...Just One Caliber

[The_Armed_Therapist]

There are thousands of these "what if" questions on the web; and while it may be cliche and silly, I still rather enjoy hearing peoples' unique answers. I'm sure this one's been asked MANY times.

So, my question to you is this...

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

Obviously, it will be quite a stretch in one way or another, but this caliber would have to fulfill as many practical or conceivable roles as possible. No, I'm not thinking of one, I just like to hear peoples' thoughts!

 

[56hawk]

Tough choice between 9mm and 40S&W. Mainly because my most important use for a handgun is concealed carry. Guess I would say 9mm since it's the biggest caliber I can comfortably pocket carry.

 

[Swing]

.45 acp.

 

[youngda9]

3 5 7 m a g n u m

 

[JRH6856]

.357 Magnum

 

[Buzznrose]

Gotta think 9mm due to availability/cost of ammo. .45ACP second based on cost alone.

 

[Manson]

If the thinking is availability of ammunition then 9mm. For me a stock pile of .45.

 

[B_Li_Ber_Tar_Ian]

357 mag. In a revolver it's good for black bear and down. Also really handy in a carbine.

 

[igousigloo]

22 long rifle

 

[357 Terms]

357 MAG! no doubt about it.

 

[jeepnik]

Gotta go with .22lr.

 

[Nushif]

I swapped to shooting only 9x19 for about three months once and bought a set of reloading equipment. It was probably the best thing for my handgun skills I've ever done.

 

[Midwest]

.22 lr Small inexpensive and plentiful. Many firearms are available for .22lr, from rifles to all sorts of handguns.

 

[allaroundhunter]

.45 acp

 

[rswartsell]

another .357

 

[Teachu2]

.45 acp

 

[jackpinesavages]

.22 Magnum

 

[ColeK]

.357 Mag

 

[ApacheCoTodd]

No doubt for me, .357 preferably in a Dan Wesson. Load it up, load it down, change the barrel, change the grips.
Lightest .38 wadcutter to compressed ye-hah rounds in .357.
Target, hunting, plinking or self defense.
Load on the cheap, never worry about brass and melt wheel weights for fodder.

 

[Walking Dead]

9mm

 

[Plan2Live]

.357

Too bad it's not a poll the .357 line would be long indeed.

 

[hariph creek]

.357mag loaded hot, loaded light. Pretty versatile all the way around.

.22lr is a very, very close second. Probobaly the best, practical, choice.

I could argue either side.

 

[BCRider]

At some point setting an arbitrary limit becomes impossible. It would be like saying "there's too many sizes of nails and screws on the market. We're going to reduce it to one size for each... Get used to it."

It ignores the fact that you can't shoot big rounds out of really small guns and you can't get solid ballistic performace from small rounds in the first place... at least not solid enough to not blow apart a small gun or make it totally unshootable by mere mortals.

Then there's the idea that it woud remove .22LR from the handgun picture. And to me the cheap joys of shooting inexpensive ammo makes this a "Crime to Humanity"...

I know it's been done to death but we really can't make do with less than three calibers.

One would continue to be the lowly but universal .22LR. The other two could be some blending of big and small. The small I see as being something that sits within the .32, .380, .38Spl and 9mm range which is suitable for small to medium weight guns. The round would likely be rimless but the guns would come in both semi auto and revolver suitable for this "small average" round. The larger option would be a balance between .40, .357Mag, 10mm, .44Spl and .45ACP. Guns for this large average round would range from medium to full size. The cartridge again would be rimless but suitable semis and revolvers would use them.

We would need to dump what we already have to have to achieve this conversion. But the chances of folks melting down their old guns to convert over are somewhere between slim and nil. So all it would accomplish is to end up with two MORE calibers to add to the "vegtable soup".....

 

[newfalguy101]

gotta be different

.44Mag

Anything the 357 can do the 44 can do and then some...

second choice would be the .357

 

[rcmodel]

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

It would have to be a revolver for maximum load flexibility from meese to moose.

A .22 RF/.22 Mag convertable would be the most generally useful.

Depending on what part of the country I lived in?

A centerfire would have to be either a .38 Spl/.357 Magnum?
Or a .44 Spl/.44 Magnum if bears and big game hunting were in the cards.

rc