[Promoted Pawn]

the dirty old bar and and gun shop conversation:
If you could only have one weapon for survival what would it be??

The guys at FAL files always have a good conversation going on in the survival forum. Recently I was reading peoples ideas about "if you could only have one...". Most people picked a weapon known for it's reliability and stuck to common models and calibers for obvious reasons. Less than half the guys picked an assault rifle and, to my surprise no one mentioned a FAL or other battle rifle.
There were some guys talking about flintlocks and homemade gunpowder. But I noticed that most of the serious survivalists were going with .22LR because they assumed the weapons primary function would be meat-getting. A .22 isn't likely to draw any suspicion or make you look dangerous, and you aren't advertising your presence over such a large area every time you fire. When on the move a person could easily carry years worth of ammo on his or her person with a .22.
My "if I could only have one" might be a suppressed 10/22 with a folding stock. Or maybe a 22LR over 12 gauge..
Would anyone pick a 5.7x28mm weapon??? They are rugged and, like the .22LR you can carry a substantial amount of ammo that would be perfect for survival hunting.

 

[metalnova]

that is still a hard one to answer. survival hunting would ultimately lead to survival defending and the 5.7x28mm has quite convinced me yet toppled with the lack of common ammo availibity.

 

[ShipWreck]

Well - stash some ammo - I have 2100 rounds stashed. I won't have an ammo availability problem. I plan to try to increase this later this year.

 

[devildoc]

I agree that that is a hard one. Is my food source bird? then shot gun would be the best choice. If small ground animals, a 22lr perhaps, I wouldn't worry about needing a large caliber weapon unless I was trying to survive in say Africa where other large animals want to eat me.

Other things to consider in the location is the environment. Am I up to my ass in snow, a jungle, a desert? All these things effect the choice.

If you had to pick one handpowered screw driver to build a house what would it be? Oops I forgot to tell you, the screws just fell out of your Rx glasses. LOL

 

[ShipWreck]

If you had to pick one handpowered screw driver to build a house what would it be? Oops I forgot to tell you, the screws just fell out of your Rx glasses. LOL

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[metalnova]

I'm only at 750 right now. but those 2100rds won't last forever and who knows how long survival might be.

 

[FiveseveN]

I would be taking a .22 rifle with a large magazine and maybe a silencer. There is a reason the original AR-7 survival rifle was in 22.

If we could take two I would pick up some pistol with a large caliber, maybe 10mm seeing as how I would only be using it when everything else failed.

A would take the 5.7 round with me if I could get my hands on a bolt action and tons of ammo.

 

[Adosh]

id take an ak

kills everything, always works

 

[Tspeis]

Minigun... 8) :shock:





...Kidding of course.


Tspeis

 

[MrNuke7571]

One gun, period?

Glock. Sad to say, but it is the one of the, if not THE most reliable package, high capacity in 9mm, average accuracy of the compact models, concealable (I wouldn't want to run around with any of my rifles on a day-to-day basis).

If I'd know of as many very, very high mileage FN 5.7's as glocks, I'd chose 5.7 pistol, but they've only been around a bit compared, so can't really say on long-term reliability. Glocks are known to be 10+ years old and working with minimal support. Simple to work on too.

(No I am not a glock supporter, but give credit where credit is due.)


ps. In the summer, I CCW a G19C and love it. 8)

 

[coldair]

the new scar in 7.62-39 ammo will be plentful and cheap and I can do just about anything with that round

 

[Texas Armadillo]

DevilDoc makes some good points. You have to give more info to get a rational answer. Yes, I realize it's just a fun little conversation to kick around and see what people come up with, but let's make it a little more real. Here is the scenario...

You are in South Texas maybe around Corpus Christy. It is February, the temps are in the 40's at night and 70's in the day. By summer the temps will be 85/100. It's been misting and drizzling for two weeks. The ground is soaked. But whithin a month or two you know the rain will fade away to be replaced with stifiling humidty and heat that will last until November.

The stock Market has crashed and the country is sliding into a real bad depression. Maybe as bad as the 1930's or even worse. There is no work, no fuel, no electricity or city water. And the only food or water or survival supplies are what you have. The government has taken over all industry they need to keep the military active until things start getting better.

Approaching the the stores will get you shot by looters or arrested and shot by the National Guard as a looter. The inner cities are comletely unsafe, the military rarely patrol them... there are no police. It's every man for him self and most of the people are leaving the cities to head out into the country looking for food and water and to escape the crime.

Marshall law has been imposed, make shift camps have beeen setup to house people in tent cities outside of the major cities. They must be fenced to keep out the animals and bad guys, so the tent communities look more like prisons and the things going on in there is not very good. But it is the only place the government is handing out supplies of any kind. The Corpus Christy Naval Air Station are flying in supplies for your area. They choppered the supplies to the camps in the area for a while. Now they use trucks.

Small towns in the rural areas are doing much better. They have their livestock and water and grazing lands to fall back on. But they are getting hit at night by theives trying to survive. People leaving the inner cities stop at the tent cities and then head on out to the farms. There is no where to go from there, the farms will collapse under the weight.

Some small towns have started blocking roads and posting up guards to try to protect what little they have. You probably don't want to approah them.

Before the power failed you spoke to a friend that has some secluded property North of Abilene Texas some 400 miles away from you. To survive you must get to your friends place where he already has helpers and they have supplies and shelter to last a very long time.

You have a quality back pack, clothing, shoes, and what most folks call survival supplies. Including space blankets, radio, water treatment, first aid, etc.

You are in descent shape and feel you can walk for hours a day carrying 20 pounds of survival gear and food bars. Add to that how much water you can take to get you from stream to stream. You have a map and know you can follow rivers nearly all the way there. The trick is staying away from others already camped on the rivers, or hunters out in the woods looking for game or people like you. Since you must hunt and stay near water like others, there is a very real chance that you will be confronted with other people on this trip.

We will assume you make good choices on the rest of your gear and all you need to make the trip successful is to pick the right gun and ammo.

Your game will be small animals like squrriels, and rabbit and coon. Maybe a deer or hog. Not many game birds around.

Questions?

 

[Promoted Pawn]

Questions?

A concealed PS90 would probably be my choice.
But yeah, I have questions.
20lb of gear sounds pretty light, even for a serious minimalist...
what's up with that?
Are the waterways navigable? Is your friends place upstream?
Do you have a dirt bike or a horse? I know you have a mad max gyro- what's the range on one of those?

 

[Adosh]

good thing i do 6 mile ruck marches with 2 bags of concrete in the ruck for fun, rawr

 

[devildoc]

I agree, in that scenario I would pick the PS90.

Also I'd move at night and rest during the day, Hunting and forigening along the way, avoid developed areas as much as possable.

20 lbs sounds about right to me,

-Ammo
-weapons cleaning gear
-Knife
-small first aid kit with water tabs
- 2 cateens with GI cup.
-poncho/poncho liner (ranger roll)
-5-50 cord/ziplock bags
- fire starter
- soap dish hygene kit and a towel
- one extra pair of good socks.
-and maybe some more ammo

I would go light, you can get what you need along the way. If you go heavy, you'll tire quickly, move slower, and require more food and water.

 

[ShipWreck]

good thing i do 6 mile ruck marches with 2 bags of concrete in the ruck for fun, rawr

ONLY 2 bags. I go with 8.

:x :x :x

 

[Shawn]

I consider my M-16 carbine my survival rifle I have a suppressed 22lr upper and a suppressed 9mm upper along with a Gemtech M4-96D and more than 5000 rds of 5.56mm with close to 7500 rds 9mm and 10,000 rds 22lr . since its NFA my barrels are all under 16'' so its not an overly large envelope for carry. The 9mm can also fits my Beretta 92 as I had them both threaded 1/2x36. I think its a good package overall and would be effective at both game taking and self defense

 

[Texas Armadillo]

A concealed PS90 would probably be my choice.
But yeah, I have questions.
20lb of gear sounds pretty light, even for a serious minimalist...
what's up with that?
Are the waterways navigable? Is your friends place upstream?
Do you have a dirt bike or a horse? I know you have a mad max gyro- what's the range on one of those?

I think the PS90 would be a good choice too. SBR it and put a can on it maybe.

20lbs in the pack for survival gear and food bars. You'll want that pack as light as possible. Especially if you need to run. You'll need water, gun, and ammo, added to that. Water is 8+ pounds a gallon. Just how Conan are you? :-D You need to walk several hours a day over uneven terrain. Not fun.

Water ways will not be navigable all the way. You won't want to portage anything thru the woods.

You would have to steal a horse. Good idea, but he has to eat too remember and that means out in the open grazing.

There is no fuel for a dirt bike or gyro. (It would burn 5 gallons per hour at 60 mph btw)

You do have the option of taking roads either walking or on a bicycle. Do you want to be that exposed? Most starving civies will stay near towns and roads. Will you light a fire in plain site to cook that rabbit that everyone heard you shoot?

Did ya'll think of a monocular with range finding? Might be handy to have as you scan in front of you.

 

[Adosh]

ONLY 2 bags. I go with 8.

:lol: :lol:

2, i meant 20




on a serious note
if SHTF

your food is my food, your water is my water, my rifle is my credit card

id probably try to find a ranch or some kind of small property farm and take it over for myself/whoever i was with

the nice thing about AZ is theres towns with 20 people living near them on the way to big cities, or just past big cities

if you had a group of people you could do that, or just take a city block and hold it



being alone in an end of the world scenario is not where i wanna be

 

[devildoc]

TA, yea I thought about the monocular thing after I had already hit the send key. Also a compass & map would be nice.

I did think about using s bike or horse but opted against it, horses are large targets that are eatable, I don't want to draw that much attention. Bikes are ok for carrying stuff however if I go light, I can go where others usually won't go.

Adosh, no way would I try to hold ground or defend a city block. Doing that would put you on the defense in a stationary area, too easy to get picked off. As far as teaming up with some people, I wouldn't do that either, when survival is the game the wolf pack mentality comes into play. There's and old saying in the Navy SEALs "If you and your buddy are alone in the open ocean by yourselves and sharks start circling, knife your buddy and fin hard."