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Waiting on an answer from a hydrogeologist on some data for work, so...I'm cooling my heels here for a bit.

An earlier thread here got me to thinking this morning. If you had to do all your shotgunning with just one gun (God forbid!), what would it be. Now...this will be very different for the vast cross-section of folks and applications covered here, but...where I grew up it was generally a Model 12 Winchester (for upland/waterfowl, & even target use), likely in 12-gauge (there were a few 20s). The Remington 870 seems to have largely replaced the M12 there (due to cost and availability factors) and a modern (Benelli?) autoloader 12 may even be the current champion for the young men of that world (that I currently know). A mid-weight Beretta or Browning O/U (in 12 or 20) would work for lots of the folks I know now too.

What would I choose if I had to only have one room in my house? Would I choose the kitchen, where I have so much gastronomical delight? Or, would I choose the bedroom, where I have enjoyed blissful rest and other intimate delights? Or, would it be the bathroom, where I have had so much relief and enjoyed thousands of hot, soaking baths?

I have decided. I will not think on it any longer, for I have no reason to choose one over the other. I can have them all. I will not "torture" myself agonizing over such matters. 🤔😉

Many of us here do live in blessed excess, I fear. The bounty of a life well-lived in these wonderful United States. We all stand on the shoulders of giants.

For me there's only one answer: My Valmet 412 o/u.

It sleeps quietly in a three-barrel case with a 12 gauge skeet/skeet barrel, another in f/m, and a 20 gauge tubed set that is my regular choice. But in the safe is a 12 over .308 with a
3-5x Tasco World Class scope in the clamp-on mount. Double rifle barrel sets in several calibers are still available if you know where to shop. In the case is also a set of Browning .410 inserts if needed, plus a clever little German-made stecklauf for .22 rf.

The Finnish-made Valmet may not be the most elegant gun, but it is stoutly built and comes up comfortably for me every time. I have no idea of how many thousands of target loads I've put through it, as well as plenty of field- and waterfowl loads when I did such things. I have spare springs and pins if ever needed.

It will outlast me, and I can only hope that its next caretaker will be appreciative of its good design and workmanship.

If I had to shoot just one gun I would most likely need to drop several things I like to shoot. I could do most with my model 42 but for all but limited hunting it is not ideal. Guess I could just shoot my 28 gauge model 12 but again it would be a trade off. Could shoot a 20 pump or even a AyA 20 gauge model 4. It is just too limiting to only shoot one. I own multiple guns, to enjoy them all, in limited rolls that are mostly interchangeable. Even my heavy British wild fowl guns would not be great for steady shooting or large volume shooting.

If it comes down to shooting only a 1100, 11/87 or Benelli, as my only choices I might just quit shooting. I like the variety, not the outcome. Bag limits, high score interest have ended for me. I will shoot four rounds of Skeet, with four different guns and not hesitate to change guns even when straight. A couple weeks ago I did just that and dropped four birds in the fourth round for a 96. The 42’s worked well, the Ruger 28 did fine but my AyA 20 failed to finish the hundred. 20 years ago I would have stuck to the streak come what may. Now I just go with the plan and not cry about things. So no single gun for me.

Gil: This wasn't meant to be depressing, I was just noodling-around the comparison of highly-specialized firearms (game guns, target guns, hammer guns, etc.) with the incredibly broad-spectrum of the more general-use stuff in the shower this morning. God knows... I'm grateful to have had the chance to try good examples of so many of them. I feel very fortunate in that regard. By all means, keep-on doing what you so clearly enjoy (I know I will).

James: I funded the lion's share of my more-specialized gun purchases here with the sale of most (but not all) of my eclectic assortment of classic old American pump guns. It was great fun to pursue them, acquire them, learn about them, clean them up and then shoot & hunt with them. They all had their charms (with some having a bit more than the others). The last one left in my gun cabinet is a beat-up old M12 in 16 and it's not going anywhere (there might be an older 870 around somewhere too).

I'd pick one of my English doubles. Probably the Greener, but maybe one of my Cashmores. Sort of a no lose proposition actually. A 12 bore of course.

Having thought about your question, Lloyd, “If you had to do all your shotgunning with just one gun“ and reviewed what’s in the safe and what I’d still like to have in the safe, my answer has surprised me. It would be my 1899 16g, 32” barreled NIG with Ithaca’s briefly offered “double thick breech.” It’s all original inside and out and has a “bank vault” smoothness to the action that no other of my Ithaca’s have including earlier and later NIG’s. I don’t have an explanation for that but there is a sweetness to it that brings a satisfying nostalgia and I think that has a lot to do with my choice. And with loads that I’ve developed to both open and tighten the original choking it will do anything I can still do.

In my mid 70’s now I find myself thinking more often about Faulkner’s insight, “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” This gun with its “real” hammers, serious heft and 16 bores, brings that truth alive for me like no other. Plus, as I slow down those long barrels simply refuse to let me miss behind. 😉

New Ithaca Gun -- applied to later hammer guns I believe.

Yes, the Ithaca hammer doubles made from 1887-1915.

"One gun" out of pure curiosity. As a practical matter, we all started out with just "one". Most of us here took that a little bit further and for many (I suppose) it was a voyage of discovery. I'm simply asking "where are you now?" in that voyage. Guns for some are merely "tools" and for others, they are also very-much "art". Some will speak to you differently than others and that can be from "nostalgia" as well as it is from "function". You can be drawn to an old English hammergun and still own (& use) an 870 Express. Both can (& usually do) have their place in your battery of guns, but which one is "the one", at least at this moment?

Self-defense can be a factor here too, I suppose, but I really wasn't thinking about that. Economics and "regulations" certainly play a role as well, in this changing world of ours. Read back into the beginning of this post, the spirit of my question was explained there (I hope).

Most of my life it has been only just the one gun, mainly for economic reasons. I started back in the 1980's. A single-shot H&R Topper in 12g, broke 90 out of 100 straight with it once, *and* put some waterfowl on the table a few months later. I still regret selling it, but I'm waiting for delivery on a LC Smith at the moment. And the Smith will be just the one gun that I own, and does everything.

For several years, when I was 12 and a couple, I shot a 12 gauge Model 12 that was my dad's since 1925 when it was new. I shot all my birds, skeet, trap, you name it with this gun. I still have it and could still use it for an all around gun. However, I would have to pick a Parker for my one gun in today's world. Which one? For an all around gun, probably T.J. Cooper's old VH that I restored over a ten or fifteen year period, Turnbull case colors being the last step. A 12 gauge VH, 30" modified and full, 1 1/2 frame. It will be fun to wear the finish off of a mint gun over a period of years, like T.J. did during the twenties through the sixties. Edith Cooper sold it to me when T.J. was about 95 and "couldn't climb up the mountain any more". Edith Cooper wrote "The Kentucky Rifle and Me", a history of an early twentieth century gun collecting and dealing couple.