largest caliber you'd carry

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either OC or CC, whats the largest size caliber you would consider carrying? now keep in mind this is not about barrel size, only caliber.
 
I have carried .44 magnum in Bear country, but now carry Bear Spray to save weight.

Around town, in Phoenix, pocket guns work best. .38 Special max, though maybe a Kahr 9mm in the future.

It kind of depends on your purpose, and what "threat" you are concerned about.
 
The largest caliber I am comfortable with in a handgun is .45acp
in a 1911. My preference is for smaller lightweight guns in 9mm, .38spcl and .380auto.
 
large handgun calibers, Hollywood, carry...

To be honest, nearly any large handgun caliber could protect or defend you in a real use of force event.
Unlike Hollywood movies & TV shows where practical concerns like noise, muzzle blast, recoil, over-penetration, ricochets, spare magazines-tactical reloads etc are not important, to use a large caliber is a choice made after considering all the factors.
In general, I'd say the .44spl is really the largest common size I'd pick. Other large calibers like the .50GI, .50AE, .454 Casull, .44magnum, .41magnum could be useful in limited applications but not for general carry either open or concealed.
 
For a street CCW piece, I like the 357Mag. The 125s slow down very quickly and do so better the faster you drive 'em (weird paradox). Esp. if you use Gold Dot or other heavily bonded slugs that don't fly apart at high speed.
 
.45 ACP in an appropriate SW 3rd generation or Sig 245. Accurate, reliable and controllable with multiple shots. Hard to get much better for me.

best wishes- oldandslow
 
SP101 in .357 as I only pocket carry.

You can load it up to 200 grains if bigfoot is a concern. As someone pointed out, no better man stopper exists than the 125 grain JHP.
 
Semiauto CCW - .45ACP (in one of several 1911s)

Revolver CCW - .357 magnum (in a 3" S&W Model 60-15 Pro Series)

OC - not legal here so I haven't really thought about it, but I guess I would carry my XD45 Tactical .45ACP with +P 230gr JHPs to get the extra capacity.
 
For a woods open carry...

.... .44magnum. Recoil on that is quite enough for me; a hot-loaded .45colt might also be ok.

I suspect that at the .454 plus level, I'd dislike the recoil enough that I'd never practice. I don't believe in carrying a defensive weapon, if I won't practice with it on a regular basis. Under stress, we revert to muscle memory, and if I can't practice enough to build that muscle memory...
 
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