Survival Airgun

I would want an fx independence in say .22 or .25........and a fine springer like a TX200 in .177. Of coarse......all seals and such for the independence. No doubt you would eat better as long as that independence was running.

I'd go with a tx200 in .177.

As reliable as a claw hammer, low maintenance, easy to service if necessary, accurate and enough power for any small game. 

If I really needed this gun to survive (quite a stretch I know), I'd pick a springer over a PCP any day.

R

What is meant by a survival gun really?

Is it a gun suitable if you become homeless and broke so you have nowhere to keep a tank or cash to get it filled?

Or are we talking about one that is good for a 3-7 day camping / hunting trip in the mountains?

The reason I ask in that way is because there are many guns that hold enough air for you to hunt for weeks without needing a refil. In a real survival situation you would only take hunting shots and not waste all your air plinking probably. 

Modern PCP bottle guns are capable of 80-100 shots per fill (or more). That's a good amount of hunting. Several weeks at least. 

If I went off to a campsite, I'd have my car with a tank in the trunk. I don't know how far you might hike or how long you would expect to live off the air rifle without any opportunity to fill it up but if you were going to camp in the wilderness for months at a time, you would probably carry a hand pump. 

If a survival gun is one that is light and easy to carry - plus easy to pump, any of the ones with small reservoirs would work. The Marauder pistol, the Mutant Shorty, the Hatsan's ATP1, the Ataman ultra compact etc. 

Or maybe a survival gun is also one that can protect you from predators?

I'm always a little confused by what people are really looking for when they ask for a good survival gun. 

Welp, I wouldn't even bother with a PCP, or a springer for that matter, multi-pump pneumatic with iron sights something like a Benji 392 or 397 is the route I'd take. I'm assuming that survival means very long term, outdoor, small game hunting or it might be a gun you bury in a cache somewhere intending to pick it up in a long term survival situation.

Why?
1) They last forever with practically no maintenance.
2) Very light and easy to carry all day, day after day.
3) No additional kit required -- just a tin of pellets.
4) Inherently quiet, no silencers, moderators... etc necessary.
5) Enough power to get the job done on any small game if the hunter does his job.

That said, I do wish someone would build a multi in .25 cal that does 20+ FPE. I know.. I know... But I wouldn't mind sitting there and putting 30 or 40 pumps into it... Unfortunately I'm probably the only one... I'd pay six or seven hundred bucks for it if it was built well. Who knows there might be a market of four, maybe five buyers?

"jamieinmd"Zebra, I'm thinking of something that would get you small game if needed. A pcp needs air so for indefinite survival period, a pump would be needed and spare seals wouldn't be a bad idea. 

I also like the Walther LGV in 177 with a quality scope and aftermarket iron sights on it. With a few Allen wrenches, the gun is easily serviced. 

Jamie

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Can I ask why? Do you know something we don't? Are we about to be flung into a walking dead type new reality? Should we all be stockpiling food and ammo? Or is this just about being prepared in case the zombies (or equivalent) come?

I'm more of a believer in just getting the one you like vs thinking about what would be best for the end of the world.

But... if I was looking for a "survival gun" (I.e. something to keep myself in squirrels while everyone else starves), I'd probably want to invest in a mini PCP bullpup or pistol carbine. 

I know there is an argument for choosing a springer or multi-pump because they don't need a separate air supply but if the goal is not starving then I would want the one that makes me most likely to hit that game first time. Springers are far harder to shoot well. They have less range. Unless you spend a lot, most of them suck. I would have zero confidence in my ability to hunt well enough with a springer that I would bet my life on it. 

I think I would take my Mutant Shorty. It's accurate, efficient, light, robust and importantly, it's quiet. If there are 3 squirrels sitting in a tree, I am often able to take all 3 without scaring the others away. I don't know about you, but if these were all I had to live on, I would probably want more than one per day... I think I could pump the Shorty to 3000 psi fairly easily too as the tank is not big.

On a lower budget, I would go with the Hatsan ATP2 we because you can carry a few spare air cylinders in case you need to change it out in the field and don't have time to pump. Plus, it's quiet out of the box in 22 cal. 

I see no issue with carry a bunch of spare O rings and replacement small parts for any airgun. I wouldn't worry about carrying a pump. I'd put it in a garbage bag an bury it and dig it up to use it every few weeks. 

FX Indy is a self contained PCP. After the initial fill it needs 3 to 5 pumps per shot. A couple of oring kits, lube, tins of JSB's and Hoppes #9 is all you need for years of reliable PCP power/accuracy. If I were to get one for a survival it would probably be a 22 cal. Second choice would be the 25 cal.

http://www.airgunsofarizona.com/precharged-pcp/fx-indy-.25/

I will probably show my age with this post. Way back when, there was a guy by the name of Mel Tappan. I am sure he was not the first of the original yet "modern" survivalists but he was the first I knew about. I heard about him back when Jimmy Carter was president. If I recall correctly, he was mainly of the Bugging In approach. Keeping that in mind, his idea of survival guns included a lot of weaponry. You need to defend the homestead and your family so there was a lot of emphasis on defensive survival guns. In fact, he had written a book titled Survival Guns or something similar.

Like I said, he was in favor of living where you would face the threat. He recommended a good airgun in the armory. It was quiet, it was accurate, and it would bring down squirrels and other small game. He had a pond on his place so he mentioned shooting bullfrogs as well. It was also a way to keep some shooting skills tuned up. Not to mention you could store a whole lot of pellets in very little space. I cannot recall a particular brand or system. I am pretty sure it did not include any PCP guns but probably some CO 2 as well as pump guns and springers. Obviously there was no mention about using it for defense but rather as an effective method of putting some food on the table without making a lot of noise and drawing attention to yourself.

He also recommended stocked ponds, big gardens, chickens, and other small livestock. Harvesting wild edibles and targets of opportunity. He did not intend to bug out but rather to be prepared and bug in.

As for me, I would probably take a springer since that is what I am familiar with. Also a Crossman 1377 (customized a bit). Just the ones I happen to always have.

John

I would take the FX Extreme it gets about 60 to 70 shot with a pellet or a arrow this means I could whatever comes my way

Opps kill whatever comes my way

This is always a fun topic. The OP did not specify if we're talking survival as in trying to live in the woods during a normal world situation, but just for the fun of discussion, in a shtf scenario, every able bodied armed hunter will be out harvesting food and in very short order the nearby game, including domesticated animals, will be gone. Then, you have to drive. That takes fuel and intact roads. It also means you'll be really hunting, which significantly burns calories. The results of the hunt need to offset the fuel to get there and calories expended. Deer won't be very plentiful within a week or two, so that doesn't leave much for significant trade and food value. Additionally, fuel may be scarce, so traveling to do this heavy duty hunting may not be possible. And I don't know about you all, but more than half the time I go hunting I don't come back with anything, so that's not a good survival plan.

So in my opinion, the best food getter airgun would be one that could harvest small birds in the backyard. No fuel to burn, no calories to expend, and unless we're talking nuclear holocaust in which case we're all probably not on the planet anymore anyway, there will always be small birds to add to your stored rice as a protein source. A super accurate 10 meter type gun would be able to take head shots on tiny targets, is quiet so the neighbors don't know you're getting food they can't get, and the pellets don't have enough energy to break their windows. In particular I like my Daisy Avanti 853. Very easy to rebuild with just a few orings, and one pump recoilless action. I also like my HW30 at about 7 fpe. FWB 300 would be a good choice. Any of the simple PCP guns like Marauder or Discovery turned way down to sub 10 fpe would be good too. Now protecting the property from starving gangs of humans so you can live long enough to eat anything at all, that's another subject for a different forum
Michael McKeown

Modern day survival is about staying employed and paying the bills. But what the heck, I'll play.

I'll assume you mean out the woods-type survival, because of a riot or natural disaster. I don't know how any intelligent person can even mention zombies. They've been watching too much TV and losing their grasp on reality.

Taking and maintaining a pump, spare seals, tools to work on it all.... now, we're out of the reality of survival. If we have that kind of tools and equipment around, we may as well just have a 22 rimfire and a few bricks of ammo. (subsonic, if you want to be quiet) Maybe a Marlin 39A.

But OK, assuming it HAS to be an airgun, and a realistic one for survival, I think I would go with a quality springer. No PCP because of the seal and support gear issues. Something that can go many thousands of cycles with no maintenance, and work in the cold too. I think I would go with a tuned Diana 48 Panther in .22, and probably a fixed high-end Hawke 4-12x50 scope with the lit reticle. Add a shotgun sling and as many Air Arms domes and Baracuda Hunters as I can get. It would be tuned with minimal tar/grease, so the performance would stay pretty constant as outdoor temperatures shift. 

I figure with a 20 FPE .22, I could take all small game easily out to 30 or 40 yards. Since I'd be in a survival situation, I also wouldn't hesitate to take head or neck shots on large game. I don't care if it takes them awhile to bleed out; I've got all the time in the world to track them down. Also, since I only have one gun (and again, lots of time) I presume I would get REALLY good with it. I think I would first go after squirrels, coyote, rabbit, possum and raccoon. Any kind of bird, when the opportunity presents itself.

I figure that rig looks scary enough I could use it to defend myself through intimidation, if needed. If that fails, take a shot and run!

The pumper idea that oldspook mentioned is a good one too; only problem is that a lack of a good way to mount a scope pretty much limits its range. An aperture sight is a thought, but that only gets you so maybe 30 yards. I want to be able to make head shots on deer at 50 yards. A tuned Sheridan Blue Streak would certainly be an easier rig to carry around than my D48 beast, but also somewhat less capable.

Grab a mold so you can cast your own pellets, and grab a pump like the benji 392 or 397 in stainless. I put alot of food on my table with the .20 cal silver streak.

How about one of these custom 25 cal multi-pump pneumatic guns:

Our Guns[/QUOTE]http://mountainaircustomairguns.com/about/embed/


You can add a BNM multi-shot breach so you don't have to fumble around with pellets when in a hurry. I don't know how much power they generate but with a 19" green mountain barrel, maybe it would be enough to hunt small game with 10 pumps. 

"Smaug"Modern day survival is about staying employed and paying the bills. But what the heck, I'll play.

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Man after my own heart !!

Learn how to set a snare and dead-fall... legal or not. Won't matter when you're starving whether it's legal or not. Even an elk can choke or be bashed about the noggin.

If/when watching the snare, a Webley Patriot of FX Indy might be with me, if not a bow.

Double post

These topics are always fun but its so simple to get a suppressor for a .22 PB just pay your $200 and wait the 4-6 months. And use subsonic rounds and really be quiet. Or I could put a bayonet on one of the FWB 300s and if it quit shooting just stick them?