Which Guns would I save ...??

AAUUGGHH!!

 

 

A while back I questioned the staff here on: 

If your house were burning down & (among everything else you could get out with) the options were two guns or no guns, which  would you grab?

The staff, management & a friend give their ideas on the subject. 

 

 

John Dunn

Well, for me that's actually a pretty simple one, my .45 Colt guns. The first is my Ruger Vaquero, 4 5/8" barrel and color case frame.

The other, is my Winchester 94. When I first heard of these "cowboy action shooting" rifles using big-bore sixgun calibers I immediately had to own one.

Should a fire threaten my home, these two are the core of my meager but growing firearms collection and would be first, leaving the unpaid bills, dirty socks, and photos of old girlfriends to burn. :-) Thank you.

 

 

Bill Gooch

Glock 17L and MAK 91 (with 100 round mag). This selection is due to ready availability. If I could save my Miata from the garage, I'd add a Browning Hi-Power!

 

Jim Taylor

If the house was on fire and I could only grab 2 guns?

Yuck. I hate questions like that. Okay.. here's the deal...if I have time to decide which 2 I want then I have time to take as many as I can carry.

If I am running out the door grabbing what I can as the house falls down around me, I grab 2 of the guns kept near the door. What do I grab? Depends on the door I am exiting through. There are different guns by each door.

What are they? Oh no you don't! First off, a gentleman doesn't ask. Second, I ain't saying.

The other thing that needs to be asked here is: "Why is the house on fire?"

If it was an accidental house fire (electrical... whatever) then that is one thing.

If someone came and set it on fire deliberately then I may be going out the door into a fight. That could have some bearing on what is taken out with me. Most likely the 2 will be the type of guns that I can shoot with either hand.

Here's hoping it is never a decision I have to make.

And here's to functional fire extinguishers kept within reach.

 

 

A.K. Church

My soul, what a puzzler. You can take a number of approaches.

I keep coming to versatility. With the right 2 guns I could defend myself, hunt deer and, with handloads, hunt small game. I could plink. I could distract myself from the memory of the fire.

 

They are a battered old 1949 vintage Marlin 336SC, the Marlin 1/2 magazine pistol gripped iteration of the Winchester 64. Mine in .30WCF. The rifle will kill deer, defend life, bounce cans, and do it all as well as it did during the Truman administration. The Ballard rifling is not at all hinky about cast bullets, nor hard to clean.

The other is my minty Smith Model 27. Not the perfect defense gun with its serrated trigger and drawknife front sight but, it'll still work.

A little light for a deer gun but, it'll do in close. You can load it down to low .38 Special ballistics & kill squirrels and bunnies.

Hopefully I can get to my 4X4. In it is the little New England carbine from that article.

And life would go on.

 

 

John Barner

Well, I guess I better get my two cents worth in. 

1, My F.N. model D, B.A.R. This is the Belgian redesign of the U.S. 1918 (yes, it ROCKS)

2, And oh what a choice. It'd have to be my Browning 1886.

The primary reasons are simple. These two are the ones that would be the hardest to replace. The F.N. for all intents would be an impossibility.

Anybody out there ever wondered what you might do? Send us a line & I'll start posting them here. (The webmaster reserves editorial rights)

Email! Get'cha Email here! 

 

Sixgun from Pennsylvania.  

If the house was burning down I would shove the old lady and the dogs
out the door and run down to the basement and hide in my gun vault and hope
for the best. Kind of like, you know, going down with the ship. Got a mess of
pre-war leverguns, Colt SAA's, old N-Frames and a decent smattering of
strange Ruger SA's. Don't think I could live happy again without them.  

Randy J. of Nebraska 

You know what my mine would be. The Colt and the Garand. They're both neat, and I trust both of them. The Colt is a 1944 GI .45 which was duffle bagged right at the end of WWII or just after. The original barrel was gnarled by corrosive ammo, so it currently carries a '60s vintage GI barrel. It is otherwise bone stock.  

The Garand is another Government gun. It is a Springfield , and is  within a few thousand of the end of production. It will group under 2" with most US GI ball and will feed Federal Premium.

Doc Hudson,

I presume you mean which two I would grab in hand heading for the door.

I guess that would have to be Big Daddy's old Hopkins Allen single
barreled shotgun.  It would be worthless to everyone else, but it is
priceless to me.

The other would depend on the source of the fire.  If accidental, I'd
grab my BLR in .358 Win.  I searched two years before I found it.  I
won't let it go easy.  If the fire was set and shots incoming, I guess
I'd have to take my ugly rifle and as many loaded 30 round mags as I can
stuff in pockets and waistband.

If the fire occurred while I am awake, the two rifles would be in
addition to the Uberti .44 SPL on my right hip and the S&W M-640 in my
left front pocket.

Wayne Miller
Washington

Yikes.  What a question.  The handgun question would come down to if I was
being forced to repel boarders while evacuating.  If so, my 1st year
production Colt Lightweight Commander gets the nod.  That's the gun that
lives with me, and will be by my head if woke up in the middle of the night.
If time permits, I will glom the Colt SAA and the Ruger OM on the way out
the door.  The Ruger is in the middle of a .44 Special conversion and it
took me too long to scrape the parts into a pile to let it go without a
fight.

Rifle?  My FN-FAL gets the nod, both for saving my skin, and for general
purpose use.  From a sentimental standpoint, I would really hate to
sacrifice my 1916 vintage '94 Winchester rifle.  It belonged to my wife's
grandfather and is a grand old piece of work.  I won't even get into the
muzzleloaders.  Kind of hard to repel boarders with a flintlock....

Peter Barrett

I'd grab my EAA Witness 45ACP first because no American should have to face
the unknown without a forty-five available. 

In my other hand would be my newly purchased Winchester 1300 12 gauge, with
my wal-mart bag full of OO buckshot.  It doesn't have the range of a rifle,
but is just the ticket for repelling both biped and quadruped vermin.

Can my wife bring two more?  In that case, my mildly sporterized Lee
Enfield #4 in 303 British and my Marlin-Glenfield .22 will be coming, too.
With that battery, I think we'd be quite prepared for whatever lies ahead.

Neat exercise! What's the next question?  :)

(don't know yet, anybody got any ideas? ed)

Cathy Moore

Pistol, 454 Freedom Arms Casull, no other comes close in terms of
versatility, including the up and coming 475, unless the reason for the
fire was the return of fire breathing dragons, but I still think if it
bleeds, the 454 will handle it.

Rifle, the toss up would be settled by which I could grab first, my 1951
beaten Model 94 30-30 or my new Browning 1885 Hunter in 38-55.  Either
is pleasant to shoot and good enough for hunting in US.

Bill Tanner

Here's my two gun thoughts.  The first gun would be my Special Purpose
Remington 11-87. Depending on the barrel and sight set up, I could hunt
just about any game I desired. That includes upland birds, small game,
waterfowl, and big game out to 100 yards or so. Home defense? How about
a magazine extension, rifle sighted slug barrel, and 7 rounds of
buckshot.

My second gun would be a handgun of some sort. My choice surprised even
me. After thinking about it, I think I would choose my 4 5/8" Single Six
(adj. sights) in 32mag. With 32S&Ws and 32 longs it can take the place
of a 22 and with handloaded 100gr hollow points it would be adequate for
self defense. It would at least keep their heads down until I could get
my 11-87!

Thanks for the mental exercise.

email the Centurian

 

PAGINAE CODEX: 

HOME

A.K. CHURCH INSTITUTE   THEORETICAL CYBERCIDE FOUNDATION   MICHAEL CUMPSTON  B&J G&A   LINKS   GUESTS