If SHTF, this is the gun I would bring

Mosin-Nagant 91/30



Powerful, reliable, accurate. And the bolt action is smooth enough once your hand gets used to it. You'll bruise your palm if you fire off too many rounds too fast, but quite frankly it should hurt a little bit to use a weapon.

Whether you're walking into the bush, fighting off the zombie apocalypse, or rebelling against your corporate overlords, this is the firearm.

I've tried a few different rifles, but nothing provides the same raw power and satisfaction while still being comofrtable and familiar to the marksman's hand.

I love my mosin especially now that I have my spike bayonet and my hand built bullpup assembly and replica optics from a PSL sniper rifle... which gives me a reticle optimized for the 7.62x54R round... And I picked up a metric CRAP LOAD of sealed tins when they were still cheap... This and my ppsh 41 are two of my absolute go to weapons...

They're not light and they're not pretty but they will keep working and they hit HARD...

I agree with you.

I own 3 of them. 1 - 91/30 & 2 - M-44's

You can pay a lot more for a rifle but you can't get a more dependable, hard hitting, accurate one For the money

You can get a rifle and 440 rounds of ammo for under $250

why would you use a rifle when SHTF thats hard to find ammunition for?

Not practical.......

306 or 308......even 223 rounds .......

but not something that specialized, your out of ammo and you cant find anymore your done.......and your rifle is useless

Originally posted by mwood
I agree with you.

I own 3 of them. 1 - 91/30 & 2 - M-44's

You can pay a lot more for a rifle but you can't get a more dependable, hard hitting, accurate one For the money

You can get a rifle and 440 rounds of ammo for under $250

Anyway, looks nice gun for sure.

right on. i adore mine,which igot for $75 at a big 5 in ogden,ut. you can go to cheaper than dirt.com and get 440 round "spam cans" for,i think, $96. rugged and reliable.

Who likes the SKS? I would think semi auto and 10 chambered rounds would be more suitable in a survival gun. Does the mosin fire the 7.62X54R?

reply to post by ManBehindTheMask


I agree with MBTM. Unless you plan to stay put and have massive stores of ammunition availible it is more practical to have a gun that fires more common ammunition. That said, the gun with more common ammo doesn't need to be your first choice, but you should still be skilled in the use of your secondary choice.

If the SHTF you are going to need something reliable, common, easy to maintain and shoots a common ammunition.

I currently have a Springfield Armory SOCOM16 (.308), Mossberg 500 (12ga) and an FNP9 (9mm). All except the Mossberg have lifetime warranties so you know they're made well and they all have very common ammunition. The Mossberg will be my close quarters. I'm thinking about trading up my SOCOM for something in a .223 with a greater than 300yd distance. The 16 inch barrel on this beast causes it to be somewhat inaccurate after 250yd in iron sights. Plus in a firefight shooting that thing off a few hundred rounds is going to suck for my shoulder and wrist.

Thinking about this set up I might ditch those for an M40 although I'm a little nervous about abandoning the rapid fire ability.

If your in a fight with another person and if you kill them you get there gun. So if you are having sustained fights with people then your arsenal will grow. Unless your dead. So a 7.62/54 is a great round to start out with 1200 yard shots were not uncommon back in the great war. I have a friend that has a few mosin_nag. and a dragov that shoots the same round. The ammo is cheap and it would be a great starter for anyone with a limited ammo/rifle funds. With good tactics you would be able grow your supplies. Like 500 yard shots with three or four people behind a few mosins would take out a group and then your close up folks could clean up the poor saps you took out would have probably not even fired a round. But thats not a very nice way to make new allies ect.

I would suggest for after TSHTF you consider a shotgun.
The Nagant is indeed an hearty weapon but try shooting a rabbit with it for dinner, not much left.

If I could have only 1 gun after TSHTF it would be my Remington 870 with the extended magazine.

I can shoot shot for small game: squirrels, rabbits, birds, ducks, geese...ect...ect

I can shoot buckshot for medium size critters: like say coyotes up to deer size game

I can shoot slugs for anything like deer, moose, bear.

With the 12 gauge and 3 boxes of ammo I can take anything from a squirrel to a moose.

Also it make a VERY formidable weapon for self defense against 2 legged predators.

Throw in a rifled slug barrel and you can shoot slugs out to 200 yards and get 2"-3" groups

reply to post by mwood


I think the 870 is indeed a solid choice and a very versatile all-round weapon. As for 2-3 inch groups at 200 yds,I'd have to see it to believe it but it can certainly be accurate enough for it's intended purposes.

Lets be honest with ourselves,even in a SHTF situation having to fire a couple hundred rounds in a confrontation is pretty unlikely. How many would even be carrying that much ammo? You'd have room for damn little else!

As an all round calibre the lowly .22 is hard to beat. It's light,easy to shoot accurately and with proper shot placement is capable of taking fairly large game. Of course you'll most likely be shooting small game most times,and the .22 excels at that. Also,you can use subsonic ammo like CB's which are not much louder than a pellet gun. That can be a pretty big advantage when your trying to be inconspicous. You can carry far more .22 ammo comfortably than any other calibre.

The gun itself is also usually quite light,a big deal when your mostly on foot. A semi-auto .22,like the popular Ruger 10/22, is not really the ideal self defence gun I certainly wouldn't want to be shot with one. I have killed a several coyote's with a .22 and with the right ammo and proper shot placement it can be done. I don't believe a human is any tougher than a coyote.

For my choices I'd have a stainless/synthetic Ruger 10/22 and a number of spare mags. It would have a good qaulity low power scope, something like a Leupold 2-7x with high quality one-piece bases. I'd liek to have really light,short 12 guage pump gun. A mossberg 500 or remington 870 with synthetic stocks would suffice. A pistol would be nice to(make mine a 1911 .45) but if I was limited to just one,for all things, I'd feel fine with a .22.

A good arm for Personal defence. I would also include a side arm, .45 caliber.

Another one that will resort to a gun instead of using a brain.

How much ammo do you think you can carry in all seriousness. That will not weigh you down?

What about when you run out after a couple of days?

With no brains you are done. No very conspicuous running around with a huge rifle.

The M91 is one of the best bolt actions ever made. Real steel and not plastic on it like the stuff made today.

My favorite ammo is the Czech stuff for that rifle. Very, very accurate rifles from back when men made good things.

reply to post by Stryker Ops


You'd better be trading up if you're going to get rid of that SOCOM. The SOCOM16 is an expensive rifle these days and could get you some seed money for a new Bushmaster ACR, or you may even be able to trade for it outright-if you want something in 5.56 that is. With the quick tool-less barrel and caliber change feature you could switch to 7.62x39 pretty quickly.



-----------------------------------
If the SHTF I'm grabbing the girl, both of my Bushmaster ar15s my shotgun and my compound bow.

reply to post by RedBird


Well coming from a battle tested and approved retired Marine ...
My first choice would be a SA58 FAL Tactical

its rugged light(ish) and has the range to reach out there and touch someone...

Originally posted by Stryker Ops
If the SHTF you are going to need something reliable, common, easy to maintain and shoots a common ammunition.

I currently have a Springfield Armory SOCOM16 (.308), Mossberg 500 (12ga) and an FNP9 (9mm). All except the Mossberg have lifetime warranties so you know they're made well and they all have very common ammunition. The Mossberg will be my close quarters. I'm thinking about trading up my SOCOM for something in a .223 with a greater than 300yd distance. The 16 inch barrel on this beast causes it to be somewhat inaccurate after 250yd in iron sights. Plus in a firefight shooting that thing off a few hundred rounds is going to suck for my shoulder and wrist.

Thinking about this set up I might ditch those for an M40 although I'm a little nervous about abandoning the rapid fire ability.

I had a SOC16 for about 6 months...it was the biggest POS rifle i ever owned. Chronic FTF, FTE, magazines barely fit, horrible accuracy, etc.
Many have said i just happened to get a lemon from SA, but that begs the question of their quality control. After months of tweaking on it, and hundreds of dollars of ammo and brakes, sights, etc., i finally traded it for a brand new Ruger SS Mini-14 with ATI collapsible stock, some 30 round mags, a sling, and some cash.

I busted more targets in the first 10 minutes at the range with my new mini than the whole 6 months with the SOC. IMO the mini is the better SHTF weapon anyway. Lighter ammo, lighter gun, less recoil, cheaper ammo, and to me atleast, more reliable.

For me it is the Gun, I shoot the BEST with!
And that gun I have extra spare parts for. All the
guns will do a good job. Is what is best for you.

Originally posted by ManBehindTheMask
why would you use a rifle when SHTF thats hard to find ammunition for?

Not practical.......

306 or 308......even 223 rounds .......

but not something that specialized, your out of ammo and you cant find anymore your done.......and your rifle is useless

You can buy thousands of rounds of ammo for a few hundred bucks.

You don't "find" ammo you squirrel it away in advance. You can only find ammo in video games.