If you could only have five...

Top 5 list

Howdy, folks and welcome back. This post brought to you by the letters a, d, h, and d. I didn't get the usual post written last night, as Monday morning came dark and early. Then about 03:30 as I was sitting with my over medium eggs, English muffins, and a big pot of Irish Breakfast tea, my dad sent me Massad Ayoob's video about his top five guns. Then, fatefully, he asked my opinion. Always dangerous. As I thought about it, my response grew from a text message to an email, and finally arrived in its present form as a substack post.

Among gun guys, the” if you could only have one,” or “only have three,” or “only have five” is always an interesting thought exercise. It does have some practical value, however. There are places where a person might only be able to have a few, or budgets under which person might only be able to afford a few. Another possibility, as Mr Ayoob pointed out, is that a person might be traveling and not able to take a whole 40-gun safe along. That's pushing the limits of checked baggage. So, we get the top five. Five is an interesting number because it gives you one handgun, one rifle, and one shotgun, but then leaves two Wild Card slots. What do you do with the wild card slots? Also, which rifle, which shotgun, which handgun?

My first list, the one from 0330 this morning, before the tea had soaked in, or I'd watched Mr. Ayoob's take mostly consisted of stuff I like, or think is cool.

• 1911. This one's a no-brainer. Probably nothing is as good at putting big holes in things quickly and accurately as the good old 1911. The gun may be big and heavy, but it's also quite slim, and therefore easier to carry than one might think. For me, though, it's something of a split decision as to which 1911. Would I go for a steel Government Model in the Lord's caliber, .45 acp? Or a Lightweight Commander in 9 MM(assuming a good gunsmith assured me it would run,) or .38 Super, which—although ammunition choices are quite limited these days—is at least the proper length for the 1911 action.

• A Belgian Browning light 20 Auto 5. I really enjoy this action, but the 12 gauge is a heavy pig to carry afield. The Japanese manufactured versions are quite pretty, but they all seem to have a ventilated rib, the biggest waste of steel known to man on an A5 pattern gun. The humpback receiver provides all the sighting plane you need, and you usually can't see the vent rib past it. It's just ballast.

• A Winchester Model 70 Featherweight, in .270 Winchester. Yes, I'm channeling Chuck O'Connor. I've actually never owned one of these, but have handled them. My last two sporting rifles were both in .30-06, (a Rem 700 with the trigger trouble, replaced with a Tikka T3,) and I found them to be on the ragged edge of tolerable. I don't live in bear country, and don't foresee myself going to Africa anytime soon, so the .270 would do anything I would need it to do. I would probably mount a low power fixed optic, such as one of the late, lamented Leupold FX2 4X scopes. That's both lighter and brighter than the standard 3-9x, and I don't find that a lot of magnification really helps as much as people think in the shooting department. It might magnify the target, but it also magnifies the wibbles and the wobbles, leading to hasty trigger pulls.

• An S&W Model 442. I've really come to appreciate the value and versatility of a J frame. A snub in a pocket is often accessible when the big gun on your belt is not. Of the three S&W hammer types, I presently own the other two, a shrouded Model 38, and an exposed Model 36. Having played with them, I think the enclosed Centennial style is the best of the bunch at doing the things one needs a snub to do.

• A .22 LR. No battery is complete without a good 22. But which one? This one gives me real trouble to decide. Handgun? Or rifle? If a handgun, revolver or semi-auto? If a rifle, bolt gun or gun or semi-auto? Handguns are just too much fun, whereas the rifle is a practical small game getter. In the end, my somewhat agonized choice would have to be my Savage Mark II bolt action rifle. It currently has a fixed 4X scope on it, but I've never liked the reticle. I'd replace it with better glass and call it perfect.

Mr Ayoob's list:

Here is the video.

I'd encourage you to watch it as, together with Clint Smith, Massad Ayoob is our greatest living gun writer. But, here are the Cliff Notes:

• Wilson Combat 1911. Partly because he's been shooting them for 60 years, partly because they are legal even in 10 round capacity limit States, and partly because .45 ACP can be loaded from light Bullseye loads up to thousand plus foot per second loads that rival the 10 mm, it's capable of tremendous versatility.

• S&W 340 PD. This is the Airlite, (Scandium frame, titanium cylinder, weighs a quarter pound less than even the 442) .357 Magnum version of the enclosed hammer Centennial j-frame.

• Wilson Combat modified tactical Rem 870.

• Wilson Combat .308 AR. “I've always thought that if we ever had to face a zombie apocalypse, the zombies would likely come in vehicles. While there are 5.56 rounds with less-bad barrier performance, when you really need to turn a vehicle into a sieve, nothing does a better job than a semi-auto .308. Excellent double duty hunting rifle, also.”

• Another Wilson Combat 1911. Since you're likely to put more rounds through the handgun than any of the rest, a backup serves in case the first one has to go back to the shop for updates, upgrades, repairs, or renovations.

Jesse's list 2.0

After the caffeine did its thing and I watched Mr Ayoob's list, I gave the matter some more cogitation, especially in light of his emphasis on versatility.

• S&W 686 Plus Mountain Gun. For versatility, I don't think this one can be beat. 7 rounds of 357 magnum, light enough to carry, yet still all the durability of a solid stainless L-frame. If .45 ACP is versatile in its loadings, .357 is more so. It also has the significant benefit of not requiring different springs or otherwise tuning the gun to accept different options. From light wadcutters to hollow points or heavy hard cast, if you can fit them in the holes, a revolver will fire them.

• S&W 442, although I wouldn't turn down the 340 PD, either. I do think revolvers should come in pairs, and for the price of one 340 PD, you can get a pair of 442s.

• Mossberg 590 with 18.5 inch barrel, and also a 28-in barrel from an 835. The Auto 5—even a century and a quarter since its inception—is still one of the most versatile semi-auto shotguns, given the friction ring setup which can be swapped around to accommodate both light and heavy loads. Modern 20 gauge ammunition is also much more capable than in the past, one still cannot beat a 12 gauge pump if sheer versatility is the goal. However, with all due respect to Mr Ayoob and the 870's legions of fans, I grew up with an 870. I'm an adult convert to Mossberg, for REASONS. Even before Big Green had its recent troubles in the QC department. I vastly prefer the tang safety on the Mossy to the crossbolt on the 870. I also had troubles enough with the flapdoodle carrier on the 870 to much appreciate the open loading port on the Mossberg design. And if the Mossberg has an aluminum receiver making it much lighter to carry? Or carries an extra round in the same length magazine too? Just happy bonuses. My original thought was one of the Mossberg 500 security/field combos which come with both the long and short barrel. But, one place where Remington does have it over the Mossberg (at least the 500) is in the retaining screw cap that holds the barrel to the magazine tube. On the Mossberg 500, the end of the tube is closed, you can't add a magazine extension. They changed that with the 590 design, but have never cataloged a sporting 590 that I'm aware of. However, the barrel from the 835, the big three and a half inch Magnum pump, does fit the 590. Thus, I can have my cake, a short, high capacity Mossberg pump, and hunt for birds and bunnies to eat with it, too.

• I can't argue with Mr Ayoob's point about the best way to turn a car into a colander being a semi-auto .308, but I don't really love the AR platform. I do like the M14 / M1A, but as I objected to other guns higher up the list, it is a big heavy pig. Luckily, this is 2025. A big heavy pig is something up with which we need not put. Start with the shortened barrel and action from a Springfield M1A Scout, and mate it to the new carbon fiber stock from AG Composites. Slightly lighter than the stock plastic noodle, much lighter than walnut, and stiffer than either. I've already mentioned my preference for low magnification optics; a scout scope would not bother me in the least. If I'm mathing my ounces correctly, that's 8 lb 5 oz in iron sight configuration.

• And that brings us back to doe, a deer … wait, no. That's something else. Double deuce, that's what we're talking about. I don't pump out the round count I once did, so I'm not much worried with wearing out a quality centerfire handgun. My last Wild Card slot, therefore, definitely goes to a 22lr, of some sort. The Ruger 22/45 Lite is awfully appealing, but I think I will stand pat with my Savage Mark II rifle.

What do you think? What's your list? What bets did I miss?