Ultimate SHTF rifle

For me it definitely would be a .22. A combo of some semi auto rifle 10/22 or 795 and a hand gun.

I have small pouch, maybe the size of a large grapefruit or 1 1/2 times the size of a soft ball or there abouts. It currently holds 12 magazines for my P22, 12 for the 795 and 6 magazines in 17HMR for my Savage 93. Fully loaded you can lift it up just with your pinky. You can pick up a box of 5,000 rounds of .22 with one arm. A 795, the P22 and all the loaded spare magazines are lighter than most rifles mentioned here empty.

jimbobborg said:

If I were stuck with a lever gun, I'd rather have one in a pistol caliber. My Win 94 in .45 Colt matches my spiffy Ruger Blackhawk and since I'm a reloader I can go up and down the power scale as I see fit. The one problem with lever guns is they're as complex as a semi-auto.

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Moreso IMHO, and more difficult to fix/maintain.

Also - dent an detachable magazine and you grab another. Dent a tube fed rifle's magazine and you've got a club.

If I'm going manual repeater it's a bolt action all the way.

I just read "One Second After", it's a Fiction book taking place after an EMP attack. It was interesting to see, the main guns and ammo that everyone wanted was a .22 and a 12 ga. For hunting both big and small game to stay alive. I realize that it's a fiction book, but an EMP is a real SHTF situation, so I thought i'd through my vote to a .22 or 12 ga.

SHTF is so indifferentiated that there is no real answer to the question. What are you doing, are you running to a place or staying in one, is there human or subhuman opposition, are you bringing the gun for hunting, do you have to worry about conealement, do you expect to take long sniping shots at an opponent or are you more worried about bagging the occasional deer and rabbit to support your field rations?

For short, if you stay in one place, you probably have the nastiest rifle you can get your hands on for defense, ammo is close by as well as tools for repair. You will probably select according to threat level and familiarity with the gun.
If you need to get out of the area to somewhere else, you want a gun that is concealable. They usually don't hand out rations to "armed refugees" and you don't want to be mistaken for a plundering thug by a patrol, so the rifle of your choice would be a folding carbine like the sub2k that can be stored in your pack or even a pistol.
If you are leaving "civilization" for a limited time, whatever rifle you feel OK to hunt with will probably do the trick and kill 1-2 animals I doubt that you will need significant firepower or many shots. For simplicity, I would probably take a break-action single shot rifle.
If you need to disappear for months in the wilderness, you want something that you can supply with ammo for a long time, that is easy to fix and that is not easily heard. My bet would be on a .22 rifle, probably field-expediently suppressed, since it is enough for most hunting purposes and quiet enough not to attract too much attention. If you can, keep a heavier semi-auto rifle at your hideout.
As far as bugging out of armed conflicts goes, take something in a caliber that the majority of the combattants use and make sure you don't have to use it.

I can only say one thing about firearms in ANY SHTF situation. They are a great backup but attract too much unwelcome attention. Either from authorities trying to confiscate them, from people scared about them or without firearms of their own or just because it indicates the presence of humans that might have prepared.
I would neither pack nor plan for drawn out firefights away from a base camp since the risk of injury is way too great. Your best chance in a real world SHTF situation is to stay concealed. If you do that by hiding in the evacuation column with the other sheeple or lying low until the looters pass is your choice but flaunting guns, equipment and ammo is just a way of saying that you are a valuable target.
If you fire a shot, you better be not around afterwards when trouble comes looking for you or trouble better be not alive anymore.

When I started this thread awhile ago I ment for SHTF to mean anything. However you want to take it...just that firearm that you would hold on to or have close, if you choose to have one.

Im very happy with how this thread turned out...still being posted in

boule said:

If you are leaving "civilization" for a limited time, whatever rifle you feel OK to hunt with will probably do the trick and kill 1-2 animals I doubt that you will need significant firepower or many shots. For simplicity, I would probably take a break-action single shot rifle.

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One problem with this. If things really go sideways, you'll be dealing with packs of wild dogs and humans. Do you really want to take a single shot rifle with you and have to deal with Tyrone's two pit bulls and a few Rottweilers thrown into the mix?

jimbobborg said:

One problem with this. If things really go sideways, you'll be dealing with packs of wild dogs and humans.

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That is always a question on what scenario you have in mind. I was thinking of something like a localized flood, a small avelance, the mother in law visiting for two weeks or something that will make your house either unaccessible or impossible to live in for a limited time and we decide that it would be better to live at the hunting lodge without electricity or running water for two weeks or so.
In such a situation, the only gang of people and pack of dogs would be my buddies showing up for deer camp and I truly hope they brought beer!

To have wild dogs and people running around you need more than a small village cut off and then you would probably select another firearm.

There really is no denying the practicality of the 5.56 ar15 for most things you'd need a rifle / carbine for. Although I agree that it'd be best kept unfired & out of sight if at all possible. I'd supplement that with a compact glock. And .22lr conversions for both.

Anyone consider that rat traps may be more useful then guns? How about butane lighters? A compass? Mirror? Maps? Fishing tackle? A decent set of wrenches, screwdrivers & pliars? Guns are so far down the list that a clever person could bug-out without one & survive quite well.

★★★★★ said:

There really is no denying the practicality of the 5.56 ar15 for most things you'd need a rifle / carbine for. Although I agree that it'd be best kept unfired & out of sight if at all possible. I'd supplement that with a compact glock. And .22lr conversions for both.

Anyone consider that rat traps may be more useful then guns? How about butane lighters? A compass? Mirror? Maps? Fishing tackle? A decent set of wrenches, screwdrivers & pliars? Guns are so far down the list that a clever person could bug-out without one & survive quite well.

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yeah, well...I never did sign up for those classes with Bear Grylls and Les Stroud so I'll take a gun with me along with that stuff.

I agree, noone should take their guns. Ill take ur ammo and guns. I also that those who are armed will not bother you.....Lol

Smith and Wesson M&P VTAC with aimpoint T1+magnifier and magpul back up sights. M&P 9mm.

DROB said:

I just read "One Second After", it's a Fiction book taking place after an EMP attack. It was interesting to see, the main guns and ammo that everyone wanted was a .22 and a 12 ga. For hunting both big and small game to stay alive. I realize that it's a fiction book, but an EMP is a real SHTF situation, so I thought i'd through my vote to a .22 or 12 ga.

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GREAT read, for those that don't do "shtf" type stuff. Imagine going back 150 years without the knowledge of "how to"....

Trying to get the wife to read it now.