As much as I'm an advocate of the .22 Hornet (and a couple other oddball .22CF's), I would have to say in the event of an apocalyptic collapse a .223/5.56 anything would be my choice. With a gov't collapsed out of the way or trying to restore order there's bound to be tons of those cartridges laying around. I could be wrong. It wouldn't be the first time. But I would lean toward arming myself with some kind of really popular caliber that I stood a chance of finding anywhere, even though I would certainly take pains to provide myself with the "fixin's" to load my own, with cast bullets probably.
If I were "bugging out" (fat chance with my gimpy butt, and whereinhell am I gonna find heart meds out in the sticks anyway), I would probably just grab a .22 rimfire and a couple bricks of ammo and hope for the best.
