Some random thoughts...
I found a couple of charts on ammo weights and it sure makes you pause. For home defense I'd stick by a shotgun over near anything but in any situation where i'd be bugging out, it's tough to see it being the top choice. The ammo is just so heavy, it's about 10 pounds for just 100 rounds whereas that same quantity in 5.56 is ~2.75 lbs. And no matter how big or fit one is, there are limits and other things such as water, food, etc, can't really be shrunk or made lighter. Not that I think bugging out is likely or even ideal as living off the land is a whole lot easier in the imagination and TV than reality but if it did happen, i can't see myself humping around a shotgun as my SHTF firearm.
45-70 seems like fun, like one of those marlin guide guns but the ammo prices definitely put me in the camp of admirer and not buyer. I guess reloading could help and brass wouldn't be an issue but that's still a whole lot of lead that has to be bought (or cast which is beyond my abilities) even if you use lower power loads with less powder.
Here's one for all of you that i've been wondering about having never owned a true bolt gun for very long...
How many rounds do you think you could put through a say, .223/.243/.308 bolt gun before it breaks down? I know exactly what that number looks like for a typical main battle rifle like an AK or AR (could be as little as 1500 rounds for a POS rifle with a busted cam or bolt carrier or a broken spring or it could be 10k+ for something well made) as well as a 10-22 which can last for thousands of rounds too. What i'd like to know is how long something like a ruger scout rifle, a howa, or weatherby vanguard would last before needing repairs. Obviously you're going to get to that number faster on a semi-auto platform. Some people will say that they had X rifle for 40 years but in reality maybe that gun has only seen a couple hundre rounds. What i'm looking for is in a round for round comparison how many could you put through an average bolt gun and what would be the most common cause of failure?
I found a couple of charts on ammo weights and it sure makes you pause. For home defense I'd stick by a shotgun over near anything but in any situation where i'd be bugging out, it's tough to see it being the top choice. The ammo is just so heavy, it's about 10 pounds for just 100 rounds whereas that same quantity in 5.56 is ~2.75 lbs. And no matter how big or fit one is, there are limits and other things such as water, food, etc, can't really be shrunk or made lighter. Not that I think bugging out is likely or even ideal as living off the land is a whole lot easier in the imagination and TV than reality but if it did happen, i can't see myself humping around a shotgun as my SHTF firearm.
45-70 seems like fun, like one of those marlin guide guns but the ammo prices definitely put me in the camp of admirer and not buyer. I guess reloading could help and brass wouldn't be an issue but that's still a whole lot of lead that has to be bought (or cast which is beyond my abilities) even if you use lower power loads with less powder.
Here's one for all of you that i've been wondering about having never owned a true bolt gun for very long...
How many rounds do you think you could put through a say, .223/.243/.308 bolt gun before it breaks down? I know exactly what that number looks like for a typical main battle rifle like an AK or AR (could be as little as 1500 rounds for a POS rifle with a busted cam or bolt carrier or a broken spring or it could be 10k+ for something well made) as well as a 10-22 which can last for thousands of rounds too. What i'd like to know is how long something like a ruger scout rifle, a howa, or weatherby vanguard would last before needing repairs. Obviously you're going to get to that number faster on a semi-auto platform. Some people will say that they had X rifle for 40 years but in reality maybe that gun has only seen a couple hundre rounds. What i'm looking for is in a round for round comparison how many could you put through an average bolt gun and what would be the most common cause of failure?