Single handgun for HD, CC and Hunting...

The idea of only having one makes me sad.

But if I had to choose it would probably be a 3-4 inch barrel revolver in .357 mag.
 
A compromise.

Do you have only one pair of shoes...of course not , it's just not practical .

And what are we hunting bunnies or polar bears ?

Gary
 
Barrel length, within limits, has little effect on concealability; given those parameters, I would think first of a 4" .357, possibly a Combat Magnum (lighter than the 686) if possible in SS. But I would go with the 686 to get the SS if necessary.

Jim
 
UncleEd,
I've taken two whitetails and a mule deer with my 357. I've also taken a few squirrels and a couple of rabbits with it. I've heard that it will take a black bear by guys that have done it but I prefer a rifle for that target. As a matter of fact I prefer a rifle for deer too, but I had to use the magnum a few times.
 
I don't hunt. My choice would be a 4" S&W Model 66. They conceal well enough in a high-ride OWB pancake holster if you use the smaller grips with it.
 
My .45 Blackhawk convertible is my hunting handgun so.....
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I'd go with my 4" Model 57, and as a serious hunting companion my Henry Big Boy Steel .41 mag. But then I handload so .41 mag is no problem.
 
4" .357Mag, using appropriate round for the various HD, Hunting or CPL'ing.

HDusing 148 target loads for inside the house, faster follow-up,
Hunting, either the target loads for small game or big game the 180gr Federal hot-cast loads for deer and up.
CPL, either the 125 gr or 140gr HP @ 1100+FPS range.
 
My Colt Delta Elite 10mm or maybe my Glock 22 in .40 S&W (it has a 20 lb spring and uses DT 180gr JHPs at 1100 fps!)

It's 10 of this or 16 of that!

Deaf
 
My opinion, a single gun that would meet all the above criteria would be a compromise in each of those areas, and would probably perform mediocre at best in each of those areas as well.

Stress that credit card and get one for CC, one for HD, and one for hunting. While you're at it, get another one target shooting too. Right tool for the right job.
 
Here in Colorado my winter time carry gun is my Smith and Wesson 629 Mountain Gun. 4" barreled .44mag loaded with 240gr JHPs. It's not that heavy and can carried with my hip holster or Alaskan chest rig holster and it covers nicely with a jacket. It's extremely reliable and accurate. Recoil isn't as bad as some people claim the .44mag to be. I can and have shot well over 200 rounds of .44mag in one day without any issues whatsoever. For me, if I absolutely had to pick one handgun for everything it would be it.
 
I'd use my CZ P-09. Yes, 9mm is light for hunting much of anything, but for small game and things like javalina it would work just fine. With the right gear, like my High Noon Rocks Steady gunbelt and High Noon Close Encounter IWB hybrid rig it conceals just fine under a baggy t-shirt even in Arizona summer weather. Open carry it looks quite nice dressed up in a High Noon Holsters Slide Guard in Bison Hide. Accurate, reliable, standard capacity of 19 rounds in the magazine...I'm good. Not what I would chose facing bear, mind you, but I'd rather be in an armored vehicle when facing bear, anyway.
 
Unless there's some sort of legal reason why you need 1 handgun to do all of that, why even bother with this?

Buy a 9mm for concealed carry and home defense. Then save up and buy a 44 mag for hunting. Neither will be ideal for both.

Done.
 
Would have to be my GP 100 4" 357 mag revolver. Take away the hunting part and my Glock 19 or 43 would be my choice even though I'm comfortable to hunt small game with my glocks. Big game not sure about the Pistols.
 
More than anything, these sort of queries only tell you about a poster's favorite pistol or which task holds the highest priority for them. Not what the "best" pistol is. I don't know what country you are posting from, but in the USA you might as well have a pistol for each task (allowing for priority and budget).

For example, I'm not a hunter, so I can conveniently ignore that part. If hunting were my lifestyle, I might choose some ridiculous rifle caliber or supermagnum single shot, carry/defense be damned. Similarly, a dedicated rimfire hunting pistol is also suboptimal for carry/defense or large game.

At this particular moment in time, I'm more concerned with ease of carry. If I should happen to prefer a longarm for defense, I can conveniently ignore that requirement as well.

Since I don't hunt and could probably get by with a longarm for defense, I'd probably go with a Ruger LCP or maybe a plastic subcompact single stack 9mm. There, are you happy now?

Thing is, there's not really much overlap between a carry pistol and a hunting pistol. You could probably try to choose something modular like a Sig P320, a TC Whatever, Witness/Tanfoglio Whatever, or a Dan Wesson revolver, but there is going to be a massive compromise somewhere. And then caliber conversion kits tend to be so expensive you might as well just buy a separate dedicated pistol anyways.

And then what could I do for competition use? Competition pistols are pretty much mutually exclusive.

My .45 Blackhawk convertible is my hunting handgun so.....
Click to expand...

Holy crap, a ghost ring on a pistol! :eek:

Seriously though, that's fairly intriguing. I've tried a rifle style diopter sight on an air pistol. I've found that a rifle style tiny aperture is either limiting in technique or speed but impressive in accuracy (in daylight, anyways). I've been meaning to drill out a spare sight blade to more of a ghost ring style but I never got around to it.
 
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So far that sight has been a pleasant surprise. with my semi-autos dot sights work fine but my old eyes struggled with the stock Ruger rear sight so I took a chance on something out of the box.


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