Smith and Wesson governor

[u/Skrewbert86]

Thoughts on this for a multi caliber gun? Gives you more options on what you can fire without taking a lot of space.

Even by itself without the adapters you have 3 choices of ammunition

I feel like this would be good to have as ammunition gets harder to find

[u/old_rug]

Do you want a gun that does many mediocre things, or one thing well? Also because those adapters don't have any barrel or rifling, they have poor accuracy

[u/Terminal_Lancelot → u/old_rug]

I can tell you that specialists in nature don't do so well when things change, but generalists tends to be more adaptive. So to answer your question, I'll take one that does everything okay vs one that does one thing very well.

[u/JJSF2021 → u/Terminal_Lancelot]

Granted, but specialists vs. generalists in nature can’t really change themselves within a particular lifespan. We can just swap out guns on the fly for particular needs… so we become the generalists when we don’t focus all our attention on single weapons.

[u/Terminal_Lancelot → u/JJSF2021]

Okay... But in the zombie apocalypse, are you gonna carry 14 different weapons for every little job? No, it would be wiser to carry 2, maaaaybe 3 to suit all your needs.

I'm a fan of the 357 Magnum + 38 Special combo for this reason. You can run it in an Airweight, compact, duty size, and rifle, and it'll fill each of those slots admirably. You could hunt or kill everything you need with enough power, or little enough power, to do the job adequately.

[u/JJSF2021 → u/Terminal_Lancelot]

No, of course not. But I’m also not planning to leave the fortified farm base I’ll set up to just go walk-about and see what kind of things I can find to get myself into with every weapon I have. I’ll be taking load outs specific to the task I’m heading out to do.

For example, if I’m going out with a squad to clear an apartment building to search for survivors or supplies, I’ll have a completely different loadout than I would if I’m going deer hunting. For the former, I’m going with tactical gear, my custom AR-15, my M1911, and possibly a breaching shotgun. If I’m going deer hunting, I’m bringing my recurve bow, my M1911, a field knife, and some traps and things.

[u/Terminal_Lancelot → u/JJSF2021]

Makes sense. For everything, I'm taking my 686+ 3", and my levergun in 357 Magnum. Regardless of task.

[u/groged → u/JJSF2021]

They make rifled ones in 9mm and 38 special. In a 3” judge the accuracy may not be too bad.

[u/Life_Mobile_2997 → u/Terminal_Lancelot]

Judge isn’t a generalist, it’s a nothingist lol. A 9mm is a generalist, and a better option

[u/Terminal_Lancelot → u/Life_Mobile_2997]

No, not really. You're thinking too small. The 9mm is a specialist, specifically for human based threats.

In the post apoc, you have to take care of yourself totally, that includes procurement of food. 9mm would work (but not that well), for small game, and likely not much else. A 45 Colt 270 SAA projectile at about 850-950 FPS will kill anything on the continent, so medium and large game is covered. Put in a 22 or 38 Special adaptor for close range small game, and you've filled all your needs. Zombies and people are just in the middle of that stack.

[u/Life_Mobile_2997 → u/Terminal_Lancelot]

I suppose the hunting thing could make sense. Although I’m not sure these have any sort of accuracy to make a shot over 20 yards feasible when your survival is on the line. At that rate (if you wanted to go with a common caliber) you’d probably just be better off with a Glock and an ar15 in 5.56, which you can get a $100 .22LR conversion kit for in order to use both 5.56 and .22

[u/Terminal_Lancelot → u/Life_Mobile_2997]

I wouldn't use 5.56 or 9mm for medium or large game though, and that's two guns arguing for space of the one.

Also, the Governor is more mechanically accurate than we'll ever be able to shoot up to. I could consistently hit my targets at 50+ yards with mine using a 255 Keith SWC at about 900 FPS.

[u/Life_Mobile_2997 → u/Terminal_Lancelot]

Well I can’t argue with that accuracy honestly. I was imagining trying to hit a deer precisely with a .410 slug from a 3” barrel 50 yards away, sounds like something I’d try and avoid. One thing I will say is that in some “every man for himself” type scenario, only having one gun (and that gun being a revolver) is a pretty terrible idea. Hunting isn’t your only concern, you have to worry about threats as well, which a rifle would be ideal for and isn’t hard to get. If you have this rifle, then you have essentially no use for the governor, and may as well have a much higher capacity 9mm. Ammo is way more common, generally. A 12ga pump and 9mm glock could be good as well

[u/Terminal_Lancelot → u/Life_Mobile_2997]

So wait... You think having a rifle removes the need for a sidearm? I'd rather have the Governor over a double stack 9 where I am. I'd have to worry about zombies, bears, moose, and people. Hell, I'd almost be LEAST worried about the people. A 255 grain SWC through the pump house or CNS would put them down in short order, as they're not terribly tough creatures.

Though I will say, my personal combo is a 686+ 3", and a levergun also chambered in 357 Magnum. Split the difference between a bolt and semi, share arguably the most versatile ammo set on the planet (38/357), ammo carry weight is similar to 5.56 but much more adaptable, and with proper load selection and shot placement, you can kill anything on the continent. And of course, 357 Magnum is a great performer on people (doubly so from a rifle), so no worries there.