If you were going to own only one hand gun what caliber would it be?

I’m not really into collecting guns, don’t plan to carry every day, but want something to carry when in the woods or to finish off an animal when hunting.

.40. It’s what I’ve shot a lot and carried for years.

MTV

10mm or .357SIG If I could only have one. Both a bit "snappy" but have velocity to take care of all of the 2 legged threats as well as a great many 4 legged ones.

Kurt

Revolver, not a Semi-Auto. Far more reliable, especially in the bush. Caliber? The bigger the caliber the heavier the gun, and the heavier the punch. Choose the biggest you can comfortably carry in a chest holster or hip holster.

.357

Why, well you can shoot both .38 and .357 in it. So what is the big deal. My wife can shoot .38, but not .357. There are rounds available in .357/.38 that are not available for other calibers. Flares, shot shells and so on. Naturally, you would be shooting a revolver. My personal favorite, S&W Combat Magnum. My CCT buds carried them in Nam, sent a whole lot of folks to the other side with it. Mort spent two years in the hills with the Mung tribesmen. He shot very low power loads in it, doesn't make much noise in .38 with the right load. No silencer needed.

If your hunting in a survival situation, a .357 will make a smear of a squirrel. A .38 or a shot shell .38 will leave you a meal. You can even shoot tweety birds with the shot shells. In most survival situations, you will rarely see anything bigger than a raccoon, so having a pocket cannon will not feed you. To scare off bears, we carried .44 magnums while we did the bear tagging operations (they would sometimes try to eat the darted bear). We only used them to fire in the air, essentially noisemakers. .357 makes a lot of noise.

However, the caliber I have discouraged 2 legged game the most with is a tiny Walther TPH .22 (think the "Cricket" from "Men in Black"). I carry it riding my bike. It is very thin and takes practice to actually shoot and hit something with it. It fits in the back pocket of my jersey without a big GUN bulge. Three times I have had cars pull in front of me and the occupants get out to steal my road bike (worth more than their car). I pull the little Walther out and say, "how bad do you want the bike?" They leave. One guy in Miami said, "Dat is a leetle gun." I say, "Tell you what, I'll shoot you in the balls, tell me how it feels?" He leaves. So for me the most effective caliber is the .22. So powerful, it never has to actually discharge a round to make bad guys vanish. The choice of assassins everywhere.

My vote would be for the .357 for reasons mentioned earlier as well.
It’s simple, has plenty of punch for most anything you’ll need to shoot and lots of ammo options.
But, it’s also what I’ve shot the most of so I might be biased.

Probably anything bigger than a 9mm and smaller than a 50cal would be fine as long as you’re comfortable with the gun. Even a 9mm is fine if you pull the trigger twice.

Having said all that, I’ve had my eye on a pocket Glock in 380 but I live inside city limits and carry for a different type of survival

Personally, I would recommend a .22 as a first handgun. It is cheap to shoot and one can learn the fundamentals of trigger and sight control easier with something that doesn't dissuade learning due to recoil and noise.

Practice, practice, practice and eventually you can learn to shoot a handgun with great accuracy. Then if you feel the need, sell or trade it for something bigger. A .22 is very cheap to shoot and you'll probably end up keeping it whenever you upgrade. I have everything in .22 from a Beretta .22 short Minx to an Olypmic style Walther GSP Expert. Many other styles in the mix. I would say my favorites though are a pair of S&W Model 63's. Extremely accurate revolvers that are stainless steel and with their 4" barrels, super nice to carry in the woods.

I have used a .22 for a great many pests, vermin, and even deer with a well placed shot from a .22 handgun.

I handgun hunted for many years and have several big bore handguns also (including a 10" barreled T/C Contender in .444 Marlin) and while they are good enough to hunt most anything on the face of the earth, they can get heavy to carry. Having said this, if I could only keep one handgun, it would probably be one of the .44 Magnums since I reload and can down load rounds to have little to no recoil or load up for bear.
A .22 would be my second choice.

I'm thinking, it would be hard to only have one.

I’ve said this before on this forum, but MOST people can’t shoot a handgun for beans. It takes a lot of practice to be able to hit the broadside of a barn with one, especially if you’re a bit rushed.

That’s why I noted the .40. I have no idea how many .40 cal. bullets I’ve left at ranges, but it’s in the tens if thousands. I carried a .357 model 66 S&W before we switched to autos, and that’s a great caliber as well. As dogpilot pointed out, it does give some other options as well.

Modern semi autos are pretty much as reliable as revolvers......how many police departments still use revolvers? And, cops in general are some of the worst at caring for guns, believe me.

As to the “big” guns like Phil suggested.....I’ve never met anyone who could shoot one WELL. And, as dogpilot said, I’d rather have a puny gun I can hit something with than a monster that just makes noise and drains my bank account every time I go to the range with it. Actually, that’s usually never a real problem though, cause people tend to buy those cannons, take em to the range once, fire a few rounds and then never fire em again.

Not to say there aren’t exceptions. But......

I used to run bear safety classes, including range excersizes. Which included a “Charging Bear” target, which moved toward you. I had a number of folks show up who wanted to qualify with a big handgun in addition to the shotgun. I had one guy qualify with a .357 Smith. None of the guys with .44, .454, or .50 cal handguns ever hit the target, let alone a vital spot on the bear.

FWIW. Our pistol transition course was 5000 rounds over the course of a week. Try that with a .454..... And the FBI switched to 10mm. Their average range scores went down. They switched to carrying .40 rounds in those big pistols. Last I heard they were contemplating switching to 9mm. And they get pretty much all the free ammo and range time they want.

Go figure.

MTV

I appreciate the thoughts so far guys.

I attempted to ask about caliber only in attempt to avoid brand and action discussions but that's ok. It is all interesting to me.

WWhunter, I get your "first pistol" recommendation and recognize the benefit of something like a .22 that is easy and cheap to shoot. I'm not looking for a first pistol though. I want to buy ONE and be done. I carried my grandpas WW2 army issue .22 semi-auto pistol for a long time then when he quite hunting I started carrying his .357 Colt Python. I have shot both a fair amount and can actually hit the side of a barn with either one. Both those guns have too much sentimental value now so I'm looking for something different.

My good friend and neighbor is the living incarnation of Burt Gummer. He has a myriad of pistols and highly recommended I look at Glocks so that's kinda the direction I was heading. I thought I had settled on a .40 but then Hammer's thread about 10mm loads introduced me to that caliber. I asked my neighbor what he thought and he said a 9mm is all I need. He's an old opinionated curmudgeon though...

Just one? Hahahahahaha.

"Beware the man with one gun".

IMHO...
fun / plinking / first gun: 22 , I like the Ruger 22 semiauto
serious-er gun: 357 revolver, I like a 4" S&W model 19 or 66.
I like and own semiautos but unless you're a gunny, a revolver is a lot easier to manage & operate.
To load: 1) open cylinder 2) put in "bullets" 3) close cylinder
To shoot: 1) point gun 2) pull trigger
No jacking rounds into the chamber, no press-check, no safety lever, no decocking lever, no condition 1 2 or 3, no magazine safety.
I'd bet that there are way less "I didn't know the gun was loaded" AD's with revolvers than with autopistols.

Whee, you've got your bases pretty well covered with what you've already got,
but I understand your reasons for not wanting to pack your grandpa's guns.
Dunno which "WW2 army issue 22 semi auto" you have, I'm guessing a Colt Woodsman or maybe a High Standard?
Besides any sentimental value, Pythons (if not the 22) go for some serious money these days.
A medium frame S&W or Ruger 357 would be my pick based on your comments.
For a 22 caliber "trappers gun" I'd pick a Ruger autopistol- several versions with different finishes, barrel lengths, and grip angles are available. I've got a Mk 2 Target that I bought in 1992 and it's a darn good gun.
The new ones are probably just as good, plus a lot easier to reassemble after taking down for cleaning.

10mm is a shooters round...you need to shoot it a lot to be proficient with it, and it requires a larger frame. Ammo is more expensive, by in large.
.40 is OK...more power than a 9mm but nothing close to the 10mm.
9mm is the most economical to shoot, and the lightest recoiling. Most people will shoot a 9mm better than other calibers due to recoil issues.
.45 ACP is fashionable, but less power than the 10mm and the same size frame.

Of all them the 10mm is by far the most versatile, but you really need to have some dedication if you want to develop and keep combat-level skills with a round that powerful. It doesn't fly out of your hand, and it doesn't hurt to shoot, but without extensive practice follow-up shots will be slow and it's really easy to develop a flinch.

Whee,

One gun? Ahhhhh, almost impossible but having shot thousands and thousands of rounds in various calibers and actions I must say the Glock 19 is hard to beat. It is a great all around gun, very reliable, easy to shoot, not a "pretty gun" that you won't be afraid to scratch, 9mm is cheapest round so you will practice more, accurate follow up shots are easier and faster, great night stand gun and great carry gun. If you want a smaller carry gun the Glock 26 is essentially the same as the 19 but smaller. Many special forces around the world find that the 9mm round is adequate (as are other calibers), don't let anyone tell you 9mm is not adequate for the 2 legged threats. Its all about placement. Glocks run and run and run and run even when dirty. .40 is a good round too, I carried one for a long time but I am much faster and more accurate with follow up shots with the 9mm. I know you didn't want to get into brands but you did mention Glock, I would say go with a Glock 19 or 26. The 10mm Glock like mentioned above is fantastic round but you have to shoot it a lot to be proficient and that gets expensive.

Kurt

Glocks are relatively affordable too.
More cost effective than some others--
for example, my G43 cost about 200 bucks less than my similarly-purposed Sig 938.

Thanks guys. I’ll go to the range with my neighbor and shoot his Glocks. He has all the calibers but the 10mm which is the one I really wanted to try and hoped you guys were going to recommend.

Whee,

Second or third the Glock. Again, there are likely more law enforcement agencies carrying Glocks than any other brand these days. Hammer covered the calibers....as I noted, .40 is my favorite.

And, hotrod’s points are kinda valid, except for Glocks......no Manual safety, no decocking lever, just a simple, pretty much bomb proof shooter.

My favorite: the Model 23, DA only in .40. The smaller, Models 26 and 27 are too small, in my opinion, though we were issued 27s as backup for the 22 and 23.

The new Glock Model 43 might be my first choice for a concealed carry gun these days, maybe. Only problem is it’s a 9.

Only pistol I carry these days: H & K USP 2000 compact. Double stack compact .40.

If you’re wanting to carry concealed, see if you can find a Glock 43 to try out. Lots to like there, and good size for concealment.

MTV

I have no plans to conceal carry. Just looking for something to carry when in the woods.

.45 LC because I've shot a zillion rounds out of handguns and rifles for cowboy action shooting. Smokeless, blackpowder, I've loaded it with everything. For bullets I've used 160gr and up to 300gr but I usually load with 250gr.

I can completely take apart all of my cowboy guns and replace anything that breaks. A few extra springs and a screwdriver and I can keep a SAA running for decades. I'm not really a fan of semi-autos because I don't like chasing brass in the grass or worrying about what ammo will reliably work in what gun.

hotrod180 wrote:Glocks are relatively affordable too.
More cost effective than some others--
for example, my G43 cost about 200 bucks less than my similarly-purposed Sig 938.

And a lot more reliable too!

whee wrote:I have no plans to conceal carry. Just looking for something to carry when in the woods.

Glock 20 SF 10mm. Best woods pistol I've ever had.