I've lost count of the discussions I've read on "The Ideal...this, that, or the other subject...Gun"; "If you only had one gun, what would it be?"...OMG, we've beat these things absolutely to death. Every choice has both benefits and drawbacks.
What it boils down to is what you can afford balanced against what you think you need. flmason has made his choices and justified them and is...if not totally happy...at least content and feels relatively secure for the time being. What else can you ask for?
Luckily, many of us have more choices than he did. But I think back to the '50s when I put meat on the table with a single-shot .22 bolt-action, a single 16, and an H&R 923 .22 revolver because that's all we had. I still have the 923 and it still does fine for varmints around the yard.
Oh yeah, I'm quite happy with my recent acquisitions. Some minor nits. Can't figure out how a Super Blackhawk got out of the factory with the grips being slightly smaller than the metal. The other one on the shelf actually had machining marks still visible. Both odd situations for a Ruger. Would've preferred the 20 be a a 12. Couldn't find one where I was. The 22 rocks. (Ruger Single 10) Very happy with that. The Mosin was pure impulse, love of old military designs. Basically stupid for what the situation was. Couldn't be happier with .22, .44 and 20, but for a 12.
Have to admit, since I've never had privilege to hunt anywhere where you could actually see 100 yards away... I'm way covered. Tall cotton. Well maybe you could see 100 yards in some Fla. swamps I've been in, but probably not get a shot. So's still, tall cotton.
Could have a lot worse mini-arsenal, for sure. Pretty much hope to get some kind of serious scoped 30-06 someday and that 12 that's nagging at me. But I'm already way beyond what's needed and into things I wanted.
Hey, if you have a roof over your head that 16 ga. and .22's pretty much can cover everything. Nothing to worry about there. Gives you everything a Savage .24 or M6 has and more. The H&R is a repeater.
