On Nov 26, 7:51*pm, Anthony W wrote:
Dana M. Hague wrote:
I still hold to a .22 as probably the best survival rifle. *Not much
stopping power for large game (though the world record black bear was
taken with a .22!), but it's great for the small game that's more
likely to keep you fed, and _lots_ of ammo doesn't weigh much.

-Dana

Additional barrels in various calibers and shotgun gages can be bought
for NEF single shot rifles. *These rifles are light and way more
accurate than the under $200 new price tag would suggest. *Having
another barrel fitted (in most calibers) is under a hundred bucks.

The one caveat is no rim-fire calibers on a center-fire frames. *I have
one in .223 Rem, and I'm planning to get a .22 Hornet and a .45 Colt
barrels for it. *I could shoot .410 shot shells in the .45 Colt barrel
and the shot cup would keep the rifling from chewing up the shot.

This rifle with the 2 barrels and 50 rounds of ammo for each would
easily pack away behind the seat of your plane if you're flying out in
an off the grid area. *Or perhaps just the .45 Colt barrel but then
you'd have to rely on .410 shotgun rounds to take squirrel sized game if
you are to stay fed until help finds you.

WWII German Luftwaffe pilots had drilling rifle/shotguns. *These usually
had 2 shotgun barrels and a rifle barrel either under or over the
shotgun barrels and centered between the two. *Drilling is the German
word for triple so they always had 3 barrels. *The US pilots had a an
over under .22 hornet over a .410 gage shotgun. *A couple companies
reproduce these but I don't think they're worth the money. *Savage has
made over under rifle/shotgun combos for many years but again I think
they sell for more than they're worth.

Tony

Once while still young and stupid, I came into the possession of a
single action .22 revolver that was very old and rusty. When I
cleaned it up, I saw there was no rifling in the barrel. The rifling
may have just rusted away or I polished it away while cleaning it up
or it was never there in the first place - whatever.

Well, what to do with a smoothbore .22 but fire birdshot rounds with
it? I found at about 10 feet it had about a 12" pattern - not bad for
a 8" barrel. It would drive the tiny birdshot pellets about an 1/8"
into pine boards at that distance. About the only thing it was good
for was shooting desert sparrows and such. (Remember, I confessed to
young and stupid.)

I worked with the pistol until I could reliably fast-draw, cock and
fire the single action while dropping to a gunfighter stance. (At
least I sensibly kept the hammer down on an empty cylinder while in
its holster)

I had a fairly good eye and could down a flushed sparrow with better
than 50/50 odds. This got me the reputation of "El Pistolero" with
school chums who were never told it was loaded with birdshot. (Many
years later it was used to rid hangars of pigeons without blowing
holes in the roof - or in parked airplanes with ricochets.)

Survival gun? No way. This thing would have been useless for that.