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I often contemplate this topic and figured I would ask other firearm enthusiasts: If you could pick only One Rifle and One pistol....for an "End of Days" Scenario. Which two would you choose? (Civilian weapons)
For me,
Pistol: Glock 19 - Why?
-Indestructible
-Super reliable
-Fairly accurate
-high capacity. and 33 round magazine available.
-9x19mm Very abundant ammo and easy to reload.
Rifle: Most likely an AR-15. M&P or custom build with EO-Tech and iron sights. -Why?
-5.56 has good ballistics and could bring down large game.
-5.56 becoming more abundant.
-Fairly compact and rugged gun.
-Lots of parts out there.
-Decent even at long ranges.
-adaptable.
Ideally I would have .22LR conversion kits for both guns. I do love some .22LR and never underestimate it. There are many other guns I love for various reasons, but these two make the most practical-tactical sense to me.
Just out of curiosity, what exactly is your "end of days" scenario?
I ask as both the weapons noted require specific ammunition including specific brass, smokeless powder, primers, and precision crafted bullets.
Both weapons have a lot of moving parts to wear out, and the parts may or may not be available, but would be difficult to manufacture/repair yourself.
Personally, I would NEVER use the 5.56 for any game larger than a coyote, or antelope unless very close and could make a head shot.
A 9mm parabellum is a universal cartridge among military and police, but is pretty useless for hunting or defense from animals.
Not saying that for your specific scenario those weapons wouldn't be useful, I am just trying to understand where your thinking is so I could perhaps offer some infomation that you could use.
It completely depends on the scenario. Are we out in the wilderness? Inner city? Suburbs? Prairie wheat fields?
In some cases, I'd choose a .22LR over anything else. In some cases, I'd take a black powder muzzle-loader. I'd take an AK-47 for certain situations. It just depends.
All around, I sort of favor the M-1 Carbine and either a .32 magnum, .38, or .357 magnum revolver. I do have an AK for backup along with a few other guns (couple of .22LR, etc). But as to which one I'd choose if I could only have one... well, that depends. As I said, even a black powder muzzle-loader is the best option in certain cases.
I often contemplate this topic and figured I would ask other firearm enthusiasts: If you could pick only One Rifle and One pistol....for an "End of Days" Scenario. Which two would you choose? (Civilian weapons)
For me,
Pistol: Glock 19 - Why?
-Indestructible
-Super reliable
-Fairly accurate
-high capacity. and 33 round magazine available.
-9x19mm Very abundant ammo and easy to reload.
Rifle: Most likely an AR-15. M&P or custom build with EO-Tech and iron sights. -Why?
-5.56 has good ballistics and could bring down large game.
-5.56 becoming more abundant.
-Fairly compact and rugged gun.
-Lots of parts out there.
-Decent even at long ranges.
-adaptable.
Ideally I would have .22LR conversion kits for both guns. I do love some .22LR and never underestimate it. There are many other guns I love for various reasons, but these two make the most practical-tactical sense to me.
Good luck buying enough ammo to last for a long time. Oh yes, how are ya coming with that ammo bunker to store all that ammo in????
I also wonder why people want to become Rambo when in a survival situation food and shelter are much more important. Go figure..............
Tip: It might be better to learn to make and use primitive weapons for when all the bullets are gone.
Leaving the fact that I'm a stove up old man, I'll play the game,or at least the version we played in the Seventies when weight, not the number of guns, was the limiting factor. But if I need to travel light I'll suggest a system I've considered. The heart of it is the Thompson/Center Encore frame. We didn't have that one in the Seventies. We did have the Ruger #1 and #3 but that's a different game. I'll give you my black powder cartridge option for the rifle with front stuffer revolvers.
The rifle would be a T/C Encore with a .45-120 barrel. That's the most powerful .45 blackpowder cartridge ever made. It has a 3 1/4" case and fires a 550 grain bullet. It's a reliable man killer up to a half mile if you can calculate the the trajectory. The old timers used scopes as I would. Even though it's a single shot I could defend myself against a number of attackers indefinitely. I have fired the .45-120 in a Shiloh Sharps. Recoil is heavy but not impossible. The Encore is designed for heavy cartridges. In pistol configuration the .44 magnum is meek and mild. I've thought about a custom barrel for some years. It's really the stuff of fantasy but that's what this thread's about. For traveling light in the back country I'd bring two hundred cases, two thousand primers, five hundred bullets, and twenty pounds of 2F black powder. Add a tong tool and bullet mold for reloading, some cleaning equipment and lubricant.
My handguns or handguns would be the Ruger Old Army with adjustable sights. I'd add an R&D conversion cylinder for each gun so I could use .45 Colt and shorter catridges of the same head size. I could use 2F in the Old Army although it's a bit coarse. I might bring a couple of pounds of 3F and use 2F after I ran out. Since my rifle would be my primary weapon five hundred #11 caps should be adequate. I'd have a mold for .457 round ball, wads, and cleaning tools that didn't interchange with the .45-120. .45 Colt dies for the tong tool wouldn't weigh much nor would primers. I could use .45 round balls ina pinch but they are oversize and another set of mold blocks wouldn't weigh much.
My hideout would be the North American Arms Magnum Companion with the long barrel. With black powder a longer barrel means more velocity. It uses #11 caps, the same as the Old Army. A quarter pound of 4F would be more than adequate with two hundred bullets. Add cleaning equipment, wads, etc.
I have all the pieces for this setup except the rifle barrel. I'd likely just replace the black powder NAA with the magnum mini of the same size and add two boxes of CCI +V. I've had my Encore for ten years and it's about time I did something with it.
OP -- this generalized topic is too broad for the SS&P forum, despite the token nod to "End of Days".
Either provide a specific scenario, or this thread will be moved to the Guns & Hunting forum for further discussion.
I assumed the scenario is that we'll never be able to resupply through traditional means if at all. I was going to talk about making black powder as well as primers and caps but then I started to fall asleep. The thread reminded me of the old cowboy in Louis L'Amour's Haunted Mesa who walked through a window into a parallel universe and couldn't come back. When some people from this universe finally found him he told them that he'd been making his own for the whole time he was there, about sixty years. There was one significant advantage to living in the parallel universe; people neither became ill nor aged. Sorry about the off topic story but I was trying to illuistrate my point.
Although I'm not the OP I'd like to propose that we make it a question of what gun or guns without resupply. The US has fallen victim to an occupying force. Almost all of the cities and the people in them are firmly in the hands of the occupiers. The people are getting food and they're happy about having the government take care of them. The only holdout big metropolitan area is the Wahsatch Front. The enemy is afraid to bomb them because there are rumors that they have nukes. But they're in bad shape and people are on very short rations. You need to stay away from towns and settlements because you're a known freedom fighter with a price on your head. You're boxed in for now but it's a big box. You're somewhere along the old Outlaw Trail, that vague corridor that runs from eastern Wyoming at the Hole in the Wall to the Mexican border near Douglas. There are people who'll help you but you need to be very careful. All of the ranchers are on your side but some of those ranches have enemy soldiers dressed as ranch hands. There are enemy patrols all over. You can't use a motorized vehicle for any but the shortest time because they'll pick up the heat.
There's one other point. You know where the nukes have been placed and you know how to set them off if you can get to a hidden control center. Your plan is to set off one or two, then send the enemy an ultimatum.
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