12 gauge, makes pheasnt hunting easier and most other close work.
.45-70
.357 / 38 SP
44 Mag / 44 SP
41 Mag
45 Colt / .410 Shotgun / 454 Casull
45 ACP / 460 Rowland
22lr / 22 Short / 22 long
.223 / 5.56x45
.308 Win / 7.62x51
7.63 x 39
300 AAC/Whisper
9mm Luger
10mm / 40SW
22 Hornet
20 Gauge
12 Gauge
6.5x55 Swede
7mm-08
30-06
30-30
22 Mag
Other
12 gauge, makes pheasnt hunting easier and most other close work.
Take a kid to the range, you'll both be glad you did.
12 gauge, because you can use it for everything from food to defense .
What else do you need ?
"A .30-06 is never a mistake." Col. Townsend Whelen
I can hardly imagine only one. How about one caliber each for CF rifle, CF handgun, shotgun and rimfire, I could live with that barely. Then I would chose 30-06, 357mag, 12 gauge and 22lr. 30-06 takes care of the big game and 357 for a defensive handgun, however I would hate to give up my 45 autos. A 357 carbine makes a passable defensive rifle but is not an AR15. 12ga for feathers and 22LR for furry small game/plinking/fun and everybody needs a 22LR or 5 or 10 or 12 rifles and handguns.
If you ever come to my house a can only find one gun, CALL THE POLICE ! I been robbed. I am planning on selling quite a few in the next year or so , want to get down to 75 or 80 but I'll likely never have less than that . Can't play the " Only One Gun " thing.
Grumpy Old Man With A Gun....... Do Not Touch !!
I guess I am for sure getting old. This thread reminds me of the old game of "pass it down" from 60 years ago when us kids were all herded out to the bus shed to play games on rainy days.
Wasn't the original intent of this thread "what one caliber?" and not "what one gun?"
Yep, I'm gettin' old, and cranky
jd
12 GA. Can do just about anything, if you have the appropriate ammo for the task at hand.
Another vote for .30-06. Paired with a good bolt action rifle. Mine is a Remington 1903A3.
Versatile and easy to load for. Small game and gallery loads with buckshot/pistol bullets to full strength hunting loads for anything in North America.
My absolute choice would be my 308Win. Will do anything expected of a centerfire rifle east of the Mississippi River. Jacketed or cast. From subsonic to supersonic. Even now, stores in my area full of 308 ammo at pre-COVID/pre-Biden prices. Can you tell I love my 308? Plinking, hunting just seems a natural. Course same can be said of any caliber using same ammo options it's just that of all my centerfires, the 308 is MY favorite Only downfall but not the 308's fault is Alabama does not allow centerfire rifles for small game hunting but in a worse case scenario (food shortage), fraid my cast bullets would lead to the demise of a few squirrels or anything else edible. Way things are looking, probably need to start casting
But it's not really the same post. You have changed the parameters from caliber to cartridge. Caliber makes more sense as there are calibers that can be used from CC to antelope and single shots to machine guns. Cartridges aren't nearly as versatile. Imagine trying to hunt cape buffalo with a cc weapon or trying to conceal a buffalo gun. Most of us on this web site use guns for several different reasons. One cartridge doesn't work well in such varied uses where one caliber can be used over most if not all areas.
My uses range from cc to moose, all of which could be covered nicely with a caliber ranging from 30/35. With 35 caliber I could even hunt elephant and cape buffalo using a 358N and 300gr solids. A 35win in an AR10 would work nicely as a long range defense weapon and a 9mm for cc. One cartridge or guage doesn't even make sense for most folks on this site. Imagine that cc weapon in 12 ga.
Anyway I voted to the as titled question already and will stick with 35 cal
Winchester 1894 chambered in 38-55.
44mag. Where I live bottle neck rifle cartridges are not legal on public land. Also, unless hunting a field, a long shot is 75yds. in addition 44spl loads are effective for self defense. so if I have to choose just 1, 44mag/spl
“You should tell someone what you know. There should be a history, so that men can learn from it.
He smiled. “Men do not learn from history. Each generation believes itself brighter than the last, each believes it can survive the mistakes of the older ones. Each discovers each old thing and they throw up their hands and say ‘See! Look what I have found! Look upon what I know!’ And each believes it is something new.
Louis L’Amour
The Californios
... .44 all the way, from spl. to mag. to .444_
Food is overrated. A nice rifle is way more important.
Rob
Apparently, some others have the same idea as I: the caliber would be .45. But a 45 ACP in a 1911, a .45 Colt in a 10" Contender, and then a .45/70 in a lever action.
Kinda covers a bunch of ground.
Although those that espoused the 12-gauge have a good point. Can cover a lot of ground with one.
45_Colt
I struggled to make a choice but finally went with the 30-30. You can download it to make do for small game. it works perfectly for any woods deer hunting. And it can do all that with cheap cast bullets. Also the long neck adds versatility to the bullets it can work well with.
Only one? I'd have a hard time wittling the list down to 10...
Tony
Hi, my name is Tony and I'm addicted to gunpowder.
AKA Geezerbiker
BP | Bronze Point | IMR | Improved Military Rifle | PTD | Pointed |
BR | Bench Rest | M | Magnum | RN | Round Nose |
BT | Boat Tail | PL | Power-Lokt | SP | Soft Point |
C | Compressed Charge | PR | Primer | SPCL | Soft Point "Core-Lokt" |
HP | Hollow Point | PSPCL | Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" | C.O.L. | Cartridge Overall Length |
PSP | Pointed Soft Point | Spz | Spitzer Point | SBT | Spitzer Boat Tail |
LRN | Lead Round Nose | LWC | Lead Wad Cutter | LSWC | Lead Semi Wad Cutter |
GC | Gas Check |