Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Combination Guns and Drillings The Ultimate Custom Subsistence Survival Drilling

This is one of 3 lifetime-build / bucket list guns I want to have custom made, but of the three, the one least likely that I'll actually follow through on. So essentially a (three-) pipe dream if you will. But we'll see. The other two are a turnbolt and an AR15 SBR.

The idea is to have THE single most versatile firearm in the world, for harvesting the most types of game, at nearly any range, while having a reasonable weight. I really cannot think of anything more versatile than this without exceeding 3 barrels (which makes it then too heavy) - but maybe I'm missing something. (Note that versatility here does not in any way include defensive uses; just game gathering).

All barrels are 22". Best balance of weight, follow through on wingshooting, and internal ballistics.

1. Lone bottom barrel is 12 ga 3.5 mag smoothbore with interchangeable chokes, so that it can shoot birdshot, buckshot, or slugs. With the right hardcast slugs, this will take the largest game on earth at close range with a good brainer.

2. Top right barrel is the basic big game long-range hunter, chambered in .280 Rem AI (although 7mm RSAUM or 7mm WSM would be good alternatives; any number of choices would be ok; just somewhere in this general class). I like .280 AI as it will shoot .280 or .280 AI as is. .30-'06 AI would be a very good choice as well. You could make a pretty good argument for things like .35 Whelen, 9.3x62, or 9.3x74 as well. But my working theory is that if .280 can't handle it, get closer and use a Brenneke slug and brain shot.

3. The top left barrel is the most complicated, versatile, and useful by far for real world protein collection. Chambered in .223 Wylde, 1 in 8 twist.
--The first 17" of the barrel is rifled, for shooting: (a) .223 rem & 5.56x45, from 50 grainers up to 85 grainers cup and core or up to about 70 grainers monometal, (b) with MCA style chamber adapter (such as I use in my 9-twist CZ 527 .223), ability to shoot .22 long rifle standard ammo AND importantly, Aguila SSS 60 grainers, and (c) with 2nd MCA adapter, also shoot .22 mag standard ammo.
--The last 5" of the barrel are widened out to around .32 caliber with "straight rifling" to unspin shot loads, so that you will have nice patterns from (d) .22lr shotshells, with the chamber adapter, and (e) .22 mag shotshells with that adapter.

After many years of hunting, if there's one thing I've learned, it's that tweetie birds are by far the easiest meat to get close enough to, to harvest very quickly (within 5-10 minutes of sitting still typically), and pretty much as often as you want; however, a .410 bore or larger won't leave any meat left on the chickadees; hence the critical importance of this weird 3rd barrel setup and the MCA adapter for the rimfires.

For this same reason, something like the Marlin .22 mag "garden gun" or similar is probably the best single-barrel meat-getter you could use, with the .22 mag shotshells (and with regular ammo in the smooth bore, accurate *enough* for close range brainers on larger game).

Of course, a hollow stock compartment for the two MCA adapters and choke tubes.

Just thinking out loud.