Jeff's article in SWAT

I'd go for something that's bolt, pump, or lever action just because its less likely to have failures and is easier to maintain.

It all depends on what your definition of "survival" is. Are we talking "end of the world" or "a hurricane/earthquake/flood/tornado/fire hit the area and I might be on my own for a month"?
 
meh the best .22 right now for the money is the Cz452 series.


I am going to have to agree with you, that is the most stout looking action I have seen on a .22lr bolt action in a long time. Painfully slow site though, at least right now.
 
meh the best .22 right now for the money is the Cz452 series.

How do they compare to the Ruger 77/22? I did a quick gunbroker.com search and they seem to be in about the same price range. I've never fired a CZ but I always hear good things about them.

With my friends 77/22 we shoot coke bottle caps at 100 yards all day long...and thats with crappy bricks of ammo.
 
meh the best .22 right now for the money is the Cz452 series.

+2:thumbup: I have a CZ 513 Farmer (Its a 452 thats has fixed sights) and I paid $290 (OTD!) I also have a bolt action CZ Zastava by Charles Daly, which is a nice bolt action .22LR w/ adjustable sights, came out in 2004, paid $206 (OTD). Both are accurate and reliable. I just bought a Ruger MKIII 22/45 pistol for $320, and I wish I had bought a 452 Trainer instead (for same $). I really miss the Springfield M6 Survival gun, that has option for .22LR or Hornet & .410 G , in a compact rifle. I do agree with Jeff though that these survival guns should utilize all space (like inside the butt stock) to store survival gear. I always thought Keltec would take that challenge and do well. Did anyone see the “Survivorman” episode where he drilled holes into his rifle stock (behind the base plate) as storage compartments for extra rounds and gear (fishing line and matches (I think))? Great idea.
 
I'm going to say Lever or Pump. That way you can shoot the low powered .22s. Pump would be faster than Lever, but not sure if there are any quality ones out there.
 
I have to say I missed Jeff's article BUT, I do dream of a survival rifle and it looks a little something like this. You could stash that thing anywhere.


IMG_0327.jpg


IMG_0328.jpg


Unfortunately this is not mine. Its another one of those "I wish" projects.

Here is the post from the guy who made it.

Welp, here it is. Ain't the prettiest thing out there, but neither is an AR7. Pretty is as pretty does I recon. I have a feeling it'll always be a work in progress, but it works and is pretty well all there. And yes, I did have too much time on my hands. It started life as a Cooey Ranger, 17" barrel single shot. It was a mess. Looked like it was painted by a blind 4yr old, the stock "embellished" with a pick axe or something. It worked fine, and a bead blasting and clean up took care of the gunge. The paint's bedliner, I'll prolly do the aluminum bits as well. The stock is 1/2" SS tubing and handily holds 13 lucky .22 rounds. I'm going to do a double layer of paracord wrap on the stock as soon as I find where I stashed it. The tee bit on the end is removable for space saving if need be. A wee hitch pin with a ball detent holds it together when assembled. Scrap oak kicking around the garage rounds it off. Eventually, I orta do up a proper trigger guard, but it's fine for now.


It's a great little project to finish...
 
looks liike an old stevens action, single shot, manual cocking. one single take down bolt close under the action. easy to clean and maintain needs good sights.
 
Well, IMO, the bolt action is the most reliable platform to start from. It sounds non-intuitive, but from my experience with the few single shots in the "affordable" range, they are no more reliable, and often less so, than a bolt action.

I'd also say, for a survival rifle, that the rifle MUST have iron sights. Whether you mount a scope or not, irons as a backup are a necessity.

Magazine fed or tube fed doesn't much matter, IMO, both have failure modes, and you'd just have to deal with them. For balance purposes, I think magazines are better, for versatility, the tube is better, as you can feed LR, L and S cartridges from them, and magazines tend to not like to feed anything but what they were designed for.

I think the biggest factor is the stock. To my knowledge no one builds one like this, but I'd pick a synthetic stock with a latched buttplate, so the hollow stock can be used for storage, but not require tools to open it. Even with a bolt action, it could be made into an AK-like sidefolder for easy transport.

My personal druthers makes me much prefer a .22 Mag over the LR, as well.
 
Actually, a rolling block is much simpler to make and maintain (which is why it was popular 150 years ago) and it lends itself very well to the .22lr. It can be made with hand tools, it's short, simple, and very few parts. It would be very easy to make a simple rifle that would take down and be less than 24" overall.
 
I have to say I missed Jeff's article BUT, I do dream of a survival rifle and it looks a little something like this. You could stash that thing anywhere.


IMG_0327.jpg


IMG_0328.jpg


Unfortunately this is not mine. Its another one of those "I wish" projects.

Here is the post from the guy who made it.




It's a great little project to finish...

Would you mind posting a link to that? Looks like a sweet rifle! The angle on the stock looks to be a little much though...

Its still 1,000,000,000 times better than anything I could do.
 
as you can feed LR, L and S cartridges from them, and magazines tend to not like to feed anything but what they were designed for.

Thats something I was thinking about also.

I just got a old Marlin that was my Grandfathers I'm trying to get into working order.
 
Would you mind posting a link to that? Looks like a sweet rifle! The angle on the stock looks to be a little much though...

Its still 1,000,000,000 times better than anything I could do.

Hmm dont know if I can do that...

Can I post a link to another forum?
 
I have one of the Springfield M6 survival 22/410 rifles and it works great. But I didn't know they stopped production? I think this was one of the later ones that Springfield actually had made in the CZ republic or some former eastern block country. But the quality is very good. It is handy to have the rounds stored in the stock and I do keep both shot and slugs for the 410 ga.
 
Actually, a rolling block is much simpler to make and maintain (which is why it was popular 150 years ago) and it lends itself very well to the .22lr. It can be made with hand tools, it's short, simple, and very few parts. It would be very easy to make a simple rifle that would take down and be less than 24" overall.

I think this is actually a pretty good idea for a modern survival gun. The rolling block action is very compact. The only thing that would be more compact would be a break open action similar to a shotgun. Either one of those made from light weight, modern, corrosion resistant materials, a synthetic stock, and provisions for optics and iron sights would allow for an ultra-light, ultra-compact, survivavl rifle. And those type of actions have about as few parts as possible for something to go wrong. It would also be easy to make this design one that you can take down. I can even see a design that seperates the butt stock, the action, and the barrel. Then your maximum length would be whatever your barrel length is, say 16".
 
I think this is actually a pretty good idea for a modern survival gun. The rolling block action is very compact. The only thing that would be more compact would be a break open action similar to a shotgun. Either one of those made from light weight, modern, corrosion resistant materials, a synthetic stock, and provisions for optics and iron sights would allow for an ultra-light, ultra-compact, survivavl rifle. And those type of actions have about as few parts as possible for something to go wrong. It would also be easy to make this design one that you can take down. I can even see a design that seperates the butt stock, the action, and the barrel. Then your maximum length would be whatever your barrel length is, say 16".

Oh man you got me dreaming!!!

I wonder if H1 could stand up to 22lr pressures? A survival gun that wouldnt rust...now that would be sweet!
 
How do they compare to the Ruger 77/22? I did a quick gunbroker.com search and they seem to be in about the same price range. I've never fired a CZ but I always hear good things about them.

With my friends 77/22 we shoot coke bottle caps at 100 yards all day long...and thats with crappy bricks of ammo.

As far as accuracy goes, think Anschutz lead lasers. Yes, that good (though I don't think you can fit the olympic style sights to them). The old BRNO gallery and biathlon race guns were built in the same factory years before. Very high quality walnut stocks, or beech if you get the trainer version. The action is silk, and bombproof and the factory trigger can be tuned very light and crisp.
 
I'd go for something that's bolt, pump, or lever action just because its less likely to have failures and is easier to maintain.

It all depends on what your definition of "survival" is. Are we talking "end of the world" or "a hurricane/earthquake/flood/tornado/fire hit the area and I might be on my own for a month"?

:D I was leaning more towards natural disater type thing. I really like the looks of the Ruger M77/22 with Iron sights.Using it to take small game to feed your family or self , no for holding off a small gang of looters.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top