mountainclmbr
New member
On Sunday afternoon I had been outside cutting and splitting firewood and came inside for a rest. I was carrying my summer carry gun, Kahr MK40 in pocket holster and loaded with Doubletap 180gr Gold Dot HP's. Then I remembered I needed to water some potted plants I had put outside for the summer. I walked out the front door and went to where the water faucet and hose are located off to the side of the front walkway. Our Saint Bernard insists on following me everywhere and this was no different. Suddenly she was barking and was running up the walkway toward the street and right across the street there was a cinnamon-colored black bear that looked very healthy and about 200lbs. Initially the bear stood his ground, but I was able to call the dog back and get her inside the house. Then the bear slowly ran across my neighbor's back porch and into the forest so no confrontation this time. A bear tried to break into the house one time when I was not home so this is not an imagined threat where I live. One fall I heard that there had been over 100 bear home break-ins in the foothills West of Denver.
This got me thinking about my choice for carry gun. It is hard to carry anything too large when working in the yard in summer, but .40 cal is less than optimum for bears (as most handguns are). I have the Doubletap 200gr Wide Flatnose Hard Cast loads, but they don't feed well in the Kahr. The nose on these won't clear the ejection opening in the slide so you have to take the magazine out to unload or if you needed to clear a misfeed. They also need an extra push on the slide to get them to chamber. I had planned on keeping the HP in the chamber all the time, but swapping magazines with HP for trips to the city and the Hard Cast for around the house where bears or mountain lions are bigger threats.
Opinions? Should I change to a magazine of FMJ for the bear loading? In smaller guns I also have a Charter Arms 44spl that I could handload Keith style bullets in. I have a 10mm 6-inch longslide that is probably too big to wear while working in the yard, too difficult to conceal and too easy to scratch while working too. I also have a Dan Wesson 44 mag with 6-inch bbl that is probably not good for the same three reasons. I could probably find a way to carry a 3.5 inch bbl 45ACP, but it probably lacks penetration too. I had considered getting one of the light-weight 44 mag snubbies for this purpose, like the Mountain Guns, especially since they seem to have been named after me.
This got me thinking about my choice for carry gun. It is hard to carry anything too large when working in the yard in summer, but .40 cal is less than optimum for bears (as most handguns are). I have the Doubletap 200gr Wide Flatnose Hard Cast loads, but they don't feed well in the Kahr. The nose on these won't clear the ejection opening in the slide so you have to take the magazine out to unload or if you needed to clear a misfeed. They also need an extra push on the slide to get them to chamber. I had planned on keeping the HP in the chamber all the time, but swapping magazines with HP for trips to the city and the Hard Cast for around the house where bears or mountain lions are bigger threats.
Opinions? Should I change to a magazine of FMJ for the bear loading? In smaller guns I also have a Charter Arms 44spl that I could handload Keith style bullets in. I have a 10mm 6-inch longslide that is probably too big to wear while working in the yard, too difficult to conceal and too easy to scratch while working too. I also have a Dan Wesson 44 mag with 6-inch bbl that is probably not good for the same three reasons. I could probably find a way to carry a 3.5 inch bbl 45ACP, but it probably lacks penetration too. I had considered getting one of the light-weight 44 mag snubbies for this purpose, like the Mountain Guns, especially since they seem to have been named after me.
