Wilderness Defense

[alank2]

Hi,

I'd recommend a Ruger 4" in either 44mag or 45colt, or a G20 in 10MM depending on which you are more comfortable with. I'd lean more towards the G20...

Good luck,

Alan

 

[OKCShooter]

My father lives in Colorado and ranches with a buddy around the Rifle area. Both men have hunted and shot many bears. I asked my dad what him and Jim( his buddy ) carried for bear these days, for everyday carry they use the Judge, 4 inch barrel. He told me shooting a bear with a handgun is a losing propisition anyway.

He needs to be introduced to the S&W .500 or .460

 

[MadDogs]

A 4" S&W Model 629 (no dash). Ported and tuned by MagNaPort.

 

[shotty]

Model 10 Smith 38, well made, cheap to shoot, light to pack or .22 carbine, cheap to shoot, accurate, good at getting "snacks", light, fun. Going into bear country? 22 revolver and 12 guage mossberg, or rifle. I don't believe in large handguns, unless you practice alot and then some more. It really takes time to get good with one. Will your partner or kids be as proffecient as you with your handcannon, no. With the above guns, almost anyone can shoot them and the learning curve is sharp. It depends on alot of factors. In OKLA. the mod-10 or .22 usually go along.

 

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

To my way of thinking....

In brown bear country, 4" 5-shot revolver in .45 Colt, .44 mag, .454 casull, or .480 Ruger (solely as a backup for the rifle in your hands, and/or OC spray). My preference would be .45 Colt with ammo in a stout "+P" config such as Buffalo Bore offerings. Shootable (reasonable recovery time), yet very powerful and penetrative. In fact, as far as what Iken said, well just look at the #1 item in my want to buy list from my sig line link to see whether I agree or not. Dang, now that I look at it, you really stole my thunder, Iken. Hey, great minds think alike...

In non-brown-bear-country, SAME .... OR, a semi-auto 10mm .... OR, lightweight 4" .357 Mag revolver.

So, for the sake of lightness, that means maybe a S&W Mountain Gun in .45 colt or .44 mag is about ideal, and as much as I dislike Glocks for a variety of reasons, something like a compact 10mm Glock is just about ideal for defense against feral dogs, feral pigs, mountain lions, wolves, and humans (crazy violent "woods entrepeneurs" of meth labs or pot fields) - and even black bears and alligators.** Light to carry a long ways. This is the ONLY reason I can think of to actually own a Glock.

That's theory...but in practice, the lighter the better if you're gonna carry it a lot. So whatever you'll actually carry, in whatever chambering that that's in. I've come to carry my 10mm Witness Steel or Taurus 24/7 OSS-DS in .45 acp in the woods if I think there may be trouble - mostly the Taurus because it's lighter. See, practice trumps theory when you actually have to pack it a ways. I need to look into whether the 24/7 longslide can handle .45 super with a stiffer recoil spring - I have some super brass. Then, if so, work up some loads and dedicate this to woods carry. It's light and 12 rounds of .45 super 230s is nothing to sneeze at - A hardcast 230 going over 1,000 from a super load would penetrate even the largest wild boar's gristle plate, even with a nice large destructive meplat. Could be a nice temp solution until I get my Redhawk.

One thing to keep in mind is that with feral dogs and/or wolves, since they normally attack in packs, quantity of rounds (like a 10mm 2-stack semi-auto) can be more important than the power of each round (like a 5-shot revolver). Ditto for violent human predators. But for a bear, mountain lion, or feral pig - single attacker - I'd take the revolver if I had my druthers.

**Please note that in my understanding, nothing is gonna stop an alligator if you don't know precisely where their little brain is located inside their head. They can keep operating like a chicken with no head until you shut out the lights with a brain shot - this is what I read anyhow. Obviously, other wild animals can continue functioning and attacking even with mortal wounds, but my understanding is that with alligators, it's even more so like this. And there's very few, small and hard to reach vital areas on them.

 

[rusty_stud]

backpacking, camping, possible night time use, reasonable price, high capacity, high power, fanny pack or open carry...

if this all sounds correct then you are going to want a glock 29 in 10mm. with an attached light of some kind.

the 10mm is one awesome round that is sorta stagnant. some say it will be phased out. all i know is it's available in alot of gun shops. the automatic ability of the glock with i think 13 mag capacity coupled with a meprolight night sight would set you up to defend your family form black bears, grizzly, bigfoot, the devil if you happen to be camping in hell. lets not forget the 29oz empty weight if i remember correctly. that's about 1.8 pounds. you can put light grained bullets in there and save even more weight. put grip extensions or use glock 20 clips for extra capacity.

i think a revolver or 1911 would be inconvienient if you were going to far from the vehicle. otherwise those might have a niche here.

you could also get a 40 cal barrel for 150 bucks or so and rock that cartridge as well.

have fun out ther