The Go-Anywhere Gun Revisited

I have written several articles related to the idea of having a gun that can go anywhere.  Well, let’s clarify; a gun that can legally go anywhere within the continental United States.  And so it is, there are a few long gun choices that can go anywhere, with the exception of the truly democrat communist strongholds like New York City. 

Generally, you can’t carry a handgun, or even have one in your possession, outside of states that honor your carry permit.  Concerning long guns, most of the states that disregard your rights concerning handguns also restrict magazine capacity in semi auto rifles and shotguns.  They also tend to have arbitrary, asinine, “assault weapons bans” in place that target cosmetic features on semi autos. 

Therefore, the best bet for maximum legal compliance is manually-operated long guns.  The two obvious choices are pump action shotguns and lever action rifles.  Both are great and will do anything necessary from a personal defense perspective.  If you are going to stay at a lake house in a restricted state, a pump shotgun or a lever action rifle in the closet sure makes the temporary home much safer.

Being much more a rifle guy than a shotgun guy (I went through an extensive shotgun phase years ago, but I tend to constantly minimize what I actually use) my preferred go-anywhere gun for the past several years is a lever action rifle, chambered in 357 Magnum.  My preference here is actually a Henry X model, as the combination of the side loading gate and the tube loading option give the best of both worlds.  Since the gun needs to be transported unloaded in most places, I like having the option to both load and unload the gun, once on location, without having to work the action at all.  Just load the tube when arriving, and unload the tube when leaving.  Simple, and safe. 

I also favor the 357 Magnum as my preferred lever gun cartridge.  If the gun is needed to defend the home, good soft-point loads in 357 Magnum don’t have quite as much tremendous over-penetration as would a 30-30 rifle.  Yet, out of a rifle-length barrel, the 357 Magnum has more than enough power for anything east of the Mississippi river, two legged or four.  So, a gun that can be easily loaded and unloaded, without even working the action (I keep all defensive long guns in cruiser ready, loaded tube but nothing chambered) and in a cartridge that can provide defense against humans, black bear, or anything else, makes good sense to me.  Obviously, a good 20 or 12 Gauge shotgun, loaded with buckshot, would do quite well here also. 

I detest having to travel to commie states where I can’t carry a handgun, but having a good long gun along for the trip makes a lot of sense when you need to venture into such awful places.