Rossi Rifleman

I know these sort of discussions can stray into zombie talk etc, but just wondering what folks choice of pistol calibre lever would be for SHTF? And SHTF means whatever you want, dealing with bumps in the middle of the night, bugging out, or even ammo and components drying up.

My choice is 38/357 just as its the most economical, you can buy a lot and carry a lot, and 38 special still has just enough oomph to put small medium game on the table. I know fellas though who prefer 44 for big game opportunities and also run subsonic 44's for quiet shootin as they feel it gives measurably more thump than a 357.

Feel free to have fun with the subject, deride or even ignore it.

I own both .357/.38SP and .44 Mag.
I like .44 Mag better but once you throw in the handguns it might be slightly better for .357.
I have plenty of ammo for either caliber set and reloading equipment and components for both.
I don't do a lot of downloaded .44 Mag although that is a possibility.

I don't much care for .44-40. There was and maybe is still a Winchester loading for the round that was marketed as a 1892 only power level but that sort of means putting it in a handgun might not be a particularly bright idea. Having to use steel dies and potentially having to pay more attention to trimming brass are other reasons I'm not keen on the caliber.

With .45 Colt the factory ammunition tends to be loaded to stout .45 ACP levels. In order to get the same oomph out of it that you get from factory .44 Mag you have to hot load it or buy specialty ammo. Nothing particularly wrong with that if you want to go there but it also means any handgun you put those hot rounds in better be able to handle them and there's a 50-75 year supply of handguns out there in the caliber that simply are not built for that.

.357 and .44 also tend to be more available rounds than either .45 Colt or .44-40. That's changed a little since several big box stores stopped selling ammo but neither .45 Colt nor .44-40 are popular enough that you can be certain those calibers are going to be on the shelf even at your local gunshop in normal times and during a political push like we are libel to have for the next 2-10 years or a Chinese biological attack getting either of those calibers may be problematic. Heck under those conditions getting any .357 or .44 Mag may be a problem as the manufacturers are going to be concentrated on 9mm, 5.56, .45 ACP, .308 in about that order and following on with .40 S&W, .357, .38 SP, .30-06, .30-30 and a dozen others before they get down to .44-40.

So I could go with either 44 Mag or .357 Mag in the 92 or Win 94 rifles.
I probably would go with the 5.56 AR or one of the .308s with a .45 ACP as a short gun.
The .308 has more oomph at range but the 5.56 tends to be a better zombie horde option.

Well said Archer, good poiints, I agree with all . When I got into 357 levers a while back, one thing that hadnt occured to me previously was the economy. Firstly 357 full power uses less powder than 223. Secondly 38 special loads are almost like having a stockpile of 22LR cost wise. 2-3.5 grains of powder, 2000-3000 reloads per can of powder, brass hardly wears out, I dont think the barrel ever would. A supply of lead and of course primers and you have something that shoots near forever.

I have never fallen in love with the .429 mag.

I like the .357 a lot but it is pretty lacking in many ways.

The .44-40 is a no go because rifle and pistol barrels usually have a large difference in diameter and require different loads.

.45 Colt is versatile and heavy but that would be my choice I guess.

I would go with the 45 Colt also. From round ball to 320 grains I think that will take are of any issue that I would need to sort out.
With 2-3 grains of Red Dot our RBs are very economical and quiet.
A 320 FN will ruin the day for anything it thwaps into.
Our standard load of 270 grains at 1000 fps will be well used on anything. No thinking.. aim and fire.
But we have a couple 357s around also so it is a none issue.

OK, your gonna have to define SHTF. The aftermath of a natural disaster versus the complete breakdown of civilization are gonna send me in totally different directions.......

You can make just about any centerfire cartridge work, as long as you have a reloading kit, bench mounted if you plan on staying at home, or a portable setup if you have to stay on the move.
Lee hand loader, lyman 310,etc.
In a worse case scenario, living out of a pack, having to hide and move frequently, One or two molds, small pot for melting scrap lead over a campfire, primers, powder, re loadable brass, Lee classic loader, etc.
For instance, lyman manual lists starting load for the 30-30 winchester, mold 311291,170 gr. is 7 gr unique, will give 1211 FPS for the 170 gr bullet.
Not a hot load, but will do just about anything you need up close.
7 gr charge will give 1000 reloads with one lb of powder, then throw in a small box of primers,(1000).
If you cant recover the lead bullet, be on the search for wheelweights.
I have made up round ball loads with 3 to 3.5 gr of bulleyes in my Ruger SBH, very quiet and accurate, and able to recover the round ball after firing.
3.5 gr charge would give you 2000 rounds with one lb of powder, with 7000 gr in one lb.
Elmer Keith wrote about an old mountain man that lived up in the montana mountains, back in the early 1900s.
Elmer said the old man had one gun, a broomhandle mauser, in the 30 mauser cartridge.
He said he killed everything from grizz to rabbit.
He would crawl to within 50 yds and take head shots, suicidal, yes, but he made it work.
The 30 mauser pushes an 85 gr bullet around 1400 FPS.
Ruger blackhawk 30 carbine can push the same bullet between 1900/2000 FPS.
Both well below the 357 mag.
With a proper reload kit, and being resourceful, you can make any of those cartridges work.
If i could choose between the 3 cartridges you listed, i would take the 45 colt, but any will work.

hard to make this call,, especially since I have all of the listed calibers.
I've shot deer with all of them.
if I had to make the decision it'd be the 44 or the 45 I treat them both the same, they share load data, they take about the same amount of lead.
the only real difference is I can use 40 short cases to make 44 bullets if I have to.

I think I'd go with .38/.357 too... I've owned my Marlin 1894 for 25 years, so its slicker that a slippery thing on ice.
While my Rossi 92 in .45 would stop anything in its tracks, its still a little clunky compared with the Marlin.

.38/.357 for me, I can carry more of them.