Back when I was a teen was when I did most of my hunting and back then (still?) the main thing was thrift. I used cheap old singleshots. Now that I use pricier repeaters I don't do as well. Funny how that works. A couple boxes of shotshells in the fall, plus a box of .22's from an aunt for Xmas, was all I needed with my old singleshots to bring in a bunch of wild game dinners. Funny, too, how I was always pleased as punch to get those .22 shells as a gift when we went to my rural uncle's for Xmas.

OK, before we get going on this theme, the first thing to remember is that the main thing behind accuracy and performance is consistency.

With that in mind, I recently found out that a couple companies are making 3-in-1 guns. And even 4-in-1. They use a singleshot frame with interchangeable barrels to create a shotgun, rifle, muzzleloader...and even pistol. What more do you need? This seems like a great innovation. It's an old idea but I hadn't seen it in modern firearms until recently.

You also get the great low-tech cool points that a thrifty break-action singleshot gives. ("Say, aren't those what poor people use?" "Yes, and aborigines, too.") You'll look like you hunt meat for the pot. Which you do. The fancy lads will step back and (correctly) expect to be outdone.

Rossi makes one of these threefers and so does H&R.

Thompson/Center makes the foursome Encore: one classic frame that turns into a: pistol, rifle, muzzleloader, shotgun (smoothbore or rifled). It's the fanciest of the lot, but has been around for decades with the same basic design, so you know it's good. Here's a link and pic of the TC Encore series:

I think the Rossi set-up is 20-ga, .50 cal and .22. H&R is 12-ga, .50 and .243. I'm a little vague on the details, though. Some of my word-of-mouth info conflicts with their websites. Rossi's might only be in junior size and HR's might just be a two-fer. In any case, these folks SHOULD be making threesomes. Or even guns that are more convertible yet, why not. Offhand, I don't see why barrels and stocks of all lengths shouldn't just swap in and out of break-action guns. In any case, with the new Rossi and HR it looks like you can have a very thrifty way of covering all your hunting bases. And with TC, you can add the handgun, and the whole batch is a very high end accuracy package.

You would likely also boost your results because you're doing all your shooting off of the same base, giving you wonderful consistency.

Transportation would also be a breeze, with several guns in one handy pouch.

A couple other companies also make converting guns, like Mossberg's M500 shotgun/muzzleloader, or Savage's rifle/shotgun over-under, or TC's famous Contender (but only their Encore does a foursome).

Anyway, here are links to these recent entries from Rossi and HR:

http://www.rossiusa.com/whatsnew/MiniloaderDescription.cfm

http://www.hr1871.com/firearms/index.php?cat=2&subcat=33

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