That is really open ended question. Hard to beat a manual action 12 gauge shotgun for general versatility but it does not CCW well. That said I am blessed enough that versatility does not mean much to me as I have specific firearms for most specific tasks I a likely to need or want to do with a firearm.
Versatile for me? Sig P226 It does majority of the things I can anticipate needing Most versatile on my continent? 12 guage maybe? Hard question to quantify
Seeing as how you posted this question in the "Rifle Country" section of THR, are you only asking about rifles in terms of versatility?
I’d say it’s my Mauser 98 sporter in .30-06, with a Hammond “game getter” adapter. It’ll take anything from squirrel to moose with elegance.
I'm assuming he meant rifles as well. I've got a 308 20" Hbar AR10 that could cover all my hunting and self defense needs. But man, it's a little heavy for hunting and a little cumbersome for clearing rooms. It's up over 15 pounds easily with scope a loaded magazine and suppressor. I suppose a lighter 16" barrel and swapping the 4-20x50 that's on it for my lighter 1-6x would make it a bit more well-rounded. But I've got different rifles for different purposes, so I'll probably leave it as it is for now.
With the various shooting activities I do, it couldn't be answered. That's like asking a mechanic what his most versatile tool is. My EDC and my 6.5 CM are hardly interchangeable.
Rifle forum question? Probably a typical AR15. The most versatile tool for a mechanic comment by @FL-NC got me thinking, and I'm a traveling tech that uses wrenches in sizes from 5.5mm to 42mm. I believe that my most versatile service tool is an auto-ranging multi-meter with an amp clamp. Or a pocket sized flashlight. Lol. Having gone off tangent with that thought . . . I'll proclaim my Marlin 1894 in .357 magnum as my multi-meter (w/amp clamp) of my rifles, because my AR15 tends to sit in the safe a whole lot by comparison. The why . . . That Marlin shoots mild to (sort of) wild, I can mount just about any optic to it, and it has aperture sights for backup. Being that it's a carbine with a 16" barrel, it's a very handy size. It's accuracy and range are sufficient for the type of shooting I tend to do. Which is typically 20 feet to 150 yards, no matter if with this gun or another. Of course, it also shares ammo with a pair of my revolvers, even though that isn't that important.
I'll second that -- although my rifle is a pre-WWII Model 70, with my Hammond Game Getter in my pocket. Many an Ozark squirrel's last words have been, "Don't pay no attention to him. He's deer hunting."
Either my 7.62x40WT AR (think .30-30 in an AR), or my M70 .375 H&H (squirrels to sasquatch, to 300+ yards). You didn't say ammo needed to be cheap! Diagnosis is half the battle. What do you fix?
Machinery in the printing industry. While not all of the machines take the same hand tools to fix, all of them do have electronics within. That multi-meter helped me pay for this.
Without question that would be my AR15. In this photo it wears a 7.62x39 upper which shoots sub moa and is my favorite to shoot. I also have a 358 yeti upper which I deer hunt with, a 20” 223 varmint upper for yotes and medium range target shooting, a 9mm upper for suppressed plinking, a 16” 223 upper with a thermal sight for night hunting, and I’m building a dedicated 22lr upper for it.
Versatile? Easy View attachment 1086277 20ga, 30-30, 9mm, can get inserts for most any occasion inserts also fit in my SxS so i can effectively have a poorly regulated combo gun. Also the last thing im likely to grab in anything besides a range or afternoon hunting situation.
My most versatile gun (handgun and rifle) is a T/C contender. One frame, and barrels for handgun cartridges and moderate power rifle cartridges. Like having many guns in one, and the one gun (with selected barrels) I would take if I ever had to "Bug out".
"Versital", to me means the widest range of use. This eliminates shot guns for me because even with slugs, the range is not there for large game in some parts of the country. To me , cartridge becomes more important than platform, but single shots are out from a SD standpoint. I don't want to stare down a charging bear with a single shot. I'm not really hung up either way between bolt action or semi auto, but from a reliability stand point, I'm personally gonna take a bolt action. So that narrows it down to three choices in my mind- .308, 30-06, or 6.5cm. I'm not sure about facing a bear with a 6.5cm either. So between the other two, since it can go just as light but a bit heavier in bullet weight if needed, I think I'm going with my 30-06.
In the rifle department, my 1960 Winchester Model 70 in .30-06. Everything from prairie dogs to grizzly bears. Lots of prairie dogs. No grizzly bears, but I wouldn't feel under gunned.
If we're talking only about versatile rifles, as strange as this sounds, I guess my most versatile rifle would have to be my old Model 100, 308 Winchester semi-auto. It was my first big game rifle, and I've had it for almost 60 years. I've killed everything from mountain grouse to cottontails, to jack rabbits and coyotes, to mule deer and elk with that rifle. And I suppose I could press it into service as a powerful home defense rifle if I had to. Luckily, I've never had to have just one versatile rifle for all of the above listed purposes. I have several "specific use" rifles, and the fact is, I pretty much retired my Model 100, 308 Winchester back in the '80s.
It's hard to get any more versatile than that I also have an x39 upper and while mine is not sub-MOA capable, it is still pretty accurate and a lot of fun to shoot!
Most of my personal rifles are all designed for versatility. I have one AR lower which has matching uppers in 204 Ruger, 5.56, and 6.8 SPC, another SBR lower which has matching uppers in 5.56, 6.8, and 458 Socom. I have a few bolt action rifles for which I have multiple bolts or bolt heads and barrels, one of which can be 6 creed or 6.5 PRC, another which has a 24” 300wm heavy sporting barrel and a 31” heavy Varmint target barrel in 300 PRC. My wife and I have matching bolt action switch barrel rifles, mine has barrels in 300wm and 458 win mag, while hers has barrels in 7RM, 338wm, and 416 Ruger. My wife has a large shank 300wsm Savage 12 which she can convert down to 6 creed. Between a matter of a few seconds up to about an hour, we can swap these rifles for different purposes. Versatility isn’t an accident for these rifles.
