*Ping*
Hey, you guys woke me up! I usually sleep under the gunshop porch. Cozy there.
Anyhoo....while I wait for the Squantos to check in, once he regains consciousness from all that Hoppes #9 he uses as aftershave....may as well...he's going to smell like it anyway, with all the guns he uses...
Muttly SOP requires the most available cartridges, in the most reliable (military proven) actions. This comes down to 12ga.-3", .357 Magnum, 9mm, .44 Magnum, .45ACP .22LR, .223, .30'06......and perhaps .30-30 and .308.
Note on shotguns, often overlooked...but for general utility use, and certainly for practical bug-out survival, the side-by-side with double triggers is one of the very best, though perhaps least glamorous choices. It is available with shorter barrels, choke tubes, can be had or modified to have a pistol grip, is intuitive in operation, has 2 firing pins, can choose between 2 loads and chokes, is shorter and lighter than pumps and autos, that is, legal overall length can be made with longer barrel length...something worth having...and can even fire BOTH barrels at once, if need be...and it sometimes is.
Then why are we here muttly ?.......:o)