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M1A: Too Outdated for Self-Defense, or Best Bug-Out Gun Ever?

Meh, maybe I will just skip all the fooferall, geegaws and sich and just go light. Grab ma blanket roll, ma knapsack, ma shooting bag, Hawk, knife, 58 flint long rifle, a couple extra bars of lead to run ball, a few flints and maybe an extra horn er two of powder. Maybe toss in a side of bacon and some parched corn, and go longhunting Fer a spell.

If I see anyone I will ask if they have any news of a feller named Kenton or Boone, they will think I'm a bit touched and run away...
 
I am on a farm with lots of wild game, creek, and a fishing lake, a good well, diesel power generation, and a homestead I can defend. I am not bugging out to anywhere and my M1A (among other options) gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling. Not that I am worried about Armageddon in my lifetime, but I am prepared for long range, intermediate range, close range, and CQB distances should the need arise. Terrain and location play an important part in your preparations.
 
Based on the simulations below I would expect a mass exodus of citizens from those affected areas. If the various levels of gov't were not able to provide food, shelter, and medical assistance life would become a nightmare. If you were raised in the 50s and 60s you can remember when communities had designated areas that were equiped with supplies that could meet basic needs for a short period of time. There are very few shelters still in existence today probably because the chances of surviving a blast of the magitude of today's nuclear devices is low, and the future would be bleak. Might be we'd really only need one gun and only one bullet. :(


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HayesGreener said:
I am on a farm with lots of wild game, creek, and a fishing lake, a good well, diesel power generation, and a homestead I can defend. I am not bugging out to anywhere and my M1A (among other options) gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling. Not that I am worried about Armageddon in my lifetime, but I am prepared for long range, intermediate range, close range, and CQB distances should the need arise. Terrain and location play an important part in your preparations.
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I have acreage in the middle of nowhere but I don’t live on it. It’s 2 hours south of me. I could defend the property I live on. For awhile.
 
I have wanted an M1A Scout Squad for years. As much as I want a Scout Squad, it would not be my first choice for "bugging out". It's nothing against the rifle or platform, but I think the AR-15 would be better for the situation in which I would most likely find myself.

I have no doubt that the M1A is an excellent bugout gun, I'm just not willing to declare it to be the "best". I'm not convinced that there is a "best" bugout gun. I would assume the bugout gun that would be best for each shooter would be dependent on multiple variables (i.e. training, location, age, physical fitness, etc.).

I would most likely be moving from an urban area to family land about 75 miles East of my home. The AR is lighter, has a higher capacity, and I already have a portable stash of replacement parts, ammo and components. If it were truly a TEOTWAWKI situation, I would be most concerned about 2-legged predators that I might encounter on the journey. I would not be too worried about taking large game because I would have access to several bolt-action rifles and shotguns when I reached my destination. YMMV.
 
Normally I would say 5.56 mm however now days you may run into those with armour vest of which a 5.56mm does not fair as well. The Taliban knew, you have to shoot the US military in the head to bypass the body armour. Lucky for the US the AK is not known for it's accuracy but a Taliban sniper is a different animal.
Even the US military in now using a 6.8mm hybred as a squad weapon because they run into others using armour vest.
 
If weight isn't a concern, then yes its a viable Bug Out Rifle. Weight is or should be a prime concern in all of one's Bug Out gear, according to the "experts," and if we assume that statement is true, and considering I've backpacked it all over the Colorado Rockies, and can very much attest to the fact that weight is a top consideration, then I would say No, it's not the best option due to its weight, and that it's not easily broken down for transport. ARs have the advantage of being lighter weight, and being capable of breaking down for easier transport and storage. The weight of how much ammo one will need to hump it over the hill is also a consideration, and must be factored into the calculations.
Though I make no claims to being a Firearm expert, 50+ years experience of backpacking and climbing all the 14ers in Colorado, makes me more than a novice at packing gear to survive, and I've no problem saying every extra pound counts against you, and overestimating your ability to carry that weight for days on end, is a recipe for failure.
 
Assuming I use the AR15, and assuming I don't want to use 5,56, I would go with 7.62x39 as a reasonable caliber. I have about 5000 of those little pills. They are still fairly easy to find. They Are not much heavier. I can always have a friend with an AK47 come along and still be single caliber. Make the AR a pistol, and you will have reduced the weight quite a bit as well.

Lots of good thoughts from all of you. And lots of take aways.

Being in my 60s with a wife who wouldn't be able to do the cross country running, I would most likely stand my ground. Fortunately, I'm in a community that would, most likely, band together.

Truth is, you're more likely to survive with larger numbers working together.

While I love the idea of "running through the jungle with my M16", I'm no longer that lean, mean, fighting machine that I was 40 years ago.

Having said that, defending my home, family, and friends is a different story.

Here i would have my choice of rounds and weapons. I have the high ground, sufficient open area, space, reinforcements, and the armory to back it up.

Real life may not allow the bug out scenario. But you can still do what you have to.
 
Bug out? Bug out to where? Do you have a place to bug out to? For how long? Unless you plan on bugging out in a U-Haul, you can load only so much in a car or pickup and bugging out will only get you so far. You may have access to only so much gas and then you may have to abandon your vehicle before you reach your desired destination and after that you can only pack so much ammo, food, clothing and shelter before that will eventually be gone. Best bet is to stay home, if at all possible. Home is a known defensible location and you can store all the supplies you need and it is good shelter for the long haul.

Granted, this won't work for everyone, but you need to carefully evaluate you particular situation and be brutally honest in assessing your situation, abilities and capabilities before you decide on which bug out gun is best.
 
Best Bugout Gun Ever


If I had to pick one or the other I take the M14. If I got my choice I'd pick an M1 carbine.

The reality is if it came down to bugging out there really wouldn't be any place to go.

I read the book World War Z A couple of years ago. It was one of the best written books I will never read again I've ever read. 6 months after I read that book I was still waking up at night screaming from nightmares.

Anyway, there is a chapter in the book about a family who lived somewhere in the mountains. Somewhere in the Rocky Mountains (I think Wyoming or Montana).

Their home was high enough in altitude that the zombies couldn't reach them 9 months of the year because the temperature was below freezing.

The home was built in such a manner that it was well defensible they had plenty of food they were at home and their stupid father decided to take off and move the whole family North to almost the Arctic Circle. Because when the temperature gets below 32 degrees zombies don't generate body heat and they freeze solid.

To make a long story really short nobody had any food. They started out by cutting down all the trees and having huge bonfires. They fished with dynamite and they wiped out all the fish and everybody started starving. And they didn't have wood for fires and people started eating each other.

There's lesson in there if you look for it.

As for a nuclear attack, I'm looking up my living room window at Cheyenne Mountain. If there's ever a nuclear attack all I will see is the beginnings of a bright white Flash and then it'll all be over.
 
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Tenbones said:
Bug out? Bug out to where? Do you have a place to bug out to? For how long? Unless you plan on bugging out in a U-Haul, you can load only so much in a car or pickup and bugging out will only get you so far. You may have access to only so much gas and then you may have to abandon your vehicle before you reach your desired destination and after that you can only pack so much ammo, food, clothing and shelter before that will eventually be gone. Best bet is to stay home, if at all possible. Home is a known defensible location and you can store all the supplies you need and it is good shelter for the long haul.

Granted, this won't work for everyone, but you need to carefully evaluate you particular situation and be brutally honest in assessing your situation, abilities and capabilities before you decide on which bug out gun is best.
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I agree, though I admit it took me a couple of years to come to that same conclusion. At first, I jumped all aboard the Bug Out Train, but then common sense and reality finally raised its head. That our BO location was no more secure than our home and the reality of old age and arthritis that I can't walk that far without severe pain, let alone walk that far carrying 60+ (and I do mean +++) pounds on my back.
Since that time, we've moved to a small rural farming community to help our son with the Grands after he and his wife split. It's actually a better location than the old one. Plenty of water nearby, less than 300 people in the hamlet, and his house was built before electricity came, so it wouldn't take much to return to candlelight, woodburning stoves, and a cold celler for food storage. No crime in the area to speak of, and the neighbors are all of a similar mindset, of sitting it out and defending the community.
Far worse places to stay or be that's for sure.
 
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