What's your Rifle Caliber Choices for a long term SHTF

Cal Sportsman ^ | 12/14/2015 | K Felts

[piroque]

you need to get back on your med’s. People could careless what you think, so take a hike and don’t come back.

[Red in Blue PA]

Are you being a jackass on purpose?

[Buffalo Head]

No, but as Thomas Paine once noted, "To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead."

Most folks teach their children to use proper English even though others may well know what they mean. Did you?

Words have meanings.

[Big Red Badger]

38/357 pistol and rifle combination,XLNT!
Maybe a sweet Hawkens fifty cal. cap and ball for Fun.

[Big Red Badger]

45 Long Colt,,

Funny, I have a box of That !

[MHGinTN]

Go to a cowboy shoot and you can lots of them ... but you won’t find asshat B-Heads who know only how to be rude.

[Titan Magroyne]

True, there are phases to anticipate. My first-purchased weapons would be more utilitarian with a focus on crowd control.

Money left over (heh) might go more toward craftmanship & aesthetics. Sadly, there’s been no budget for a lever or pump rifle for me. All function, no beauty. But then, that might be an apt description for myself as well.

[Tainan]

I’m reading thru this ‘on the fly’ as it were, and you’re reply is one of the most logical I’ve seen so far.

Stay safe.

[jaydee770]

I was in north-central Florida for a bit over a decade and compared to Western PA and OH deer, you might be led to believe that Florida deer are cross-bred with goats. I heard plenty of rumors that bruisers could be found in FL, but never got a chance to lay eyes on any. They are *smallish* and that’s being kind!

[archy]

1. A long rifle, suitable beyond AK/M16 ranges, and capable of piercing level III soft armor and making a reasonable dent in Level IV plates or vehicle sheet metal, AKA *Mad Max* or *Hillbilly armor*. Could be either a boltgun or a semi.

2. Whatever I'v VERY comfortable with, now probabably one of my national match rifles, either my .30-06 M1 Garand or my High Standard-based M16A2. Note that the NM course is fired at ranges starting from 200 yards to 600 yards with iron [non-telescopic sights. I expect I'd have a scope aboard my long gun. I'd expect that replacement Garand 8-round clips would be unobtainable, and that after my own supplies of match grade ammo ran out, I'd be using either lesser-quality ammo or would be looking at switching rifles.

3. A night rifle. At least half of the world's troubles happen during the hours of darkness, and a rifle for such times is one of the good things to have. An AK or M4 would be acceptable, but a really efficient flash suppressor or silencer would be a big plus, and a night vision unit or the ability to use such a rifle's sights with NV goggles would also be a matter of great importance.

4. A loaner. If I can lend a rifle to someone who has use of one, they can pull guard while I get some rest or perform essential tasks. Instead of worrying about problems from 360 degrees, I can concentrate on just 180. And if a third straphanger should join us, there are two of us who can supervise to be certain that the new guy doesn't mess up- or worse. M$/M16 or AK will do fine here; a shotgun is okay.

5. A really big rifle, something usable only by a gunner with particular skill and, hopefully, considerable experience. In my case, that would be the M68 rifled main gun, 105mm caliber. It is usually found in the turret of a M48A5, M60, or M60A1 tank.

[archy]

Go to a cowboy shoot and you can lots of them ... but you won't find asshat B-Heads who know only how to be rude.

Yeah you will. They're theguys in the real clean, store-bought outfits who tell you that the actual gun carried by your grandfather during Wyoming's Johnson County War isn't an appropriate choice or "in the spirit of the game." Same guys who require tha Winchester [and other] pump shotguns of the period only have two rounds in the magazine *to be fair to the guys who only have two shots in their double-barrels.

[archy]

I have a caliber for every occasion. 30-06 down to a .22

And a couple of shotguns. I'm set.

One old set of words of wisdom that I haven't had to use in a couple of years is that *At night, the muzzle flash and booming voice of a shotgun is the universal language message of *Throw Grenades Here*.

I'm not saying a scattergun isn't a good choice, especially indoors, and I try to have one available for every vehicle I/we own, including milady's motorcycle. ut it is something to keep in mind, and at night, move after you shoot. With ANYTHING that gives off a goodly flash signature.

[archy]

A 10mm carbine / 10mm Glock pistol combo would be pretty good for SHTF, and 10mm would be pretty easy to reload as well.

The Mech-Tech conversion upper for a Glock 20 can be had in .45 for the Glock 21 in that caliber, and I am told that the .45 MT conversion on a Glock 20 frame will transform it into a .45 carbine, a good deal easier to find ammo for, and in which a Glock 21 25 or 27-round magazine will work.

A .40 S&W conversion barrel for the G20 is available from Lone Wolf, and uses the 10mm Glock parent frame's factory magazines. That makes the Glock 20 both very powerful for a semiauto, gives it the capability of enjoying the extended sight radius and 25+ round capacity of a light pistol-caliber carbine, and would allow it to utilize those 50 billion or so rounds of citizen-killer bullets that Homeland Security has amassed.

I have two very knowledgable pals, one a retired game warden and the other a former Army NCO with previous duties guarding and transporting nuclear warheads and related material; they both picked the G20 though I have not, but I do not think they chose poorly.

[chasio649]

.308, .223, .22LR

---

That is optimum! ...imo

[buffaloguy]

I don’t know what rock you have been hiding under. ACP and Long Colt have been around for a long long time.

Army adopted .45 Long Colt to distinguish it from the .45 Schofield which was a Medium .45. It is still the current designation for the round.

.45 ACP has been the designation since the early 1900s.

He must be a noobie.

[MHGinTN]

A lot of folks don’t know the A C P stands for automatic colt pistol but it’s just a name for a specific cartridge

[WakeUpAndVote]

Don’t stockpile Remington 35, I don’t see it anywhere anymore.

________

It is HARD to come by and when you do it is expensive. It is a shorter range, hard hitting meat getter round. That’s why I still have one.

[longtermmemmory]

is there a chart comparing the most common rounds.

IOW what is there the most in existence.

[buffaloguy]

There is a .45 short also referred to as .45 Italian.

So we have
.45 Long Colt
.45 Schofield
.45 Short

[Buffalo Head]

"Army adopted .45 Long Colt to distinguish it from the .45 Schofield which was a Medium .45." That is not true! Please attempt to document your erroneous "facts" with a verifiable source, not some gun writers imagination. It is the headstamp stupid!

"It is still the current designation for the round." No, it is not, never has been and never will be. Please go to SAAMI's website and educate yourself about correct cartridge designations. Their site is saami.org

".45 ACP has been the designation since the early 1900s." Sort of. It started out as ".45 AC" and soon transitioned to .45 ACP and somewhat later to ".45 Auto" Why do you suppose the rimmed version introduced shortly after WWI was designated ".45 Auto Rim" rather than ".45 ACP Rim"?

The commercial transition in names took almost two decades as The Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufactures Institute (SAAMI) was not founded until 1926. SAAMI formally changed the entire serious of "ACP" designations to "Auto" in 1940. It's the headstamp stupid.

Somewhat related, the U.S. military has never chambered any of their weapons for either the .45 ACP or .45 Auto. Not the 1911 pistol series, not the 1917 revolvers, not the Thompson SMG series, not the Riesing SMG, not the M3 Grease Gun serious, not the Liberator Pistol or anything else. All were chambered for the CARTRIDGE BALL CALIBER 45 MODEL OF 1911. The military does not use cartridge designations on small caliber ammunition head stamps. "He must be a noobie (sic)." Not quite. Are you even capable of checking FReepers commencement dates or educating yourself?