Nice, I use my grandfather's old high standard sentinel. I also recently bought a chiappa double badger for hunting my squirrel dog and running my traps. It's ugly but it's a hoot to shoot.
Can't advise on a firearm, but one old timer I knew had a length of chair leg with a large industrial grade nut on the end.....don't know what he did when he trapped a skunk!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I used to carry an old High Standard .22 Revolver in my pack and a short club. During deer season I carried an old H&R single shot and slugs. If I caught a rat, I popped the barrel off and used it for a club.
I have not run a trap line since I was a kid (over 50 years ago).
Back then I used an old 22 single shot rifle that belonged to my dad, ammo I used was 22 shorts.
Now that I think about it I can't remember dad ever buying anything but 22 shorts for that old rifle.
"but one old timer I knew had a length of chair leg with a large industrial grade nut on the end"
A similar "tool" was called a "tap stick" around here back in the Depression and WW2 era. Walk the RR tracks until you found a rail connector nut and then whittle a hickory or hedge(osage orange) stick about 15-20" long to fit the threads. This became a formidable weapon for dispatching trapped animals and even worked OK as a throwing stick for rabbits.
I carry a quasi-tap stick on my UTV right behind the cab within easy reach as I step off. Mine doesn't use an actual RR nut, it has a natural knob on the business end to give it some added striking effect but fails to give the balance for throwing(I don't often feel the need to kill rabbits with a throwing stick anyway). Mine has dispatched dozens of smaller coons over the last 3 years but I use the 22 for the bigger, older coons.
When I did trap. I carried a little Ruger model Bear Cat 22. Until its main spring broke 3 yrs from its date of purchase. Ruger repair said they no longer stocked its replacement springs as the pistol had been discontinued. Sooo_That was the last time I ever purchased a Ruger product period.
Back when I trapped semi seriously, I carried a beretta minx .22 short in coveralls pocket. I also often had a ruger mk 2 target in a shoulder holster and, if riding 4 wheeler trapping foxes or coyotes, a ruger m77v .22-250 with 6.5 x 20 Leupold scope in a good case and a predator call or two.