This is a question which comes up often. Usually it is just which “one” gun would you choose.
I can’t argue with Miculek’s picks but I would change the .357 to a Glock 20. Still a .357 magnum would be about as good as any.
Erle Stanley Gardner, author of the Perry Mason novels once wrote an article on survival and his one gun would have been a Smith & Wesson model 17 with a six inch barrel. Not a bad choice either.
Specifically mine would be a Remington 870 with 18” barrel and extended mag. A Ruger 10-22 and the Glock.
***Erle Stanley Gardner, .... a Smith & Wesson model 17 with a six inch barrel. ****
Shooting Times author Skeeter Skelton preferred a .357 M-19 S&W with a five inch barrel.
Bill Jordan liked the M-19.
Elmer Keith preferred his.44 Mag.
Cooper his .45 ACP.
Each has different ideas for different reasons.
Handguns, what ever I am comfortable with. Something that won’t jam. Wheel or auto. I have had wheel guns jam. Hard to believe but it is true.
I’ll stick with my Remington Nylon 66.
A certain .223 rifle.
I’m on blood thinners so the 30-36 and 12 gauge are out now. Causes bruising and other problems.