[Blueduck]

and why...

[45King]

The gun that's most likely to be within easy reach when I need it is a sidearm...but that doesn't really make it more important than the long guns. There's so much a long gun can do that a pistol can't.
Use the handgun to fight your way to the long gun that you need.

[Sharpie1]

I consider all three types important, but if I have to run and get a gun really quick and get out of the house, it would be my 1911 - of course, if I had time I'd also grab my SAR-1 :D.

TD

[firestar]

For me rifles are toys and shotguns are tools but handguns are what I have loaded for protection around the house or for carry. I know a rifle or shotgun is more deadly but it is kind of hard to throw a SKS in your glove box or conceal a 12ga on your person when you go out to grab some smokes. Handguns are not the best choice but for most situations, they are all you are likely to have. I also enjoy shooting handguns more than anything else.

[Andrew Wyatt]

the rifle, because it provides capabilities the other types of weapon do not, while doing the jobs the other weapons do almost as well as they do.

[Braz]

Agreed Andrew,

Range, power and accuracy. Rifles do it all. Um, so why do I have all these pistols and shotguns? ;)

[WonderNine]

Pistol for versatility.

[Okiecruffler]

The most important is the one that I can keep with me at all times. Can't sneak a shotgun or rifle into the local Quicky-mart.

[Matt G]

The most personal weapon is a pistol.

There are very fine pistols out there that are executed beatifully in design and manufacture, which simply do NOT suit some people. They point wrong, feel wrong, shoot wrong, and just generally don't give a feeling of confidence to the person in question.

The next person may shoot it beautifully, and refuse to depend upon anything else. Hence the silly arguments that sometimes develop with the "What Is The One True Sword" discussions over in the Handgun forums. :) A pistol is so personal in use, that even two men trained in the same technique, on the same pistol, shooting the same loads at the same range, may shoot similarly-accurate groups-- at two different spots on a target with the SAME aiming point. I myself for the longest time have found that I shoot my father's 1911's a good deal higher than he does. They're sighted in for HIS shooting.

A carry pistol lives with you. It is snug in the waistband, in a pocket, in a jacket, picking up your body heat, pressing against you. It picks up your sweat at times. A carry gun gets handled and touched and racked and cocked and reloaded and unloaded and cleaned and dirtied more than any other gun I or most people I know have.

When I am walking through the streets of Dallas or Fort Worth with my family, I don't have a shotgun on me. I don't have a rifle on me. I have a little handgun on me, that I'm trying to keep concealed while at the same time desperately trying to keep accessible, to have ready as needed to protect my wife and kids. The gun I'm most likely to have to employ to protect my family is a handgun.

Can there be ANY DOUBT what is most important to me? :confused:

[WonderNine]

I understand what you're saying. My second favorite pistol in the world is the Beretta 92, but it just doesn't give me the feeling of confidence that the Browning Hi-Power does. I think I could be carrying any gun in the world and I'd still be thinking: somethings wrong, where's my HP! :(

[tlhelmer]

because I carry it more.

I only get my shotgun out for duty related problems. The rifle comes out even less.

[Baba Louie]

Protection?

Easy... handgun 1st, due to my location (city boy).

Pleasure?

Very difficult choice, but since I usually have one each (at least) of all three when I go out plinking, and I typically begin and end the range session with a handgun, I'd hafta choose the "Little firestick with loud voice".

Adios

[Ala Dan]

Greeting's Friends-

Well Blueduck, I think you already know that I prefer
handguns; due to the fact that you can swing
into action very quickly!:rolleyes: :) :uhoh:

Best Wishes,
Ala Dan, N.R.A. Life Member

[justice4all]

Handguns are handy, but rifles are required when the chips are really down. We haven't got to that point yet, and hopefully won't, but we are at the point where it's prudent to go about our daily business armed.

They are all extremely important to me, as are weapons it's difficult to own, such as machine guns, SMGs, silencers, etc.

[TechBrute]

That's not a fair question since they all have their own use, but my handgun gets the most use.

[longeyes]

Given current social conditions, my answer is a pistol (I have 1911s and Glocks and revolvers). Which? Toss-up: Colt 1911 or Glock 30. I also much prefer shooting handguns to rifles and shotguns. But in the fabled SHTF situation I'll make sure I grab a Mossy 12-ga and my Mini-14--if I can.

[Smoke]

SHOTGUN!

Secondly would be pistol, then rifle.

Surely the shotgun is the most practical of all weapons, defensive, hunting or games. Different loads do diferent things.

Always go to the gauge first.

[cool45auto]

Well, ideally it would be my SKS, but since I carry my Beretta all the time it would have to be pistol.

[jsalcedo]

It would have to be pistol. I am much more proficient with handguns and the portability is a great factor.

[benewton]

Gotta go with the "majority" on this one.

The HK USPc .40 is always just behind my right hip.

The M1A would be the weapon of choice, followed by the AR, but the best weapon is the one you have with you.

[Andrew Wyatt]

Surely the shotgun is the most practical of all weapons, defensive, hunting or games. Different loads do diferent things.


within its range and bulk limitations, perhaps.


it's my conenttion that a mini-14 or similar light carbine is every bit as effective as the shotgun at CQB distances, has lower recoil, and still allows one to reach out and touch someone at 300 ish yards.


that's something the shotgun can't really claim.


this isn't to say the shotgun has no place in one's battery, i'm just saying it isn't the most important to me, because of its range limitations and lack of versitility across the entire range of situations where i might need a firearm.

[Boats]

Which one did they drop on occupied France?

The pistol. With it I can go "shopping" for the others in the event of totalitarian government.:evil:

[sm]

1911
___

Granted ,with a shotgun if I can see it, it's down.
Rifles, let myself get rusty, last time out with an iron sighted model 70 in '06, not to bad out to 100yds. Scopes...poor boy...didn't warm up to something one never had, or got to use.

Pistol, been working on being like I am with the shotgun, what little hunting, been using the 1911.

how does it go...?
" with one of these I can get all of those I want"
" If I need one, plenty be lying around".

[Andrew Wyatt]

all of my weapons have iron sights.


dad's m-1a is scoped now, we used to have a scoped .223 semi auto with an acog on it, and the model 70 is scoped.


we still have the acog, but nothing to mount it on, and dad hardly ever lets me near his m-1a, and i don't use the model 70 much because i'm left handed.



I'm still young and spry, so i can use iron sights pretty well.

[Mastrogiacomo]

The shotgun is the firearm of my future but the Beretta compact will always be my most important gun. It's easy to use, clean and can be carried concealed. Can't do that with a shotgun.

[Standing Wolf]

I finally bought a rifle last winter, a .22 caliber bolt action Czech import. I still haven't managed to get around to buying a shotgun.

I'm a pistoleer.

[mdsteele]

A handgun.

Because I can hit with it at a decent range(100 yards)and conceal it.

[5ptdeerhunter]

Its the shotgun for me. You can use different loads for different situations. You can hunt, defend and scare people very easily. The handgun would be second but the shotgun takes first by a long shot.

[Stevie-Ray]

I love all guns, but the most important of all guns to me will always be a handgun, and that handgun will always be a 1911.

[cratz2]

I well understand the benefit of shotguns and they certainly have their place, but if I had to get rid of one major type, shotguns would go first.

I can't really imagine not having a few rifles but if it came down to it, I'd probably keep pistols over rifles. Handy self protection and all...

Or maybe I should just take up a form of martial art and keep the rifles. :p

[ArMa]

my Super X2 for versatility: trap legue, hunting, and home protection??:D

[Ivanimal]

357mag for home defense, since I have a small child a shotgun would not be practical, yet. If I could only have one my Mini 14 would get the nod. Fast, reliable, accurate if you keep pullin the trigger and following your target.:D

[michiganfan]

Handgun. Concealable.

[Cosmoline]

Rifle first, shotgun second, handgun a distant third.

The rifle is far more powerful, accurate, and reliable than a handgun, so there's not much choice for me.

[Archer]

If we look at this in the context of firearms as emergency tools, the for me, personally, "importance" is defined by:

Accessibility
Effectiveness

The firearm must be accessible, and one must be effective with it when it is needed.

For me, my personal "fire extinguisher" of choice is the 1911.

My general attitude about my gun safe is that "it's a toolbox, you use the right tool for the job at hand".

Which is why we thankfully have so many choices...

[BigG]

We are historically a nation of riflemen, and I think that the rifle is first among equals with the SG and handgun also being muy importante. Just my two sense. :)