That's some solid advice Andy...but...

and before I get to the but this is to be an all things rifle or shotgun. Be it hunting, survival, etc...at least until I start buying more of them...Lord help me

If I were to follow the said SHTF scenario as an example. The last thing I would expect to find 'out there' is military ammunition. Assault rifles are rare and illegal here unless you have special licenses or are military yourself. I'd wager there are more hunters carrying rifles than soldiers in this province at any given time. Also, in a SHTF Bug out, I don't want to draw attention to myself...the last thing I need is that kind of attention if I have to take off. This is the reason I'm considering something that can break down or at least have it's barrel easily removed so it can be fit into a pack.

Ammunition is also something that I'm considering carefully. .308 is by far the most popular hunting cartridge here...followed closely by 30-06. There's a shop 6 blocks from here that sells bulk boxes of .308 hardpoint target ammo by the hundreds and it's just sitting on the floor waiting to be purchased. Again if I turn to the SHTF situation (which I assure you is the lowest priority on my list of purchasing factors) I'd want something that is incredibly available. I'd say that the 4 most available here are .22LR, .308, .30-06, and 12ga...more or less in that order. Not to say that there aren't plenty of the other types but those are the most popular from what I can tell. The other consideration is cost. .308 and 30-06 aren't the cheapest around. 12ga shells are quite cheap and .22LR are so inexpensive I'm surprised they don't give them away.

There's also the cost of the firearm itself. I can get a Mossberg with both standard and rifled barrels, and a set of chokes delivered for under $400 and a .22LR for less than that (though not much less new).

Last but not least there's what I'd like to do with it. I definitely want to try big game hunting. I want to do some fly in fishing where you need something powerful for polar bear defense (by law) and I want to do some small game stuff too. Home defense isn't a big deal for me...I likely won't be storing them in the house anyhow.

Right now I've narrowed my options down to 3 choices (in no particular order). I have no doubt that there is a strong chance I'll own all three before too long but I have to start somewhere.

  • .22LR/.410 Over/Under like the AR-6, Savage 24, or Remington Baikal SPR94
  • .22LR takedown like the Papoose or US Survival Gun
  • 12ga shotgun combo with rifled barrel


So far the shotgun is the only single one that can do everything I want...plus has the advantage that I can use it to try skeet shooting...something else I'd like to dabble with.

The real trick now is finding the right one at the right price among those 3 options...there are so many options it's not going to be easy.