Ideal Survival Rifle

At the end of the day, what you have available and have ammo for is what will get used. As Shaman mentioned above, there are several good reasons for the .38/.357 - one he didn't mention was the .38 Special originally was loaded with black powder. Just a little extra info for the brain housing group

 

I like pistol caliber rifles. Pre modern hunting laws forbidding it, they allow you to carry one weapon that is suitable for small and medium game. I prefer the .45Lc myself, but .357 is a close second. Switch up from loose loads to self contained mettalic cartridges, and you can see why Winchester sold so well. I can kill a rabbit or a deer with equal ease, and you have a powerful defensive weapon in the hands of a capable shooter.

 

I did not mention this, because I'd like to forget my dalliance with black powder in modern firearms. The problem with BP and its equivalents is that it really gunks stuff up in a hurry. I shot 50 rounds of BP- filled 44 Mag in a Super Blackhawk one afternoon and made the piece almost too dirty to function. I resorted to putting the cylinder in the dishwasher when I got home.

Be advised: it ain't like it shows in the movies, folks. BP is dirty stuff and it quickly fouls up any modern piece.

Let me also say that loading BP is fairly easy. There's really no way to over load most rounds. Whatever you can get a bullet to seat over is probably safe.

 

What is impressive is that you can get a working repeater to run on BP. One of the issues with the Zulu Dawn event for the British was that the combo of fouling and poor quality cartridges mean that by the time the Zulu, hyped up on war marijuana, where withing spear and club range, the Brits guns were useless. In the old guns, you can be lucky to get more than a handful of shots without a cursory cleaning.

 

I forgot why I quit shooting Black powder. It sure was a mess. I used to cast bullets and reload modern cartridges, and had a black powder .44 cap and ball revolver. But my life got busy and I sold it all off. I didn't have time and did not like the mess. But I am thinking maybe I should get some molds and wheel weights and stock up on powder.

 

I seriously doubt that the .38 Special was EVER loaded commercially with black powder since the cartridge was brought out in 1902 and smokeless was in use since 1892 (.30-40 Krag, FIRST US cartridge loaded with smokeless in US. 1895 - .30-30 Win first COMMERCIAL cartridge loaded with smokeless in US). Of course Colt didn't warrant their handguns with smokeless until 1900 too.

 

Properly loaded, a TRADITIONAL loading is the same grains as your caliber...So a .50 is pushing a 177 grain projectile off 50 grains of powder, and kicking it down range. Plus you can make you own ammo...and more importantly, you can KEEP doing it for (potentially) generations. Know plenty of guys who shoot or hunt with antiques. Something to be said for it.

 

Wouldn't the Ideal survival rifle be able to handle any and all situations that you might need a firearm for?
I'm not concerned with platform or caliber, how many situations could the rifle you pick solve? Is it mag feed in case you feel you need a wall of lead to survive? Will it reach out and take down a "Sniper" at ranges that don't seem relative? If it's gas operated can I shut off the gas or use it without gas if I need to suppress the rifle? Can I keep it running from pole to pole in darkness or blazing (heat) sunlight? When the parts brake from fatigue can I fabricate them myself? Whatever rifle you select there shall be other rifles and rifleman that perform tasks better, the object is to not be in a situation that your selected rifle is a hindrance instead of a force multiplier.

PS. Along the way there may be many rifles that become the property of the victor, perhaps there is a reason why those rifles didn't allow thier previous owner to collect the victors rifle as a souvenir. Just food for thought.

 

Gave this a quick run through, I see nothing about the bullets that would be useful for survival. Yes, the title is "IDEAL SURVIVAL RIFLE", but what makes the rifle ideal is what BULLET it shoots, not to discount reliability, accuracy, power, speed of fire, ease of use, of course.

Looking at MILITARY ammo, there is nothing there that would make a good hunting or anti-personnel round. The military uses FMJ (Full Metal Jacket) bullets because it is international law to keep people from getting hurt. Right, I am going to KILL them, but don't want them to be hurt while I do it. Must have been thought up by demonrats.

Anyway, since the military is the only ones required to use FMJ bullets, civilians (and yes, the po-LICE are civilians, no matter how many times I read or hear them call themselves "us" and the sheeple "civilians") can use pretty much what we want and that means soft points, hollow points and the like, you know, deer worthy bullets. If it is a good deer bullet, it is a good human bullet too. You might like Hard Ball (aka FMJ) for shooting through cars (most anything will anymore), engine blocks, walls, etc., but they are not ideal for use on humans. So pick your favorite cartridge/rifle and get GOOD expanding bullets for it for anti-snowflake/gang/demonrat use.

I also believe that having black powder weapons may well be a good idea. OK, possibly not ideal, but worth having. Bow were in use until firearms came along and replaced them. The only places they did not replace bows was areas where they couldn't get parts or powder regularly. In many part of the US, such as the old west, muzzleloaders were in common use until the 1880s or later. In the mountains in the eastern US, they hung on until the 1930s and 1940s. The US shipped many original Revolutionary War through 1850s muskets from the arsenal museums to the South Seas to arm natives, as they already had flint lock muzzleloaders and knew what they were, to fight the Japanese.

As was pointed out, if you don't clean your BP arms, they will rust. So what? MANY of the sea going muzzleloaders used by the military are some of the best preserved if you go to a museum and look! Don't clean you modern firearms and they don't do well either.

Yes BP is dangerous to make, care to try making smokeless powder? If you have a cap lock you will need caps (think primers), but flintlocks were in use as late as the early 1940s in many parts of the US as pointed out before, because the people were poor and could repair/make muzzleloaders. Flintlocks ideally use flints of course, but many rocks will work, and as the saying goes, "the world is made of rock".

I do not know how low civilization or technology will fall, but I bet cartridge cases, powder, primers and jacketed bullets will be few and far between for quite a while if you don't have any stocked up. Just look at the ,22 shortage times ALL ammo!

 

I've seen a deer killed by FMJ, he didn't seem to notice the lack of hollowpoint.

 

Elmer Kieth preferred the 38/357 as a bug out round, Easy as snot to reload!

 

Yes, Brokor/BTPost, snipers use Hollow Point bullets, but they don't expand in flesh, or pretty much anything else for that matter. The Rules of War call for non-expanding bullets, and the Hollow Points used by snipers do not expand. I note that even you were not silly enough to claim they were good hunting bullets or expanded.

I also note the silly people have come out to play and add nothing but stupidity to the thread and not light. At least one of those posts should be removed as worthless stupidity and harassment, but that is par for the course naturally, from those who have too much time and too little brains.

AX, I never said a FMJ would not kill, but they are far from ideal for hunting game. A FMJ to the spine, brain, or shoulder bones will put a deer, or pretty much anything else that walks, down. A FMJ through the lungs leaves a caliber sized hole and the deer, or pretty much any other game, to run off and die a day or two or three later. That is neither humane or good sportsmanship. Surely you do not recommend SS109 for hunting? I'm not too worried about shooting a deer through interior walls or armor as some here seem to be.

Good point Gator 45/70, the .38 Special/.357 Magnum is both common and easy to reload, but the .38 Special was never commercially loaded with black powder, although all the previous .38 caliber rounds were. Undoubtedly it would work just fine for the .38 Special as it did in the older cartridges, and was probably loaded with black powder by many reloaders who like black powder or had black powder on hand and wanted to use it, but not commercially.