Rifles for a road trip.

[The Last Standing Knight]

I'm going on a road trip in the near future (not out of state). And I'm trying to decide which long arm (no, no S&W's) to carry. Which of these three would you all suggest:
1) M1895 Moisin-Nagant 52" MBR
2) Winchester 12 ga Defender Scattergun
3) Winchester M94AE 45 Colt saddlering carbine.

These aren't going to be used except in an emergency...(where I'm going are lots of feral hogs).

 

[Double-O-Dave]

Depends - are you talking about for anti-personnel use, or for anti-porcinell use (sorry, I couldn't resist it). Seriously though, a friend of mine who is a farmer and frequently has to protect his crops against herds of feral hogs says that the best weapon and ammo combination he has found has been a 12 gauge shotgun with 00-Buck. I suggested that he look into #4 Buck instead and he reported he was able to improve his hit/kill ratio. When he asked me why I made the recommendation to change from the 00-Buck to the #4, I told him it was what I learned while I was in the Army. I don't think you can get much more anti-personnel than that. Thus, if you are talking about in close and for personal defense, the shotgun is hard to beat. Past 50 meters or so, I'd opt for the 45 LC carbine, past approx. 100 meters, the M1895. Hope this helps.

Best of luck,

Dave

 

[S/W - Lifer]

Second vote for the shotgun. Take some good quality slugs along. I recently shot my own Winchester police shotgun with buck. 25 yards is about it for being assured of getting a hit with my gun. Slugs, of course, are considerably better for distance.

 

[armadillo66]

for many years I carried a WInchester Trapper 45 Colt behind the seat of my pickup. In many places wherre carrying a handgun is a no no, the local cops are used to seeing farmers with a lever rifle or shotgun for farm security & varmints.
225gr Silvertips out of a 16" barrel are pretty impressive, 300gr Cor Bon out of a 16" barrel are runaway bull stoppers

 

[The Last Standing Knight]

Thanks for the input. Scattergun it is.

 

[Hoplophile]

Dave, has the Army switched from 00 to #4 buck?

All the 12 ga GI ammo I ever saw was 00, from back in the olden days of brass shotshells to current military loads.

I'm not challenging teh assertion that #4 is better than 00 -- for some applications. Just curious about the reference to the Army.

 

[winter1857]

I vote for the Winchester. My .45 Trapper is the absolute last gun that I would part with.

 

[Combat_Diver]

Its still 00 Buck but dark green plastic hulls

CD

 

[Double-O-Dave]

Originally posted by Hoplophile:
Dave, has the Army switched from 00 to #4 buck?

Sorry Hoplohile, for the late response. No, good ol' American 00-Buck as far as I know- though I have been out of the Army since 1980. I had a great boss - SF medic from Nam that explained to me once that for all of the legend and romance around 00-Buck, for close-in people killing, a short barreled 12 ga. with #4 buck was the way to go. He put a lot more people in body bags than I ever did, so I tended to listen.

Regards,

Dave

 

[3-gun]

+1 on the shotgun. I would also add a couple box's of reduced recoil slugs.

At 50yds I can put 3 in the "A"zone of a IPSC target in less than 3 seconds. They will put a hole in anything you want to put a hole in.

 

[Centenniel]

+1 on the reduced recoil slugs. For hogs or two legged varmints, a slug will settle the issue reliably, and at at least twice the distance of any sized shot charge.

 

[tac803]

My trips across country always included a 12 ga stowed in the back of the Jeep. 4 buck and slugs were the fodder. LE takes a dim view of folks toting "assault rifles" in some parts, but a well used 12 ga. is less likely to raise eyebrows. I wouldn't feel at all uneasy with the lever gun either. Depends on what you're planning on running up against.

 

[MTKTM]

Probably my favorite 'travel gun' when going places where a handgun or AR might be verbotten is a Marlin 1895 Guide Gun in 45/70. 18" barrel, stainless steel, and mine has a laminated stock, so fairly weather resistant, a good thumper caliber, and quite compact. I refer to it as my Canadian Assault Rifle because I originally purchased it a number of years ago for a motorcycle trip to Alaska, wanted a gun that I could get into Canada and that wouldn't raise too many eyebrows, and yet would be compact enough to keep close-at-hand inside a tent, and powerful enough to deal with a griz, and that was also not so long as to make it impractical to carry on the bike.

 

[SD Hunter]

My travel long gun is a lever gun, usually a Marlin 336 in 30-30, or a Marlin 1895 in 45-70.
One of the main reason is that the lever guns don't carry the same tone as the black rifles.
Any of these rifles would serve my needs to at least 100 yards.

If for some reason I ended up in court, I much rather have a prosecutor holding up a John Wayne rifle than one of those nasty "assault rifles." I was in law enforcement for 27 years so I have some insight to how the system works.

 

[Lt JL]

my trunk gun is an 870 Marine Magnum. little worries about care, 7 round capacity. I load it with 6 00 buck, 6 more in a sidesaddle, and 6 low recoil Federal LE slugs in a butt cuff. Enough for anything short of a third world brush war. John