Other than a .22, what is the next best rifle to own?

[kathy88]

I like a .223. That's what I have.

Was told it's a perfect SHTF tool, because it's good for just about anything that you may need.

Good one for the ladies, too .

 

[ClydeCoulter]

Good one for the ladies, too .

Like Irish Spring

 

[tod evans]

Good one for the ladies, too .

Small people, regardless of what's dangling, should exercise caution if they've never shouldered a 45-70...

 

[TheGrinch]

Small people, regardless of what's dangling, should exercise caution if they've never shouldered a 45-70...

Yep, and really it can happen to anyone with most calibers if you don't plant it on your shoulder well enough. I still have a faint scar from scoping myself in the forehead the first time I shot a 30-06 when I was younger.

 

[pcosmar]

, or pistol caliber carbines. Those last options wouldn't be appropriate for large game, though.

Pistol Caliber?
One on my wish list,, There are several manufacturers.



I live in heavily wood area. This will take any game,, small to large. and is a good defense rifle.
20' barrel is good in brush,, or house. and 10 shots in the tube.

With Buffalo Bore ammo.. big game is no problem. Or hand loads.
Shot shells will take birds or rabbits.

 

[GunnyFreedom]

As others have said, there really is no 'best' rifle or calibre -- it's all situation dependent and the principle is 'use the right tool for the job at hand.' What I will say is focus on commonness. The more common a round is in your region, the more likely ammo will be available after a significant collapse. That can be .30-06 or .308 or 5.56mm or .223 or whatever. Different calibres have different strengths and weaknesses. A .30-30 for instance (a bit less common ammo availability than a .308) makes an amazing brush-gun inside of 300yds. It was relatively popular in Vietnam to bring a .30-30 from home because it had superior performance in jungle-like foliage, with short, flat ballistics, and almost no deflection through vegetation.

So, it really depends on a LOT of factors, but I think the biggest factor to worry about is ammo availability in the event of a full collapse. Your 7mm Remington bolty or your 6.5mm Grendel AR may be one of the best bang-sticks ever made, may become little more than a fancy club if you can't find 7mm or 6.5 Grendel ammo to feed it.

 

[GunnyFreedom]

Good one for the ladies, too .

Depending on the stock - some ladies have shorter arms too, and cannot form a proper cheekweld with a full size stock. A collapsible stock (oh noes - assault weapon!!!!) can solve that handily.

Interesting -- by making a collapsible stock one of the "no-no" features of a potential weapons ban, the biggest effect they will have is to specifically single out women and make it more difficult for them to defend themselves. Why do the gun-banners hate women so much? Here is your REAL war on women, democrats!

 

[erowe1]

As others have said, there really is no 'best' rifle or calibre -- it's all situation dependent and the principle is 'use the right tool for the job at hand.' What I will say is focus on commonness. The more common a round is in your region, the more likely ammo will be available after a significant collapse. That can be .30-06 or .308 or 5.56mm or .223 or whatever. Different calibres have different strengths and weaknesses. A .30-30 for instance (a bit less common ammo availability than a .308) makes an amazing brush-gun inside of 300yds. It was relatively popular in Vietnam to bring a .30-30 from home because it had superior performance in jungle-like foliage, with short, flat ballistics, and almost no deflection through vegetation.

So, it really depends on a LOT of factors, but I think the biggest factor to worry about is ammo availability in the event of a full collapse. Your 7mm Remington bolty or your 6.5mm Grendel AR may be one of the best bang-sticks ever made, may become little more than a fancy club if you can't find 7mm or 6.5 Grendel ammo to feed it.

That ammo availability argument appears a lot. But in the recent scare, hasn't it been the most common ammos that have been the most scarce?

 

[GunnyFreedom]

That ammo availability argument appears a lot. But in the recent scare, hasn't it been the most common ammos that have been the most scarce?

Sure - in STORES. All that ammo had to go SOMEWHERE, and now that people have bought thousands and thousands of rounds, those rounds are locked away in homes around the nation. I'm not advocating taking ammo from living people, but if the SHTF for real, a lot of those people with 1000s of rounds will be dead, and that ammo will then become available to people like us.

Not to mention if you have a couple thousand rounds, and stick with common calibres, and you end up having to defend yourself from an attack, the chances increase that your attacker(s) have ammo that you can use after you stop them.

The massive buy-up of common calibres does in fact make it more difficult to buy ammo in a store right now, but it actually enhances the 'common calibre' argument because now there is more common calibre ammo just floating around the United States than ever before AND manufactures are certainly cranking up the assembly lines like nobody's business right now.

I know it sounds weird and slightly illogical, BUT the very fact that common calibre ammo is so hard to find right now, actually INCREASES the legitimacy of the common calibre argument because more homes than ever will have some inside of them, and more people than ever will have such ammo on their person.

 

[Tod]

curiously enough, although the shelves at my local outfitter are getting very bare, especially of .223/5.56, there is still a supply of .30-06. My guess is that not that many Ohioans own .30-06 guns. (can't use them or similar rifles for deer hunting in Ohio).

As was already suggested, if you are concerned about having something that may be needed in the near future, your best bet would be to see what ammo and guns are available.

My local outfitter got a number of AR types in recently, but they have no ammo or mags for them.

 

[GuerrillaXXI]

If I could have only one rifle, it would be a properly-made AR-15 (like a Colt LE6920) or a military-grade, highly-accurate, semi-auto .308 (like a Larue OBR or LMT MWS). Which of these I'd prefer would depend on what ammo was available. If I did not have access to armor-piercing .308 (such as M61), I'd stick with the 5.56 with M855 ammo, since its steel core can penetrate armor that non-AP .308 cannot. An M1 Garand with .30-06 AP would be an alternative to the .308 with AP rounds.

Sadly, the current buying craze is making many of these rifles and even a lot of the ammo very hard to come by. If someone is just getting started right now with preparations for trouble, I'd go with two guns: a 12 gauge shotgun (e.g., a Mossberg 590A1) for close range and a scoped bolt action in something like .308 or .30-06 for longer range.

I like the advice given earlier about buying ammo first, then getting the gun as soon as you have the ammo. This makes sense is because ammo is currently hard to come by, and you don't want to be stuck buying a weapon and then having no ammo for it. Ammo seems to be selling out faster than weapons such as shotguns and bolt guns, so if you can get sufficient ammo for these, you'll probably still be able to get a weapon to go with the ammo.

 

[Tod]

Sure - in STORES. All that ammo had to go SOMEWHERE, and now that people have bought thousands and thousands of rounds, those rounds are locked away in homes around the nation. I'm not advocating taking ammo from living people, but if the SHTF for real, a lot of those people with 1000s of rounds will be dead, and that ammo will then become available to people like us.

Not to mention if you have a couple thousand rounds, and stick with common calibres, and you end up having to defend yourself from an attack, the chances increase that your attacker(s) have ammo that you can use after you stop them.

The massive buy-up of common calibres does in fact make it more difficult to buy ammo in a store right now, but it actually enhances the 'common calibre' argument because now there is more common calibre ammo just floating around the United States than ever before AND manufactures are certainly cranking up the assembly lines like nobody's business right now.

I know it sounds weird and slightly illogical, BUT the very fact that common calibre ammo is so hard to find right now, actually INCREASES the legitimacy of the common calibre argument because more homes than ever will have some inside of them, and more people than ever will have such ammo on their person.

If the homeowner were killed by someone with a plan and support, do you think the killer would leave the ammo and gun laying around to be picked up for someone else to use against them?

 

[TheGrinch]

I know this has already been addressed somewhat in this thread, but a .22 is definitely one of the worst rifles to stop any large animal, but has gotta be the most fun and cheap way to pop off hundreds of rounds. It's like shooting a high-powered BB gun with no kick, and if you get a sniper scope, I used to pick a spot on a dime and hit it from 100 yards out.

They're world's more fun for cheap amateur sharp-shooting (or of course practicing if it's a pistol), but for any animal or human, you absolutely don't want to just injure and possibly not stop them. Stopping power is key, because if you're shooting something, the goal is to kill, not disfigure or only superficially injure.

 

[Tod]

I've got a hankering for a .338 Lapua but they are so darned expensive, and realistically it would be very difficult to find a place in Ohio large enough to utilize its long range capabilities, so it is just a pipe-dream.

 

[Tod]

I know this has already been addressed somewhat in this thread, but a .22 is definitely one of the worst rifles to stop any large animal, but has gotta be the most fun and cheap way to pop off hundreds of rounds. It's like shooting a high-powered BB gun with no kick, and if you get a sniper scope, I used to pick a spot on a dime and hit it from 100 yards out.

They're world's more fun for cheap amateur sharp-shooting (or of course practicing if it's a pistol), but for any animal or human, you absolutely don't want to just injure and possibly not stop them. Stopping power is key, because if you're shooting something, the goal is to kill, not disfigure or only superficially injure.

guy needs his ammo belt fed :

 

[cbc58]

Pistol Caliber?
One on my wish list,, There are several manufacturers.



I live in heavily wood area. This will take any game,, small to large. and is a good defense rifle.
20' barrel is good in brush,, or house. and 10 shots in the tube.

With Buffalo Bore ammo.. big game is no problem. Or hand loads.
Shot shells will take birds or rabbits.

nice rifle...

 

[GunnyFreedom]

That full-auto .22 would be more effective with a select-fire instead of a filed sear.

 

[osan]

Other than a .22, what is the next best rifle to own in terms of using it for hunting and possible self-defense ?

7.62 NATO hands down.

It is the gold standard for accuracy. It is an excellent, high efficiency cartridge. It has been worked every which way and perfected. It is manufactured in enormous quantities. Reloading information is plentiful. There are many weapons chambered for it.

It is not the hardest hitting at extreme range, but I deem it the best if nothing else is to be had for the reasons given.

PS: Forgot to add: 30-06 would be my next choice. Harder hitting than 308, especially at range, but may not be as widely available. A weapon without ammunition is of very limited utility.

 

[GunnyFreedom]

7.62 NATO hands down.

It is the gold standard for accuracy. It is an excellent, high efficiency cartridge. It has been worked every which way and perfected. It is manufactured in enormous quantities. Reloading information is plentiful. There are many weapons chambered for it.

It is not the hardest hitting at extreme range, but I deem it the best if nothing else is to be had for the reasons given.

It's a good round, but you will find that a .308 Winchester chamber will be higher powered and more accurate than a 7.62 NATO chamber. They are....almost...identical but not quite. Just like the 5.56 NATO is better than the .223 even though they are almost identical, and you can get chambers for either, or both, so also are the .308 and the 7.62 NATO the same way but opposite. The .308 is better than the 7.62 NATO.

Just remember that the .308 / 7.62x51 is just like the .223 / 5.56x45 but opposite.

You can fire a .223 from a 5.56 chamber but you shouldn't fire a 5.56 from a .223 chamber.

You can fire a 7.62x51 from a .308 chamber, but you shouldn't fire a .308 from a 7.62x51 chamber.

So make sure you get a .308 chamber and you will be good to go for EITHER ammo. And then you will find that .308 Winchester will also perform slightly better than 7.62 NATO.

 

[Original_Intent]

The best gun to own is one that the guvmint don't know you have.