Darker Loaf
New member
Cosmodragoon, those are fair questions. I'd say that most of my backpacking is in black bear territory, not brown. I've lived in Alaska for a year, but most of the time the largest animals around were foxes and ravens, not even caribou (though the place I lived translated into English as "plentiful caribou"--damned global warming). Brown bear or even black bear would have found the area I lived in impassable--they would have sunk into the tundra just like people do there. But, when I was in Alaska in the south for a few weeks, there were several brown bear attacks including a mauling of a woman going to her car from work! She was just minding her own business, leaving her restaurant (she was a waitress), and BAM! She lived, but it sounded terrible. For a lot of the hiking I did in the south, there was the constant presence of brown bears, and I carried openly a .357 wherever I could--at the time it was not legal to carry in national parks. But the Alaskan state hunting manual made very clear that even .44 mag was not enough for a consistent kill with brown bear. At a minimum they recommend 7.62x39mm. There was quite a discussion in the hunting manual at the time. It was really interesting. They advocated intermediate calibers for brown bear 7.62x51/.308 because the recoil is moderate and accuracy was stressed over ft/lbs. But they made quite clear that most pistols wouldn't cut it for brown bear. Most of the people I knew up there had .500's for bear or .454's.
Anyway, that's way too much information, but no, I don't need a gun for brown bear really, it'd just be a nice plus. I have many friends still up in Alaska and I'd really like to go back up and do some hiking/backpacking up there. Locally, I'd want to use a magnum handgun for whitetail deer and possibly black bear.
If you read what I've written above carefully, I'm mostly only considering the 329 PD for backpacking, but if it is so awful to shoot (which is sounds like it would be) then it doesn't sound like it is worth owning. For a general purpose trail-defense and hunting gun, I was considering a G40 with a 6" barrel--I'd likely buy an extended ported barrel, too. To hunt where I live, I need a 5 1/2" barrel gun and any centerfire cartridge. This includes the cylinder length.
I have a G43 on the list for person-mostly defense when conceal carrying and backpacking. I wouldn't/couldn't hunt with that. In many ways, it makes the most sense as a backpacking gun.
If I do buy a magnum revolver, I'd make sure to get at least a 5" barrel and make it at least 50 oz. In .44 mag, I was considering the S&W Stealth Hunter. In .454, the Ruger Super Redhawk in 7.5". And finally, I was looking at S&W .460's in 5" to 8" barrel lengths. It just means that none of these would serve in a backpacking role. Just hunting, hiking, and range use.
I feel like a G40 with good sights could serve as a challenging but adequate gun for whitetail. Most often, I encounter deer at sub-100 yards, and many good shots are shorter than that. I crossbow hunt (and bow hunt slightly), too, so I am quite used to waiting for an appropriate shot. I wouldn't chance anything over 25 yards with a pistol, probably shorter distances than that.
Anyway, that's way too much information, but no, I don't need a gun for brown bear really, it'd just be a nice plus. I have many friends still up in Alaska and I'd really like to go back up and do some hiking/backpacking up there. Locally, I'd want to use a magnum handgun for whitetail deer and possibly black bear.
If you read what I've written above carefully, I'm mostly only considering the 329 PD for backpacking, but if it is so awful to shoot (which is sounds like it would be) then it doesn't sound like it is worth owning. For a general purpose trail-defense and hunting gun, I was considering a G40 with a 6" barrel--I'd likely buy an extended ported barrel, too. To hunt where I live, I need a 5 1/2" barrel gun and any centerfire cartridge. This includes the cylinder length.
I have a G43 on the list for person-mostly defense when conceal carrying and backpacking. I wouldn't/couldn't hunt with that. In many ways, it makes the most sense as a backpacking gun.
If I do buy a magnum revolver, I'd make sure to get at least a 5" barrel and make it at least 50 oz. In .44 mag, I was considering the S&W Stealth Hunter. In .454, the Ruger Super Redhawk in 7.5". And finally, I was looking at S&W .460's in 5" to 8" barrel lengths. It just means that none of these would serve in a backpacking role. Just hunting, hiking, and range use.
I feel like a G40 with good sights could serve as a challenging but adequate gun for whitetail. Most often, I encounter deer at sub-100 yards, and many good shots are shorter than that. I crossbow hunt (and bow hunt slightly), too, so I am quite used to waiting for an appropriate shot. I wouldn't chance anything over 25 yards with a pistol, probably shorter distances than that.
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