best hiking, camping, fishing caliber?

I change around my carry guns quite a bit. Running around on my ATV, UTV, Hiking, and around the place I carry my Smith 64 most of the time. My Summer Time CCW loads are normally 2 shotshells, followed by 4 125 semi-wadcutters. I will normally pack a 7 round speed strip with atleast a couple more shotshells to top the gun back off. We have Bear and Cougars, but seldom see one. I have however bagged 3 Copperheads, and 4 CottonMouth Water Moccasins with my 38 this year. It is cooling off, so I will probably switch out my ammo to 38 Hollow Point reloads.

I also carry my 638 quite a bit. It is my town gun, and I wear it walking with the wife. My summer ammo around the house is again 2 shotshells, followed by 3 semi-wadcutters. I change out my ammo all the time on this gun. Back and forth between my snake ammo, and Golden Sabers.

If I am planning on getting in a little plinking while I am out I will carry my 617Smith. Pocket a Skole Can full of 22 ammo, and you are fairly well armed for most things encountered on the trail.

I just got a new toy that may make the top of my CCW Chart. I picked up a 310 Night Guard 10mm/40 S&W. It is Lite, has a Tritium front sight, the barrel length is 2-3/4". Speer makes shotshells for the 40 S&W. You can load it with 175 grain lead over 3.3 grains of Clays for general shooting. (Clean Burning, Low Recoil) or you can load it with 200 grain 10mm on the other end of the scale. Realisticly I doubt I shoot many 10mm rounds through it. In a Lobo Enhanced Pancake or Model 1, it should carry very well. This gun should be able to handle any thing that might come up hiking, boating, etc.

If I am out running around in the woods in my Ranger UTV I may have my 480 Super RedHawk in a case on my seat back. In the Summer it will normally be loaded with 4 each 400 grain Lead bullets over 7 grains of Unique, and 2 shotshells. My 480 shot load has 175 grains of shot. A Speer 44 shotshell only holds 135 grains for comparison. It will take out a snake about as well as a Judge.

What I would recommend in non bear country would be a 22 or a 38/357. I would probably look hard at Ruger revolvers. An LCR is small lite and handy, and will double as your CCW gun. A 3" SP101 is still small, but heavy enough to soak up recoil, and you should be more accurate with it. The GP100 is heavier yet, but it will handle any 357 load, and double as a hunting handgun. All the above will shoot shotshells. In a 22 you have the new 4" SP101. I hear that the 22 shotshells work ok also.
I would carry my extra 38/357 ammo in an Orange Speed Strip from Tuff Products. Orange so you can find it after a reload.

If you go with a 22, another option would be a Ruger MK III. I have a 4" Hunter that is a ball to shoot. With a 22 you can shoot till you have a blister on your trigger finger, and not break the bank.

Bob
 
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- Desert (where I live): .357 if reason to believe some "plinking" is on the menu (cheap.38s).. Otherwise.44 Special, same practical effectiveness on rattlers, mountain lion, javelina, two legged varmints, etc, but lighter on the hip in similar format guns.
- Mountain: .44 Sp in "possible" black bear country, just because I have it. If not, I would not feel undergunned with the .357 south of 40th parallel which is pretty much the extent of my range. The .44 Mag as camp gun north of that or otherwise if I know heavy likelihood of any color bear, again "just because..."
- Backpacking specific: 3" K.357.
- Strictly desert day tromping: 100 gr JHP .32 H&R Mag in Smith Airweight (J), or above K-frame during active snake season.
 
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I normally carry a 9mm or 45...I wanted to get a 357 revolver this year to carry while hunting but that didn't work out...yet.

hiking and riding my bike I carry my LCP most of the time.
 
When Im really out in the boonies hiking and camping it's usually a pair. S&W in 45 colt and a 45-70 lever gun. That combo should handle any big beastie I might run into. But if day hike and where 2 legged critters are more likely it's most often a 1911 or BHP paired with a folding stocked AK. Not so much for any love of the AK but I have found it has a tendency to keep the punks away by just being there.
 
3" SP101 357 mag does it all and is nice kitgun size. Load for what the use is. Even snakeshot CCI loads. Small power and utterly reliable. For less than $500 its all the handgun you will never need,but if you do it will shine. My vote for if I only had one handgun.
 
I carry what I carry much of the time, a CZ-75D PCR, 9MM. If going out for woods plinking it is one of my Ruger MK II's, or the CZ with Kadet Kit, .22LR conversion installed.
 
For me it depends on where you are at and what threats you can face. Here in South Texas a 10mm, .357 Mag., or .45ACP are all great choices. If I lived/ visited somewhere where there brown bears, moose, etc.. I would at the very least carry a .44 Mag.
 
For the general public in my area, .22 hands down with a .38sp making a strong showing.

The .327 and .32H&R may indeed be the best of the bunch because of the multitude of cartridges in many power levels than they can shoot but they lose points due to ammo cost or the requirement to reload. Once you reload any centerfire cartridge comes into play due to YOUR ability to vary the power levels. At least that works in revolvers. Semiauto guys are on their own.

Still, my .32H&R Single Six wins out from my locker.

LK
 
Used to be a .357 BH. Now it is a .45 Colt BH on the hip. I also used to stuff my .22 Mark II in the backpack when staying in the back country for a few days.
 
Another vote for the 10mm. I vary my EDC a little, I like the 9mm, 40 S&W, 45 ACP, 38 Special & the 357 Mag, and sometimes for a purely hunting excursion I will take a Blackhawk .45LC or a SuperBlackhawk along. It's also not a problem to tuck a little Bearcat in .22LR into the inside pocket of my vest, it is so small & light you almost forget it's there.

However, for general all around use in the field I really like my Glock 20. I never thought I would like a Glock and the 20 is the only one I own. But for an all around field gun it packs easy and you can load it with rounds that are only a little warmer that a .40 S&W for general use or with something like the 200gr cast thumpers from Double Tap that have a MV of 1300 fps. That's a magnum load if you ask me.
 
some favorites

I've been all over the map w/ outdoor handguns. For 10 years it was a .357, first a Security 6-4", which I later traded for a 4-5/8 " Blackhawk. During that time the .357 was the only handgun I owned. Typically I did not carry mag loads loads in them, more like +P+ lead GP ammo. If I thought I might plink a bit on the trip, I kept .38 WC in them. I still carry the B-hawk a bit, cause I like the "pilots holster" it rides in, but it is a bit heavy for my tastes these days and the slow 6 rds it offers.

As finances allowed, I got other handguns. Next was a Ruger Mk II std .22model. It went (and still goes) alot of places in a GI Colt .45 flap holster, web belt, and a first aid pouch to hold ammo. Cheap to shoot, you could carry a ton of ammo, and w/ improvised ear plugs, you could plink w/o going deaf.

But some bad things happened locally to good folks out on a fishing trip and I re-evaluated and upgraded my hardware afterwards. A Glock 20 came home one night and is a pretty constant companion these days when I go awandering. Obviosly I don't plink w/ it, too loud, and ammo's heavy, etc.
But it is a reliable, rough and tumble handgun, with good capacity and power, that carries flat and easy in either a M84 type holster or the Glock low profile number.

If I want to plink these days, I take a second handgun in .22 caliber, most recently my Dad's Single 6. In the instances where I must carry the Single 6 (as an example, I cannot legally carry a centerfire hangun on my local WMA except during open season for deer) it gets the .22 mag cylinder and rides in a Hunter flap holster.
 
I like a 357 revolver. S&W k-frame is my favorite. I have a cabin in an area populated by black bears and cougars. A local used his 357 year before last to dispatch a cougar that had decided to make a meal of his dog (and him) when they were out for an evening stroll. It worked.
 
Update on my other post in this thread:

I decided to practice what I preached about down loading a centerfire ( specifically the .32H&R Mag) to see what I could do with it.

- Cost of my powder puff loads is about $53.50/500 or 10.7 cents per round.
- It is substantially quieter to shoot than a comparable .22lr revolver (A HUGE PLUS).
- These loads have about the same energy as .22Mag, less penetration than an HP .22lr on maple cord wood but better thump than either rimfire due to it's 98gr bullet.
- Has recoil like a .22lr. In other words none.
- POI was only 1" lower than my full power 85gr XTP loads at 50 feet.

To sum it up it's not as cheap as .22lr (a difference of only a couple hundred bucks a year if you shot A LOT) but it offers extreme versatility. I can carry first one with the light load and 5 remaining with full power loads, or all light loads, or all full power, or everything in between.

To say the least, I'm no longer in the market for a new stainless.22lr.

LK
 
Normal carry is a 1911. For hunting trips I carry my DW 357 with the 8 in barrel installed or my S&W 1958 Target in 45 ACP. Back up is a single shot 45LC loaded with a 410 with bird shot. Outstanding snake and will not penetrate the boat.

If you have ever fished on the horsehshoe lakes of the Ouichita River you understand that problem.
 
In Louisiana and Mississippi...

Where I am from in Louisiana and Mississippi my steady woods companion has been a Ruger Speed-Six .357 Magnum ( 2 3/4" barrel ). The first two chambers are loaded with shot shells and the remaining four chambers with 158 grain SJSP. The gun is not heavy and is easy to tote on a hike or fishing trip with a nice pancake holster.

P.S.
Itc444...I assume you are originally from Louisiana???
 
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