I've been trying to think of how to pose this question, but there are very few situations which might become survival situations where I'd consider a firearm to be seriously important as survival gear. Outside of concealed carry handguns, when do you carry a firearm as survival gear? Do you carry it, or is it a home in case of a wider scale disaster? If you are carrying a "survival gun", why? Dangerous animals? Hunting? If hunting, what kind of game do you expect to be hunting? And finally, where do you live, work or recreate that you carry your survival weapon?

I've been thinking about this for myself and even here in Wyoming, I don't feel sufficiently threatened by bear or moose to carry a weapon for protection. I might if I was further north or west near Yellowstone and definitely would if I was in Alaska. And I don't really see myself being in a situation where I would need to hunt to eat. Unless seriously injured I can pretty easily walk to a road in a day or two, and if I am seriously injured I don't know that I could hunt. That said, I do occasionally carry a 9mm pistol and quite often a .22 pistol. But while they are both definitely options in a survival situation, I don't specifically carry them as survival gear. The 9mm is my concealed carry weapon and the .22 is for plinking.

I certainly don't think there is an ideal survival weapon. Against bear or moose a high powered rifle or 12 shotgun would top my list. For short term hunting a .22 rifle or pistol since I have to consider weight. Shotguns are versatile, but the ammo and weapon are heavy especially if you're lucky enough to be carrying a tent, sleeping bag and cooking gear(and if you're carrying a shotgun why wouldn't you be?). For protection in a break down of civil order I'd probably choose a combination of compact pistol and a semi-auto AK variant with a folding stock.

While plinking isn’t a survival goal, self-defense sure as hell is. The goal of defending yourself is to survive, isn’t it?


Oh, there are ideal weapons for certain survival situations, such as self-defense, but there is no blanket weapon that serves ideally for everything. (The shotgun comes close, and would be ideal if only small enough to carry everywhere.) Your weapon of choice is just like any other piece of gear… it should be suited to the situation(s) you have evaluated and find most probably of putting you in danger. The choice of proper gear always starts with a risk assessment.

I too have been thinking about this one a lot. Being Canadian my options are much more limited due to federal law. The more I think about it, the more I'm convinced that I don't need to carry a firearm for survival. For every situation I can think of where I could use one, I can think of a better, cheaper, easier way to do things.

Kind of like you said, it would seem to depend on where you live.

Are you expecting urban upheaval? Do you live in dense forests?

My Granddad grew up in Eastern Montana and talked to the old timers
who were the first to settle there. Few could afford or make use of
a shotgun or a pistol. Wide open prairies dictated a rifle if
they expected to hunt for food.

Locally a vigilante group went after some Indians in one of the
last battles between whites and natives. Hundreds of people on both sides.

The whites were easily run off and killed cause they came to the fight armed with old military revolvers and shotguns, while the Indians had repeating rifles.

A firearm is somewhat a multi-use item. From the main uses of hunting and self-defense (from animals two legged and four), to possible uses like fire starting, signaling, and whatever else you can think of. Not as multi-use as, say, a knife; but it can do certain things that would be tough to accomplish without it.

Like many said though, what use you have for a firearm depends on what you're planning for and what your environment is like.

If you're only planning for a best case scenario, say spending a day or two in the Pine Barrens until you can make your way to safety (or get rescued), you're probably not going to need a firearm. If you're planning on doing a three week trek through Alaska, or you're planning on making your way out of Newark during a riot (like my grandfather in '67), it becomes a more important piece of kit.

I think the reason most people consider taking a firearm as part of their gear, is that it's very traditional when it comes to outdoor living. Just like no early American settler, trapper, or cowboy would be caught without their knife, their firearm(s) wouldn't be far behind. It was useful then, so it could be just as useful now.

In thirty plus years of playing on the woods I have never needed a survival gun, there were times when I wanted one but never needed one. I continue to make firearms part of my survival plans mainly because of the two legged type animals. In my main kit I keep a Ruger 10/22 along with several magazines it and for my EDC Colt 1911 as well as ammo for both. My 10/22 can be used for defense as well as hunting while my .45 is primarily for defense. As stated in several post I have been in several man made and natural disasters and the one thing they all had in common was that those with the will and means preyed upon those without the means or will to defend themselves.

I'll tell you the best reason why I have a gun - peace of mind. Like the saying goes:

"I would rather have my gun and not need it, than need my gun and not have it."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dopLg4SqzpA

The reason I didn't include self-defense is because the questions involved there have been pretty well gone over on any number of forums and in any number of books. Plenty of people carry for self-defense on a regular basis and their reasons for doing so are well documented. The question of other survival situations I don't think has been dealt with as thoroughly.

For sure, to carry a pistol in Canada legally would require an act of God, unless you are a police officer. This eliminates it altogether as a survival tool in all except home defence situations, for all law abiding citizens anyway. There are some very nifty combo rifles that chamber .22 cal as well as .410 bore and are very compact and light. I find them a little inaccurate and clumsy personally. They actually are sold as survival guns though.(check out the Springfield Armory M-6 Scout). My survival gun which I carry in the field for backpacking is the trusty old Ruger 10/22 in stainless and synthetic. I use an Eberlestock J104 backpack which has an incorporated scabbard for a rifle. This allows me free use of both hands while keeping my rifle safe and out of my way unless I need it. After big game and Goose hunting seasons are over I like to combine hiking with rabbit hunting just to have something to hunt in the off season, especially late in winter when you can add ice fishing in there as an added bonus. For this reason I probably have had my Ruger in the field more than any of my other guns. I feel a hell of a lot better with it than without it because I will not lie to you fine people, but even with 11 years in the Army I have been turned around in a storm and "geographically embarrassed" more than once looking for my truck. In northern Canada in winter the temp can drop to -50 deg cel. The only food you get besides ice fishing will be what you already have, what you shoot, or what you snare. Good luck looking for berries like you can do in warmer places. Every place has different things to consider when lost. In Alberta during winter my immediate need in a bad situation is shelter and fire, fast. I could live for weeks without food, and in Canada you can close your eyes and walk 50 feet in any direction to find water in most places. But I will freeze to death very fast. In all honesty, I do not NEED a survival rifle. I just very much ENJOY having a trusty firearm at my side in the woods.

I don't classify any particular gun as a "survival gun" simply because just as I do with all tools, I will grab whatever gun is required for the situation at hand. Most of my guns are part of contingency plans and most of those involve sheltering in rather than bugging out.

I grew up on the gulf coast and still have family scattered along the gulf coast and at times when there are hurricanes, etc and I am going to help them recover/evacuate I will grab a shotgun and a rifle to take with me along with my EDC handgun but those are mainly in case of looters or significant civil unrest that may develop in the area.

Guns are simply mechanical tools and whatever the situation I'm in, I would rather have the tool and not need it than need it and not have it.