Some fun: One gun to do everything!?

In a desire to get back from politics a bit, and discuss the subject of self defense with a little bit of fun thrown in, I thought I’d give some thoughts and see what others had for thoughts as well, of what you might pick if you could only have one.

If I could only have, or afford, one single firearm, and had self defense and even carry in mind, what would it be?

Well, for me, it would be a good 6" .357 magnum. with the runner up being a good 10.mm auto.

If I can’t have both a rifle and a side arm, and self defense, carry, and home defense are concerns, yet I also want to hunt, and be able to shoot at some kind of distance, the .357 can do it. All of it. But to get that, you do give up things too, versatility usually means there is a purpose built tool that will do any one job better, and that is true here too. A 6" .357 magnum is not a rifle. But I can shoot it out to 200 yards effectively ( no, not hunting deer, you need to be within 100y for that ) and yet I still have an nicely affective short range defense tool that can fire mild 38.special rounds if I wish, that can be carried like a hand gun, and, even carried concealed with some care. The 10.mm loses out, in my choice, due to accuracy at distance. The accuracy of a good 6" revolver can be quite impressive, something I have yet to find an auto capable of matching, especially so with off the shelf models of reasonable price.

With speed loaders, and a quality trigger from a good manufacturer off the shelf, the .357 revolver makes a fine self defense choice as well. If you can stand full power magnum loads it has one of the best records as a defense round out there, but +P 38’s are nothing to sneeze at out of a 6" barrel either!

So that would be my choice for what I would want if I could have only one firearm that had to cover anything I might need. What would be yours?

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Only one? I’d go with Staccato XL or EDC X9L.
These are the most universal tools for me with most situations. They shoot well between 0 and 100 yards.

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If I was a 9.mm guy, I’d really like that Staccto XL ! niceeee!

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Cool topic, thanks for bringing it up. I don’t hunt (and am hoping we don’t have the zombie apocalypse and have to start) so my gun of choice would be for self defense and on range fun. I’d pick the Sig P229 in .40 which I own and love. It is totally concealable and very accurate. One I don’t own that might take the place of the P229 is the P220 in 10mm, DA/SA with the hammer release.

@DS-1, I’d love to hear if you have used the P220 10mm with 5" barrel with accuracy testing at distance? I’ve had a lot of experience with the Glock 10mm and it was pretty accurate at 50 yards, but I now lean towards Sigs since I’m not required to carry a specific gun/model.

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No,@Shepherd, I have a Glock 20, it’s actually pretty good even out to about 150 yds. ( the furthest I have had a chance to try so far ) It did quite well, but was distinctly less accurate than the .357, which I think is just the nature of moving barrels and shorter sighting radius. As for Sigs, I have not had a chance to try one. Fit to hand is a key for me, and they were one that never seemed to fit my hand.

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Any 1911 .45 acp manufactured by Bill Wilson, Les Baer or NightHawk.
Accuracy, reliability and stopping power (with the notion, that only hits count).
Straight forward answer, because I was brought up with a 1911 in my hands and they just fit and feel perfectly, any other pistol in my hands would be devastating for me. That 6” 357 in my hands would not practically get the job done.

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Thanks @DS-1, the Glock 20 was what I had to carry for a while. Fit is why I love the Sigs, though I know they don’t feel right to a lot of people.

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Paul Harrell has a video where he compares the 10.mm to the .45 auto. At the end of the video he shows 10.mm JHP compared to .45 auto FMJ, on the meat target. Suffice it to say your .45 would work!

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For me the one gun that I have that would be considered a do all gun that I could carry is my P320 X-VTAC. The factor for me is the red dot option.

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I understand. We put a red dot on a target 22 pistol, it made my wife say shooting it felt like cheating it seemed so easy! Nice gun by the way, I’d not seen that model before.

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Thanks. The red dot does make target acquisition easier. Especially with trigger time training with it. They say red dots on a pistol is the future. I’m old, I still prefer iron sights. :+1:

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One gun to rule them all?

These conversations are always fun. I gonna go with a lever action 30-30. It would stop everything around where I live and personally if it’s come to only having one gun, I doubt we are living in the country we are today so concealing anything wouldn’t be a concern for me.

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My G43X w/Shield Arms 15rd mags as my EDC. If I had to pick for looks…Kel Tec KSG or DE 50AE.

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I am with you on the .357. That is why I have one myself. I have thought of a henrys .357 lever action too. marry to two together that way I have only one type of ammo to buy when I can find some ammo. I have also my .45 1911 and have thought of a AR style .45 but I would have to build it to the specs that I would want it. I would want a 12 to 16 inch barrel on it. I ponder upon this a lot but, I have not ever come up with what I really want to do.
This is a really good idea for people to ponder about. Deciding is the hard part for me.

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Change it to you get a rifle and a pistol, I’d go with .357 all day. I already try to own as few different calibers as possible.

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I do have a companion lever action .357 rifle to go with the hand-gun. It takes the round to a whole new level fired out of the longer barrel, especially if the right powder is used. Tests compare it very favorably with the 30/30 on deer on or about 100 yards too. Some think it’s the sectional density of the bullet that helps that along. The rifle shoots 38. specials too, makes it like shooting 22 but better. On top of it all it’s the fun shooting was always supposed to be.

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The first gun I ever bought, was a 6 inch Ruger GP100, for the very reasons you stated. Home defense, hunting, and with some wardrobe adjustments, concealable.
It’s the first gun I ever bought, and the last gun I’d ever let go, even from my cold, dead hands.

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we are of like mind, and like revolver, as it turns out.

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Does this have to be something I can actually afford, or is this pure fantasy? My answer depends on that.

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Why not both? But reality / affordable was the intent. Something we could all actually do in real life.