AyersTG,
I can see that you are indeed well learned on this subject. Let me clarify my point on choosing the 22 as a survival gun. First you have to look at the situation, if this is a SERE situation I want something as quite as possible, if it is natural or unnatural disaster I want something that I can efficiently and effectively provide food for my family, and again, quite would be good in many situations. If I am just lost in the woods I want something that will kill the game that is most prolific and leaving enough left for me to eat, and of course be light enough to always have with you. Lastly, would be self defense, which I would try to avoid at all costs. As I have already said the cost for the guns and ammo is very cheap compared to centerfire rifles, I could have several firearms and plenty of ammo with a fraction of the weight and price of even light centerfires.
Everywhere I have been in the states, and around the world for that matter, there is an abundance of small game and birds, not always the case with larger game. I would target these animals for sustenance over larger game, more plentiful ,easier to hunt and prepare and transport. The occasional big game that I dropped would be welcome also. 22 ammo is also the most widely availble everywhere I have ever been. We are not talking about sporting uses, this is a survival discussion, I would never hunt anything larger than a racoon with a 22lr under normal circumstances.

I have heard all about the problems with rimfire ammo being more prone to moisture and misfires. In 25 years of shooting untold thousands of rimfire rounds I would bet I have had less than 15 misfires, and those more likely with less than premium ammo. If you buy good ammo and keep it in original or better packaging I just have not seen any problem with moisture or misfires. As far as large carnivores go, how many do we have left, I don't think that is a concern in most places.

I also reload and have experimented with reduced loads, my favorite is blue dot loads in the 223. My experience has been that you don't get the level of accuracy, more meat damage to edible small game, and you have to keep up with 2 types of ammo. It is funny that we are having this discussion being that my hero has always been Elmer Keith who is famous for saying "Use enough Gun" and was a proponent of bigbores, he said that the 30-06 was too light for deer, but again my choices for survival would be different.

I have said what I have to say, if I had to pick just one gun, and I stand behind my decision. If I weren't restricted to just one gun my choices would be much different. Stay safe, Chris