TEOTWAWKI or Back To The Land A .22 Beats Nothing

[ke4sky]

If you live far enough out in the country that 911 response is longer than a few minutes, having a firearm readily available makes sense for home security, as well as for meat gathering and pest control.

For the NON-HOBBY shooter who intends to own only ONE firearm, the best gun to get is a bolt-action repeating 22 rifle.

While the ordinary bolt-action .22 rifle with open sights is often ignored by serious shooting hobbyists, it is inexpensive, rugged, reliable, accurate and works wonderfully in the farm and camp utility gun role.

A bolt action is the most simple design for a novice to use. This is because its chamber is exposed and easily accessible when the action is opened. You can see if the chamber is empty and everyone around can see that the gun is safe. A bolt action rifle may be single-loaded and fired one round at a time. It remains functional if you loose the clip magazine or if a tubular magazine becomes damaged. Single-loading a pump, lever or autoloader isn’t as easy.

Hobby shooters like semi-automatic .22s because they are just plain fun to shoot. While it is true that they hold more rounds, shoot faster and that their increased firepower could be useful in a self-defense role, semi-autos are extremely wasteful of ammunition. Marksmanship and fire discipline are important to conserve ammunition which will become expensive, scarce and actually become traded like currency once times get really tough. Spraying with a .22 auto is like throwing money away.

Telescopic sights are a help to older people with poor or declining eyesight, but they also make the rifle less handy. Inexpensive Chinese scopes in discount stores are usually of poor quality, and not well sealed against moisture. Cheap scopes almost univerally have inferior optical quality, are less rugged and often fail to hold zero.

Installing a high quality scope with rugged mounts will double the cost of your farm utility rifle. But if you need a scope because you cannot see iron sights well enough to put meat on the table or shoot the varmint, you must grit your teeth and buy the best which you can afford.

Receiver or "peep" sights are a good compromise for the cost-conscious. Anyone who has been in the military since WWII is familiar with the peep sight. It is simple and rugged. The combination of a simple .22 bolt action with a bright front bead that you can see and a peep sight with large hunting aperture is useful in dim woods and hard to beat.

A practiced and skilled shooter can reliably kill small game with a .22 handgun. But, unless you are willing to practice frequently to acquire and maintain skill, a rifle is MUCH better for most people.

An adult of average skill, after basic marksmanship training, given some practice, can readily hit a target the size of a tuna or soup can at 50 yards using an iron-sighted .22 rifle. This is fully adequate for most field shooting.

Bolt action .22 rifles are more accurate than semi-autos, pumps or levers. The best buy in a new bolt-action .22 is one of the Marlins. A good .22 rifle should readily shoot groups under 2 inches at 50 yards with iron sights, if you use "good ammo" from one of the major brands, not the discount bulk-box stuff from Walmart.

Most people after learning to shoot a .22 pistol or revolver after basic instruction can do so reliably at short ranges from 25 to 50 feet. A pistol shooter of moderate skill can do so two-handed to 25 yards.

Only an expert pistol shot can hit small game as well using a .22 handgun at field ranges as even the average novice rifle shooter can at 50 yards. This is reality.

Handguns do have the advantage of small size, light weight, low bulk and portability. For this reason many people who live and work outdoors in rural areas carry a .22 handgun. A handgun doesn't get in the way when you have other work to do, and can be a comfort when you are alone and bothered by wild animals or things that go bump in the night.

In new .22 handguns one of the best seller is the Ruger semi-auto.
Out of the box, hand-held from sandbags, Rugers average 2 inch ten-shot groups at 25 yards with high speed ammo of average quality. Standard velocity or subsonic match ammo runs can shave a half inch off of that, and is quieter, but costs more.

The best buy in a new .22 revolver is the Ruger Single-Six. This is a "cowboy style" single-action which everyone is familiar with. The Single Six in my experience is just as accurate the Ruger auto pistol. But most .22 revolvers do no better than 2-1/2 inch to 3 inch six-shot groups at 25 yards. For most outdoor use that's good enough because woods ranges are short and 25 yards is a long shot for taking small game with a handgun.

Fixed sights are best for the field or “survival” gun. You may need to drift the rear sight for windage or carefully file the front or rear sights to get a clear sight picture and to adjust point of impact. This requires spending range time to see which ammo is both reliable and accurate, setting up the gun for that ammo and buying a good supply to last a long time. A case of 5000 rounds, will last the casual shooter for many years. Good quality .22 ammo doesn't go "bad" if stored properly.

I recommend that irons sights on a farm utility .22 rifle or handgun be zeroed to strike about an inch above point of aim at 25 yards. If your gun has adjustable sights, once you get a perfect zero, flood the screws with LocTite so that the sights will stay put. Some serious hobby shooters put scopes or red-dot sights on their long barreled target .22 handguns.

CCI High Velocity Small Game Bullet (SGB) and CCI Subsonic Hollow-Points are the best hunting ammo, depending upon whether you want maximum power and penetration, or if you want low noise from your rifle for garden pest control without disturbing the neighbors. CCI Blazer is the best buy for low cost, high volume practice ammo. The CCI Subsonic HP is the only low noise (in a rifle), standard velocity round I have found which also expands reliably from a 4" or longer semi-auto pistol. While I prefer the SGC for groundhogs, subsonic hollow-points are great for stuff like squirrels and rabbits.

Getting any bullet expansion from .22 handguns is problematic. In water-jug tests I have found that the same bullets which expand well from my 4-1/2" barrel Woodsman will not from even 6-inch .22 revolvers. In revolvers you are better off with solids. High velocity is OK if you can find a batch that is accurate. Cliping off the noses with the Hanned SGB die, to turn them into flat noses improves killing power.

Practice with your .22 frequently from field positions. With handguns use a lanyard of parachute cord to steady it. Practice until you can hit a Vienna sausage can all the time at 50 feet, then increase the distance to 25 yards. When that becomes easy, double the distance to 50 yards and shoot from a steady sitting position or using an improved rest. If you start trying to shoot clay birds on a dirt bank at 100 yards you've become a "hobby shooter" and are just showing off!

[Lobo0311]

Ya know most people dont think that the 22 rimfire is viable (supremely or otherwise) as a personal defense round. Having said that, I would certainly prefer my .45 or 12ga, but if it's all you have and you know how to use it..... I wouldnt much care to have a .22 round bouncin around inside of me.

[Metronome]

I always try to tell my friends (who are not yet gun owners or shooters for that matter) that if they are only going to have one gun, to choose between a 12 gauge and a .22 rifle - both cover the majority of situations most people will ever deal with.

[ke4sky]

Originally Posted by Lobo0311

Ya know most people dont think that the 22 rimfire is viable (supremely or otherwise) as a personal defense round. Having said that, I would certainly prefer my .45 or 12ga, but if it's all you have and you know how to use it..... I wouldnt much care to have a .22 round bouncin around inside of me.

You make choices based upon your sitrep. You are far more likely to need that only one firearm to keep predators and varmints away from your livestock and garden, and to shoot game for camp meat. If everyone in the family needs to know how to use the one gun behind the kitchen door, simpler is better. A couple bricks of .22s would last a long time if carefully managed. The same weight and cube would be only two boxes of 12-ga. and about 4 of .45. How long would those last?

How many 12-ga. shells do you think you can carry and how long is that supply going to last, ditto for the .45. How much table game have you killed with the .45? How many rounds you waste trying? You run out of stray dogs and cats pretty quick. Got any good recipes for people? 8-)

[big shrek]

Originally Posted by ke4sky

Got any good recipes for people? 8-)

SOYLENT GREEN IS PEOPLE!!!!

According to the Donner Party survey, it's much like any other meat.

Many civilizations have called it..."Long Pig" over the years...I know there's a few missionaries that haven't figured it out yet...LOL

hehehe...sorry, just had to go there.

[big shrek]

Once all the ammo runs out...it'll be back to Blackpowder Basics.

At least it ain't hard to make

[Cyrano]

Originally Posted by big shrek

Once all the ammo runs out...it'll be back to Blackpowder Basics.

At least it ain't hard to make

Repeat after me: 15 to 3 to 2.

15 parts potassium nitrate
3 parts charcoal, willow preferred
2 parts powdered sulfur

Combine powders in a glass, plastic or wood bowl using no metal implements until color is uniform. Moisten with ammonia or urine and mix into a dough. Form dough into cakes and allow to dry. Grind to fineness of coarse sand using no metal, sift through cloth or nonferrous screening, and store in tightly sealed container in cool storage space.

This is an important piece of TEOTWAWKI information to memorize, folks.

Please note that of the gunpowder trinity, sulfur is the hardest to come by. In a postapcalyptic situation, I suggest raiding high school chemistry labs for the pure stuff and pet stores for flea powder. One of the ingredients in some flea powders is sulfur.

[Ten Man]

Originally Posted by ke4sky

You make choices based upon your sitrep. You are far more likely to need that only one firearm to keep predators and varmints away from your livestock and garden, and to shoot game for camp meat. If everyone in the family needs to know how to use the one gun behind the kitchen door, simpler is better. A couple bricks of .22s would last a long time if carefully managed. The same weight and cube would be only two boxes of 12-ga. and about 4 of .45. How long would those last?

How many 12-ga. shells do you think you can carry and how long is that supply going to last, ditto for the .45. How much table game have you killed with the .45? How many rounds you waste trying? You run out of stray dogs and cats pretty quick. Got any good recipes for people? 8-)

Seems to me you wrote a fine article on the .357 Magnum Levergun, on another thread. You made the point of how easy the rest of the family could shoot it. Why would you now argue that a .22 is superior to it?

Your arguments about how many shells/cartridges can be carried is a moot point when talking about a Home rifle.

If you are going to limit yourself to only ONE gun, I submit that history will show a .22 to be a very poor choice. The West was not won with a bunch of .22 rifles. Thousands of settlers, ranchers, and frontiersmen have gone before us with rifles that had bigger bores than .22 inches.

Serious shooting chores demand a rifle with more "poop" than "pop" when all factors are considered.

I would suggest that ANY .30 to .45 caliber rifle, or a 12 gauge shotgun, would be a much better choice than a .22 for all the tasks you covered in your OP on this thread.

I enjoy reading your threads, but I have to disagree with you on this one. It flies in the face of logic, and historical evidence.

P.S. Your title is correct. The .22 is better than nothing, but only a little better. There are MUCH better choices available.

[22-rimfire]

I am afraid that I don't understand the title of your thread? Is this a put down on 22 caliber firearms for SHTF purposes? The text does not support this interpretation.

I think the 22 is an excellent choice for general purpose firearm. But Ten Man is right that early settlers did not carry 22 rifles as I understand it. They carried predominantly black powder rifles and later shotguns.

[twtalbot]

If you're willing to put up with the bulk and the noise, a 12 gauge is the most versatile utility gun I can think of-#6 shot for pot meat and buckshot for deer and 2 legged varmints. Now, If I could only have 2 guns, one would be a 12 and one would be a .22.

[big shrek]

Ah, but one silenced .22 can definitely bring you a LOT of small game home without letting everyone within 10-20 miles know that Someone Nearby has a gun...

The weakness of ALL the other calibers is that you WILL be letting your presence be known.

And that's why I have a Bow...silent, but absolutely Deadly. I also know how to make silencers for .22's if TETOWAKI occurs...and I'll definitely be using them. However, I'll also be using my Glock 20 as a sidearm to complement my bow & .22's, just in case I run into something that was unexpected.

Silencers on large caliber rifles...not real effective...still going to get several miles of sound. Big guns will be best used RARELY.

It is situational...a .22 would rarely be on top of anyone's list of "go-to" for self defense, but a Calico (100 round mag) will out-do ANY other .22lr for the purpose.

So if you are going to use strictly one caliber, grab a couple of Calicos (pistol & Carbine) to go along with your bolt-action Marlin. It's also fairly easy to convert them to select-fire after TETOWAKI

[ke4sky]

The premise of the article is different.

The .357 rifle revolver combo makes more sense for people experienced with firearms, especially if they reload.

Having a .22 as the "one-gun" is the viable choice for people who are not firearms hobbyists, who don't reload and where low cost, availability of ammo and minimum weight and cube is important.

Outside the USA many countries will let civilians own a .22 rifle, whereas a center-fire may not be impossible.