I got a comment about this topic which I approved and then could not find. Unfortunately I can't copy and past comments on the moderation page. The guy basically asked why people bother with center fire rifles at all. He mentioned them being impractical to hunt all but the biggest game and talked about the utility and benefit of a .22/.410 over under.
TOR replies: First I think it is important to have a center fire rifle because it is part of a basic 4. Different types of guns are tools with unique capabilities and one can often not duplicate the performance of another. This is the smallest set of weapons that will readily meet a large amount of firearms needs. You can easily have a dozen guns and still find a niche for some sort of new pistol or a whizz bang flat shooting rifle. However if you have a decent .22, a shotgun, a defensive caliber pistol and a center fire rifle you can meet most basic needs. There is a .22 for plinking or small game hunting or potting the unpottable chicken. There is a shotgun for shooting stuff with a shotgun. There is a pistol to keep near the bed in case there is a strange knock at the door late at night or to carry on your person while doing chores.
Back to the subject of center fire rifles. First they are useful for hunting large game. As you mentioned (I searched for that comment for like 20 minutes, wish I could have found it) people will not shoot a deer every day after the world ends. However hunting does put a lot of meat on a lot of tables. Also rifles are good for taking out predators, both two legged and four. In particular center fire rifles will defeat soft (the most common) body armor.
The .22/.410 combo is great for hunting pot sized animals such as rabbits, squirrels and birds at close range. For this role they are hard to beat. However they are not particularly capable of harvesting larger game at any range and are a poor choice for any sort of predator.
Posts
9 comments:
Centerfire?
So you can center mass?
'Sides, that's what I shoot in my M1 Garand.
Mountain rifleman
Firearms are tools, and depending on what job you need to do, you use a specific tool.
For some jobs, a good .30 caliber class rifle is best. Others would be best done with a carbine (.223, .30-30, 7.62x39 et. al.), shotgun, pistol, or .22 rifle.
If there were a currently manufactured rimfire that could do the stuff a centerfire can do, great...but that aint the case. (Although there used to be rimfires all the way from .25 up to .50 cal)
Invariably someone will say "Oh, you can hunt anything with a rimfire that you can with a center fire! You just gotta hit them in the right place!" Well, geez Bubba, if its just a matter of hitting them in the right place why not use a baseball bat instead of a rimfire..after all, they'll go down just like you shot them with a rimfire as long as you "hit them in the right place".
Yeah you *can* hunt deer and elk and moose with a rimfire but I genuinely doubt its anyone's first choice. As for defensive use, a rimfire is better than a sharp stick, but a centerfire will almost always be a better choice.
If I could have only one gun, it would be a center fire rifle. It isn't the absolute best choice for small game but it is the absolute best choice for everything one needs a gun for.
Shy III
I agree with your position. Here's another point. A centerfire rifle could be viewed as insurance. Maybe you'll never use it, but I wouldn't want to bring my .22 to a fight where my opponent(s) had AKs.
You could argue, that will never happen, but I think "never say never" is the essence of preparedness.
We have nukes. We hope to never use them. We can even say we will never strike first, but we have them because the world can be a dangerous place.
Just a thought.
I think you called it right. Rimfires are good for foraging the small stuff, but if you are desperate enough to hunt big game with them, far better a centerfire for a sure quick kill. Self defense - no comparison, if you are shooting at someone who is shooting back, you want them gone RIGHT NOW! Not someone who will expire eventually.
TOR, those small bore .22/.410s excel at night time pest killing. Ranges are short and often other nearby property features are close enough to where you want to minimize possible damage to them. The smaller shot load of .410 is good there - 3 or 4 000 does a good job of taking out dogs / coyotes raiding the henhouse. I have a AA flashlight mounted to a CZ M6 Scout that does this very efficiently. A laser would be more compact, but you cannot identify your target with them, only the aiming point.
The person who asked that question is someone who lives in denial that they'll ever have to defend themselves or loved ones against multiple assailants. Their head is and has been so far underground for the longest time, that they cannot conceive of a societal collapse, or a virulent totalitarian government exerting its control unlike anything ever seen in this country.
They will be among the first fodder, or rail car passengers to the camps. Sad.
Where we live, we have no large beasties with teeth to eat you (unless you make a habit of shooting wild boars in non lethal areas) so for us, a lever .357 carbine would make a pretty good choice for The One. Be some major compromising though.
One could also argue slug's vs a rifle.I'd prefer a rifle at 100 yard's.
Dean in az
Post a Comment