Whats the best general purpose rifle ? (hunting/home defence)?

On the undead side issue, M-4's are fine against ghouls and zombies and reasonably good against vampires (use wood bullets!), but very very poor on skeletons. Trust me, I know what I am talking about.

General purpose hunting rifle, Id pick a 30-30 lever action but like every one else has stated rifles would be a dangerous pick for home defense due to them being able to penitrate through your home and other homes near by.

If you have your mind set on a M-4 style weapon load it with 50 grain v-max hornady ammo (also called hornady tap ammo), these brake up quickly, this is what our SRT uses when clearing homes in the city durring raids. We tested these and found that they will go through on wall, braking up as they exit the other side and fragments will make it part way through the next wall. Walls were constructed using two layers of dry wall spaced with a 2x4, note the round was fired so as not to hit the 2x4.

Penetration is an issue, but one that can be addressed with prefragmented ammo. It is still a risk however. A shotgun is a better multipurpose tool. One other choice is a pistol caliber carbine. Yet again I would consider pregragmented ammo even with one of those for home defense. The Beretta Storm in 9MM or .40S&W is a good example of that type of rifle.

There are all kinds of pros and cons to various home defense weapons. Much depends on where you live. I live in the country with only one othe house in view and its about 400 yards away. I could get away with using a semi-auto rifle. But an apartment dweller had better think of something else.

Be careful here and do your research first.

Good luck

These are terrible home defense weapons. The have too much range and would go through an assailant and hit a loved one or neighbor. Unless you live on 10 acres in the middle of nowhere with no family, don't get a rifle for home defense.

The best gun is a 12 gauge pump shotgun. You can hunt with it and use if for protection.

EDIT: Also the 5.56 or .223 is a terrible hunting cartridge. A 7.62 is a better caliber. A .223 will only wound deer and is inhuman to hunt with.

44 magnum Ruger Carbine Deerfield model....why? short barrel, comes with a clip, semi automatic, great brush gun, and can be handled by a lady. My wife loves hers, and I borrow it every fall when I go out to bag a buck. It has great accuracy up to 100 yards....but close range, it won't be leaving much of a face on a home intruder....dead men can't talk, know what I mean? Just make sure you get the 180 grain ammo, not the 240, we don't wanna hit the old lady next door when we take out the loser who walked in without an invitation.

Rifles aren't for home defense. Most could go through a few walls no problem. A pistol has way less power, so unless you are defending your home agaist a pack of wild grizzlies,stick with that. A 30.06 is by far the most versitile hunting rifle - and consequently, very cheap to buy and shoot.

Shotgun

You can defend your self and hunt any thing with it.

And is fun to target shoot. Sporting clays or just skeet.

All around the most useful weapon.

All you need is a quality shot gun with a few barrels for the different applications.

18 ½ inch for home defense, rifled slug barrel for deer, and 26 to 28 inch with interchangeable chokes for all other hunting and target practice.

D58

i would agree a m-4 isn't what i would use as a home defense weapon unless i against the army of the undead. bullets don't make a big enough hole now take your trusty 12 ga that's got imitation all over just work the slide in the dark and some body gonna crap their paints

I agree, if you want a multipurpose weapon a shotgun is the way to go, if you want a hunting weapon get a rifle, if you want a home defense weapon get a pistol

Get an SKS. Everyone else has.