Merry Christmas!
What is for you the ideal survival rifle? Or is it a rifle? Perhaps a bow or a crossbow? What do you carry? Remember the weight of weapon and ammo, the effective range, the animals and keep the stuff "simple". A .22 pistol, hollowpoints and aimpoint? What do YOU think?
Thanks anyway

Check out this thread. This should answer a few questions.
This thread
Hope this helps.

Frank

Merry Christmas back.

If you narrow your question (a lot) it would help. Probably the majority of us don't think a firearm is very important for most short term situations for most people (even though many of us apparantly own and use firearms).

Besides, we've got nearly as many opinions on that answer as there are folks who post here <grin>.

I think the most versatile weapon is the 12ga and my 870 is a good one. I also like the Ruger Mark II .22 pistol. It's lite weight and compact size makes it easy to carry. The .22s ammo is a joy to carry compared to most and it gets the job done in my area. If silent is necessary, I've always got my longbow along, which, when combined with a quiver of 2 dozen arrows with broadheads and ace blunts, weighs in at not quite 4 pounds and if push comes to shove, I can manufacture more ammo for the bow in the wild.

Saimen,

Merry Christmas,

As Tom has suggested, focusing your question could help in analyzing your problem. Several helpful questions could include:

1. What do you want to survive?

2. How would you happen to encounter that situation?

3. What needs would you want the gun to fulfill?

Incidentally, do read the earlier thread that someone (Hawk?) suggested. A similar topic to yours was discussed a couple of months ago. Moreover, the basic theme of survival guns has been discussed a number of times on this forum, especially over the past year. You may find a search of the relevant topics to help clarify the matter for you.

Best wishes,

John