Safariman,
What do you actually want a rifle to do, as you're contemplating all manner of different platforms?
Fair question.
I am deciding if the CETME in my safe is the best thing to have on hand for the SHTF day we all hope never comes. It would be a plus if the rifle was fun to shoot and thusly often went with me on shooting days for practice.
At my age and current condition I am not going to be running or jumping much of anywhere so weight is a non factor so long as I can swing a second rifle light enough for my petite frame wife to use and shoot. So, I guess this search is for a stationary use rifle for keeping groups of bad folks away from my pretty wife and food/water/medicine supplies. The low liklihood of this kind of mess happening in my remaining lifetime means that if a rifle is accurate enough and has a trigger decent enough for a little hunting or coyote calling, so much the better.
With just a little bit of shooting, I have come to the conclusion others have mentioned in my other thread that my short barreled CETME is a bit too loud, and loses a bunch of the 7.62x51's velocity and power advantage with its too short barrel. As it sits, it is more of a really heavy and very loud 300 Savage. Not all that bad, but better is out there.
Last on my list of possible scenario's is the very low probability that we as a nation may be forced take back our country by force, and a good battle tested rifle is something that I think EVERY household should have on hand.
Better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it is my philosophy.
I do not have the money to buy examples of each of these and try them out so am VERY grateful for the knowledge and experience that has been shed here. As it is, might be a while before I will be able to snag my new choice and hope of an FN/FAL rifle. I was curious as to whether the SVD would be a decent choice and it seems as though this is not the case.
Truth be told, I would actually be pretty well served with a good running AR-15, but I like the cool factor and "oh wow, check out THIS bad mamma-jamma" factor in a rifle. As well, for big game hunting here the bullet has to be a minimum of .243 in diameter so being able to hunt some with this rifle is a plus for me.
My wife does not hunt, and is not of a frame makeup to be able to handle a 10-12lb 308 so she will soon be picking out an AR-15 with a GOOD reflex sight atop. She likes and shoots this platform much better than that of the M-1 carbine we had here for a while.
We both hope that these guns, like our daily carry pieces, are never fired because we HAVE to fire them. That every round we put through them is for practice, fun or putting game meat on the table. But still.......
Alright, first for some very cold water and to burst your fantasy.
If SHTF, you're dead and damned fast. Period; end of discussion. With your health problems you've laid out here, chapter and verse, you'd dead or incapacitated as soon as your pills run out or low. If you're on 90 day supplies, you have at most that long; 30 day supplies, at most that long. Murphy's law will dictate that SHTF not the day after you get a refill, though. So, you're a dead man and quickly.
Before that happens, you'll run out of food or water. I don't gather that you farm yourself, or that you live in an area where you're on a well. The water goes out; you're dead, because you damned sure can't get access to other water without exposing yourself and you're in no physical condition to be carrying water. That "pretty, petite little wife" of yours, that you love to brag about, is a target then and one you likely can't cover (you won't have fuel, and you can't walk that well or cover your supplies at home); unless you can cover her hauling water to/from the house, you're dead.
Even if you do engage groups trying to take what stuff you do have, how long do you really think you can hold out? Is your house in an area where you can see for considerable distances without any cover/concealment near it? Do you have a strong structure on the roof to hide behind and the ability to get to/from it without exposing yourself to cover the perimeter? Odds are, no, you aren't in a strategic position for defense, and you're a sitting duck.
I could continue, but please, just throw that "white hat, protecting his woman and home" BS right out the window. You're a very dead man, very soon, if SHTF and that "pretty little wife" of yours will have to fend for herself. You'd better be putting time and energy into shoring up her relations with her family, if you really think that SHTF comes in your lifetime. They MIGHT have a chance at protecting her; you don't have a prayer.
Hell, even if you did survive the first waves, you're dead when the meds run out, and there ain't a damned thing you can do about that, and nowhere either of the two of you are getting to before those meds run out that will be any better. If S really does HTF, there's no cavalry coming and no reprieve.
Now, with that out of the way, get two AR-15 lowers. Hers should be an M4 variant in 5.56. Set one up for yourself the same, as then she'll know yours as well as hers (they'll both be hers eventually anyway). If you want more horsepower for hunting, a second upper on yours is easy and you can run up to WSSMs through there.
Just concentrate on the plinking, varmint shooting, and maybe some big game hunting. SHTF is the last thing you should be considering, because you wouldn't last long enough to even get past the first splatter from the fan.
