12GA or M4/AR15

[SMS]

Sabot slugs need a rifled barrel to perform with any form of accuracy past 25 yards, which absolutely destroys shot patterns to the tune of 36" patterns @ 15 yards. So if you have a rifled shotgun barrel you have a slug shooter and that is it, in other words a rifle.

How do you figure that? I can swap barrels in my 870 a whole lot faster than I can my M1A. With a slug barrel and a bird barrel, I have much more than a rifle.

The OP said one gun to 'rely' on...that means one gun to do it all in the field and on the street not on a gun range.

Guess we all do have to agree to disagree.

 

[GREGO]

Man...this post really got some good discussion going. You all have very good points, but I still hold strong with the 12ga.

As far as what I meant in my opening thread...more or less, just one long gun platform, be it the 12ga or the M4/AR15 (.223) platform...that had to do all roles and be all things.

 

[ldp4570]

I'll bring up the point of ammunition availability. During the last mad rush on ammo, the only thing that wasn't scarce was 12ga. You could find it over just about everything else, from slug to birdshot, just about anyone selling ammo had 12, 20, .410.

 

[GREGO]

I'll bring up the point of ammunition availability. During the last mad rush on ammo, the only thing that wasn't scarce was 12ga. You could find it over just about everything else, from slug to birdshot, just about anyone selling ammo had 12, 20, .410.

That is a pretty good point!

 

[NikatKimber]

So, which situation are we "relying" on this gun in?

1) SHTF, you have time to grab a gun, ammo, and run for it.
Which do you grab, the 12ga shotty, or the .223 semi auto?
In this case, you have one barrel, most likely only one choke, and more than likely, only what ammo you have presorted in the go bag, or whole ammo boxes.


2) Normal situation, but you can only own one long gun (ie parts of europe where the number of guns owned is limited).
Which do you choose to own, the 12ga shotty, or the .223 semi auto?
In this situation, you can have multiple barrels (or complete uppers for the AR), and whatever ammo you please.


I have to say that in scenario 1, if it played out like that, only one gun, ammo, run for it, I can't really say which I'd grab. As neither is more versatile with 1 barrel. The 12 ga can take more game using one barrel if one has multiple types of ammo with them, and a slug designed to be effective with a smooth bore barrel; however, ammo is heavy, loading is slow, and range is limited without the rifled barrel. The .223 is more effective at longer range, but is limited on what you can kill effectively with it. Given enough accuracy and time, you could take any game with it, but where it would lack is stopping power if you were attacked by a large critter.

In scenario 2, the only cause of this I see is legality, in which case you are limited to one registered receiver. Now, the 12ga gains a lot of versatility, you can add an 18" barrel for defense, rifled barrel for long range/ hunting, 28" barrel for birds, etc etc. However, the ".223" AR gains far more versatility. We have all seen 6.8/6.5 uppers based on the standard 5.56 lower, and even the .50bmg single shot upper on the standard lower, why not make a 12ga single shot upper?

However, in my situation, if case 1 came to play, I would grab an AR, and my wife could grab a 12ga shotty, both grab ammo. And "one size fits all" situation avoided.

If this is going to be a long term SHTF scenario, you are going to be taking your 4x4 up to the hidey hole in the mountains anyways, so why not grab both again?

The real answer here though, is this: if you are thinking about this now, you should have already worked out with your neighbors / fellow gun nuts, which of you will bring an AR, and which will bring a 12ga, so you don't end up with all one gun.

 

[zseese]

In normal every day life, if i could only have one type of long gun, it would be a shotgun. of course i am more of a paper puncher than a hunter(have no moral qualms with the sport, just never do it) so i like the shotgun platform as i can put a scoped, rifled barrel on a maverick and shoot groups and then put a long barrel on to bust clays, and finally put a 18.5 inch barrel on it for easy maneuverability during home defense situations.

same for SHTF scenarios except replace targets and clays with BG's...

 

[KurtM]

In light of the above, it would heavily depend on where you live. Here in the south and in the east where most shoots are close a shotgun would be the best choice, I agree. If you live in the desert south west, west and north west where almost all shots are "across the canyon" a rifle will be the choice, even a .223 rifle, although I don't know many that would purposely pick a .223 when the platform is "legally" just like and AR-10/FAL/M1A

Which brings us to point # 2 If we are regulated (like Europe) to "just one gun" it sure won't be an Ar or any other type of "Assault weapon", or even more likely any type of Semi Auto rifle anyway...so once again the shotgun more than likely will be the ONLY choice

 

[grwd]

How do you figure that? I can swap barrels in my 870 a whole lot faster than I can my M1A. With a slug barrel and a bird barrel, I have much more than a rifle.

The OP said one gun to 'rely' on...that means one gun to do it all in the field and on the street not on a gun range.

Guess we all do have to agree to disagree.

Why would you want to swap a barrel on an M1?

 

[SMS]

Why would you want to swap a barrel on an M1?

I wouldn't want to...point was a counter point to the post about a shotgun with a rifled barrel being only a rifle, and therefore a actual rifle is better.

Simple barrel swap and my 12ga is much more versatile and 'all-around' than a rifle, which is the point of the thread.

12ga can be a shotgun and a decent range rifle...a rifle is always just a rifle.

 

[mmchambers06]

They make .410 ga. uppers for the AR-15....