Woods gun thoughts?

[vaskidmark]

I'm curious why? Is it just a preference?

I hear it comes from the time he got his thumb slammed whem closing the cylinder.

What, you never heard of "K-frame thumb"? 

stay safe.

[lupinus]

A .45 stoked with something heavy and solid will probably be just fine.  Buffalo Bore makes some deep penetrating ammo. (255 gr Hard Cast at 925fps)

From a guy that has actually shot at aggressive bears, even if dealing with a small black you'll be shooting "LEO style" (Shoot to slide lock while screaming in a command voice and backing away)

That said: Excuse to get a new gun!!!!!  Do you have a stout .45?  You could put a .45 Super conversion in it. 230gr FMJ at 1100 FPS is a paddlin, anywhere.

I'm coming around on the 10mm round.  It's pretty cool and versatile.  My own 10mm project should be done by summer, but a Witness Hunter is a cool gun.  Also I see used Delta Elite's around FL for about $1000 pretty regularly.

.50 GI?  Pricey, but....yeah, 300gr bullets.

I don't have a 45 currently. If I go 45, it will most likely be an M&P or a Glock. Glock if 10mm.

I'm curious why? Is it just a preference?

Pretty much. If a revolver was the only gun to get a job done, sit on my night stand, carry, etc. I certainly wouldn't cry or bitch about it. I just vastly prefer semiautos, so when it's a viable option I would prefer to stick with it.

To be honest, I tossed the bears in there because they're around but most of the state isn't exactly thick with them so they are more of a consideration than a concern.

[charby]

Pretty much. If a revolver was the only gun to get a job done, sit on my night stand, carry, etc. I certainly wouldn't cry or bitch about it. I just vastly prefer semiautos, so when it's a viable option I would prefer to stick with it.

To be honest, I tossed the bears in there because they're around but most of the state isn't exactly thick with them so they are more of a consideration than a concern.

Fair enough, I prefer revolvers when something might cause me harm, mostly because if it doesn't go bang, I pull the trigger again.

Bears are something to be mindful of, more than likely you'll never have an aggressive black bear encounter unless you are looking for one.

[Ben]

Bears are something to be mindful of,

Unless they have the other kind of bears there. But I think they only attack from the rear.

[Jamisjockey]

I prefer revolvers for "woods guns" as a matter of simplicity.  That said, I also don't see why your 9mm's wouldn't be enough for the woods.  Biggest heavest +P+ bullets whatever the 9mm you're carrying will handle.  

[lupinus]

I prefer revolvers for "woods guns" as a matter of simplicity.  That said, I also don't see why your 9mm's wouldn't be enough for the woods.  Biggest heavest +P+ bullets whatever the 9mm you're carrying will handle. 

Yeah, but, my wife doesn't need to know that 

[Jamisjockey]

Yeah, but, my wife doesn't need to know that 

Well, in that case....
http://www.stiguns.com/nitro-10/

[charby]

Unless they have the other kind of bears there. But I think they only attack from the rear.

I see what you did there... 

[lupinus]

Unless they have the other kind of bears there. But I think they only attack from the rear.

This aint W.VA, GA, or Western NC so I should be safe.

[Chuck Dye]

Not a recommendation but the 10mm vs .45acp made me think of the L.A.R. Grizzly in .45 Win Mag. You will need big paws to handle one.

[MechAg94]

Well, in that case....
http://www.stiguns.com/nitro-10/

An STI 1911 is on my short list.  Cost is an issue though.

[MechAg94]

I know the discussion has been for pistols, but a good 44 Mag lever gun makes a handy walking around gun.

[charby]

I know the discussion has been for pistols, but a good 44 Mag lever gun makes a handy walking around gun.

I don't disagree but I rifle can be cumbersome to carry in the woods if you are just hiking with a back pack or very obvious in an area that may have a lot of people hiking around.

[roo_ster]

For the princely sum of 10usd you can convert a full sized steel 1911 in .45acp into a 10mm auto equivalent arm that shoots .45super.  Recoil and firing pin springs from wolff.

255gr hard cast flat nose at1075fps at buffalobore.com.  Actually heavier than any 10mm auto load.

[lupinus]

I don't disagree but I rifle can be cumbersome to carry in the woods if you are just hiking with a back pack or very obvious in an area that may have a lot of people hiking around.

And, it does nothing if I want to take it along as a side arm while hunting 

[MechAg94]

And, it does nothing if I want to take it along as a side arm while hunting 

Doesn't everyone carry a spare rifle slung over the shoulder?   

[Tuco]

^^^This. Like the one I picked up last summer.

That's what I'd do, in spades.
I'm NOT a fan of Glocks, but that's the ticket.

[BobR]

^^^^^

Nice thing about the Glock in 10mm is you can run the hottest loads through it. Get a Lone Wolf conversion barrel and shoot hard cast lead. I would shoot much stouter loads in a Glock than any 1911 based 10mm. Of course when comparing a Glock to my Delta Elite, the Glock is kind of a disposable gun. If I batter a Glock to death I probably wouldn't feel real bad about it.

bob

[French G.]

The woods of the southeast my list of concerns runs like this.

1. Tweaker entrepreneur. I've met the sales version, not the manufacturing side yet.
2. Pot entrepreneur. National Forest is open for business.
3. Random nut, every few years a hiker disappears around here.
4. Feral dog/coydog.


And way down the list comes lions and tigers and pigs and bears oh my!

My woods gun is a large 9mm with larger spare mags. I most concern myself with things that may return fire. I love seeing bears, I have been menaced more often by territorial deer than I have bears.

[tokugawa]

Hard cast bullets for maximum penetration- the caliber is sort of arbitrary for a handgun.  I agree feral humans are more of a threat then animals, except maybe dogs or hogs. Or bears, or cougars. Or maybe mountain trolls, they can be disconcerting.
 
 


 

[AJ Dual]

^^^^^

Nice thing about the Glock in 10mm is you can run the hottest loads through it. Get a Lone Wolf conversion barrel and shoot hard cast lead. I would shoot much stouter loads in a Glock than any 1911 based 10mm. Of course when comparing a Glock to my Delta Elite, the Glock is kind of a disposable gun. If I batter a Glock to death I probably wouldn't feel real bad about it.

bob

If you clean on a regular basis, cast bullets, hard or soft isn't really a problem. You'd have to do several hundred hot soft-cast loads without cleaning for it to build up in the flats of the polygonal rifling. The whole thing is just a CYA move by Glock to avoid a lawsuit from someone who's really cheap and shoots lots of soft-cast, and is really lazy, never cleaning.  HK and others with polygonal rifling have never even bothered to print any warnings on the issue that I'm aware of.

And now there's the new idea to do polymer powdwercoating to cast bullets reducing leading to almost zero.

Although if you're shooting hot loads, you might want to go with an aftermarket Lone Wolf barrel anyway because of the little unsupported gap where the feed ramp cuts into the web a bit that Glock has for the sake of feed reliability at the expense of full chamber/case support. Although even then, Glock has been quietly reducing the exposed web at the feed ramp over the generations and the gap is much smaller than it was in years past.

[charby]

Doesn't everyone carry a spare rifle slung over the shoulder?   

I tried that once, shotgun over one shoulder for birds and a muzzleloader over the other one if I saw a deer. That sucked big time, I made it about 500 feet and I returned the shotgun to my truck and of course I flushed lots of birds and didn't see a deer.

[T.O.M.]

I personally like the .357 revolver as a woods gun.  Stainless is my first choice.

That said, what about a .357 SIG?  Balistics similar to the .357 Mag, and good capacity in a package easy to carry and shoot...