10mm Vs ... Nope, not a bear!

M

Mawetta

Moderator
I thought this would be extremely entertaining to start a new VS animal with the 10mm. There is a reason though, as i was in the sporting store looking at the beretta PX4 ,That i fell in love with, I over-heard this guy asking the salesman about the 10mm glock.

He was asking what caliber should he get to fight an Alligator, since we are in Louisiana it is reasonable for swamp hunting. Hahaha! The Clerk sent him to the 10 mm Glock. They guy was like "you'll be ready for that ******* alligator now."

Question is: is the 10mm powerful enough to feasibly fend off an alligator?
 
Well for starters, crocodiles are far more aggressive than alligators. It's fairly uncommon (in a relative sense) for humans to be attacked by gators.

Two, reptiles have a different central nervous system/pain response to other animals. They can continue to function well with severe damage to their bodies, including loss of limbs and tails.

People who hunt gators/crocs usually get them with head shots from above, going for instant kill brain shots. That said, in many (if not all) states, both animals are protected if not endangered, and even a defensive kill would likely bring on a ton of scrutiny.

For my life, 10mm/.357 Mag would be at the very low end of the power band for what I'd want to be bringing into the ring with a croc. Especially if I was near water. Ideally I'd want something steel-core at 2000+ fps from a 16+ inch barrel. Semi-auto with at least 5 rounds in the mag.
 
My cousins hunt them, they use strong lines with baited hooks, yep just like fishing, the gator gets hooked, they pull him in and use a .22 or the shotgun with a slug if the 22 isnt enough but it useually is.

Now if you are walking around and one gets all mean at you, climb a tree cause you really cant shoot them out of season in fla at least. Funny but they are "protected" as a large game animal and there are seasons for them to be killed but you need a permit.

If a gator is bugging ya, call game and parks, dont shoot it.
 
La. Has certain seasons and WMA zones where Alligator trapping/killing is allowed. I like Alligators, They are cool, I have no need to purposefully kill one. I might want one just as a trophy but, they are not like other big game.

I would feel bad just shooting up an Alligator whose minding his own business, lol poor bastard prolly just trying to find some good food! Then again i really like cats to, hopefully a Bobcat doesn't decide to claw me up while i try talking to it.

I like wildlife, they are awesome creatures out there.
 
Question is: is the 10mm powerful enough to feasibly fend off an alligator?
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My brother in law has taken two with a 38 spcl using 158 gr LRN factory ammo so I would think a 10 would be way more than sufficient. That being said my brother in law prefers a 12 gauge with slugs but he was caught without it on two occasions. He also admits to never shooting an alligator with a shotgun but it makes him feel better knowing its there.
 
Your not going to get attacked my a gator unless your neck deep in water which in that case a gun isnt very useful at all, gators are really hard to get attacked by unless your really deep in gator infested waters, on land you could easily out run them. They usually will just hiss to and you could avoid them, theres no point in killing such a beautiful creature you could EASILY avoid.
 
I trust my G20SF (10mm) for bear protection up here...

DoubleTap 200gr WFNGC Beartooth rounds ain't nothing to thumb your nose at...
 
Your not going to get attacked my a gator unless your neck deep in water which in that case a gun isnt very useful at all, gators are really hard to get attacked by unless your really deep in gator infested waters, on land you could easily out run them. They usually will just hiss to and you could avoid them, theres no point in killing such a beautiful creature you could EASILY avoid.
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Where is bswiv when you need him? He hunts the things, he will have a bunch of information.

As the Wizard Tim said in Monty Python's Search For The Holy Grail, "He may look cute and cuddly, but he's got a mean streak a mile wide". Alligators may look docile just laying on the mud, but they can sprint at up to 35 mph for up to 50 yds or so, which I doubt you could outrun even if you are an Olympic-class sprinter. Adult males can weigh in excess of 800 lbs, and they have one of the most powerful bites in the Animal Kingdom. They are land predators, fully capable of catching prey up to the size of deer, which they will then drag into the water to drown. Most attacks on humans occur when humans approach territorial animals.
 
Ive studied reptiles for quite a while due to it being an old hobby of mine and the American Alligator on land cannont even come close to those speeds listed above, theyre like giant angry slugs, if you get real close to them your probaly going to get bit but your an idiot if you get close enough to get bit on land in the first place. I mean have you seen Steve Irwin, that guy that was pretty famous back then. He captured tons of wild crocs on this TV show, these were Saltwater crocodiles too, MUCH more aggressive and a bit faster than American Alligators and this man easily dodged them on land. Its just when your in water or really close to the shore line you have problems as your in their element then.
Dont get me wrong, Alligators have been clocked out 20mph on their lunges but these lunges are like false charges used to scare things away and these lunges are rarely more than a yard or two.
 
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Ive studied reptiles for quite a while due to it being an old hobby of mine and the American Alligator on land cannont even come close to those speeds listed above, theyre like giant angry slugs
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For a 16 year old to tell me he has an old hobby, I don't know . . .

I also think it's kind of humorous, because I have a Bachelors of Science degree in Biology, worked around alligayors for a while, and I know how to Google.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alligator
http://www.answers.com/topic/american-alligator-1
http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Alligator
 
I have no idea how accurate his info is, but the phrase "giant angry slugs" is perhaps the most amusing thing I've read in a long time!
 
Years ago my Step Father managed a hunting lease in central Texas that the hunting rights were owned by a Lousiana businessman so most of the hunters came from Lousiana and Swamp country. A lot of the times the conversation turned to alligators, being around them and hunting them.

They seemed to think that a 22lr and a brain shot was all that was needed so a 10mm would of course be more that sufficient. They were also more scared of the tail than the mouth and talked about the strength of the tail and if it hit you you were going to be down on their level.

They lost a lot of dogs to gators when the dogs came to the waters edge which is one of the gators natural ways to hunt. I do not remember hearing anything about their speed on dry land but in water a few inches deep and deeper you were in their element and they were very fast and agile.

Again all in fun.
James

Edit: After re-reading the OP it said "He was asking what caliber should he get to fight an Alligator, since we are in Louisiana it is reasonable for swamp hunting." If he wants to fight an alligator he should do it like Tarzan did it and only use a knife and wearing a loincloth. Have someone video tape it and post it on You-Tube, might be a hit.
 
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Your not going to get attacked my a gator unless your neck deep in water
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Both times brother in law was in water barely up to his knees working on his airboat. If it had been neck deep he wouldn't have been in the water and unlikely near any gators. I'm guessing I don't want you guiding me in the woods.
 
Ive studied reptiles for quite a while due to it being an old hobby of mine and the American Alligator on land cannont even come close to those speeds listed above, theyre like giant angry slugs, if you get real close to them your probaly going to get bit but your an idiot if you get close enough to get bit on land in the first place. I mean have you seen Steve Irwin, that guy that was pretty famous back then. He captured tons of wild crocs on this TV show, these were Saltwater crocodiles too, MUCH more aggressive and a bit faster than American Alligators and this man easily dodged them on land. Its just when your in water or really close to the shore line you have problems as your in their element then.
Dont get me wrong, Alligators have been clocked out 20mph on their lunges but these lunges are like false charges used to scare things away and these lunges are rarely more than a yard or two.
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Your not going to get attacked my a gator unless your neck deep in water which in that case a gun isnt very useful at all, gators are really hard to get attacked by unless your really deep in gator infested waters, on land you could easily out run them. They usually will just hiss to and you could avoid them, theres no point in killing such a beautiful creature you could EASILY avoid.
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You really need to actually spend some time in the wild with alligators, to understand their abilities and hunting behavior. Your post contains more than a couple of errors.

As to the original post, a 22LR is more than enough to kill a gator if your hunting the gator. If a gator has already got a hold of you in the water ,,,,,, well good luck with whatever gun you have but I doubt it will do you much good.

BTW gators have indeed been clocked at speeds up to 30MPH, however they basically can only run in a straight line at that speed and only for very short distance.
 
Thats what Im saying, their sprint distances are so patheticaly short your probaly not going to get attacked unless your really really close to them and if your that close such a creature in the first place your an Idiot and you deserved to get attacked lol
 
I use to live in LA (Lower Alabama) and there where alligators. I had a neighbor that had one hell of a scar on his leg because of an alligator. He said he was attacked by an alligator while launching his boat, He claimed that the water was only up to his knees. Fortunately he had the presence of mind to grab a small club that he carried in his boat to finish off fish. The alligator let him go and he quickly got to a hospital and they called fish and game.
 
It's not all that difficult to find yourself in close proximity to a gator if you're out fishing in a pond or along a riverbank, in the south. If you're close enough to the water to wet a line, you easily can be within a few feet of an unseen gator.

My first up-close view of a gator in action was at mascot Albert's pen on the UFla campus. I was just sorta lacksadaisically looking at an inert gator and a little kid walked up and asked, "Ya wanna see him move?" What could I say but, "Sure."

The kid used a stick to poke Albert in the flank. That 8-footer swapped ends in about T = 0. We're talking eye-blinks, here. "Hmmm," sez me, "I just learned something."

An up-close gator who starts his attack has you in a Tueller Drill situation. You lose time in the "Identify the threat, then make a decision." thing. Easy enough for you to lose. They don't have to be all that fast when they start the deal and you didn't know it was there.

If you initate the action, and can take a planned shot, it probably won't take all that much gun. But when you're talking about "Uh, oh!", I'd think skill with a semi-auto 10mm is a Good Thing.
 
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