If you could only have one gun, what would it be?

[Grand Torino]

Well if you're talking about a breakdown in society I'm going with a 16" barreled AR with lots and lots of mags. May as well put the evil black "assault rifle" through it's paces.

[peejman]

Tough call.

 I can't decide.

How about "if you could only have 10?"    

[musicman]

As for those thinking about a 30-30, whaddya think about a lever 357?  More capacity, and can get darn close to 30-30 power with the right 357 load.  Easy to reload for, and can scrounge both 38 and 357 ammo when you come across it.  

Personally, I'd be picking a semi auto with capacity, most like any AR variant in 556 or 308, but I do like my Marlin 1894 in 357, too.

[up2snuff]

Just one is a pretty abstract thought for me. I prefer to pick the tool based on the job. Based on what is going on today I would pick my PA-10. The .308 is a good all around hunting round. The high capacity semi-automatic capabilities could be handy in other situations.

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[Wingshooter]

1 hour ago, Pete123 said:

Really interesting responses. When thinking about the question, it didn't occur to me that people would use pistols as their choice.  It makes me realize that we all had to make some assumptions.

My assumption was more toward thinking about society breaking down, possible civil war or the US changing from a democracy to a dictatorship.  I don't view our society as stable to the point that those can't happen.  Also, I thought about being able to hunt.

A lot of folks made different assumptions and opted for concealed carry.  

I'll also have to say that a lever action rifle covers a wider set of variables that I thought 

1 hour ago, Pete123 said:

Really interesting responses. When thinking about the question, it didn't occur to me that people would use pistols as their choice.  It makes me realize that we all had to make some assumptions.

My assumption was more toward thinking about society breaking down, possible civil war or the US changing from a democracy to a dictatorship.  I don't view our society as stable to the point that those can't happen.  Also, I thought about being able to hunt.

A lot of folks made different assumptions and opted for concealed carry.  

I'll also have to say that a lever action rifle covers a wider set of variables that I thought about.

 A civil war scenario would have me leaning more towards an AR with 1-4 scope and multiple mags.

Just a general situation where I can only have one... I'll stick with my 30-30 lever choice.

[nightrunner]

Lots of different situations here, and no one answer for them all.

 

For general use, I stand by my model 27.

 

If it's end of the world and I have to go looking for the fight, AR no doubt.

 

Also, do we get to have accessories? If so, that effectively makes the AR an everything rifle. From cqb(SBR upper) to standard carbine, to long range(6.5 Grendel upper), subsonic(300blk), small game(.22lr) short range large game(.458socom), even single shot bolt action .338lapua mag and .50bmg. All this off from one lower receiver, which is technically the gun. Swap uppers, optics and even stocks relatively easily and parts are everywhere. Only thing it doesn't do is shotgun and concealed carry.

 

If the world is still somewhat civilized like present time, hard to beat a Glock 19. Pair it up with the aforementioned AR and accessories, and there's not much you can't do.

[Caster]

I said a G19 but didn't have time to elaborate.

In and around my little area, there is really nothing i cannot accomplish with it.  ESPECIALLY if I were to invest in a mectech kit for it.  It'd still only be one gun BUT, I really could accomplish anything [within reason] with that.  

As a pistol for carry and defense.  Swapped to a carbine with a can on the end, I could hunt anything, Including deer.  It would require some strict self discipline but killing a deer ain't hard and doesn't require a cannon.  I can get within 25 yards of deer around here all day.  A suppressed Glock carbine with a +p loaded 147g Hornady XTP to head at 25-30 yards will work every time.  

Step over to a 120g 356402 over 3.0g of Nitro100NF will just barely cycle my Glock.  It would take bunnies and squirrels all day without destroying them.  Yeah, that's illegal but not in the context of this conversation.

124g +p+ Winchester Ranger takes care of any potential two legged problems.  

Even in today's market I can cast and load 9mm cheaper than most .22 rimfire.  Brass life is excellent when you stay out of the +p loads.  

Despite the bigger is better crowd, we all know shot placement is a thousand times more important than caliber.  I can shoot my Glock satisfactorily.  

No one can argue Glock's reliability.

Who cares if I scratch it?  It was ugly as sheet to begin with.  

For less than a hundred bucks I can fill a couple of Sucrets tins with all the parts that could EVER need replacing in my lifetime.  

 

I could go on for a while.  

 

 

The only other thing I would consider any better would be a Glock in .40 with a 9mm conversion barrel and proper magazines.  That is only for the versatility of more than one caliber.  

Edited June 25, 2016 by Caster

[TGO David]

Glock 19.

[Bassoneer]

Glock 19

[Johnny Rotten]

Simple a M16 

[btq96r]

5 hours ago, Pete123 said:

My assumption was more toward thinking about society breaking down, possible civil war or the US changing from a democracy to a dictatorship.  I don't view our society as stable to the point that those can't happen.  Also, I thought about being able to hunt.

In that case...

An AR.  I'm going to use the limit of technicalities and count the lower receiver as my one gun, swapping my SBR and 16" uppers as needed.  It's not cheating from your "one gun" guidelines since that's what the different uppers are used for.  A .300BLK upper with a suppressor would be nice too, but since I don't have one yet, I'll limit myself to what I can grab from the closet and roll with at the moment.

[gregintenn]

False premise....ain't gonna happen.

 

If I had to, I could get by with my first gun. An H&R Topper model 058 with two interchangeable barrels; a 30-30 and a 20 gauge barrel. It'll pretty much do it all.

[Oh Shoot]

35 minutes ago, btq96r said:

In that case...

An AR.  I'm going to use the limit of technicalities and count the lower receiver as my one gun, swapping my SBR and 16" uppers as needed.  It's not cheating from your "one gun" guidelines since that's what the different uppers are used for.  A .300BLK upper with a suppressor would be nice too, but since I don't have one yet, I'll limit myself to what I can grab from the closet and roll with at the moment.

Or an AR rifle with .22LR conversion bolt. Or make that a 10.5AR pistol that in WROL environment becomes a SBR.

- OS

[hipower]

Although not my favorite pistol, the Glock 19 would be a good choice for dependability and durability. I do like musicman's thoughts on the lever action rifle though.

[glowdotGlock]

I only carry 9mm but if I could only have one gun it would have to be a 10mm G20.

[NextExit]

First of all, I'm not a "what if" person.  I'll cross that bridge "if" I come to it. 

But I'll play along on this one.  Like others have said, it depends on why I have to choose one gun.  Zombie apocalypse? Desert Eagle 50.  Civil war, the Chinese are coming, etc?  AR-15.  The gov't says we can only have one gun?  Glock 29SF.  I'm moving to a country like Belize that restricts guns to nothing bigger than a 9mm? Bersa Thunder 380.

[vontar]

With all the 12ga responses, I wonder if people are considering the availability adapters to make 12ga shoot any caliber. 

 

http://www.gaugemate.com/

 

http://www.selfrelianceoutfitters.com/shotgun-adaptors/

[Oh Shoot]

46 minutes ago, vontar said:

With all the 12ga responses, I wonder if people are considering the availability adapters to make 12ga shoot any caliber. 

 

http://www.gaugemate.com/

 

http://www.selfrelianceoutfitters.com/shotgun-adaptors/

But you're limiting yourself to single/double barrel shotgun only for your "one gun".

- OS

[vontar]

Not http://www.gaugemate.com/   check out their video.  expensive. 

 

 

But not my choice.  Just tossing it out there.

 

[Oh Shoot]

16 minutes ago, vontar said:

Not http://www.gaugemate.com/   check out their video.  expensive. 

 

 

But not my choice.  Just tossing it out there.

 

Oh, okay. I just happened to look at a couple on the last link you posted, it said no pump or semi-auto.

- OS

[bubbadavis]

On 6/25/2016 at 3:36 PM, Pete123 said:

A rifle and a pistol are two guns.  As they famous line from a movie, which I can't remember, says, "There can only be one"

Highlander http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091203/?ref_=nv_sr_1 

They even had a TV series based on the movie at one point.

[k9wh91984]

AKM rifle 7.62. After ammo runs out I am gonna loot from the fallen so probably AR15 5.56

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[FJCrusing]

Glock 20.  Can use for personal defense and hunt with it if SHTF. 

[superduty]

On 6/25/2016 at 3:36 PM, Pete123 said:

A rifle and a pistol are two guns.  As they famous line from a movie, which I can't remember, says, "There can only be one"

Highlander is the movie.

[Smith]

It's a tough call. AK is my first thought. Preferably my m92, but any would do.

I would also take my .357 lever action. Simple, fast, easy to carry and can load for big game with .357 or load way down for small game with .38spl. Add to it that every state should have plenty of these rounds available and since revolver carries are more limited shouldn't be as hard to find ammo as the other semi auto main calibers. Pretty easy to reload as well. Just a thought.

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