Hi guys.

First time poster. What an amazing community this is.

While my subject question may seem hypothetical it is quite real. Katrina and the possible bird flu pandemic have forced me to completely restructure the way I live my life.

I'm not a current hunter but I'm certainly not a stranger to guns and I’ve hunted a little before. I am currently in the position of trying to reasonably prepare to protect and provide for my family in the case of a disaster within the confines of limited time and budget.

My question of "You can have only one gun to put food on the table. Which one?" is related to the scenario of a biological pandemic; One where we must refrain from all contact with civilization until the pandemic runs it's course or a vaccine is created.

I would love to have the money to be able to purchase a rifle/gun that is perfectly matched for the specific game being hunted but that isn't possible. If you could only have one rifle/gun to put food on the table for your family, what would it be? What would you hunt with it?

Thanks for your expertise, insight and opinions.

it's a 12 gauge shotgun

get slugs and birdshot and you have anything covered including self defence.

Hard to say. Would say the .22 or a 12 guage. If I have to put meat on the table, I can snare anything from muskrats to moose more efficiently and with less attention then by shooting it. .22=lots of cheap ammo. 12 guage= good home defense weapon as well as effective for putting meat in the pot.

I would have to agree...

amen to that. extraordinarily versatile, which is what you're looking for.

Amen to the 12gauge(rather have a 16...but the current market makes that unfeasable). Nothing bigger than deer around my woods so I'd probably opt for buckshot instead of slugs. Assuming we can't have a second rifled barrel.

My $.02

22, either lr or mag.

Here's why.
Your scenario is one of being isolated and possibly
on the move for an indefinate amount of time. This
means needing a large amount of ammo and/or being
able to scrounge for ammo. While the 12ga. would be
GREAT to have, the amount of weight and space required
for 1 box of the 12 would give you literally HUNDREDS
of rds of 22.
A 22 can kill most things that you'll want to eat, and other
things that may need killin. As long as I'm at home, I'll
have a shotgun. If I have to beat feet, I'm packing
my 22 and about 500 rds of ammo. Here's hoping it
never comes to that.

God bless
PK

Thanks for the responses so far guys. Actually I wouldn't really be on the move that much. The scenario would be that we would self quarantine ourselves to the house and I would venture out occasionally for food.

.22 or 12 gauge....I'll let you decide...

My dad had both during the Depression....both single shots...He hunted for a living and sold the excess out of the front of grandmas country store...literally hung the squirrels, rabbits, turkeys and quail in the front where they could be seen from the road....I would go for the .22...because of the cost of the ammo....Until the day dad died he kept a full brick of .22 ammo put away for "emergencys"....A 12 gauge would also be a good chioce...except the cost of ammo is more....I remember dad telling of putting a little corn in a pile in the woods and killing 3-4 turkeys with one shot from a shotgun....Shells for a 12 gauge do cost more, but if you are really serious about conserving every shot then you can put several meals on the table with each shot....

I'd go for the .22 as it will kill anything from quail to deer.

First lemme say, "Who in the world would want to live under such circumstances"? I'd just as soon take a swan dive off the apex of the roof of my house. [:@]

But for arguements sake I to would take the 12ga. How many birds and running/flying small game are you gonna get with a 22?

AMEN for modern life,
RA