I'm in MS myself, but back to the topic of ONLY ONE rifle to own.
I didn't say a .22 LR was bad.
I said it wasn't a large enough caliber IF you're ONLY GOING TO OWN ONE rifle.
I like the 45-70 myself and you can still get it in a "takedown", but they're too expensive and rare to be a "survival rifle".
You say you teach, and I say you've been hanging around college liberals too long, if you think a ,22 LR is a good survival rifle.
Part of survival is defending yourself, and staying alive when others are trying to kill you.
A .22 LR might be great for getting food from SMALL game, but it won't stop a charging wild hog,or a charging angry bull,
(which Mississippi is having an increasing problem with, due to idiot hunters who brought them in for game to hunt and now they're multiplying in the wild like rats)
so have you ever been around a rabies outbreak of wild animals?
I have in the 60s when I was a young teenager, an it was ugly.
I say again that a .22 LR won't cut it, and in a dangerous situation, will probably get you injured, or worse.
I only taught 2 years while getting my Masters at Southern Miss.
Between my Father and I we have killed lots of hogs tho I admit none were charging. I have had to climb trees before because of wild hogs. I only had a Walther PP in .22LR with me and was glad I didn’t have to shoot the hog with it. If I had had my Remington Speedmaster, I would not have felt even a little bit under gunned while up that tree.
A .22 would certainly not be the ideal for hogs of bears. I would choose a 12 gauge with slugs for those. That doesn’t mean I would feel completely unarmed with a .22 rifle firing 14 fast shots.
As far as humans and not in regular combat, the Ruger 10/22 has been used very successfully by Israeli soldiers in close range sniping. (Under 100 Yds), I mean from what I have read that they are deadly as all get out.