All around homestead gun to hang above doorway? | Homestead Security | Forums

I am looking for a rifle to hang above our front door that will...

a) be visually pleasing for the wife

b) be a good functional firearm for reaching out to 150 yards max

c) be easy to sight

d) has the ability to be suppressed in the future

e) can take down yotes, deer in a pinch, and be able to deter a bear

Sounds like a fun list of requirements, right? We live in the middle of our 20 acre wooded parcel on a meadow. Line of sight to the farthest part of the field is 150 yards. I built a nice AR with a lightweight freefloat handguard, put a red dot on it, and mounted a 300 lumen light on it. Thought it was the perfect gun but there was some miscommunication with my wife -- she would NEVER want that rifle hanging above our front door. That rifle was then sold to help purchase our first tractor.

Now I am looking to buy/build something much cheaper that can look good hanging on a wall but also be very functional on the homestead. I was thinking of a Marlin 336 in 30-30, or a Rossi or some other in 38 special/357 magnum.

A rail on top of the levergun would allow a red dot to be added if I felt it needed. Something like this from AR15.com...

or this but with wood...

http://www.ar15.com/.....038;page=1

I then got to thinking of how I want to suppress whatever I get, since my Silencerco 22 SS Sparrow suppressor has changed the way I shoot. I hear 357/38 special suppresses very well and can reach out to 150 yards, so what do you think? Also, would a ranch hand be completely silly? I think it would make a good compact package. We can't do SBRs in Michigan so I could never put a regular stock on this.

Another option would be building another AR but possibly in 300 Blackout for suppression. It would be .30 cal and take out any animal I am looking for although my wife would only be OK with me hanging it on the wall if I used wood furniture. Not sure how I feel about that and it would end up being an expensive build.

Something like this, but in carbine length handguards.

Thoughts? Sorry for the long rambling post.