My next survival/hunting rifle

Ive hunted michigan white tail deer for years with a .223 round. Before that I used a M-1 .30 carbine. The only time I ever had a misplaced shot the last 20 years was with a compound bow. I could'nt imagine F'n up a rifle shot.




- NSBiz

after seeing this thread i went to research more on the sig556 and the only thing i dont like is it doesnt come with a rear iron sight. i dunno, i guess i just like KNOWING i have that iron sight backup if i need it, and in honesty actually prefer the iron sights to most optics.

but, i also decided i like the fn fs2000. i dunno, ive always had a thing for bullpups but always also had a lot about them i didnt like, the fs2000 answers most of my concerns.

so, should i hit the lotto this week, i think ill take one of each

I am not much of a hunter...more of a fisherman so to speak. But this always stood out in my mind.
My father was in the Army after the war in Germany where he met my mother. When I was a kid I remember him telling a story about hunting with some other GIs out in the forests. THey were using M1 Garands and M1 Carbines..regular Full Metal Jacket military ammo. They had wounded a wild boar and it had run into some thickets. No one attempted to go in and find out what happened to this boar.

This is why the right rifle and also the correct type of bullet makes a difference in dropping your game quickly and timely.

They came back a few days later and had no problem locating the stinking carcass of the boar. It is just that no one was brave enough or perhapsed stupid enough to go in and find the wounded boar. I can't say as I blame them.
Keep this in mind for a survival/hunting rifle....even for deer.

Thanks,
Orangetom

Originally posted by Damocles
after seeing this thread i went to research more on the sig556 and the only thing i dont like is it doesnt come with a rear iron sight. i dunno, i guess i just like KNOWING i have that iron sight backup if i need it, and in honesty actually prefer the iron sights to most optics.

but, i also decided i like the fn fs2000. i dunno, ive always had a thing for bullpups but always also had a lot about them i didnt like, the fs2000 answers most of my concerns.

so, should i hit the lotto this week, i think ill take one of each

I think it might come with a flip up rear sight, if not just buy it. I always have my iron and optics cowitness.

if you plan on hunting deer for meat try going to your local feed and seed and buy some salt licks and store them in your shed or stockpileb deer love them when i was a teen ager i lived in wisconsin and the neighbor put salt licks in his pastuer beside my house some mornings i would see five or six deer at the salt lick location i could have used a 22 out my back window with a cheap 20 dollar scope to shoot the deer with headshots.

I have always been happy with my Henry 22 lever action. I have only fired 22LR through but it will fire 22 shorts as well. Some may sniff at the low price or snob the name completely as it not a Winchester 30-30 or even a decent Remmington. But when at range, people only see the level action and think only about the numerous westerns and reconsider their position quickly. Purely a psychological effect versus a semi-auto rifle but a positive effect none the less.

While 22's are poor choices for hunting larger game such as boar and deer, beggers can't always be choosers. And 22's are a bit more universal for ammo stockpiles and number of game taken from squirel to fowl. Cleaning is less of an issue compared to assault style and high caliber conventional rifles like the 30-30. Not that I advocate not cleaning and maintaining firearms. Just saying survival conditions sometimes are not ideal conditions and one less headache helps.

For a handgun, I was very happy with the Ruger Mark II. Very accurate and comfortable to fire. A very nice pistol for women as well as men. Looking very much like a SS Officers Luger is also a nice psychological factor versus human. While I only shot the 22LR, I know that Ruger offers 9mm varieties and is on the old list to test sometime when finances are better. Sharing ammo between the 22LR handgun and the lever action rifle is handy as well.

On the subject of handguns, I think I agree with R. Lee Ermy there was a very good reason the old sergents and officers of WWII used the .45...ammo conservation as it only took one shot to take the fight out of a man versus 2-3 with a 9mm. Open to opinions here.

Originally posted by NSBiz
Ive hunted michigan white tail deer for years with a .223 round. Before that I used a M-1 .30 carbine. The only time I ever had a misplaced shot the last 20 years was with a compound bow. I could'nt imagine F'n up a rifle shot.
- NSBiz

You da man!!! Man. I would not want to hunt in Michigan with such small calibers. Yes, they will kill the little deer quite easily, but I am worried about the bears that come running to the kill. I am afraid of bears if you cannot tell. And Michigan is chock full of black bears, especially the UP.

The OP's rifle choice looks like a good one. I would try to spend about $1100.00 less and spend the difference on ammo.

im actually a HUGE fan of the .22

my first gun was a .22 single shot bolt action. got it when i was 9

also had a remington fieldmaster pump action and later i had a remington 995 semi auto that i LOVED

ammos lots cheaper than a .223 and its usually a lighter gun to hump around with ya.

and as for your pistol, hey, .22 is small but a full mag to the center of the chest will stop anyone and those rugers will unload fast adn accurate

for a heavier pistol, i prefer the .40 its a trade off between tissue displacement, mag capacity and recoil. and truth be told, while i havnt fired one yet i kind of like the new .357sig round .40 necked down to a light 357 caliber.

in the end its all personal preference. go with what youre comfortable with cuz the more comfortable you are with youre choice the better yorue able to use it should the need arise. regardless of what that need is

Originally posted by groingrinder
You da man!!! Man. I would not want to hunt in Michigan with such small calibers. Yes, they will kill the little deer quite easily, but I am worried about the bears that come running to the kill. I am afraid of bears if you cannot tell. And Michigan is chock full of black bears, especially the UP.

Sorry to inform you your information on the crappy dying state of Michigan is totally wrong. Yes there are bears in Michigan. But not a lot of them. they don't come running every time you make a kill. Ive hunted the U.P. all my hunting life, except when I was stationed away. Ive never seen a bear come running when I took down Bambi. Most bears will run like hell when they hear the shot. I have had a few coyotes come sniffing around my kill while I was cleaning it. the poor things looked starved. A loud yell and a wave of the arms like a mad man sent them back into the woods. Most animals even the starving ones are more afraid of us then we are of them. What worries me is the cougar. You don't hear them you don't see them and they are getting to the point they are not impressed with us. Thank goodness Michigan has very few of them. If you do see one a shot over the head even with a 22 will make them think twice and be more care full. Don't be worried about bears be worried about cougars. You will most likely see and hear and smell bears coming. You wont have any idea a cougar is there until he bites your neck.

Originally posted by Damocles


and as for your pistol, hey, .22 is small but a full mag to the center of the chest will stop anyone and those rugers will unload fast adn accurate

The one thing that impressed me with the Ruger was target shooting a playing card at 25 feet. The owner told me to unload a clip on it. I drew a straight line of 7 rounds across the second set of pips on a 10 of hearts as fast as my finger could pull. I honestly thought I had only hit twice, since I am not a very good shot with a pistol. Spent most of my time with rifles and shotguns. Just got too used to long guns.

Which brings up a very good point. For those that do own firearms. Practice now and practice often with what you intend to use. Know how your gun shoots when you can still stop by the market will come in handy for when you can not.

Here's a good selection of survival rifles. I own a Ruger 10/22, Rem 870, among others, but I would rate them as the best from a reliability standpoint. I wouldn't take any amount of money for either of them.

Survival Rifles Guide

As I've indicated in other threads - I own one and love it! I have had it now for about a year, maybe longer. I've taken it to the range about a dozen times and marvel over its accuracy and comfort. It's incredibily light-weight for it's caliber and comfortable. It recovers well after every shot minimizing the need to resight the target. I love the trigger action as well, extremely smooth - not jerky like other assault-style weapons I've fired in the past.

As far as hunting, it is a worthy weapon - at closer ranges on small to mid-size game. I don't think I'd try to drop moose or bear with it. But white tail deer and other similar sized game it would perform extremely well. Keep in mind the ammo type will have alot to do with it's effectiveness at hunting game. Choose appropriately!

I purchased it purely as an assault, ranged survival weapon. It chambers the NATO 5.56 round which should be plentiful in a crisis and is also able to take a standard .223 round (Although it does lose accuracy as the round does not seat as tightly) which is used in the M-16. My thoughts on this were ease in procurement of ammo during a time of crisis, reliability (Sig manufactures some of the best arms in the world!), and accuracy at range.

I also own a Sig P229 and Sig P239 in the .40S&W and Mossberg 590A1 in a 12 guage.

I HIGHLY recommend this rifle for anyone looking for a top-quality, comfortable, easy-to-use assault-style weapon!

reply to post by angryamerican


Does nobody around here live near a supermarket that sells meat??

Why waste a lot of money when you can get all the meat you and your family can eat for next to nothing.

Not to mention for every game animal that is killed you are making it so two others can live. it is a necessary evil, and really tasty.

When you have eaten wild meat store bought meat just doesn't taste good. don't knock it till you try it.

[edit on 1-2-2008 by angryamerican]

This one should kind of appease everybody's sensibilities... or something.

For my money, any variant of the venerable M14 that is chambered in .308.

A selection of variants for your perusal:
www.fulton-armory.com...

This is a proven firearm that continues to be further modified and improved upon to this day.

Bravo!

The avaiablity of ammo in a survival situation has lead me to choose the Kel tech Su-16 alpha model. I can store it in my backpack at times when i need to appear unarmed. Tromping through national forests and such. Though i am little experienced at this whole survival thing my choice might be considered poor. I like it for its accuracy and hidabilty. I won't be able to carry around 5 diffrent rifles for every situation so i had choose the Kel tech. I couldn't afford the sig and at 500.00 cheaper the kel tech was a bargain for me. Just my opinion though.

this is an old thread but ive recently gotten some money that was owed to me so i kind of went nuts.

mini 14 tactical (kinda went nuts with new stock, optic and tac light but it was fun hehe)

AK47 pistol version

beretta 92f (my wife deploys this fall and the army isnt as good about training with the m9 as they are the m4)

FN model AP .32cal (lovingly referred to as jr hereabouts)

sig p229 9mm

and my baby FN FS2000

now if all the paranoid gun toting whack jobs werent buying up all the ammo on the market i would have more than 3000 rnds of ammo. (the joke in this line was totally intentional lol)

I already have a AR 15 so my next rifle will be a .308 bolt action based on the large ring Mauser action.

Bolt action is the best for very long range shooting 1000 yards.
the 308 is heavy enough to stop anything in north America.
Being a bolt action it would be the last guns to be banned. they will go after the black guns first.
.308/7.62x51 is a NATO US military caliber so there will always be some to be found even after guns are banned. just get it from the military sources.
there are many ART scopes that are set for use with the .308 round.
www.netstartechnologies.net...
www.snipercountry.com...
tp-commerce.techpro.com...


There are 100,000s rifles in the US that use this actions so in a sitX it is very likely that you will find one that you can strip for parts.
I have a old VZ-24 8 mm Mauser that i bought years ago that i can strip for spare parts. it only cost me $45 in the 1970s

www.remington.com...
www.empirerifles.com...
findarticles.com...
www.huntingriflesreviews.com...

i just havnt picked up a new bolt action yet. kinda like the steyr scout in .308 but my pops prolly only got a few years of hunting left in him after which ill get his bolt action .243.


as far as bolt actions being banned last...probably, unless someone says "hunting rifle? no, thats a SNIPER rifle. BANNED!!!"

im not all that worried about a gun ban anytime soon. see how much they've backed off even talking about it of late? political suicide right now.

try the 100 grain full jacket and /or the 100 grain hollow point, I kill 150# deer at 300 plus yards regularly, even out to 500 yds its lethal, thats wht the military made the round to do! 500 yd killing ability.