The One and ONLY

[hueyville]

39 years ago at the age of 12 my Dad gave me a v.w. bug for riding around the farm and a 22lr Ruger Mk1 Standard as my first handgun. He said if I mess up with either they both would go away. At 15 I purchased my first centerfire handgun with my own money. A 4" barrel Smith model 19 Combat Master. Same day I bought a Lee turret press, set of dies, bullet mold and 2 pounds of Bullseye powder. The local game warden who started me reloadiing at age 13 hooked me up with 500 once fired cases. From there the disease only grew worse. By legal age of 21 I owned over a dozen handguns. As the next almost 40 years have gone by I have had the priviledge of owning at one.point or another over 200 handguns. A few years ago I made the decision to thin my total collection to 100 handguns, 50 rifles and 25 shotguns. As I get closer to that goal each decision on what to cull next get more difficult.

Recently I had a student I have been working with for two years seriously ask the question if I had to decide on one handgun for life and only one what would it be. Geez, I could not even decide which 1911 varient I own would be my favorite. After some thought I threw spewed out my Dan Wesson 744VH with its interchangeable barrels from 2.5 to 10 inches. He called foul on the multi barrel capable out of production wheel gun. So more pondering till the point of pain.

I needed a choice that if plane crashed in the Alaskan wilderness, going to the grocery store, in the truck, at work, downtown in the city, or wherever. Only one, if it breaks you either fix yourself with tools on hand wherever or do without for life, have to carry conceiled for defence, fight off bears, target sboot, feed the family, basically any and all fireams tasks a man could be faced with.

After a few fuses in my head blew, replaced a cooling fan and the CPU I nailed it down to one particular style of which there are two choices. Both are 5 shot stainless 44 magnums. My Tarus Tracker 4" ported stainless 44 mag 5 sbot or Smith and Wessson Model 69 4.25" stainless 44 mag 5 shot. The reduced capacity cylinder thins and lightens these to help conceilment, drops weight to 34 and 37 ounces respectively. 4 to 4.25 inch barrels are easy enough to hide, long enough to be accurate easily to 150 yards. Simple and robust design very unlikely to malfunction or break. Can make a lot of the part with a piece of metal, file and patience. Has the horsepower to bust angry animals fairly well with good shot placement and with 44 special ammo quite pleasent to shoot. At present the Taurus with ported barrel is first in line but once the Smith gets magnaported, tritium insert in front sight ramp and tuned it will most likely step out front.

 

[Jim PHL]

Good choice(s). Tell you what, keep both of them and I'll take care of the other 98 for you.

And by the way, when you pick your one rifle and shotgun, I'll take the other 49 and 24 off your hands, too!

 

[19-3Ben]

We have the "if you could only have one" themed threads come up pretty often. I'm sure if you search some up, you might find some interesting discussions.

A lot of folks say things like the Thompson Center guns with the interchangeable barrels, so you can have multiple calibers and barrel lengths on the same gun.

Of the guns I have, I'd pick my Ruger Speed Six. Easy to carry, heck of a home defense, fun at the range, and if I loaded it up with heavy magnums, would make a great woods gun. The only thing I wouldn't do with it, that a handgun could ever be called to do, is hunting. the fixed sights and relatively short barrel just don't lend themselves to that.

 

[Deaf Smith]

Well...

I made that decision a year or two ago.

But until something forces me to sell off all the rest, I'll also keep the others.

Especially these two:

Deaf

 

[bannockburn]

One gun for everything? Probably be my Colt Lightweight Government in .45ACP, along with a .22 conversion assembly.

 

[SwampWolf]

Not to quibble, but your Model 19 is a Combat Magnum.

I also have a s/s Taurus 5-shot revolver (Model 415), chambered in .41 Magnum, that I would consider relying on as being my only handgun; the biggest drawback being the lack of readily available ammunition as compared to, say, the .44 Magnum/.44 Special cartridge. My Taurus has a 2 1/2", ported barrel and has proven to be an accurate and reliable revolver. All that said, out of the many handguns I own, the one I'd probably choose for a one and only handgun might be my Ruger Redhawk, chambered in .44 Magnum.

A good argument could also be made for a Ruger Super Single Six with .22rf and .22 Magnum cylinders.

Of course, I'd really like to have both-but that would violate the premise of your poser.

 

[ColtPythonElite]

4" Colt King Cobra

 

[Hurryin' Hoosier]

So, what became of your Volks?

 

[Catshooter]

I could fly with your Model 69 choise if it was two and a half, maybe three inches. Four and a quarter is too long for me to conceal. But good call.

But a piece of metal, a file and some patience? I'm a fair pistolsmith and I consider that's a daunting statement.


Cat

 

[sgt127]

Deaf Smith: remarkably similar tastes. I just happened to have the Tyler T grip off for this picture.

 

[Deaf Smith]

Mighty good gun Sgt!

And the belt is made by a very good maker! My holster is also a El Paso Saddlery, a 1942.

Yours looks like a Tom Threepersons.

That pair will do to rid the river with.

Now folks I know all about semi-autos, from 1911s to Gocks. Have a bunch to, but a good strong POWERFUL revolver, in good hands will do fine.

Deaf

 

[sgt127]

Yes. A .44 with stags (those are Grasshorns) and an El Paso rig just says "Texas".
For pure utility, I'm also a big fan of a 3" S&W 65. That could possibly meet the criteria of "The one" if it came right down to it. Easy to carry, plenty of power.

 

[Deaf Smith]

But it's getting mighty hard to find a 3 inch 65 nowdays.

I found one, with rust PITS on the cylinder and the flash chrome hammer and trigger with flaked off chrome (must have been in salt water or something... and the gun shop wanted $500!

These are a few of my 'favorite things'... the 65 "ladysmith' is at the top but in reality they are all good.

S&W 65
GP-100
S&W 686-2
Speed Six
S&W 66-3

Deaf

 

[David E]

First of all, the student can't say "one gun," then complain about a multi-barreled Dan Wesson. If federal law counts it as one gun, then one gun it is.

Second of all, the "if something breaks, YOU must fix it or go without forever" needs clarification. Are spare parts allowed? Are specialized gun smithing tools allowed?

This restriction has a major impact on the decision.

 

[pistolero guy]

one gun

I like your decision on a wheel gun, wise choice. I would go with a 44 mag also, Rounds easy to find in Alaska or just about anywhere you might be lost in the wilderness, once you hit civilization again. mine is a 3" S&W mountain gun in 44 mag. Stainless with factory magna-porting. I had a custom cross draw Canadian holster made for it. cannot carry on the right hip as it would bang into the stock of my hunting rifle. Decided I needed a pistol while hunting after a surprise encounter with a sow black bear in the foothills of Mt. Rainier one fine fall day. By the time we saw each other her nose was in my belly! couldn't bring the rifle up to shoot blocked by her heavy head! Lucky for me she was just as surprised as I was and she turned and ran and I did the same in the opposite direction.

 

[huntsman]

The one gun game is easier to play when you only own a few to begin with

But still one handgun to do it all? I'm not buying it, I need two, one for in the pocket and one to hang on the belt.

My pocket choice is purely practical (LCP) the belt gun would be a more emotional choice but since I lack anything classic or high end I'd take my Blackhawk .45C/.45acp convert.

 

[SwampWolf]

But still one handgun to do it all? I'm not buying it, I need two, one for in the pocket and one to hang on the belt.

You're missing the point of the poser, huntsman. The question posed for the sake of hypothetical/theoretical discussion is IF you could only have one handgun in the circumstances as described by the op, which one would you pick. Nobody's arguing that having more than one (or several, for that matter) handgun wouldn't be better.

 

[huntsman]

No I get the game I just don't have that one gun so I need two and so did the OP

My Tarus Tracker 4" ported stainless 44 mag 5 sbot or Smith and Wessson Model 69 4.25" stainless 44 mag 5 shot.

 

[Catshooter]

And those circumstances can happen in the real world.

Twice in my life I have been forced by economics to sell all but one. First one I kept was a Colt 1911 commercial and the second was a Bulldog.


Cat

 

[shafter]

I would likely choose a Security Six, blued, with a 4'' barrel. It pretty much covers everything I need/want a revolver to do. It's a handy sidekick for poking around in the back country, has plenty of oomph, feels great in my hand and conceals surprisingly well on my belt for concealed carry.

 

[SwampWolf]

No I get the game I just don't have that one gun so I need two and so did the OP


Quote:
My Tarus Tracker 4" ported stainless 44 mag 5 sbot or Smith and Wessson Model 69 4.25" stainless 44 mag 5 shot.

You may have missed the "or" part.

 

[huntsman]

^ Naw the "or" is what I'm not buying, you see I don't believe a guy who owned 200 handguns in 40 years Can choose just one

As the next almost 40 years have gone by I have had the priviledge of owning at one.point or another over 200 handguns. A few years ago I made the decision to thin my total collection to 100 handguns, 50 rifles and 25 shotguns.

 

[Jenrick]

I'm dropping the dealing with bear requirement as the largest non-human predator in my area is going to be big cats. Suckers will kill you just fine, but not nearly as hard to drop as a bear. Two legged predators would be a much more difficult ballistic problem.

Out of my current collection, my one gun would by my G34. I can conceal it just fine (I carried it for my EDC for a long time) and it will hand HD/SD duties just fine. I can take game with it, easily small game, and with good shooting can take pretty much all the game I'd find locally. I've put in excess of 150K rounds through it without a parts breakage, so I'm not worried about reliability either.

-Jenrick

 

[Catshooter]

Jenrick,

If I had 150,000 rounds through one piece I'd probably use it too.


Cat

 

[mongo4567]

For me, it would be a Glock 17 or a 3" barrel .357 S&W J frame. I think either would do over 90% of what I need done very well.