"REALESTIC" ONE firearm choice for long term SHTF reality.

[Sourdough]

Realistic not fantasy. If we are talking years, not days or few weeks of SHTF. What caused the SHTF is only relevant in the beginning. After a few months most SHTF events will result in a common lifestyle. It soon boils down to you got to poop, eat, fetch water, sleep, do what you have to do to stay alive. Chores, Chores, Chores, work, work, manual labor.

 

[backlash]

A double barrel 12 GA shotgun.
I believe that's what most of the pioneers that traveled West used.
Simple to maintain, easy to reload shells, versatile in that it can be used for small game, birds and larger game as well as self defense.

 

[Sourdough]

I keep remembering the tools that Albert Johnson used for survival. Apparently, he was not the only person in that period who felt firearms could function well with the aid of a hacksaw..

 

[hashbrown]

In my area it will always be my Whetherby 22 rifle. You can carry a 100 rounds in your pocket and I can take deer, turkeys, rabbits, squirrels whatever the Ozarks has to offer and I personally know it sting’s enough to take the fight out of you.

 

[Hardcalibres]

The fewer the firearms you choose to rely upon, the more that choice becomes situational.

 

[elkhound]

combo gun...savage 22 mag/20ga.

EDIT..realistically...sidearm in 22lr semi auto...why ...doing chores its easier to deal with. jumping in and out of boat or kayak is easier..running traps and nets on river and fishing in general...tending garden daily and dealing with homestead varmints centered on that..groundhogs and more.

 

[Sourdough]

The fewer the firearms you choose to rely upon, the more that choice becomes situational.

Valid, but even if someone inventories over 200 diverse firearms, they are not going to have "near" instant access 100% of the day. A person is not likely to be in possession of their M-24 while repairing the roof or boarding up a broken window.

A carpenter uses many different tools, but he does not pack his Worm Drive all day long, he goes to the Worm Drive.

 

[Neb]

Realistic not fantasy. If we are talking years, not days or few weeks of SHTF. What caused the SHTF is only relevant in the beginning. After a few months most SHTF events will result in a common lifestyle. It soon boils down to you got to poop, eat, fetch water, sleep, do what you have to do to stay alive. Chores, Chores, Chores, work, work, manual labor.

I am not a firearms expert but my departed buddy was quite knowledgeable. I asked what I should buy first. He said an SKS.

Ben

 

[Sourdough]

He said an SKS.

I have never owned an SKS or any AK firearm. Clearly there must not be a big issue with them. Humans have (not yet) ever been a threat to me.

 

[Neb]

I have never owned an SKS or any AK firearm. Clearly there must not be a big issue with them. Humans have (not yet) ever been a threat to me.

I also had an AK. Before Sandy Hook. After Sandy Hook my buddy swapped me two more SKSs a 22LR and mini type assault type. It was a win win in my book. He sold it for a good profit.

Ben

 

[Caribou]

I have never owned an SKS or any AK firearm. Clearly there must not be a big issue with them. Humans have (not yet) ever been a threat to me.

I like the SKS-M. It has the longer barrel and takes an AK magazine. More ammo, faster magazine changes, still takes stripper clips if you desire, you can use striper clips to load empty or partially empty magazines.

 

[Alaskajohn]

I keep remembering the tools that Albert Johnson used for survival. Apparently, he was not the only person in that period who felt firearms could function well with the aid of a hacksaw..

The Mad Trapper of Rat River was unconventional and innovative in many waya. I had forgotten about this until you mentioned it. I guess I need to read the book again.

To your original question, I’m having a difficult time narrowing it down to one. My 45/70 is a bit of overkill for the abundant snow shoe hares, ptarmigans and the seasonal birds that pass through twice a year. And my 20 gauge just wont cut it for the larger 4 legged critters in my neighborhood.

 

[Hardcalibres]

This is a bit like telling someone to play 18 holes of golf with just one club.

Hard to do and get the best score when no one club does everything.

 

[Hardcalibres]

Valid, but even if someone inventories over 200 diverse firearms, they are not going to have "near" instant access 100% of the day. A person is not likely to be in possession of their M-24 while repairing the roof or boarding up a broken window.

A carpenter uses many different tools, but he does not pack his Worm Drive all day long, he goes to the Worm Drive.

So we agree 200 is too many and I would suggest that one is not enough.

That leaves quite a lot of middle ground.

Even in infantry, where soldiers are expected to have hold of or have their primary weapon within arms reach 24/7, they are starting to be issued a secondary (handgun).......and their job is actually quite specific......ie kill just one species.

 

[Magus]

An AR-15 with multiple upper groups. An AR can be configured from anything from small game to Medium/Large. at one time there was even a 410 conversion. Starting with 22LR for small game, pistol calibers (there are several!) for home defense, 223 and 300 BLK for larger problems and deer.

 

[Sourdough]

Even in infantry, where soldiers are expected to have hold of or have their primary weapon within arms reach 24/7, they are starting to be issued a secondary (handgun).......and their job is actually quite specific......ie kill just one species.

Is this only in the field....??? Or is this 100% with zero exceptions. I may be wrong, but I think you are making my point. I have been attacked twice in my own yard, and another time just quarter mile from my cabin. And another 30 or 40 times in the field in the last 54 years. But I can't pack my .375 H&H 24/7.

I can't work on the roof or change the oil in the vehicles packing an elephant gun. I sometimes stage a heavy rifle outside the cabin if consistently encountering problems. The solution is a powerful handgun. It is not the perfect choice when a rifle is needed, but better than a rock or sharp stick.

If they came and said I must surrender all my firearms "except" one, I would choose the best handgun I own, considering where and how I live. I simple could not do the daily chores required to stay alive if I had to pack a rifle or shotgun 24/7/365.

Post SHTF we are all still going to be required to function. Sooner or later people will have to go on foot to empty the poop bucket, on foot to fetch water, on foot to repair windows and doors. Three million humans in Gaza City "Today" are living a horrific SHTF reality, but they still have to function or die.

 

[TMT Tactical]

An AR-15 with multiple upper groups. An AR can be configured from anything from small game to Medium/Large. at one time there was even a 410 conversion. Starting with 22LR for small game, pistol calibers (there are several!) for home defense, 223 and 300 BLK for larger problems and deer.

Hornady just introduced the 22 ARC. This round will chamber in a AR platform (once manufactures produce the barrels). The new round is supposed to outperform the 22-250. If it lives up to the hype. Remember the 224 Valkyrie.

 

[Sourdough]

I think in a SHTF environment you would be safer to leave your dwelling in "only" your undershorts then observed carrying a rifle or shotgun. If you're packing a rifle, you are perceived as potential threat by everyone.

This was a large factor in my recent decision to purchase the BERETTA M9A4 for future needs. With two spare magazines I'll have 55 rounds when I leave the cabin.

 

[elkhound]

during ww2 u.s. army air corps purchased 15,000 combo guns from savage for survival guns.it was model 22-410 that became their famous model 24.

a memory popped into my head....guy that lived farther north of alaskajohn way back in the day homesteaded in very remote area back then and he used a model24 as one and only gun in 222/12ga....it could have been over 20ga as i only seen it once.his son said it was his only weapon for years and he used it for everything back then.i know he killed a ton of caribou with it.also seen natives in old footage from 50's killing polar bar with the 222.

sourdough...i know you seen image of guys pulling water tank on flat wagon beds by donkey/horse getting water in gaza.

you used word reality in thread title..many will use what they have or can afford if shtf happened or has happened or by the time chaos ends like you mentioned the criteria might be what they still have ammo for or find. they may be carrying an estwing framing hammer and a stick.

 

[Morgan101]

Maybe because I learned on them, and have fired 1000 times more handgun rounds than rifle or shotgun rounds, but if I could onlt have one, my choice would be the Ruger GP100 in 357 magnum.

It is easy to carry. It iis easy to maintain. It is easy to shoot. You can use three different types of ammo. Sourdough, it wouldn't be my choice for some of the big bears you have up there, but it will stop just about everything else two legged or four legged. The Ruger is as rugged as they come and will perform reliably for thousands of rounds with minimal maintenance. Range is limited, but IMHO more advantages than disadvantages.

A second option might be the Taurus Judge. The 45 colt is a serious round for any threat, and you can use 410 shot for birds or small game. You have the same advantages as any revolver; easy to carry, easy to maintain, easy to load and shoot.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[Hardcalibres]

Is this only in the field....??? Or is this 100% with zero exceptions. I may be wrong, but I think you are making my point. I have been attacked twice in my own yard, and another time just quarter mile from my cabin. And another 30 or 40 times in the field in the last 54 years. But I can't pack my .375 H&H 24/7.

I can't work on the roof or change the oil in the vehicles packing an elephant gun. I sometimes stage a heavy rifle outside the cabin if consistently encountering problems. The solution is a powerful handgun. It is not the perfect choice when a rifle is needed, but better than a rock or sharp stick.

If they came and said I must surrender all my firearms "except" one, I would choose the best handgun I own, considering where and how I live. I simple could not do the daily chores required to stay alive if I had to pack a rifle or shotgun 24/7/365.

Post SHTF we are all still going to be required to function. Sooner or later people will have to go on foot to empty the poop bucket, on foot to fetch water, on foot to repair windows and doors. Three million humans in Gaza City "Today" are living a horrific SHTF reality, but they still have to function or die.

So carry your big bore handgun when it makes sense.......and then carry whatever else makes more sense those times that the handgun doesn't fit the job at hand.

 

[Magus]

Hornady just introduced the 22 ARC. This round will chamber in a AR platform (once manufactures produce the barrels). The new round is supposed to outperform the 22-250. If it lives up to the hype. Remember the 224 Valkyrie.

Ah yes, I neglected it and the 6.5 family. an AR done right is a toolbox.

 

[Cabin Fever]

I don't have a suggestion. If there was a perfect single firearm for SHTF (which IS fantasy) everyone would own one.

Assuming a person does not reload, and even if you did reload, assuming reloading supplies were non-available, my recommendation would be a rifle and/or handgun that uses ammunition that either (1) you have a lifetime supply of and/or (2) uses ammunition that the military uses.

My other recommendation is try to limit your ammunition choices to only one or two calibers. The best IMHO is a caliber that you can use in both your handgun and rifle.

 

[Caribou]

I think in a SHTF environment you would be safer to leave your dwelling in "only" your undershorts then observed carrying a rifle or shotgun. If you're packing a rifle, you are perceived as potential threat by everyone.

This was a large factor in my recent decision to purchase the BERETTA M9A4 for future needs. With two spare magazines I'll have 55 rounds when I leave the cabin.

I have gone with a similar gun (9MM). I keep one magazine loaded with people bullets, Hornady Critical Duty, and another magazine has Underwood Extreme Penetrator. I load the Underwood when I'm at home, for that pesky black bear. I just swap magazines when I go to town.

The Critical Duty is a rubber filled hollow point. With the heavy clothing people wear here I don't trust a regular hollow point to not plug up and turn into a round nose. The Underwood is a solid copper bullet with a reversed hollow point. The hollow is on the outside of the projectile. It holds its shape and weight while throwing meat and bone causing a wider wound track.

Modern ammo makes the 9MM more effective than back in WWII and before. Still not my favourite bear gun but it is what I have everyday.

 

[Caribou]

For an "only" gun I would consider a Driling. The three barrels are typically one or two shotgun barrels and a rifle barrel or the reverse. Typically two or three different calibers. They are heavy as sin but you can deal with a rabbit or a moose, or three bad guys. The only thing preventing me from owning one is the price.
https://www.ronspomeroutdoors.com/blog/drilling-guns-as-versitle-as-it-gets

 

[Biggkidd]

Having carried 1911's for 20ish years I'm pretty comfortable with the .45acp round out to a hundred yards. You learn how to lob rounds where needed when needed. 230 grains of lead simply falling out of the sky is enough to kill.

Personally if I had to choose just one weapon I'd likely go .22lr in a Mark II Ruger it's quiet for a handgun and real accurate.

 

[rice paddy daddy]

If I could only have one firearm here on the farm, it would be a 12 gauge single shot. An older one without a transfer bar. Such as a Stevens/Springfield Model 94. I actually have two of them, one in the house the other out in the barn.

No worries about mutant zombie roaming hordes out here.

 

[Haertig]

SHTF. One gun. An unrealistic and contrived scenario. But if this actually came to be, my first thinking point would be "where am I?" If I am rural, on property with a lot of acres, it would be a rifle. If I am urban/suburban, it would be a handgun. Because rural, you're probably more concerned (and able) to hunt your own food. A rifle facilitates that. Also, you may see incoming human threats from farther away. A rifle facilitates taking care of that problem. Urban/suburban, you're really not going to be hunting food much, despite what you may dream of doing. More likely you are going to be defending yourself against human threats. Up close and surprise human threats. A handgun facilitates your self defense in that type of scenario.

Talking urban/suburban handgun first, I would want something that uses commonly available ammo. SHTF, not everybody has a lifetime supply of ammo. The prepared might, but most people aren't THAT prepared. So most people will have to scrounge ammo after a while. If I had to guess, the calibers you are most likely to find in any random house are .22LR and 9mm. I would go for 9mm as my choice, since it is the better of the two for defense. So I've already decided 9mm handgun, and a semi-auto (there are 9mm revolvers, but they are rare and serve a limited purpose IMHO). Next question is size of the handgun. Small for concealment, large for capacity. SHTF - I don't think concealability would be a huge concern. So my decision is almost made - a full size 9mm semi-auto handgun. But which specific one? I think this is the least important question. Stay with a well established and large manufacturer. Glock, Sig, S&W, etc. For the same reason I chose 9mm in the first place - what are you more likely to find when scrounging the random house (say, you want to acquire a spare magazine). So, for urban/suburban my choice would be "full size Glock 9mm semi-auto". This, despite Glocks being about my least personal favorite handguns. But they are everywhere, thus a good choice for an "only one gun" solution.

Moving to rural, I would want a rifle. But I am personally surburban so I can't claim any expertise in the rural setting. I can still present my thought processes, but they may be flawed. The first thing I'd look at is the caliber. I want something that can take medium and large sized game ... and humans. And I want a common caliber as well (for scroungability). On the low end, I'd start with .223. Not really "large game" capable. But it's everywhere. After that, well, I'm starting to falter. .308 maybe? If you live among lots of hunters, maybe .30-30 or .243? I really don't know. So, as much as I consider the .223 a "weak" cartridge (despite what the media portrays it as), I would probably have to give that very serious consideration. If I were expecting to do more large game hunting, the .308 would be there as well. More leaning towards self defense? Hard to beat 7.62x39 in an AK. Yes, the SKS shoots this cartridge as well, but I dare say you'll probably find more AK's laying around (for scroungeability) than SKS's. Push comes to shove, I'd probably choose an AR15. Tons of scroungability there - the rifle itself, spare parts, accessories, ammo.

After all this, I am quite dismayed to find that I have chosen my arguably two least favorite guns. One for the urban/suburban environment, and one for the rural environment. It's still "only one gun" because you can only live in one of these two environments at a time, so choose based on the environment. The Glock and the AR15. Given the artificially severe limitation of "only one gun", then this makes the most sense to me. If we were to open this up to "only TWO guns", then I doubt either the Glock or the AR15 would make it onto my list. At the very least, they would have some serious competition to deal with. But for "only one gun" in a no-resupply situation, it's hard NOT to go with "use the gun that EVERYBODY ELSE has". As much as I love my HK P30, I could probably search my entire town and only find one or two more of those. So it would be a bad choice for a single-firearm SHTF weapon. I wouldn't do any better searching for another personal favorite - the Walther PPQ. Especially since mine is the original trigger-guard-paddle-mag-release version and not the much more common M2 version with the push button mag release (these two guns use different magazines). I would love to have either of these guns post-SHTF ... but not as my "only gun". I would yield to my brain and not my heart, and just go with the boring old Glock.

 

[Sourdough]

I failed to communicate what I wanted to communicate in this thread. O'well that's life.

 

[kenv1950]

I don't think i'd be comfortable with one firearm , but if I had to it would be my CZ452 .22LR