.38 Special In The Utah Mountains...Trail Gun??

S

Southern Shooter

New member
A Utah friend of mine called to ask about using a .38 Special with a 4" barrel as a trail gun and a defensive gun in the mountains of his home state. He has 158 grain, cast SWC and SJSP flat point, +P ammuntion that are showing 890 FPS muzzle velocity on the boxes. I recommended getting a .357 Magnum or a larger caliber. But, he says, for now, money is tight and he likes his old service size S&W Model 10, anyway.

In the South, where I am from, a .38 Special would be fine, IMHO. But, what would ya'll say to this person from Utah??

Thanks
 
He can only carry what he has. Bigger would be better, but that seems like a moot point if he does not have access to anything else. Nevertheless, statistically, his most likely danger is human, not Mountain Lion or Black Bears. But, I would think that a shot in the air with a .38 would cause them (large animals), to run away anyway. I would not agonize over the "what-ifs" and carry the .38 with confidence. On the other hand, if it were coastal Alaska with Brown Bears...
 
Nothing wrong with his choice of caliber and loads if he can shoot them well. A lot of people venture into that territory with .22lr guns & do well.

How much ammo is he carrying with him? You might remind him that, in an emergency, he may be stuck in the woods for awhile. 50 rounds of .38Spl stored on SKS stripper clips are easy to carry in a pack.
 
Penetration

I am guessing, at close range, he could at least get "some" penetration with these bullets. I would think hollow-points would NOT be a good idea?
 
a 38 special is more than sufficient, especially if he packs some buffalo bore or just good quality +p defense ammo with him. mountain black bear do not get very big at all and a 22mag could finish off a big kitty so a 38sp would be more than sufficient.
 
Tell your friend to carry what he is comfortable with and leave it at that. The 38 Special with the proper loads should serve his purpose fine.
 
The .38 is perfectly adequate for anything but moose. The SWCs and SPs are fine.
Depending on where he is in the state, there may not even be enough (if any) bears or moose to worry about.

In most parts of the state, I'd be fine carrying a rimfire or .380 Auto. In areas with more bear, moose, and two-legged predators...
I carry a 9mm, a .38 Special Lady Smith (1-7/8" bbl), a .327 Federal (Blackhawk or GP100), or a .44 Mag. ...what I choose just depends on what I'm doing there (type of hunting, fishing, etc), which handgun is more easily accessible, how much weight I'm willing to haul around, and whether or not I remembered the holster (:rolleyes:).
 
I'm not sure just how to address this but I did once kill a Black Bear with a .38 Spl.. Problem is is was not a .38 Spl. in the normal sense of the word but a 38/44. T
The gun was an S&W 38/44 Outdoorsman built on the S&W "N" frame. The cartridge as the predecessor to the .357 Magnum and loaded accordingly.
I still have one of those revolvers and other than it's rather heavy weight considering the cartridge, it is a favorite.
My thoughts are this, load up with a decently hard 158 gr. cast bullet with a reasonably wide meplat to the warmest safe level your gun will handle. The bullet I cast for my .38 Spl. and .357 Mag. is the Lyman #358156, a gas check bullet that has proved to ve very accurate in my handguns.
There is another bullet that I'm considering playing with in the .38 and .357. The problem is it's long gone obsolete. That's the bad news. The good news is I have the mold. it's the Lyman #358430, a 190 to 200 gr. rather bluff round nose bullet. One of the older Lyman books shows the factory duplication load that Winchester and Remington called the "Police Load." I chased that one down years ago, bck in the mid 70's when I was doing some commercial custom handloading.I had an older deputy Sheriff ask if I could make some up for his back up snubbie. I said I would IF I can find the mold. I got lucky and found one at a gun show, did the research and made up his ammo. I made a couple of boxes for myself and I like them. I used 3.5 gr. of Unoque which duplicated the factory ammo. I've always wondered just how much faster I might be able to push them? Dunno how much they'd open up but I do believe they's be some seriously penetrating dudes, especially from the .357 mag.
Paul B..
 
They have black bear in Utah?

Mountain - lions will be attacking from above and behind - that sharp stick mentioned previously might actually be better than a handgun in a holster -otherwise, humans will be his main worry
 
When I cntacted Sierra bullet tech..

about ammo for hiking in WA Cascades, basically was told to use the heaviest bullet, of a FMJ type, that can SAFELY be pushed to maximum velocity to get greatest penetration.

If it what you have, then use it. [Assuimg just a one time deal??]

If you are consistently out in the field then may want to upgrade to .357 or more.
 
My usual carry guns when hunting/camping/fishing/hiking in the Wasatch/Uinta mtns. of Utah are (in no particular order) a 5" 1911 in .45 Auto, Browning HiPower in 9mm, GP100 (usually loaded with 158 grain plated .38's), a Blackhawk in .41 Magnum, or an SP101 in .327 Federal.

Any of them will do just fine for personal defense or the odd rabbit that comes my way. Like Frankenmausrt, what I carry depends on what I have ammo for, what I brought with that trip, and how far I am going (and how much weight I want to pack around).

Honestly, when I am out in the boonies, a carry a firearm more for defense against two legged predators than the four legged type.
 
They have black bear in Utah?
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Yea.
There is much more black bear habitat in the western US, than back east. Utah, alone, has about as much habitat as all of the southeastern states do, combined.

Historically, we also had Grizzlies, and there was a reported sighting a few years back. But, I consider the chances of running into one to be less than zero.


In all honesty... I saw a helluva lot more black bears, and saw them more frequently, when I lived in Florida. We simply don't have as many people encroaching into their habitat out here, as the bears back east do. It just comes down to more open space, and different patterns of rural development. Regardless of actual bear populations, we just don't live in the middle of their habitat as much as people do east of the Mississippi.
 
In NV, we only had them near Carson City and then you rarely saw them..Even when you did, unless you were perceived as a threat to a cub, they went the other way...............now a mountain lion, OTOH - one came into town and decided the sun on the second floor of a local motel was just right for her....;)
 
Honestly, when I am out in the boonies, a carry a firearm more for defense against two legged predators than the four legged type
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Eggs -zackly! Statistics would likely show that it would be more likely be accidents (falling off cliff, etc.), and homicides are way beyond marauding animals as likely attack or cause of death. The .38 Spl. would be good enough for preventing what is most likely to be a problem.
 
I wouldn't feel under gunned with a .38. Stoke it with 158 gr and he should be an equal match for whatever he might encounter.
 
38 is fine and dandy for a trail gun. Hard cast +P for penetration and I'd go with a hot loaded golddot bullet for a "dum-dum" round
 
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