[Terry G]

If I was survival hunting, not SHTF, I would opt for a full choke semi-automatic shotgun. Slugs carried for Deer or pigs. Shot for feathered or small furred game. Hunting the shoreline of a river or creek will produce some edible game year round if you do your part.

 

[nikto]

silenced AR and .22 unit, with subsonic .22 ammo, will still do better, cause of the noise factor. Best figure on traps, snares, fish poison, bird lime, nets, trotlines, and the gun is just incidental as you 'run" your lines. Also, know and transplant/plant useful "wild" plants and use a plastic sheeting greenhouse to extend the growing season for your sprouts, Half of your diet has to be of plant origin, anyway, long term, or you'll get bad sick. Some of the vitamins and a lot of your fiber can only come from plant sources. So the gun choice is small potatoes. I'd never bother to own a shotgun, cause they are too limited in what they can do. wtf would you want to scare off every critter within 200 yds of you, every time you pop a dove or chipmunk (which often IS the only score available, day in and day out. Shotgun is wasted on such critters. and it also aint likely to get the prairie dogs, chucks, etc at even 50 yds. you'd better NOT have your survival depending upon hitting running or flying game. That means you're way too un-prepped/inept. The shotgun would be a very poor choice vs dogs, coyotes, raptors, etc, which need to be removed from your area, cause they are eating animals that YOU need to eat.. It's also not worth a hoot on lizards, frogs, snakes, etc, but the BB qun quiet .22 unit and 223 silencer is just fine on such stuff. Quite often, such critters are not commonly found enough to be worth carrying a gig, or slingshot for catching them, and practicing enough with such to be so capable. But 60 gr subsonic 22lr's are 100 shots to the lb, and the carbon fiber AR and .22 unit start out weighing 2-3 lbs less than the 12 ga. So, 250 rds to the good, right from the gate. When you pop some bigger critters with 223, and fair sized ones with .22lr (and brain hits) 50 rds of 223 and say, 500 rds of .22lr, along with the traps, sprouts, nets, wild plants, etc, you're going to be able to feed yourself for decades. To do the same, just hunting with 12 ga, you'll need to move around a lot and you'll need 100 lbs of 12 ga shells. more like the "thinking' and knowledge level of a 12 year old kid (from the city).

also, practicing with the shotgun doesn't make you a better fighter with the rifle. Practicing with the .22 unit in your fighting rifle, however and having a silencer on that rifle, DO make you a better fighter, cause you learn to hit FASTER. The shotgun handles so differently that using it is somewhat UN-training you as a rifleman. you learn to "slap" that shotgun trigger and that's bad news for you as a rifleman.

 

[Terry G]

silenced AR and .22 unit, with subsonic .22 ammo, will still do better, cause of the noise factor. Best figure on traps, snares, fish poison, bird lime, nets, trotlines, and the gun is just incidental as you 'run" your lines. Also, know and transplant/plant useful "wild" plants and use a plastic sheeting greenhouse to extend the growing season for your sprouts, Half of your diet has to be of plant origin, anyway, long term, or you'll get bad sick. Some of the vitamins and a lot of your fiber can only come from plant sources. So the gun choice is small potatoes. I'd never bother to own a shotgun, cause they are too limited in what they can do. wtf would you want to scare off every critter within 200 yds of you, every time you pop a dove or chipmunk (which often IS the only score available, day in and day out. Shotgun is wasted on such critters. and it also aint likely to get the prairie dogs, chucks, etc at even 50 yds. you'd better NOT have your survival depending upon hitting running or flying game. That means you're way too un-prepped/inept. The shotgun would be a very poor choice vs dogs, coyotes, raptors, etc, which need to be removed from your area, cause they are eating animals that YOU need to eat.. It's also not worth a hoot on lizards, frogs, snakes, etc, but the BB qun quiet .22 unit and 223 silencer is just fine on such stuff. Quite often, such critters are not commonly found enough to be worth carrying a gig, or slingshot for catching them, and practicing enough with such to be so capable. But 60 gr subsonic 22lr's are 100 shots to the lb, and the carbon fiber AR and .22 unit start out weighing 2-3 lbs less than the 12 ga. So, 250 rds to the good, right from the gate. When you pop some bigger critters with 223, and fair sized ones with .22lr (and brain hits) 50 rds of 223 and say, 500 rds of .22lr, along with the traps, sprouts, nets, wild plants, etc, you're going to be able to feed yourself for decades. To do the same, just hunting with 12 ga, you'll need to move around a lot and you'll need 100 lbs of 12 ga shells. more like the "thinking' and knowledge level of a 12 year old kid (from the city).

Guess what? I've done it. For a week, granted. I said it wasn't SHTF. I lived fairly well on Ruffed Grouse, Squirrel, Rabbit and the occasional Channel Catfish. Only bought vegetables and Fruit. It wasn't easy, and I wouldn't want to live that way, but I did it.