
Have two 10/22’s,great rifles,never had a misfire,have had failure to feeddue to worn out 30 round mag.Any .22 lr ammo goes through them no problem.At this time,here in Mississippi .22lr can’t be found except at gun shows and it is 60.00 and above for a brick of 500 rounds,hope this ends soon.Just glad I got my15,000 rounds put back.Found some Tula .223 at the Wal-Mart in D’iberville,Ms. The other night they limit to 3 boxes,mix or match,or all of one type.I guess DHS has got the market on ammo,just like the leftist socialist president wanted.Wish this country had a recall on presidents,he would be run out of office.
I have .22’s as my “round of choice”
I have a Henry Ar-7, a BLR-22 and a Heritage revolver.
For the more “settled” situation, I would fall back onto my 30-30 and 12 g
I rely on the .22lr. I have had a .22 rossi rifle for about 25 yrs (only long gun I own) and killed many critters with ot. Also have a firestorm 10rd .22lr. i love this pair.
have a powerful .22 airgun (TF contender 89) and weaker but acurate .177 airgun (Xisico B12-6, same as Stoeger X5) for small game hunting (i kill pigeons at 10/15yds with the less expensive and weaker airgun). Like to have both calibers, as buying pellets may be a concern. Have decent stock of both pellets, but who knows? .22 solid pellets are easier to cast, in a pinch.
Going to add: .380 pistol or .38spl revolver; 12ga SxS shotgun (pumps are more expensive here and single barrels are just a lil cheaper than the double); .177 air pistol, maybe a crosman 1377 or beeman p17, for handgun training purposes, since one can’t just go outside and shoot a firearm.
this setup is the best I can think of, as i live in a gun restrictive country, we need lots of paperwork/taxes/fees, and .380/.38spl are the most powerful civilian handgun caliber allowed; .44-40 is the best rifle, but ammo is painfully expensive (10x more than .22lr, which is not exactly cheap here).
The biggest game we have here are about whitetail sized deer, jaguars and cougars, alligators, boars, tapirs, feral water buffalo and cattle (know many guys who took them decently with 2 12ga slug shots). More common small/medium game are pecaris/javelina, capybara, small deer species (much like african duiker). Small game as follow: foxes, rabbits, hares, cavies, possums, squirrels, nutrias, lots of edible birds up to turkey size, ducks and such.
having a chamber reductor here makes sense in survival, since you may get free/black market ammo for guns you don’t own, but may shoot through a break-barrel shotgun.
If i lived in the US/Canada maybe? I’d have a bolt action .308 rifle for general purpose hunting/sniping; the great 10/22, .45acp paraord 14-45, a mossberg 590 12ga, a 9mm/.380 small pistol for HD/SD. I’d throw in a singlebarrel 12ga shotgun and my beloved .22 firestorm.
That would cover a wide range of applications, i guess.
Ah, the very shotgun i’d like to buy is this stoeger SxS, but “standard”, no defense stuff and double triggers, which i like most.
nice article.
Depends what you mean by a survival situation. If you thinking like me very long term SHTF time then the whole game plan changes completely. In this scenario if your are thinking semi automatic or large caliber you are not thinking. Semi automatics are complicated and prone to failure. Maybe not in a year or two. But what about 3 years or 4 years? Do you risk it? For an all rounder you should be thinking a good bolt action. Ammunition weighs a lot to. I can carry a few hundred rounds of 22LR (even 22wmr) without too much bother. Try that with a 30/30 or 223 or 308. Good luck with that one. 22lr may not be the ultimate man stopper but it’s accurate, low recoil, easy to sound suppress and will kill an attacker if hit in any vital regions. Sound suppression is critical. If you go blasting away with your 308 in the woods it’s likely that you may not have that 308 in the morning. Always a good idea to go with military calibers where applicable (22LR aside) for I hope obvious reasons. Remember in a serious long term survival situation it’s likely that the survivors are intelligent. (Unlike our current short lived society, stupidity is not rewarded in the real world.) If there are no Doctors around a scratch can mean death. Getting shot with a 22Lr pretty much anywhere is a certain death without Doctors around. The “enemy” will probably know that and think twice before messing with you. Depending on where you are and the situation you may need to be on the move. If it’s SHTF time fuel won’t last long. So unless you are in your bunker already and far from people mobility is critical to survival. etc. etc.
Finally Hollow points are a gimmick on a 22LR. Go FMJ solids only. 22LR kill by having good penetration and just enough velocity to bouncing around inside you penetrating vital organs. Nothing to to with gimmicky hollow points. The bullet travels too slowly for the hollow point to make any difference.
I lived in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) during the war. I’ll never forget a story in the national paper. Two teenage boys on a farm armed with 22LRs held off a group of terrorists armed with AK 47s, and survived. Of course it’s not the best man stopper but think about weight and availability and food. It ticks most of the boxes. When bullets are flying in your direction you not really thinking about what caliber they are! For a test though. pack a 1000 rounds of 30 06 in your backpack grab your rifle and walk 10 miles. I’ll do the same with my lightweight 22LR. In a survival situation on the move you will only have one gun.
Absolutely agree with this article. We invested in a couple 10/22’s with scopes and have steadily been collecting ammo, which is of course hard to find, but can be if you do a little digging and learn when stores get their ammo shipments. I just picked up 1,400 rounds last night at Dunhams, but the rest of the .22 ammo was gone literally before the employee put it on the shelf.
The 10/22 is the single most useful gun ever made. While I’ve never attempted big game, due to laws in my state regulating caliber, I’ve killed several hogs at 100+ yards, as well as innumerable nuisance animals. If I can immediately drop a hog a well placed shot can take a deer (though I would also admit shooting a deer with a .22 in a non-survival situation is cruel, due to increased chance of injuring an animal that ultimately gets away). On many occasions I’ve hunted my dinner when the wife was away (dove, rabbit, squirrel, pheasant, etc).
As for home defense, a neighbor chased of two home invaders with a Marlin 60 several years back. They didn’t stop to check caliber when he touch off a few rounds (btw, AFTER he had warned them he had a gun and they broke through his door anyway. Though he missed them, the gun shots made them turn and run). Imagine how much better the scenario would have been with a 10/22 and a 25 round clip. It’s no shotgun, but in a one-gun scenario it can’t be beat.
Update: It’s been months since we’ve been able to find virtually any .22LR ammo. Might want to reconsider your choices.
This article should have been updated for 2014 before reposting it. at least here on the west coast .22 is almost impossible to buy. it is no longer the most common or widely found ammo. if you do happen to find some its likely to cost 3 to 4 times its “normal” price. i’ve seen stores selling a 500 round box of Remington for $92. Walmart has green tip .223 for $199 for 420 rnds and 500 rnd can of steel case tulammo for $149 making .223 a far better deal all around. while the .22 is almost non existent out here, ive found .223 for sale just about anywhere. and with the giant boom of the ar 15, the options for set ups are incredible. dont get me wrong, i love my 10/22. its a great gun. i just cant shoot it if i cant get ammo.
I think in a “one gun” survival situation, I’m going to go with my old single shot .410. When things are so bad that you have to go walking into the hills to feed your family, odds are you have a crapload of other things to take care of at home, which are just as necessary to complete daily. So with a small shotgun you’re going to miss less. I live in deer hunting country, and I still wouldn’t bother focusing on them. There is always WAY more small game to be had, and mostly birds, and hitting a small bird in flight with a .22 is not too easy, beyond my skill for sure. I think with a small shotgun, I would finish my hunting duties sooner, leaving time for other chores, like fetching water, firewood, etc.
A .410 is a very good choice, as the firearm will also chamber a .45/70 round, without problem. So, you can shoot the quail, and kill a deer, with the same firearm. Cheap, easy to reload, good choice.
I disagree that the .22 is the go to weapon in a survival situation. My choice is a Russian or Yugoslavian AK 47. The 22 will be useless since most games will be depleted. The 22 will jam under adverse conditions but AK will not. Yes, you can carry more ammo if you can find some. I believe that the 22 has been parroted by many, especially by survival blogger, that it is almost gospel truth.
ALL guns will jam at some point. I don’t have the AK but do have an SKS so I like the round but laugh at the thought of hunting small game with it. I think I would be out there looking at squirrel fur going where is the squirrel.
Large game like deer that an AK round would be good for, those will be depleted first. Rabbits, squirrels, for which AK round will be overkill and .22LR is the right round, those will still be around, and will repopulated quickly as r-strategists.
LOL, you not going to survive long. AK47 hee hee.
Ran across some sub-sonic 22 lr hp last week ( limit of 4 boxes @ $6 each ). Yeah, I know pretty spendy, but I popped for it ( did manage to snag 600 rds ). The other option was Remington Ely super match at $15 for box of 50. Other than that,pretty sparse.
the Ruger is the only rifle i own…..great gun. But for just 1 Gun i would take my H&R single shot 20Ga. Shot shell for small game. buckshot for HD….Slugs for deer hunting. With practice I can reload and shoot a second buckshot in 3.5 seconds. Of course i also would have my S&W 1911 on me for HD. But the Ruger would be a close second choice.
I remember on the High Road forum, someone was taking a 10/22 to Peru and wanted to know what spare parts to take since there are no Ruger dealers in Peru. EVERYONE said take none! it doesn’t need spare parts! What an endorsement coming from those forumites.
Ill stick with my LWRC REPR in 7.62×51
22 is ok but i would rather be able to take stuff out at 500 yds or so and make sure it stays down!
I have not found any ammo for sale in 2 years. My .22’s are sitting. I live in a big city.
Unless you are worried about OPSEC you can order ammo through cheaper than dirt,wikkiarms,cabala’s or sportsman warehouse.
I don’t necessarily agree that the 22 would be the BEST survival gun. In my personal opinion I would go with a 12 gauge. Except for the weight of ammo I think it beats the 22 in all other area’s. It will kill large game better. It will stop a man better. I can take birds in the air hunting with it and I know I’m not good enough with a 22 for that. Don’t get me wrong I have a Marlin 60 a 10/22 an HR 9 shot revolver an MK2 and a bolt action single shot that is so old I can’t even remember who made it so I AM a fan of the 22 cal but if I had to pick one it would be the gauge.
“Except for the weight of ammo”…LOL that’s a big friggin except! How about adding the price of the ammo, the noise, the damage to small game, the unreliability of shotgun ammo by design etc etc. I could write a book. What do you think is going to happen in a shtf scenario. You will be sitting comfortable at home with your shotgun and your shed full of a ammo? You won’t live long.
Have fun hunting squirrels and pissing off big fat guys for trying to shoot them with that caliber. He’ll walk up to you and beat you with it before he even dies.
Just shoot the fat guys between the eyes!! Problem solved.
Savage model 24, 22 mag top. W/20 gauge bottom. I love this gun’ I am looking for 1 w 22 LR on top then all bases will be covered
I have both the .22 over 410 and .22 over 20ga. both are tack drivers with open sights. You will never go hungry with these guns. Squirrels, rabbits, ducks, geese, doves, pigs, deer. Fantastic guns and they are still in production. Most versatile gun in my safe and would definitely be my one gun choice.
LOL Savage, hope your survival situation is short lived because your rifle will be. If my life depended on it then Europe is the only way to go. CZ, Tikka, Sako etc.
Recently added a scope, bipod, extension recoil pad and flash hider. my 10/22. Now it won’t fit in a standard rifle case.
It now measures 40 inches with the additions. It no longer fits in the load gun case. Any suggestions about another case soft or hard would be appreciated. Thanks.
check out the guncases on skinner sights.com….I have a couple and they are top notch all the way…
I agree with others, .22 is gone from the stores, easier to get 5.56, and a carbon receiver AR rifle can weigh 4.9 lbs.
but if you have a good stock of .22 already, sure,.22 is fine for a short term “get back home” survival situation,
but always remember this:
History has been most unkind to refugees.
So , FIRST, if one’s survival plan is to become a nomad wandering the land like “The Road,” Book of Eli” or Mad Max, then:
The choice of firearm is not the question, its the overall survival plan that should be questioned.
2,000 calories per day per person in your group.
most fruit is about 350 calories PER POUND
deer meat is 700 per pound.
got a wife and child?, that 6,000 calories per day, every day.
The Cherokee could follow the Bison herds as nomads because there were literally a million of them and each one weighed over 800 lbs.
In the WWII battle for Leningrad, the Russians ate all the local birds then rats, then they started to cannibalize their own dead.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannibalism#World_War_II
its hard for people to come to terms with the reality of 2,000kcal per day per person. do the math, you’ll be planting a garden and learning about nut trees, Hint, walnuts, 3,400 calories per pound
Hazel nuts 2,500 kcal per lb, takes 5 years for the tree to mature, 20lbs of nuts per tree.
How many nut trees do you need to meet just 1/3 the caloric needs of a family of 3?
So
forget worrying which .22 gun is best, better own land for 5 years and plant an orchard.
fence it and have some means to really defend it.
The last paragraph of Infantry Arch. says it all – move now if you haven’t already done so. The choice is not between what you have now and what you may have when you move; it is between what you ‘ll have when you move and what you’ll have if you don’t.
Trying to stay stationary in a real shtf scenario is a sure way to die unless you are seriously remote.
Actually, it’s more like 4000-5000 calories per day, due to stress, cold weather, etc. Cherokee did not follow bison herds. Sioux-Lakota-Cheyenne-Arapaho did that. Bison weigh as much as a ton. 800 lb one would be a yearling calf. Only have of an animals’ live weight is edible meat. You have to get about half of your diet from plants, or you’ll get sick, and it’s much easier to source food that way, anyhow.
traps, snares, nets, birdlime, poison (mostly for fish) trotlines, all are far more efficient ways to get fleshfood than hunting. all you really do, actually, is keep your (silenced) autorifle handy and your senses alert asyou tend your traps and nets. Set them up 1 4 circuits, like a 4 leaf clover, so that you end up back at “base camp” quite often, so that you need not carry your catch very far. Naturally, gut and clean it while away from camp, to avoid the mess there attracting flies, but use the guts as bait for traps/fishing. Nets can be turned into temporary “holding pens” for fish. that helps a lot, if you’re not ready to cure their flesh.
you do NOT have to settle for JUST a.22 rifle. Ciener firearms makes $200 (30 rd box mags) conversion unit .22’s, for AK’s, AR’s, Mini-14’s. So you can have BOTH a centerfire and .22, with a 20 second parts swap. accuracy is 2″ groups or better at 50 yds, which is plenty good enough for foraging. Put a silencer on your take down 223 autorifle, and use the subsonic 60 gr Aquila .22 ammo. It sounds like a BB gun thru the 223 “can”. 223’s sound like a regular .22, and have no flash at night (if the can is any good). plenty of YouTube videos about the .22 units and silencers. Use 60 gr Nosler Partition softpoints and the shorty 223 will be just as effective as the 30-30 ever was.
your rifle should be concealable, at least, when taken down and put into a pack. You might want to cross a bridge, enter a town, hitch a ride, ride a bike or horse or boat without being obviously armed. The AR takes down in 5 seconds (push 2 retained pins) and reassembles to fire in 10 seconds. You want a set of luminous iron sights, a see thru scope mount “tunnel”, a 2×7 compact scope, and a forend mount for the military M16 bipod.
You nailed it, and you nailed the scope magnification, too…2×7 compact is all you need. I mount the Burris Fullfield with E1 reticle on my 18″ home-built AR, 1″ groups at 200yds no problem, light, fast, high-cap, takedown, 22LR conversion possible, keep it clean, lubed, dust cover closed, it’s a winner!
I’d not be without a 16 oz 9mm in my front pants pocket holster, either. It’s my EDC gun, so why discard it if shtf, hmm? 🙂 pocket rig is out of sight, out of the weather and debris, out of the way of the backpack and the rifle, yet accessible. Perfect, actually. I’d only carry one spare mag and ammo to fill both mags. There’s little use for a pistol when everyone is carrying a rifle. so keep it very lw and compact. Kahr’s CM9 ($50, 15 oz) is a great choice. Keltec’s $350) PF9 (13 ozs) has a .22lr unit available,(10 ozs, $250) from Twisted Industries. TI also offers a longer, threaded barrel for silencing their .22 unit. Tjat barrel is $70.
This has nothing to do with guns but it DOES have to do with survival in a SHTF fan situation…INFECTION!
In the civil war the death rate among both sides was tremendous. But it was not entirely due to wounds directly, it was from INFECTED wounds. Back in those days in the old west even a cut hand from barbed wire or a cat scratch was a death sentence if it infected.
I have had surgeries (major) in my time. I save leftover meds!!! I have bottles of antibiotics. I have many narcotic pain killers, (all LEGAL that were prescribed to me) I have many, many tubes of over the counter wound creams that CONTAIN ANTIBIOTICS in my SHTF kit. I have lots of high blood pressure meds saved.
Meds, ESPECIALLY ANTIBIOTICS, will NOT be available when/if SHTF! Do you really want to die from a cut hand while opening a can of beans? My advice? Start saving meds (legally) wherever you can.
You right but wrong. Most bugs now are becoming highly resistant to antibiotics anyway. It’s actually pretty scary. After a I bought this book I never took antibiotics again; “Herbal antibiotics” by I think Stephen Buhner. Antibiotics have a shelf life anyway. So if you planning any long term shtf stuff I suggest having a good knowledge of what herbs can save your life and if you already in your bunker, start growing them. There are lots of books on the topic. Most are quack snake oil merchant garbage. This book is seriously different. Everything I tried in the book worked and worked fast and that includes MRSA.
I agree with you 100%. I do because I have killed a lot of things with mine. It is quite, mobile, accurate, and reliable. It was my first rifle and the best one I’ve shot. I’ve got a 25 round magazine and it’s never jamed once.
In a long term situation (like the wheels have really come off) I reckon toothpaste is the key to long term survival. No point getting game if you can’t eat it. I’m with Tom Smith. (but have a 22 bolt action as well)
Alder branches work well to clean teeth
Yes agreed! Some really obvious things are over looked. Dental floss. Tooth paste. And after you shot your 300 pound deer. Now what? You’ve had your steak and there is still 298 pounds left and no refrigerator. Knowing how to preserve food safely is pretty critical. Other wise stick to shooting birds and rabbits and leave the deer alone. If you have a static home base nothing beats an air rifle as the food getter. 95% of the critters running around out there are small animals and birds. Air rifles last pretty much forever and you have tons of cheap ammo on hand. Most importantly. Noise attracts attention… So good luck firing off your 223. Every Tom Dick and Harry in a 5 mile radius knows where you are.
Sorry, but I go with the HENRY H001 LEVER rifle. 5.25 lbs,lightweight/maneauverable,accurate,tube fed. ULTRA RELIABLE, ULTRA EASY OPERATION, EASY MAINTANENCE/BASIC CLEANING. Takes 15LR down to 22SHORTS. Eats EVERYTHING including bulk 22. No jams or misfires. No “dirt magnet” like a semi-auto. And as an aside, I have Ruger SP101 22lr REVOLVER 8 shot cylinder, 4.2″ barrel at about 29 ozs – built like a tank…..with ALL the important attributes of the HENRY Rifle listed above. I’ll take the HIGHEST % RELIABILITY I can get in a “survival” situation – EXTRA-ESPECIALLY WHEN TALKING ABOUT 22 AMMO/FIREARMS !!!!!!
Dude you crack me up. This is a survival blog. Not a weekend jaunt. Lever actions are very unreliable and prone to breakage. PS. Tubular magazines have long springs. Long springs weaken… Single shot or bolt action 22LR or 22WMR is the only way to go.
Dude,I gots extra tube springs as they are cheap & lightweight. And if allgoes wrong I can still use the Lever rifle as a single shot. Pass me an ice cold Foster’s.
You don’t need to do so much apologizing! I have dropped many deer with one good shot from a .22 at a range of up to 75 yards. I don’t recommend a long shot but if you’re within 100 feet and know how to shoot its perfectly humane. Drop ’em in their tracks. Build a fire! Let’s eat.
I agree with the choice of the .22LR but further analyzing the capabilities of the gun and the demands of SHTF this can be even further refined. To this:
The S&W 22A Target Pistol. With a mounted scope.
Now you’ve got a .22 that (almost) fits in your pocket, and has just about the same accuracy as a Ruger 10/22. And it costs about the same and it has a 10 round magazine too. It weighs like 3 pounds and it doesnt need to be slung, you can put it in a bag.
It doesnt have stock support so you’d have to be sure of your shot (that is, hold your hands real dam steady). But you would have a cheap 3-6x scope on it so you’d have magnification and you’d have crosshairs and you would know how much the bullet drops to mark it off accordingly.
The .22 ammunition fired from the pistol is going to remain about as accurate as it is out of the rifle, for the distances involved that a .22 is used to take small game with. There is a reason that pistols like these are used in close range competition type shooting.
The Ruger 10/22 might beat it by about 25 yards, but I hardly call a 50 yard shot against a Bunny much different than a 75 yard shot against one. It would be harder to shoot a deer in the eyeball with it but I think the benefits of the pistol outweigh these concerns.
(consequently the ballistic accuracy of a .22LR at best is only about 70 yards, ive seen this figure quoted before. I can testify to this because I used my father’s Ruger 10/22 to shoot the tops of bowling pins at 100 yards at the local range. Even though I knew how high to adjust for they only hit the top about 50% of the time, and my aim was precise, because at 50 yards I was hitting a 1″ group)
As an Aside … in giving advice to others for SHTF ive read some reviews about 9mm Subsonic (147gr) ammunition being usable for taking small game. The heavier bullet moves slower, and the reduced velocity downrange causes less damage to the critter and you dont lose much meat (they dont go splat like they do with a high velocity hollowpoint).
So if you have a 9mm Pistol that you can mount a Scope on you can actually use that for taking small game or even something like a deer. But in that case you should always go for headshots even on small game if you have the chance.
And yet another suggestion ive heard talk of … there is a chamber adapter for .308 bolt action rifles that allows you to fire a simple .32acp round (I guess .32 will shoot through a .308 barrel otherwise they wouldnt make it). The .32acp will hit abouot like a .22 and wont damage the structure of the target.
The muzzle velocity of a handgun is considerably lower than a rifle. So you have now made a weak round very weak. For eg. A 357 magnum fired from a rifle achieves velocities in the 2000 fps + range. From a revolver it’s around 1400fps. Completely different ball game.
You forgetting mass and noise. This is a survival blog. How many rounds of 9mm can you carry versus 22LR? Say you want 10,000 rounds, how much is your 9mm ammo going to cost? Also a handgun can never compete against a rifle with its accuracy.
It really depends on where you are, and how much money you’ve got to spend but the most efficient combination ive discovered for SHTF is:
** S&W 22A Target Pistol, for hunting small game.
** Taurus .44 Magnum revolver, with 8″ Barrel, processed for Speed Strips.
** Derringer double barrel, in 9x19mm or .38 Special, with a 3.5″ barrel (very important).
The magnum is so powerful it can stand in for a shotgun in takedown power (yes I just said it replaces a shotgun, so sue me) but it can be used easily at punching and kicking range (panic/hip shooting use). Using speed strips lets it be reloaded at a comparable speed to a semi-automatic. And I believe it can have a scope mounted on it too, so you could hit up to 100 yards reliably with it.
The reason I choose that over a .357 is because it destroys property better (doorhandles, body armor) and it does have an extra oomph over .357.
If anything id set that as the primary, but you’re not going to be taking any small game with it no matter what kind of ammunition you use (even the super light high velocity ammunition).
The Derringer of course is a “surprise!” gun, a backup weapon in case you’re being attacked or robbed. But I was specific with saying it should have the long barrel and not be a .357 (which is twice as expensive), because in the longer barrel the shorter rounds will get more velocity and parallel the .357 out of a tiny 2″ barrel. For a weapon that you may never even use, and when you did 2 shots would probably be adequate, its probably about as good as a 5-7 shot autoloader.
But this is a One-Gun thread.
And my choice, from what ive seen, if you’re going to include going after small game is …
** Masterpiece Arms (Uzi) in 9mm, Side Cock with Scope Mount, and threaded barrel.
Why?
> 9mm caliber is common and pretty cheap.
> The barrel extension (~6″) cooks it up to a better velocity than usual.
> Scoped
> 30-35 round magazines means you wont be shedding any tears if you have to go through 20 all at once in an emergency. And as a general rule you can do a Triple Tap as a reaction for self defense without even thinking (im not talking about full auto here at all, just rapid fire semi auto).
> 9mm Subsonic, combined with taking off the barrel extension, and you can hunt small game.
> Uzi looks intimidating and seeing a long magazine sticking out of the bottom suggests to people that you have “more than enough to go around”.
But SHTF time hasn’t arrived so you don’t really know. So you lugging all these guns around. How much ammo are you carrying? Do you know how much a brick of 44 mags weighs? What about food, water, bedding etc. etc. Unless you have a horse or two or few pack mules your ideas are idiotic. BTW the SHTF scenario I envisage will be so long term as to be permanent. So maybe having decent hand gun to kill yourself with is not a bad idea. Just carry one bullet.
The rule is as simple as it is irrefutable.
“He who gets there firstist with the mostist, wins.” Period. I’ll take the 22.
Bought a S&W M&P 22lr compact. I have put quite a few rounds through it so far of variable kinds of ammo and am very, very impressed with the reliability and accuracy so far. I would trust that this gun would be a primary option for a defense gun if necessary.
ruger charger 22 compact shoots like a rifle uses 10-22 accs.
Difficult choice of only one firearm, so I’ll have to go with gut feeling. Ruger 10-22 Take-Down with Tech-Sights. No scope. This choice is based on my personal shooting experience with both a standard 10-22, a take-down 10-22, a myriad of other rifles and shotguns, and small and large game hunting. There are specific reasons why I want a take-down over a standard rifle, why I want Tech-Sights and why I don’t want a scope. But most important are the specific tactics to be employed with this rifle, both for food gathering and personal defense. If these tactics are not followed, the 10-22 take-down is a bad choice. But if they are employed, the 10-22 take-down is probably the best compromise firearm (for me anyway) to be used in a bad situation, aka “SHTF”. In SHTF, the devil is definitely in the details both in selection and use of a single weapon.
The defense argument against .22 makes me laugh. There won’t be hospitals or antibiotics in a SHTF world. A dirty wound will most certainly mean death and people will know it. Only the most desperate people would risk it and when the situation is THAT bad, there will be plenty else for you to worry about anyway.
Good article but you lost me at recommending a semi automatic as a survival weapon? There is no debate. A good Mauser based bolt action is the only way to go. Too much can go wrong with a semi auto and the action is no where near as strong as a bolt. (Single shot rifle would be ideal except survival often means defending yourself)
Agreed however if I did have my bunker sorted and I wasn’t planning on being mobile I would have two 22LRs. A semi automatic for defence and bolt action for everything else. Good airgun wouldn’t hurt either. My Diana Mod 34 gets around 1000fps in .177. Easily takes out rabbits etc.
I’d tend to lead towards the .22 auto rifle, and making sure to keep it as clean as practical. If the stuff really hits the fan, and you need a larger bored weapon, there should be targets of opportunity.
i were fan of W/20 gauge bottom. I love this gun I am looking for 1 w 22 LR on top then all bases will be covered.
Being Fan of short rifle,I still prefer to get long rifle referring your article. But still there are certain points i want to clarify for long rifle that weight would be similar, range of shooting must higher and these long rifles should be hold most bullets
Large game like deer that an AK round would be good for, those will be depleted first. Rabbits, squirrels, for which AK round will be overkill and .22LR is the right round, those will still be around, and will repopulated quickly as r-strategists.
A lot depends on where you live. We are in the city. Learning to trap rats and pigeons is first order. A single or double barreled 12 gauge and a bicycle may be best. How much defense needed versus availability of game forces the choice.
I think the coyotes and mongrels will have the advantage.
Good thread, mostly. Have 10/22 takedown, 2 Mosins (one stock with bayonet and open sights, one modded with Timney trigger, Bushnell Banner dusk/dawn scope, Boyd’s stock, etc.), Stevens 410/22 crack barrel, Rossi pump .22 saddle gun, Win and Ithaca pump action 12s and 20s with a variety of chokes, Rem700 22 – 250 and 222.
Of what I have the 10/22 is my go-to gun but if I had to do it all over again I’d get the Ruger American .22. The add-ons I’ve gotten for the takedown are bulky enough that it makes more sense to have an assembled gun ready on a sling than an assortment of parts packed away in a duffel bag. Plus, the bolt action of the American allows it to be silenced better than the semi.
So- ideal single gun? Ruger American 22, quick release Bushnell red-dot sight on raised mount (back to iron sights if batteries become unavailable), at least 2x 25-round magazines, Fenix PD35 flashlight on tactical mount with remote pressure switch, threaded adapter for oil can suppressor or threaded barrel and real suppressor, paracord sling, backup survival gear tucked into the hollow stock under a slip-on Pachmayr butt pad. Oh, and as many rounds of CCI standard as I could get plus a little subsonic and a fair amount of high-velocity hollow-point ammo.
I jumped the gun (no pun intended) on choosing the 10-22 as the one gun to have if you could choose only one. Here’s my rationale and I can say it applies to me. It may not apply to others. But here goes. I live in the Northern Adirondacks and have hunted both small game (snowshoe hares, grouse, gray squirrels, red squirrels, and a few others) and large game (whitetail deer). From my hunting experience, it’s not worth the time, effort and caloric effort to hunt small game here in a survival situation. Small game here is great for sport, but too elusive and few in number worth the effort. You’d starve quicker expending calories to hunt small game here then you would sitting in your easy chair. The .22 round is marginal for whitetail but regardless of what caliber you use deer hunting for survival is a short term effort at best. Almost everyone here hunts whitetail. In less than two weeks the easy does, fawns and spikes will be shot off. What will remain are does as skittish as bucks. In effect, long term survival based on hunting will not happen here, regardless of caliber. Since the .22 round will have little value here for hunting all that’s left is personal defense. The .22 round is marginal for personal defense. No reason to risk your life on a marginal caliber that has little use otherwise. I’d go with a repeating rifle suitable for personal defense- AR-15, AK-47, MIMI-14, Lever Action .30-30, etc. Your choice. The 10-22 is a great rifle (I have two), but as the only gun in a survival situation here, no way. It’s actual usefulness is extremely limited and not worth the risk for personal defense.
@ Gemeniguy
I would agree with you, but for a “survival situation”, depending what your trying to survive, I’m thinking 2 legged survival here, I would rather go with one of two, a 308/7.62 set up for longgggg range, or a 50CAL. I will NOT let unwanted get that close for an AR15; that I also like very much. Very Very much, scre# Calif and the Dems. If you get my drift.. 🙂
NRP
This is a good article, I hope to have more such articles .
>22 is between .21 and .23
My “the one” choice is actually a combo. Ruger 77/357 and Ruger Blackhawk 357. I have several different loadings for them. One is 22 grains of H110 and a 125 grain hornady XTP. In the rifle it does 2275 fps and cloverleaf at 100 yards. I get 1600 fps out of the 6” barreled Blackhawk. My “squirrel loading is 150 SWC (carefully hand cast lead) and I use 5.4 grains of universal powder for about 1050/950 fps respectively. I have shot the rifle out to 300 yards at milk jugs successfully. I have taken a dozen deer in the last three seasons with the rifle.
Though it’s not as light as the 22lr it is way more potent and has a wider range of load possibilities.
The problem with the 22lr is that being rimfire the primer is in the rim and with movement can flake off and render the cartridge useless. I have some aged rounds that I was loosing 2 in 10 to “fail to fire”. This is the reason I got rid of my 22’s.
I now have 2 systems. 308 magazine fed semi-auto with excellent iron sights and my 357 setup.