In this hypothetical situation, what if you were limited to three firearms? What would you choose to optimize your ability to accomplish what you personally need to with firearms? In this video, we give a rundown of what we would pick.

Full transcript …

– [Voiceover] What if you could only have three firearms? Well, for one, your wife and your girlfriend might be a little happier, but that isn’t the point I’m getting at here.

I did some thinking the other day as I was having a couple of six outstanding Miller Lites in a lounge chair in front of a shoddy campfire.

And I got to thinking, what if for some reason you were limited to three firearms? As a hunter of all sorts of foul and game, this makes things difficult.

As a rifle you would use for prairie dogs, isn’t generally ideal for moose.

A shotgun for turkey isn’t usually optimized for dove.

As an enthusiast, you want to see what other firearms and platforms have to offer, and experience all kinds of different guns.

Yet as a practical person, you want to hope for the best but prepared for the worst.

So what then would I do if I wanted to maximize my ability to practice marksmanship, participate in some shooting sports, hunt and protect myself? Well, to me this answer’s pretty obvious.

First off, I would pick a 9mm handgun.

One that’s big enough to enjoy shooting, and small enough to conceal and carry comfortably.

I say 9mm because ammo’s cheap and available everywhere, comes in all sorts of different loadings, has low recoil, and allows for a generally high-capacity magazine.

Which 9mm I would choose would be a tough one.

A Glock 19 would be a wise choice, as would any number of other similar pistols.

The underappreciated Steyr M9, maybe a compact CZ 75, a P30, and so on, but I would probably stick to my P7.

The reason why is because I’ve been carrying it since 2012 and feel comfortable with it.

I shoot well with it, it’s easy to strip and maintain, very reliable, and it’s big enough to shoot recreationally, yet small enough to carry.

Even for a guy like myself, with the center of gravity somewhere near my eyebrows, I can still get by with it.

However, I might choose the M13 though, for it’s additional capacity.

Next up I would choose a Remington 870 12 Gauge.

You could substitute the Mossberg 500 of course, but I’ve always preferred the 870’s cross-bolt safety.

I say the 870 because I would get a short barrel for home defense, as seen on this one, a 26 or 28 inch barrel for dove and duck, and then a pistol grip setup for turkey.

For what it’s worth, I’ve always preferred pistol grip setups on my turkey shotguns.

Also, while I haven’t been an avid participant in shotgun sports since college, I would one day like to get back into it.

While a pump isn’t ideal, you can definitely get the job done with one.

With the 12 Gauge you get incredible versatility.

Birdshot, buck, slugs, and any of the crazy stuff you’ve seen on Taofledermaus’ channel.

They’re both incredibly fun and utilitarian, and with a price point of less than $350, the value is definitely there.

So the last gun I would choose is predictable, and almost a cop out, a nice quality AR-15.

Honestly, if you’re buying a gun with some sort of survival scenario or defensive purpose in mind, it would be very wise to choose an AR in 5.56.

The caliber’s everywhere, parts are also everywhere, you can customize the rifle to your heart’s content, and by swapping a few pins, you have a different caliber.

If you aren’t confident in.223 for taking out whatever you’re hunting, pop a 7.62×39 upper on there.

If you want magnification, get a nice optic and put that on top.

If you want to build a precision rifle, you can absolutely do that with an AR-15 as well.

Hell, for plinking, just throw a.22 kit on there and get to business.

I would not hesitate to trust a hunt or my life to a well made AR-15 rifle.

Over 50 years of refinement have resulted in a truly amazing and light platform.

While they aren’t my favorite semiautomatic military style rifle to shoot, in this scenario I do believe that they make the most sense.

Even the local gun store in a tiny town I frequent has AR spare parts, but you would be hard-pressed to find an extractor for anything more obscure.

So that’s my list, pretty simple and utilitarian.

But with these three firearms I believe I could get by with quite a lot.

Anyways, I’d like to hear from you guys.

What would you pick if you could only have three guns? I’m interested to hear what viewers from other places might choose, and how people with different interests would change their choices.

I can see how people with no interest in hunting might go a different direction.

Or how a very devoted competition shooter might place a lot of emphasis on very specific firearms.

Big thanks to Ventura Munitions for making our videos possible, guys.

This is Alex C. with TFB TV, hope to hear from you, and hope to see you next time.

(gun loads) (gun fires)