Minimalist Gun Collection

Status
Not open for further replies.
Minimalist to me means the the least number that will still let me participate in the shooting activities that I find interesting & enjoyable. When I was a poor broke student back many moons ago I had the following:

-Ruger Super Blackhawk .44mag 7.5" for hunting and also home defense w/.44 specials.

- S&W 642 .38+p+ for CCW

- Remington 870 21" Special Field 12ga w/ improved cylinder choke for shotgun duties.

- After awhile I discovered CMP shoots and had use of a club owned M1 Garand.

- Lastly, towards the very end of that period I finally got a .22, an S&W M41 5.5". A long time coming, but it was the first really higher end gun I ever got & reflected the fact that I'd finally finished school and was making a decent wage.

Those guns served my needs & interests, which were primarily hunting & personal/home defense and some target shooting for the best part of a decade. All eventually were sold or traded off for various reasons, some good, some dumb, as my interests expanded or changed and I had a few bucks to indulge in exploring different guns.

If I were to assemble my minimalist battery today my needs & interests have changed and expanded somewhat, so the guns are a bit diferent:

- Glock 17L 9mm, target shooting & home defense are now my primary interests, haven't hunted in years.

- Ruger SP101 .357 for CCW, not as nice to carry as the 642 but shoots MUCH better. This will likely change to an LCR to have the best of both worlds.

- FN SLP 18.5" 12ga w/ ghost ring sights & screw in chokes. A more capable & efficient defensive piece. It can also serve for hunting should I want, though it's not so great for wingshooting.

- Rock River national match flattop AR in 5.56 with a Trijicon 3x9 in a QD mount. Can still do CMP shoots and other target, plus varminting too. Shoots better than any Garand I ever tried and I find it to be a far more useful & versitle rifle.

- Ruger 10/22 Charger w/ Eotech, .22lr. With the M41 gone, this is my .22 of choice these days. The Eotech is far easier to sight with than irons nowadays and I've done pretty good work with with the little Ruger out to 100 yards.

- And an addition, Browning Cynergy O/U 12ga. I've become more interested in the shotgun sports and find it serves my needs well.

From 5 guns to 6 these days, but all needs covered and still able to participate in the shooting activities I enjoy the most.
 
You're finding that Accupoint to work well for you? I find mine useful for snap shots, but less good for precision.
 
JShirley said:
It is impossible to have an "absolute minimum" battery that includes both a .22LR and a shotgun.
Click to expand...

I see your point, and I won't argue it strongly. I suppose I could delete the .22--as long as I can reload to create some plinking loads for the rifle and handgun using a powder like Trail Boss. But I don't view the .22 as optional because of its economy and utility. I rarely (but sometimes) hunt with a .22; rather, it is for inexpensive target shooting, introducing new shooters to the shooting sports, and other pedestrian activities for which the other three (.30 caliber rifle, 12 gauge, and .357 revolver) are overkill. Yes, it's in there primarily for "fun," but I consider "fun" part of the equation.

Edit: The .22LR can also be more effectively suppressed than the other three, which adds to its utility.
 
Last edited:
I'll hop on the short list wagon...
30-06 bolt action: big game
.22 LR (rifle): target practice/small game
12 gauge semi-auto:upland game, waterfowl, bear/home defense, backup big game
.44 Mag wheel gun: personal defense against anything in N.A.
Ought to cover it for a minimalist...
 
Thinking of some general guidelines, I came up with this:

Handgun-A handgun in one of the following common, affordable calibers: 9mm, .40, .45, or .357 Magnum. (Current or former military or police calibers.) Gun should be big enough to permit holding with all digits, yet small enough to conceal. (No subcompacts or 8" barrel revolvers.)

Rifle-A rifle in one of the following common, affordable calibers: .223, .308, or .30-06. (Current or former military or police calibers.) It really should be scoped, unless one has magnificent eyesight. Must be capable of good accuracy. (At least 2 MOA from a bench, generally.) Some locales might not permit the use of .223 for deer hunting, so it is a less than ideal choice there. (It is legal for deer where I live, and there are no moose, elk, grizzly bears, etc here.)

Shotgun-12 gauge is the obvious choice in a shotgun. To be versatile, it ought to have traditional stock and be capable of running anything from target loads to buckshot loads to slugs. (To be affordable, this generally means a pump.)
 
I personally left out a handgun. A handy carbine can cover self defense/hunting fine and a 22 rifle for efficient small game hunting.
 
centerfire handgun
centerfire rifle
12 gauge shotgun
.22 (rifle or handgun)



I could get by with this. Some others may even feel they can do without one of the above. I probably would pick a rifle for the .22, but I have always liked rifles better anyway and that's just me.
 
Minimal:

2 .22LR (redundancy for this essential)
.308

Here's another scenario:

You're allowed 500 rounds of ammo. Pick your own length of time that has to last for. You can have as many guns as you want, you don't have to own them now just pick them. But only 500 rounds. How do you allocate the ammo by type and what guns do you select?
 
Jorg -- Moving this from Rifle Country to GGD as it seems more suited for GGD. Not sure how 14 guns is very minimalist though...
Click to expand...

Excellent point.

In most households, one single gun is their minimalist. For women, I have seen .38 specials and .380s. For men, I have seen .357s and 9mms. And for some of both I have seen .22LR revolvers.

My own minimalist would be a 45ACP together with several loaded magazines and extra boxes of ammo.

Sometimes others will ask me how many guns I have, and when I say 4, they say "wow that's a lot." So everything is relative. One scoped hunting rifle, one shotgun, one revolver, and one ACP is not a a lot.
 
I think you can cover all reasonable needs with four guns:

a centerfire rifle for big game
a rimfire rifle for small game, practice and instruction
a shotgun for home defense and wingshooting
a J frame S&W revolver for CCW and defensive use

If I had to I could eliminate the shotgun, but as a primary home defense weapon it's hard to beat.
 
1.pocket pistol or revolver (S&W 442)
2.full size pistol or revolver (Kimber Super Match 2)
3. .22 target pistol (Kimber Rimfire Super)
4.big game rifle (Kimber 84L .30-06)
5..22 rifle (Ruger 77 .22)
6.battle rifle (Les Baer Super Match)
7.shotgun w/ 4 barrels (Mossberg 930, Turkey,field,slug,defense barrels)
This is as minimal as I can get and still be able to do everything I want to do with firearms.
 
Y'all got me thinking about covering all situations in N. America, assuming some situations may be less than optimal. More of a wish list.

Marlin 1894CSS .357
Ruger Sp101 3" .357

Henry Survival AR-7 .22LR (or Ruger 10/22 Takedown)
Ruger Single-Ten .22lr

Ruger M77 Hawkeye Laminate Compact .308

Rem 870 Special Purpose Marine Magnum
 
JShirley said:
You're finding that Accupoint to work well for you? I find mine useful for snap shots, but less good for precision.
Click to expand...
I have the amber mildot version, not the triangle and like it very much. It is by far the nicest scope I've ever used.
 
Remington 870 with short and long barrel
Semi-Auto Pistol (I'll take a Glock 22)
.357 Mag Revolver
Remington 597 (or 10/22, if that's your preference)
Marlin 336 30-30
Remington 700 in 30-06

Find me a job that needs doing that you can't do with those. I know someone will say you need a "battle riffle". I respectfully disagree. You WANT a battle riffle. Except for a very very few people, if there is a situation in which you need 30+ rifle rounds.... you should run. Save the money on the tacticool stuff and buy backups for the weapons that you actually need. Redundancy, at least when it comes to tools, isn't a bad thing. I heard this somewhere and really like it: 'One is none. Two is one'.
 
Woof. That's easy. It would suck, but the decision isn't all that difficult.

2 guns: Remington 870 (Food/Primary defensive gun) and Autoloading pistol (to get me to the shotgun)

50 rounds for the pistol, 450 for the shotgun (100 00 buck for defense and 350 assorted as is best for the game that lives around were you live). I'll sacrifice the rifle, if I run into a sniper in NC, so be it.
 
IMHO 14 isn't near enough. Sure if SD is all your worried about 2 or 3 might get you by and maybe another 2 or 3 to cover hunting. But my situations has me shooting many different shooting disciplines of competetion.
CAS/SASS
main match battery takes 4 guns
2 SA and a lever in the same caliber and a shotgun.
side matches add another 3
a derringer, a pocket pistol and a long range rifle.
USPSA and 3 gun take at least 3 pistol rifle and shotgun.
IDPA has 5 classes
You could have a 357 cut for moon clips and shoot both ssr and esr and use a CZ 9mm for both ssp and esp and a 1911 45 is required for CDP.
then there's all the bullseye competitions that are fun too
need a big bore service pistol and a 22
a 22 rifle, a service rifle and got to have a Garand for the Garand match
so let's see
2 Uberti SAAs in 38/40
uberti 1873 win copy also in 38/40
1887 Colt copy 12 guage coach gun
american derringer in 357
Iver Johnson owl head 38 top break
Armi Sport Sharps rifle in 45/70
Para P14
Smith M&P15 16" AR
Mossberg 930 12 guage
S&W 686 SSR
CZ 85 Combat
Les Baer Concept III
Sig Trailside
Colt Gold Cup
Colt AR with white oak service match upper
Mossberg 44US (d)
and a M1 Garand
I just need a pocket pistol for CCW and I'd have the minimum battery for what I want to do
Hey I kept it under 20
 
I'm all for having bunches of guns but if I had to trim down to the bare necesities I think I could get by with....
- 870 Express 12 gauge because this gun literally fills nearly every roll a long gun could fill.
- Full sized Glock in .357 Sig. I know, sounds odd, but it's concealable, high capacity and could adequately take deer sized game.
- Your favorite .22 rifle, because everyone needs one.

Again this would be a bare minimalist list. I have no desire to only have 3 guns.
 
I love having bunches of guns for every occasion, but I could get by 99.9% of the time with an accurate and reliable .22LR rifle, an accurate centerfire rifle, and a 12 or 20 gauge pump shotgun. Handguns are optional, but a solid .357 Magnum revolver would be my choice for a good all-around choice.
 
Uhh...very few here seem to have any idea of minimal really is.

During the Great Depression, my grandpa had a double barrel 12 gauge and a .22. They used to buy shells one at a time. If one of my uncles took a gun out hunting, they'd better come back with something. Period.

If they saw a deer, they're cut around the hull of the paper shot shell and use it like a slug.

They fed a family of seven that way for years. I inherited the shotgun. It was used so much it was shot loose. I'd never shoot it in current condition.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

N
  • Locked
Minimalist Collection?
Replies
21
Views
2K
labgrade
L
gilgsn
  • Locked
What's on your wish list?
2
Replies
42
Views
948
kimberkid
kimberkid
U
  • Locked
Gun COmbo
Replies
2
Views
376
kingpin008
K
4
  • Locked
Most basic collection of Guns
2
Replies
28
Views
2K
alcmaeon
A
S
  • Locked
a resonable battery (of guns)
2
Replies
26
Views
3K
OneFireStick
O
Back
Top