End of the world question

[RRocket]

I live in visual sight of not one, but TWO nuclear power plants. So I've always had a very well stocked "Go bag" just in case. I recall the mayhem and barbarism during natural disasters in the US. So my bag has shelter, emergency food, water purification, cooking,firestarter, etc etc

As pointed out, a firearm would likely be necessary. This one has always been a paradox of weight of ammo vs effectiveness. 10 boxes of 12g weighs over 25lbs for example.A .410 weighs half that. 5 00 pellets vs 8 in a 12g shell. Plus a .410 slug flies with the force of a 44 magnum. So it provides ample "oomph" for hunting or defense. You'd probably not find replacement ammo once your cache is depleted though.

A 10/22 is fantastic as Fob pointed out! Though I prefer the 22WMR. Almost no penalty in weight, but a massive upgrade in power. A pistol round (9mm) carbine or pistol round lever action rifle would also be very good. The ultimate one firearm solution would be rifle/shotgun combo. They come in 223/12g down to 22WMR/410 and they fold in half and fit in a backpack. I'd go with the smaller calibers due to weight and packability.

My preferred options would be different if I was staying put vs on the move. If you're in a remote area, stay put might be better. Otherwise, if you're near any sort of population you'd likely want to move....

[Johnnymac]

Yeah I have a lot of that stuff now.  I made a big list and have been adding things to the bug out bag for the last few months.  I think all I really have left is a really good map of the area, some more medical supplies, and some form of communication radio.  I went with the most cost effective stuff and mostly bought from Princess auto and Amazon.  I didn't skimp on the water purification, trama med bag, or rations.

Ron, I saw some videos of these shot gun sleeve (think a shot gun shell that you can put different ammo in the center to fire) that you slide into a single shot that allows you to shoot different ammo.  In the video it was a 20 gauge shot gun that he could use different sleeves to shoot 410 shells, .22, .308, 9mm, etc.  pretty neat but it would only be useful in single shot and I'm not sure what kind of accuracy you could expect.

I'm of the mind if I was to have an ammo cache I would want to store probably 2/3 of it at the country property and if we have to hike we would only carry a rifle each with a small amount of ammo.