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Nathan Foster

For me, possibly the .30-06. I love my .308 hack but if I had to sell off everything including the long reaching magnums but still wanted to be able to shoot relatively long while having plenty of power for all situations, then the .30-06 would win out. I have built a few good .30-06 rifles now and while they do suffer more wind drift than the likes of the 7mm Rem Mag etc, they never fail to please.

Its always hard to say though. If we went Mad Max, then the .223 might be the better choice for ammo weight and stock piling, making every shot count. Jeff Cooper preferred a short barreled .308 - short and handy, ammo fairly cheap and I'll bet he stock piled a good amount of ammo. He was a fan of a bolt action as it forced the user to slow down and make shots count (his concern being a complete break down of ammo supply). I do like a short barreled .308- its my general go to, hence why I call it a hack. Jeff was preparing for WW3. The scout rifle was the result and we are still seeing a lot of these rifles with FAL type magazines.

I have a Lyman 310 hand tool for my .308. Its easy to make ammo on the go and I can use a range of powders if need be. I could also get by without scales, pouring 2208, 2209, 2213 or 2217 by eye if I had to. Loads would most likely be accurate, thats just how the .308 is.

So I guess the question surrounding one rifle, is how we intend to use it. Is it for survival?

I would think a good number of people would rate the .22LR as their one rifle for the sake of ammo stock piling costs and weight. This is what you might find in the cock pit of a jet fighter- well at least in days gone by. Bloody annoying having to get up close for head shots all the time though. Worse if you have to do battle with a boar at 1 yard because you thought you would creep up to that possum in the dark with the spotlight off, only to flick the light on and find you are face to face with a big tusker. Been there.

The main advantage of the .30-06 is a bit more reach and increased power with heavy pills for large game. If we take the survival element away, the .30-06 has great merit.

Steph took one look and this thread and then murmured "easy, .30-06" before carrying on with whatever she was doing. Women are so dismissive.