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Lena wrote:....however 70-80 rounds from an M60 did the trick very well.

Unfortunately, the .308 I was carrying at the time was a Remington 700 with a 4 round magazine, and a rate of fire considerably slower than an M60!

warpdrive wrote:

The Annoyed Man wrote:But for someone who has just a few acres, say 10 or so, an M1 carbine is still an ideal gun. You don't have to worry as much about terminal ballistics outside of your property lines, and the gun is light and handy enough to walk around with it, without feeling like you're hauling around a big chunk of rifle. And the cartridge is certainly up to anything you're going to have to deal with inside the confined spaces of a small property and its outbuildings.

Have you ever seen a bull jump a fence?

No, but I've been chased out of a pen by a Santa Gertrudis bull. I was inside the pipe stall, and then I was outside of it. I don't believe that I touched metal with any part of my body, and the bull never harmed a hair on my head. Near as I can tell, I instantly beamed myself from one spot to the other. On that day, that was my superpower.

You're right, a .30 carbine is insufficient medicine for a bull that jumped the fence. But in that case, an AR15 probably isn't enough, and a .30-30 or AK might not be enough either. I once hunted a friend's lease, and hiked my way to the blind while it was still dark out. The neighbor ranch's nilgai water buffalos had a habit of knocking down the fence and wandering onto the lease. I was carrying a .308, and my friend told me before I departed to climb a tree if I ran across any nilgai and had any trouble, because the .308 wasn't going to be enough rifle.

So, what are you going to carry for a truck gun then......a Barret .50?

I think that M1 Carbines are pretty neat little truck guns, but I'm too attached to mine to carry it. It's in near-pristine condition, and it was a gift from my son, commemorating my dad. But it I had an old beat up one that I didn't care that much about, it would be a good choice. It seems to me that the modern love affair with either 9mm carbines (or carbines in other pistol calibers) and carbine conversions (that convert your Glock or whatever into a carbine) is a bit of an attempt to recreate the handiness of the M1 Carbine. Unlike some, I don't discount the .30 carbine round as a "pistol caliber". Just because you can buy bolt action handguns chambered in .308 Winchester, that doesn't make .308 Winchester a "pistol caliber". The .30 carbine cartridge was designed from the ground up as a rifle caliber — albeit a weak one when compared to other rifle cartridges. On the other hand, it was absolutely perfect (as was the gun it was designed for) for it's intended purpose of engagements at relatively close quarters.

So whether or not it makes a good "truck gun" today kind of depends on what your possible uses might be. If you're intending to be able to pot coyotes across a 200 yard bean field, then it's not a good choice. If you're intending to kill hogs inside of 25-50 yards, then it's a possibly acceptable choice. If you're intending to stop a burglar or someone trying to steal your horse out of your barn, again, it's a perfectly acceptable choice. Personally, I think that the only common sense "general purpose" truck rifle would be one of intermediate caliber, which disqualifies the M1 carbine, and explains the overwhelming popularity of the AR15, and the continued popularity of anything chambered in .30-30, or 7.62x39. My guess is that if manufacturers had continued to make M1 carbines for public consumption in greater quantities post-WW2, they'd be more popular today than they are, and the ammo would cost a whole lot less than it does and be a whole lot more available than it is. In fact, I think that the Ruger Mini-14 / Mini-30 gained in such popularity in part because it filled the vacuum that the M1 carbine left behind.

But for someone who has just a few acres, say 10 or so, an M1 carbine is still an ideal gun. You don't have to worry as much about terminal ballistics outside of your property lines, and the gun is light and handy enough to walk around with it, without feeling like you're hauling around a big chunk of rifle. And the cartridge is certainly up to anything you're going to have to deal with inside the confined spaces of a small property and its outbuildings.

parabelum wrote:I like my Mosin M44. It's ugly and has a pretty stout round, plus a folding bayonet for zombies . If all else fails, it's sturdy enough to be used as a bat or a hammer...plus, I only paid $250 for it.

Not to say that my AR pistol is left at home a lot, but my m44 is a permanent truck gun.

EODgunner wrote:The M44 sounds like a good option to me. I really think you have to justify how much money you are comfortable with throwing out vs how far of a shot you will commonly have to take. If funds were limitless my truck gun would be a Barret 50bmg, but instead it's a marlin 30-30. Hahaha

Yeah, but parabellum got hosed. My Mosin was only $175, and it's even longer and has more wood on it, for use as a pole-vault when crossing streams, or setting fire to my neighbor's hedges.

For now, mine is a Ruger Gunsite Scout, topped with a Vortex 2.5-10x32 Viper PST. However, on Friday (tomorrow), I pick up my new Marlin 336BL .30-30. We'll see. I love the Ruger, but for a simple but effective truck gun, the Marlin may take its place. Or not. But choice is a good thing, isn't it?