Survival Rifle

Silencers don't silence weapons that fire rounds exceeding the speed of sound - 1100 FPS at sea level.

The sound is altered, but the DB is about the same.

Nor do silencers silence revolvers due to the barrel to cylinder gap allows sound to escape.

Some of the scenario's I see here looks to have the survivalist so loaded down with weaponry and ammunition that there would be scant room to carry what is truly required to survive on your own in woods or forest.

I used to see articles on survivalist rifles in the gun mags some years back.
One of the key points was firepower.
Lots of it.
Hosing down the landscape with lead if you will.
Whatever it took to maintain a fixed site with supplies etc.

Semi-automatics with large magazines are fearsome if you ran up against one in a firefight, but that probably wouldn't happen.

More than likely someone who wanted the supplies et al in your fixed site would just lay in the grass or trees, about 200 yards out, wait until you ventured outside and pop you with one round from a scoped centerfire rifle.

Better imo - if you are traversing the woods - to carry a small weapon along with whatever else is required than so much armament that you'd set off metal detectors 20 miles away....

DesertDwang
Majority of .22LR rounds are transsonic at best and silencer makes them pretty much un-heareable at 50m and at least around here there are plenty of sub-sonic .22s available at all stores...

And by selfloading you can create a subsonic load to most centerfire cartridges.. but most semiautos won't function with those loads, hence my preference on bolt-actions.

Edit: OT Russian Nagant revolvers are silenceable, since they have a gas-seal mechanism that pushes the cylinder agaist the barrel.

[edit on 15-12-2006 by northwolf]

I have got way too many guns but if a had to pick a few here's what I'd pick.

Benjamin Sheridan 392 . 22 cal air rifle given a Steroid tune by Mac-1 Airguns. Quiet powerful and versatile.

A 22 rimfire rifle in a semi auto Ruger 10/22, Savage 64F , Marlin 60

A good bolt action in .308 rifle or 7.62x 39mm,7.62 x54mm with scope (4x-10x magnification). There's more ammo in these 3 calibers floating around then you can shake a stick at. All 3 are easy to reload as well.

Pistol of choice, 9mm, 357, 45 Auto or 45 Colt.

Shotgun .410 or 12 guage, pump action for late night intruders and birding.

IMHO any gun that shoots centerfire cartridge is suitable as long as you have large enough stash of ammo, bullets and powder if you're willing to reload your ammo.

Bowhunting requires alot of time& practice to any where near as effective for survival purposes. I suspect that you'll be too busy trying gather food or farm it the # hits the fan to do much practicing.

While I don't think that we will have a Jerico type situation, I would want this if we did.


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20mm Rifle

I would want one of these in my cache, this would keep most people away.

image source: http://www.100thww2.org/support/cm/mortar.jpg

Weapon

IMO the 410 is the most versatul of the shotguns. being a small shotgun it still has the power to take down a deer or man and with just the change of a shell its ready for rabit or squirl. nfortuinly the popularity of the 410 has declined in recent years. Shells are getting expensive, and in my area hard to find.

AlphaBeta-

True but the reason I am bashing .22L here is because it isn't practical for personal protection. A .223 fires a .22 bullet right, but the case and gunpowder difference is massive, which explains why one is a military round and one isn't lol. That's what I mean.


p.s. Sig556.... droooooool I want one!

[edit on 15-12-2006 by jaguarmike]

What?!! Yes, 10mm = .40 cal. but the .40 S&W is interchangeable with the 10mm Auto?? I thought the 10mm had a longer case than the .40 S&W?

I can see firing a .40 S&W from a 10mm (but I wouldn't try it myself), but not the 10mm in a .40 due to the length of the case; I don't think a 10mm would chamber in a .40.

Am I missing something?

You are correct! The 10mm would not chamber correctly.

Also pertaining to your last post, yes people are getting a bit off of the OP by loading down with so many weapons that they become more commando than survivalist. I don't think you can eat or drink a round of ammo.

One "rifle" or "long gun" as it were people! Some of you need to go back and try again.

JMO, don't hunt me down with a bow and arrows with explosive charged heads.

True but civil war is one possible survival situation where you'd need to be a commando.

Could also be power outage, terrorist attack, NBC-type catastrophe, food outages..

That's why it breaks down into a survival rifle for every category.

A .22LR would be bad for shooting an enemy, and a .308 wouldn't be that great an idea shooting varmits for food.

Here is where the problem occurs though, it's like which catastrophe do you mean? I don't know if there's really one caliber and one rifle for all uses top to bottom.



[edit on 15-12-2006 by jaguarmike]

If you 'go commando' in a survival situation, you are more than likely going to end up dead. Even with a superior weapon, the odds are not in your favor against even a small group of attackers. The best tactic is evasion. As someone once said, the easiest way to win a gun battle is to avoid it in the first place.

Even in a civil war or total anarchy type situation, I'd guess that most people would not attack you unless they were provoked (your mileage may vary in an urban area!). Most would simply be trying to protect and feed their families. You'd probably even find many who would be willing to organize a local community defense force against roaming bands of thugs, particularly in rural areas.

The simple, inexpensive breech-loading shotgun is probably the indispensable survival weapon. You can hit really small, really fast stuff at reasonable range, it's fairly common, the ammo is easier to improvise if were talking a years-long to permanent ordeal, and it's got the versatility to make larger threats/meals regret having met you in addition to bagging birdies. There's something to be said for not having 3 weapons slung on your back and several kinds of cartridges rattling around in your bag.


There are arguments to be made for Mini-14 (common ammo- either NATO rounds or .223 remington work, decent for medium sized game, you can get the military goodies for your rifle, etc) M1 Garand (range, power, still military ammo if you go for the 7.62 Nato rather than .30-06 Springfield) AK/SKS (the bad guys have lots of ammo for them, it'll survive anything short of being stored in a septic tank) and of course others, but at the end of the day, this isn't a christmas list, this is what should I get for the money I'm willing to invest in Armageddon Insurance.

The simple answer to that is first and foremost a weapon that will help me stay mildly overweight. That's a shotgun. The second answer is a weapon that will make people leave me alone. That's also a shotgun (although it could just as easily be pretty much any military rifle). Factor in that I'm dirt poor and probably will be for the next 2-3 years, and it's pretty much decided that when it's time for me to buy another gun it's going to be a shotty.

I won't be puting a 10mm in my .40's KaBoom!

Roper

What's that new weapon the Israelies are using in their military? That cerainly looks like a good all around choice.

Also, I think we could look at that show Jerico for a good idea of what would transpire in many national survival situations.

Already mentioned it: Tavor, or TAR-21

SLPEXE

Oops! Didn't see that, thanks!

I own multiple weapons i have a winchester 30-30 lever action, a remington model 7600 pump ( a 270)rifle, a semi-auto 22Lr for plinking, a 20 gauge shotgun, a 9mm beretta, and a pse compound bow.

I hunt pretty much every hunting season we have in the state of vermont bird season, rabbit season, deer season, and moose season if i win the lottery they have on moose tags.

Out of all the weapons i own i would want my semi-auto 22Lr in a survival situation it is light it covers a great distance it is not loud at all and if need be can very easily be silenced. As to what most people beleave a 22 can drop any animal big and small and that includes a black bear (dont have brown bear here) 1 well placed shot can drop them i have personaly killed deer with a 22 and knowing how thick a bears hide can be if need be you can shoot a bear in the eye and kill it obviously you would have to be a good marksman but a 22Lr is very acurate and a smart hunter isnt going to let the bear know it is even thier.

plus with the 22 having 18 shots and being semi it is very good for self defense the chances of going up against someone with body armor is slim and if it happens hit them somewhere else.

thats my thoughts but if you live in the citry and dont know what it is like out in the woods you might have another opinion, And unless you have a sport hunting revolver handguns are not going to do much for you other then close encounter defense.

TAR-21?

What are its survival advantages exactly? I understand the military advantages- the bullpup design makes for a good closed quarters weapon that's still useful at conventional assault-rifle ranges. It makes great logistical sense to have a weapon that can essentially be MP-5 or M-16 depending on barrel configuration, but that's not a big issue for a guy who just needs to shoot dinner and the occasional looter or hostile authority figure.

The 5.56 NATO/.223 Remington is a plus, but you can get that from other weapons as well: AR-15, M-16, Mini-14, Remington Model 7615 Police Patrol Rifle, etc with the additional benefit of having greater access to parts.

When you get into situations that could be measured in years- civil war, pandemic, fallout, etc. you have to start thinking about a weapon that will have parts readily available. Beyond normal wear and tear, at some point the ammo runs out and it is to be hoped that there will be enterprising individuals who can improvise perhaps lower quality but still effective powder to reload brass with, and if that were the case it might be nice to have a weapon for which parts can be found.

Agreed...say the .22 isn't good against people when you've got 10+ rounds shot at you in rapid succession, from a concealed and covered attacker. Heck, I wouldn't want to be shot with a "BB gun", although it has happened to me - even that will get your attention!