True confession time. For the last several years my typical carry gun has been a 9 shot 22LR revolver with a 1 inch barrel. I carry it everywhere because it is light and compact,and I never know when I am going to run into a poisonous snake or a rabid coon.
@sneakypete No snakes here... And around the house/farm I prefer a sawed off 12ga pump for a critter gitter, just to minimize going through buildings, and to minimize the downrange to worry about...
I keep trying to figure in a 22LR pistol... Nice for dispatch in the traps. Not that I am trapping, but survival mode in the sticks, a .22 would be handy... And you can carry a billion rounds... Played around a while with a 4.10 single shot, with a drop-in .22LR insert... That's a nice rig for a range of available rounds, survival-wise...
But I have griz to worry about, wolf and moose (which actually scare me more)... So I kinda settled into a lever action on a mountain sling, and a .45 Colt cowboy in a rocker holster over my left thigh, so I can still squat, or ride, and the cross-draw pulls straight out without having to pull up....
Those two are ever present. In fact, If I am going up for elk or something that I would need big iron for, it is stowed on my back and I am carrying the carbine on the way up and back. Yeah, a 300win or a 7mm mag got plenty of poop, but a bolt don't happen fast, and scopes see nothing but hair... I stick to open sights and a lever action during travel.
My "go to town" gun for the last ten years or so has been a double action only 5 shot Rossi 44 Special revolver with a 3 inch barrel and the sweetest double action pull I have ever seen in my life. So slick when it was new,I never even bothered to pull the side plate. I have literally shot running snakes in the head with it and not a single one has gotten away so far. Some were up to 15 feet away,and I have never had to shoot more than twice to kill them. Sometimes the first shot just kept them from running anymore.
I have an old s&w .357mag that lives in the truck these days... closest I have to a town gun. It's in a clip-on holster... Still have a shoulder rig for a Colt, which is alright, but no Colt to carry in it. But I can carry that 1911 behind my back.
And I have pretty little pair of 9mm Glocks, nickel plated, left and right shoulder rigged, that I won on a deal... But I never use em. Not much use for pea-shooters anyway, and the clip on the dang things pinch the sh*t out of my pinky finger. Glocks suck. I just can't seem to get rid of em... shiny things.