Though a handgun may not have the capabilities of a shotgun or rifle it does have the indispensible qualites of portability and concealability. Self defense is the use I'm looking for in whatever my single weapon is, any other use is secondary. Out of what I have right now, a Glock G34 or G17L would be my choice. High capacity, the longer slide helps me shoot them more accurately, very robust & reliable, easily repaired by even an unskilled operator and it's 9mm chambering it is adequately powerful for most needs I would have for a gun, falling short only for legally harvesting deer size game.
Any single weapon will have a shortcoming in some areas. The thing is to realistically prioritize what your needs are and select your weapon accordinly recognizing what tradeoffs you've made.