sloughfoot
Grandmaster
Turn on your ELT and i will come get you. I'll bring a ham sammich.. And a bottle of water.You are way over thinking this. Stop into GWB to meet FTF. Hot coffee is always onA couple of points so far:
As to the weight issue, my wife and I are both sport pilots, and as such, severely limited in weight. Currently the max gross is 1320 pounds, and by the time you add an 860 pound airplane, fuel, two people, well, there isn't much room for much else. And someone said to "lose a few pounds", well, we already did that :P Collectively, wife and I have lost almost 120 pounds in the last year. We're not giving up on losing more, but we would love to be able to carry more stuff with us that we just can't.
I totally do realize that most GA accidents are pretty much due to stupid mistakes (flying into IMC, CFIT, fuel starvation, that sort of stuff) and my wife and I are daytime VFR only at the moment (sport pilot). This is not to say we're not going to do something stupid, but yes, safety is a huge factor for us.
I've seen some recommendations for other calibers (i think someone was talking about being able to take down animals in AK) and right now our "back country" flying is mostly going to be camping trips in IN and the surrounding states. So really the only uses I can think of at the moment is to take small game and as a signaling device (I grew up always being taught that if your stranded and people are searching, 3 shots = distress). Definitely not worried about taking down a moose or bear (maybe an angry bobcat, lol).
Surprisingly the Ruger 10/22 Charger appears to be fairly heavy for its size. From the factory it is slightly over 4 pounds, and seems to go up from there. The idea of a 10/22 takedown and getting a stock that i can file down in places to shave weight might have some merit, i will have to look into that some. Also, I really like this Aero Survival Rifle, though it seems to be fairly heavy as well. Might be a great little backpacking rifle....
Thanks for all of the ideas so far. Airplane isn't quite finished yet, so I'm stuck renting planes to go fly which is getting expensive, so I'm trying to get it done asap :-D