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hit versus someone dying in a crackhouse three days
later. Let's just say you can't always afford to wait for an
attacker to die of sepsis later on down the line. However,
the .22LR is likely the most underestimated and dis-
missed round in all of modern history.
It’s not hard to see why. The bore of the gun that shoots
.22LR is well below a ¼ inch. The mass of the projectiles
themselves is similarly underwhelming, with a usual
range of a mere 36 to 40 grains. While heavier loadings
are available, they usually are hard to find and cost more
when they are. However, this article isn't about why the
.22LR sucks, but instead how it can be best utilized.
Ideally, we’d have a bug-out setup with a larger rifle
and pistol caliber, with the modest .22LR caliber serv-
ing as a quick game-getter. But the world is full of ideal
imaginations rather than real situations. There may come
a time where a .22LR becomes a primary caliber instead
of solely relegated to a secondary position, and you may
be in that situation right now as you read this piece.
Also, if you have bug-out pals and friends with larger
calibers on-hand, the utility of an excellent .22LR in the
form of a quality long gun shouldn’t be immediately dis-
counted. Not every situation requires the use of 7.62x51.
First and foremost is the cost and physical size of .22LR
ammunition. While ammunition prices continue to climb,
even in the worst of times the cost-per-trigger-pull of a
.22LR is significantly less than its full-size brethren. It also
takes up little space, and 500 rounds (or more!) can be
comfortably carried in a cargo pocket — try that with
5.56mm!
The killing power of .22LR is also vastly underestimat-
ed. There’s no getting around the fact that your average
.22LR shot causes less physical damage than something
of a larger caliber, which just means that your shots have
to be far more careful.The Ultimate Bug-Out .22LR
What we built for this article was absolutely not
everything you’d need. In fact, we went the opposite
direction and decided to fully kit out a .22LR rifle in order
to determine what was necessary and what wasn’t. Spar-
ing no expense, we basically built a racecar in order to
determine where your money would be best spent for a
daily driver.
After all, you can dial back some capabilities, but you
certainly can’t ramp them up. Here we’ll go through all of
the aftermarket parts and discuss their usefulness.Receiver & Barrel
For this build, we chose to go with a Ruger 10/22 founda-
tion. Not only is this rifle one of the most common .22LRThe stock is nice,
but ultimately
too heavy and
weighed down
with downsides
for a bugout gun.