Is a .22 rifle good enough for SHTF?

It's a common question that I see pretty often. Is a .22 enough for an SHTF scenario? Well, I cant give a 100% confident yes, because of certain situations you could find yourself in.


For hunting, the .22lr is extremely versatile. It will take anything from squirrel to deer. This is why a .22 rifle would be invaluable in an urban, suburban and rural environment. You can even try rounds that fire off only the primer for silent kills (Aguila Super Colibris are the best). Rural falls into the realm of "maybe" because there are larger animals around and I wouldn't want a .22 to fend off a bear. I'm sure that you can probably kill a black bear with a .22 rifle, but you would be in a predicament if it were a brown bear. I'd suggest perhaps a .308, .30-30, .30-06 or at the very least, a .357 or .44 magnum carbine that is light. This will ensure you can carry multiple weapons and supplies. A nice rifle in the calibers mentioned above is the Ruger model 77/357 and the model 77/44. They're not exactly carbines, being bolt-action and having a little weight to them, but if I were going to use it for the purposes listed above, I'd probably want the 77/44 as shown in the picture below. Of course ammo prices need to be considered, but buying a bunch of ammo and saving it will have good value anyway.

As for self defense, if you are a good marksman, you will be able to fight off any human target so long as they are not wearing armor. Even still, you can cripple them pretty easily. I guess something along the lines of an SKS or Mosin Nagant would be a good defense rifle, but if you are truly on a budget when buying all that expensive ammo, no one ever said CCI Stingers tickled. I would buy surplus. It's proven to stop a person one way or another. That's the problem with an SKS or a Mosin Nagant. There wont be an abundant supply of ammo besides what you've bought. Even still, if you stockpile a couple of crates, it could last you years. This however, is where rifles like the Ruger 10/22 come in. I'm not advertising for Ruger, as I don't even own one, but there aren't many bad things to say about a Ruger, except maybe that they aren't the most accurate .22 out of the box. That would be the reason why I prefer my Marlin model 795. It's one of the most accurate .22 rifles on the market along with being one of the cheapest. You may even pick one up for yourself! The accuracy isn't significantly less in the Ruger, so if you want a rifle that you could truly make yours, I'd say go with Ruger! There are many aftermarket products available for the 10/22 line. These products include 20, 30, and even 50 round magazines. Bulky, but hey, they do their job. Who do you know that would volunteer to be shot by a .22lr rifle? I think that it's safe to assume that you don't know anyone that crazy! Just make sure you know how to use your gun and you're pretty much set.

Are there any other convincing reasons regarding why a .22 is enough? Yes! .22's are light, easy to keep on target, as well as having light ammunition. You could easily carry 550 rounds of .22lr ammunition and only be weighed down a couple of pounds. This is important if you want to carry a utilty knife, machete, first aid kid, and anything else you'd want when going out for food. It's a long list. Keep it light!

I honestly can say that I've ever seen a round as versatile as the .22 with so many loads available such as primer fired, subsonic, supersonic, hypersonic, etc. The .22 family truly will be the ultimate survival tool in your arsenal and that is why everyone should own at least a .22 rifle.