Travel rifle

[mannyrock]

 
 
  The cost of original M1 carbines have dropped like a rock in the last 24 months, as the WWII generation of vets is 98% gone and the Korean War Vets are passing rapidly.  They now go in the $750 to $850 range, even those without import marks.
 
  The M1 carbine would be an excellent choice, especially if you carried soft-points, which put a big exclamation point on hits out to 200 yards.
 
  Problem is, that finding more ammuntion would be hard, since not many stores carry M1 carbine ammunition any more.
 
  I think the right answer is:  .357 mag carbine by Marlin, .44 Mag carbine by Marlin, or Remington 870 20 gauge pump with 18 inch barrel and a full choke.  All very light and handy, and very innocuous looking.  Or, if you like, a .30-30 Marlin with an 18 inch barrel.
 
  I still await those fearsome hordes of bikers who have determined to take over the world by conquest!  (I'll see them in the deep woods!)
 
Manny
 

[jlwilliams]

 
  I still await those fearsome hordes of bikers who have determined to take over the world by conquest!  (I'll see them in the deep woods!)
 
Manny
 

  Durned good point.  I'll go tip over some rocks and look for 'em there.
 
  I just picked up a few hundred soft point projos for loading some carbine ammo.  It does change the character of the round quite a bit, compared to GI style hardballs.  I've been feeling a bit of carbine enthusiasm lately.  Loading up some ammo.  Getting brass when I can.  Not really thinking of it as a 'best gun for.....' sort of thing, just feeling the carbine goodness.  Ammo resuply in a long tearm problem would be an issue, but as a 'get home gun' that wouldn't be a huge problem.  The gun and a couple mags full would get you from point A to point B and if you really want to be all sorts of BoyScout prepared you could load up a bandolier.  The bandoliers for the carbine hold stripper clips and guides instead of full box magazines (not that I figure most of you don't already know that, just pointing out the weight advantage.)  You can have quite a few rounds and have different projectiles in different pouches if you wanted to.  It is really well designed to be a bit of backup for a driver in a dangerous area.  That's sort of what it was designed to be.  A lot of firepower in an easy to carry, lightweight and easy to shoot package.  We've all heard the tale (truer than most gun stories) about the carbine being meant to be adopted as a sidearm.
 
  From what I've been reading CorBon has some wicked little hollowpoints in this round.  The one criticism I hear most about the 30 carbine is it's lack of  'knockdown'.  Modern hollowpoints bring them into a whole dfferent category than the old GI ball.  The carbine round benefits from the new ammo much the same as handgun cartridges do.  The carbine with GI style ammo is a lousy round for hunting, arguably a cruel choise to shoot game with.  The soft points are way, way better and I'll bet that good hollows are pretty versitile.
 
  I'm looking around for some good hollowpoint projos and maybe I'll try some of the CorBon and other factory hollow points.  That is if I can get my cheap self to spend that kind of money.  Who knows, maybe I'll get a chance to try taking a summer coyote with it.
 
  All that carbine praise said, I still think that a lever action takedown rifle is about the best thing out there for a 'traveling rifle'.  Broken down and stored in with the spare tire or some similarly out of sigh-out of mind location you have a rifle that's reasy to use and proven capable.

[mcwoodduck]

The other day I was looking at a catalog that had the wood stock holsters for the Mauser Broom handle and the Luger artillary models.
I was also looking at an add for a Henry AR7 survival rifle and was thinking it would be great to combine the two ideas with an AR plat form.
A small  piston driven 16" upper with thin stamped and perferated front hand guard, Folding sights, and a over sized stock that can house the lower, the upper and a fast attach to the pistol grip.  A pack that has space for the collapsed rifle, three or four mags, tools and a cleaning kit.  Space for water and some other items may not be a bad thing.
When I would travel for business from SF to Reno and the snow storms that sometimes pop up I would keep a 870 shotgun, ammo, cold weather hiking boots, and some supplies in case I was trapped for the night or two. 
I figured the Compact shot gun was a little more versitile in a stranded situation.