I was looking at what Classic had on their website and was liking one the other M1As they had down the page. I have bought from them but was wanting to support the LGS. Not a web company or a box store.
Edit: probably like most of us here, I am feeling like something is about to kick off. I don’t know what or when. I only want a man stopper with some reach to it.
Maybe if I am lucky and played my cards right I’ll be called up in the air to meet my Lord. In that case I could leave a nice horde of stuff to be found by some unlucky bastage whom might need it.
I agree Brother.
I base my PLAN on my terrain. (1) huge tree out front way left of center.
Driveway off to right. CKG from all front windows. (10) ft wall out back. cactus all over.
Footlockers in every front room (as I mentioned 75’ to street). At that distance
I am good to go. I may meet GOD… although he may have to let me in the back gate
to avoid a scandal 
. I knew I wasn’t going to live forever (actually surprised I made (62).
So every day after has been a joyus and wonderful blessing and I am grateful.
Warriors weren’t trained to retire.
For home defense and SHTF scenarios where I could only have one rifle I would probably go for an AR15 ideally with one of those .22lr conversion BCGs.
As @Nathan57 pointed out the Louis and Clark expedition had some of the best hunters in the country in an area with comparatively few people and much more abundant wildlife than today and they quickly ran out of food. In a SHTF scenario today I would give it one maybe two months tops before all the local game was completely gone. There are going to be a lot of starving survivalists out there who thought their rifles would feed them.
I did mention in another thread that .223 is not ideal for taking a deer. But in forested eastern US terrain where you often don’t get long shots it can do the trick in a pinch if you happen to come across a deer. But again you would be better served by having a couple 5 gallon buckets of beans and rice n the pantry. But .223 is a solid defensive caliber that lets you carry a lot more ammo for the same weight than .308. Plus with a .22lr conversion kit you could hunt small game which might last a couple weeks longer than the large game. And .22lr is almost weightless compared to .308.
Having said all that I do own a Tikka Tactical bolt rifle in .308 as my elk/deer rifle. It has a 10 round magazine (not legal to hunt with in some States but there are 5 round mags for it as well). In the dystopian anti self defense crowds dream world where semi autos are banned this would be my less than ideal but better than nothing option. Mossberg, Ruger and some others make similar options.
A bolt action can be run pretty quickly. They will stay running a lot longer than the average semi auto is you don’t have support. Canadian Rangers that patrol the outer reaches use bolt action rifles. I have a 20" 5.56 bolt action rifle that takes AR mags. I also have a bolt action rifle in 7.62x39 that takes AK mags. I can hit very well at 300 yards with either. Our club has a 300 yard range so I know what my guns will do.
Being chambered in .308 it can fire civilian .308 and military 7.62x51 NATO. This gives you two sources of ammo. I used the M-1 in the service and to me the Garand is, as George Patton so eloquently put it, “The finest battle weapon every devised.” That said, I have the Mossberg and really like if if I can’t have an M-1.
Ruger sfar has my attention. I have an M1a Scout and Ruger Precision in .308, and that sfar (small frame AR) looks like a definite contender if going the semi auto route.
Big differences in .308 ammo, one of the strengths of that caliber.
My thoughts exactly. Great minds think alike.
Just for shooting a vulcan 50 bmg. I have shot one before next to no recoil because of rifles mass and heavy barrel. Punch a 2 inch hole in 3/8 plate steel.
Roger that. The Brits have an exercise they call the “Mad MInute”. When the .303 SMLE rifles came out, the mad minute was used to prove the rifles were very fast action. The exercise was 1 minute of time, 300 yards on a 6 inch disc with iron sights. Soldiers who were very practiced could do 30-40 hits. I have a .303 SMLE No. 5 mk1. My best when I was a young man with good eyes was 28. Old fart I am now I could probably do 15-20.
During the British campaigns in the Indian theater, they had squads of just a few guys with these rifles who would lay down suppression fire on an area so a larger force could get in close. The small squad would shoot from one position for a few minutes then pack up and move a few hundred yards away and start all over again. Captured enemy soldiers thought they were under assault by a larger force with automatic rifles.
My old .303 is buttery smooth and lightning quick. Getting hard to feed though. Ammo is getting scarce, hence my desires to upgrade to the Mossy. Easier to feed.
Just as a reference to your comment. 31 rounds, 4 mag changes in one minute. WHOOO…
CRPF INSTRUCTOR FIRING 31 ROUND IN 1 MINUTE HITTING 30 TIME’S ON TARGET BREAKING TAMILNADU’S POLICE PREVIOUS RECORD OF 29 ROUND’S. KUDOS TO PAL SAHAB…
If he could get rhose mag changes down better he could get more rounds off. Dad had an old 303. Don’t know what happened to it.
The first thought that came to mind reading your post was the Ruger SFAR, as has been mentioned here already. It’s a 308 but not in the big AR-10 platform, instead it is in the lighter and smaller AR-15 frame. To get the long-range benefits out of the .308 you are talking heavier bullets than are usually found in bulk ammo, and you are also talking about hand loading. In light of that, a bolt gun hardly seems worth the trade-off for the better long-range accuracy when bulk ammo is not up to that.
Having started out in long range with the .308, and having had a hunting rifle in .308, If I were to be addressing the situation you describe, (at least the way I read it), I’d be out buying an SFAR. (about 1,100 dollars), leaving money for a sight or LPVO.
Just one more opinion for what it’s worth.
P.S.
ON AR-10’s or the other large frame .308 semi-auto rifles.- Before the advent of the Ruger SFAR, I tried out a few like the M1A, and they were what convinced me of the value of the 5.56 — that is to say, big, and heavy! I thought, “I’m going to carry this, and ammo?” maybe, but not very far!
If I can’t, or don’t, get a 6 ARC, then my runner up for single all round rifle is the SFAR. In good hands they even do ranges well past what you mentioned, with factory ammo.
Cool video. Stripper clips would help out immensely.
Watch the shooter’s right hand. The technique he is using is typical when using a short action rifle. A shooter can pull the trigger with either middle finger or ring finger and his index finger and thumb never leave the bolt handle.
My first 308 is a Palmetto AR10 Gen2 with 18" stainless barrel. I’ve since put a scout scope and offset red dot on it.
My second 308 is a Palmetto AR10 Gen3 with some nicer factory options, I have a bipod and 6-18x44 scope on it and eventually a can.
My third is on hold pending the distributor can get some in stock, a Mossberg MVP as someone also mentioned earlier and I plan on adding a Vortex Scout Scope.
All 3 will use the same type of magazine.
The Gen3 will be for my basic precision rifle, the Gen2 is the bug-out/battle rifle, and the scout is a light pack rifle…
I’ve got the 5.55 Mossberg MVP patrol. Haven’t shot the .308 version… strengths of my 5.56 are accuracy and stock trigger was really good. Weaknesses are lack of replacement parts. I want a higher tension striker spring, can’t shoot harder primered ammo, but can’t find one anywhere. Bolt is real loose, no issue for me, but loaning gun to a couple left handed friends was nerve wracking. Bolt has a scoop to catch rounds out of the AR mags, a potential weak spot, and again, no spares anywhere. My trigger failed, fortunately got a drop in Timney…
I’ll happily challenge 31 rounds in 1 minute with my AR style rifle. 
Which is the most likely rifle to face opposing the bolt.
bolt action id say savage or tikka, semi id probably say PTR honestly, just because i love g3 pattern rifles lol or theres plenty of different ar10s out there, or you can build your own. i couldnt do a m1a in that price range, id have to have a Fulton armory, and you arnt gonna find one for less than $3k. maybe a FAL
Granted, any semi-auto will spit out more lead than a bold action any day. That is a given. The kicker of the mad minute, though, is not just how many rounds you can get off in a minute, but how many rounds you can get on a 6-inch target at 300 yards using iron sights. It gets a bit more challenging that way.