Most versatile hunting gun

[ZenMaster]

Good morning folks,

Lets play a game of pretend...

Pretend that you can only have a single firearm from now on and hunting will be your only use for it. You will be hunting in Indiana. There is no way to know what kind of game you will encounter.

What gun would offer the most options for securing dinner? 20 gauge? .22 LR? .308? .50 cal?


My initial thought is a 12 or 20 gauge shotgun. It might be too big for the plentiful squirrel, but you'd be able to shoot anything else from rabbits to ducks to deer.

What say you, hunters?

 

[CampingJosh]

It's got to be a shotgun.

 

[Gluemanz28]

I 2nd the shotgun.

 

[Zoub]

Legal hunting or SHTF hunting?

Legal, a semi auto 20 gauge would be versatile. That's what I use most these days.

 

[Indyhd]

Savage model 24 over and under 22lr over 20 ga.
Is that cheating?

 

[bobjones223]

I 2nd the shotgun.

+3 and make mine a 12 ga.

 

[MRP2003]

223 or a 308 semi auto

 

[avboiler11]

Honestly, I'd go with an AR.

22LR upper could be used for small game, 223/5.56 upper for coyote, 450 Busmaster upper for deer until DNR comes to their senses and allows modern centerfire cartridges for whitetail then you've got 6.5 Grendel, 6.8 SPC, 300 BLK, and a whole bunch others at your disposal.

Not gonna do much duck hunting with an AR...but I'm not a wing shooter anyway.

 

[Hookeye]

Taurus Judge.
It's a handgun and a shotgun.
Backed by the famous Lifetime Warranty.


Beyond any level of purple.

 

[bstewrat3]

T/C Contender or Encore. Buy a receiver that originates from the factory as a pistol and you can have anything from pistol, rifle, shotgun or muzzleloader. Barrels are fairly inexpensive compared to a complete firearm.

 

[eldirector]

Drilling. 12 Gauge over 30-30. Maybe even with the .22LR inserts. Should cover about any game.

No idea if that would be current Indiana legal, but this is just pretend.

 

[awalters0815]

a Pump 20 Gauge will take whatever you want. Waterfowl, quail, bunnies, deer, yotes, turkey. Having a rifle barrel for deer would help. Heck, you could get by with a .410 if needs be.

 

[yote hunter]

Well your talking hunting for dinner, I would say a 22 just because the most plentiful animal and easiest to hunt an eat is squirrels so that would be my choice on a daily basis for dinner...

 

[Cameramonkey]

Mossberg 500A with an addition of a slug barrel. You can take pretty much anything with that combo. from a squirrel to a deer, to even possibly a hog.

(you only said "one gun"... you didnt specify how many barrels we could have)

 

[JNG]

Remington 870 or 1187, in 12 or 20, is the easy answer.

The question gets much harder if you say, "one caliber, no shotgun." It would have to be something deer legal that could still, in a pinch, be used to take bunnies and squirrels without completely destroying them. Maybe a .300 blkt?

 

[Gluemanz28]

If I am down to one gun we have already entered the SHTF mode so to me the legal or not doesn't play a part in this make believe game we are playing.

On a side note: I'm sure my Great Grandfathers Double Barrel shotgun sitting in my safe was his only means of putting meat on the table and nobody was there to tell him he couldn't do it.

 

[OutdoorDad]

If I am down to one gun we have already entered the SHTF mode so to me the legal or not doesn't play a part in this make believe game we are playing.

On a side note: I'm sure my Great Grandfathers Double Barrel shotgun sitting in my safe was his only means of putting meat on the table and nobody was there to tell him he couldn't do it.

Yeah. But he's no longer with us.
So how did that work out for him?

 

[oldpink]

12 gauge pump gun
Not the perfect hunting gun for each specific category of game, but the one gun that will get all that lives in this state and in a pinch the other 49.

 

[beachhead40]

I'd go with my m6 scout. Super versatile

 

[natdscott]

I hate shotguns.

But without any other caveats or restrictions on the question (such as on what CONTINENT you are, or what is available to hunt), I have to agree that a reliable 12 gauge pump shotgun with a ribbed IC barrel is about as good as you are going to do at crossing the variety of animals that can be et, and still protect yourself from the ones that will et you.

The first accessory I would buy for it, other than a good variety of heavy ammo, would be a .22 LR insert barrel. The next would be a better sighting system for said rifle insert than the bead on the barrel.

-Nate