Outside of my Glock 19 that I carry daily and my AR15, the next most useful (or perhaps more useful from a pure utility standpoint) is a suppressed .22. I've used mine to take out numerous pests such as field mice and chipmunks as well as for the mercy killing of an unfortunate rabbit that had made its home in a pile of brush that I burned, and I only learned of his presence when he attempted to hop away half-scorched. From a hunting perspective, squirrels and rabbits are plentiful for food. From a societal collapse standpoint where the grocery store is no longer a viable source of meat, I've even heard of countless whitetail being taken with .22lr. I've never done it and there are certainly more "ethical" calibers to shoot a deer with, but in that situation, it's more about what "can" be done and stealth may need to be prioritized over other things.
So, at this point I'm of the opinion that a suppressed .22lr is at least as useful as a good knife as a piece of kit; especially for a longer-term survival proposition. My question in the matter really comes down to platform. On the one hand, squirrels and rabbits are small critters and I've certainly found real value in the 2-7 Leupold I have mounted on my 16" threaded CZ bolt action .22. However, carrying another long gun presents another set of undesirable circumstances. A suppressed .22 pistol is certainly compact, but irons can be limiting. I've found an RDS to enhance the range of my G19 and wonder of the same would be true of an RDS-equipped 22/45 Lite (or similar). Still, the RDS doesn't have quite the ability of the 2-7 scope in picking out prey animals that are naturally camouflaged.
My currently-owned options are as follows:
-S&W M&P22 (the original, not compact). I swapped out the crappy factory sights for a set of real steel sights off an M&P 9. I have a Bladetech holster for it and holsters are convenient because it fits in standard M&P holsters. I've used it as a utility suppressed gun as well as a rimfire trainer for working draws and such. It's been exceedingly reliable.
-S&W M&P15-22. AR Platform, upgraded with a Timney trigger. Reliable and commonality with AR controls are its pro's. Can break down for travel if need be. However, 16" barrel + suppressor gets pretty long. Currently it also wears just a cheap red dot. If I were going to make this the "go-to" option, the optics would need to be upgraded.
-CZ 452 American cut to 16" and threaded. Beautiful rifle, great trigger, my most accurate .22lr, wears the aforementioned 2-7 Leupold. It's a bolt action, which makes it quieter and potentially "more reliable" but is also slower to operate and then the magazine capacity is only 5.
-Ruger 10/22T cut to 16" and threaded. Beautiful rifle, great trigger, my second most accurate .22lr, currently not scoped. Semi-auto, 10 round flush-fit rotary mag is boringly reliable. Opportunity to run higher capacity 25rd mags. Big downside (in the rifle category other than length) is weight.
I guess there are a couple questions here:
1. pistol vs rifle
2. optic (rds vs scope)
I guess there's a part of me that's strongly leaning toward something like this:
Please discuss.
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Originally Posted by Guerrero
