carry
I now trend towards mag revolvers or heavy auto pistols for woods wandering, but in my younger days, when I had fewer handguns,, I did indeed have a favorite woods wandering long gun......a Marlin 1894 .357 mag carbine. I loaded .357 brass with a lead SWC 158 gr slug, and enough Unique to get a bit over 1000 fps and not lead the micro-groove barrel. A Ruger B-hawk was zeroed with the same load, though I never really carried both at the same time. Early on I put a Williams peep on the carbine and I still recommend that mod to everybody. As time passed, I acquired additional guns and wandered a bit with other carbines and reached some definite conclusions:
-anything with an extended box mag was clunky to carry, the box usually right at the balance point for one handed "trail carry". The mag release lever on the Mini-30 had a disturbing habit of getting knocked and releasing that mag when the flush fit 5 rd mag was used, and bruised my kidneys if a 20 rd box was installed and slung. AR carbine and AK the same. The simple lever carbines of old carry very nicely. So does a Henry .22lr lever they gave me for retirement. I put a peep on it too. A Henry lever in .22 mag would be a nice step up in power
-anything with a 'scope was clunky to carry for the same balance point reason. Cooper's IER scout rifle concept was better, but .308 was more ctg than I felt I needed for wandering. A recently acquired Ruger Pred .308 with 18" barrel and a 1-4x carries nicely, even if it is scoped, but again, a lot of ctg
- a Hi-point (don't laugh) 10mm carbine is too heavy for what it is,the pistol grip is clunky and a kidney buster if slung, and the bolt knob and sling swivel studs are on the is wrong side of the carbine. But, they're cheap, they run, and make a good beater on the ATV, but I don't want to carry it.
I will shoot any carbine better than any handgun, especially these days. Any holstered handgun carries easier than a carbine, especially if one wants to carry anything else, like a hiking staff or a fishing rod that will not break down.