Wilderness gun

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Dangerwing

New member
Im looking for a new revolver to take with me back packing. It needs to be light and versitile. I will be in an area known to be home to many black bear, the occassional brown bear, and many Timberwolves, so I want something that has good stopping power.

Although I am a fairly experienced outdoorsman, I'm not arrogant enough to completely discount the idea of getting lost and spending more time out there than planned, so I would also like something that could be used to take small game of opportunity (rabbits, squirels etc. I supose in that situation I would take a deer if I got the chance. If I got a ticket, that means a Game Warden found me and Im saved, so I don't think I would mind).

My wife is a small handed 130lbs and shoots a fair amount. She handles a 9mm without problem, but anything bigger has more recoil than what she is comfortable with.

Since I have to carry everything for many mile, weight is a big factor.

My thought is this - a small to medium framed revolver is .38/357. (IE SP101/S&W637 up to a GP100/S&W636 4in.) Any other suggestions?

And the final question - would bringing a handful of .357 shot shells be worth it? What range do they have? Do they have enough power to kill something?

Price is of course a factor.

Thanks for your help
 
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UpandAtIt

Moderator
This is a good topic.

Personally, when I am fly fishing or camping, I take along a Taurus Judge with the 3" barrel. You can shoot .410 shotshells from it. The .410 offers (shot, buck, slug, flare etc), you can also shoot .45 Long Colt from it, not a bad round for in the woods and if you reload, you can make some +P. My wife is small as well, but she handles this revolver just fine as there is less kick due to the beefyness of it.

For what you get in usability, the minor weight gain in it and shells is minimal for when you actually need it. I carry 4 rounds of each shotshell and 12 rounds of .45 LC.

I have taken everything from rabbits to coyote with mine, never had to match a bear with it, but I would be confident it is up to the task. I have even taken birds on the fly with it and becomes somewhat easy after a bit. We have some fun with it and shoot skeet and Mo-Skeet-o (ritz crackers) with it.

The .38/.357 shotshells have either #12 or #9 shot and so small of an amount that past 5 yards or so are not effective.

Hope this helps
 
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GeauxTide

New member
Anything that could eat me puts a minimum of a 41Mag on my waist. Ruger Blackhawks come in several persuasions in the 40-45 ounce. If you don't reload, 44mag. If you do, a 45 Colt launching a 255-275gr LFN @ 1050 would be a powerful and comfortable round.
 
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AcridSaint

New member
Maybe consider the single action Rugers? Not too much difference in weight and you could look at the convertibles for flexibility. Adjustable sights and some fairly long barrels are available.
 
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kraigwy

New member
Your profile says South Dakota. I live in the Black Hills (Wyoming side) and spend a lot of times in the woods here. I havent found anything I couldnt handle with my 642. Its great for small game, snakes and such (and trust me, we have our share of rattlers. My 642 w/cast SWCs works great. I tried snake or bird shot, I'm not impressed. I'll stick to my SWCs. For practice on snakes nothing beats walking around my range shooting shotgun hulls with my little pocket pistol. Good practice for popping cotton tails too.

I've put down a few moose with a 4 inch 357 so I figure I could pop a doe if I got hungry.

If I was to go back to Alaska where they really have big bears, I'm taking my 375 H&H, Been there, pistols are just too small in my opinion, at least pistols I am confident enough to shoot.
 
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Atroxus

New member
I can't think of anything that would stop a bear that you could use on squirrels without turning them into a red mist. So I would reccomend 2 guns. An inexpensive .22 maybe rifle with a sling, and a .44 magnum for if you run into bears.
 
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totaldla

New member
I went with the 329pd, 44 mag. Although I can shoot shotshells, I really don't know what for. And I suppose I can download it for squirrel too. I reload, so I have options.
 
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crghss

Moderator
S&W Mountain Gun

S&W make a line of Mountain guns. You choose caliber. 41 & 44 mag or 45 LC. I don't own one, have SRH .44 mag. But it's to heavy I think for what you describe.

Shotshell would be useless I'd think.
 
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L_Killkenny

New member
Oh NO!! Not again!!!!!! Just kidding there.

While I may chose a .22LR for much of my hiking a bigger gun may indeed be better in a lot of areas. Minimum size and still have some shootability would be a .357 SP101 with a 4" barrel IMO. After that it becomes an issue with how much weight is too much. Only you can answer that. Same with DA vs. SA, semi vs. revolver and recoil issues. There's not too many places where I would feel under gunned with a .357. Semi's do come into play and I like the ease of cleaning but if your wife doesn't like 9mm anything bigger is out. Where as a .357 revolver she can still plunk with .38's.

Forget the .357 shot shells. At their effective range,a gun with a real bullet is a chip shot. In other words, head shot at 10' = chip shot on about anything, including snakes, that I might want to shoot.

LK
 
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johnwilliamson062

Moderator
I wouldn't want to be shooting a black bear with 357. I also wouldn't want to shoot squirrel or rabbit with 357.

Sounds like a useless compromise to me. Leave those to Congress!!!
 
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Buzzcook

New member
A good .22 caliber pistol or revolver. Fun plinking and much more useful for the occasional squirrel or bunny.

Take bear spray for bears and wolves.
 
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azredhawk44

Moderator
10mm, .41 magnum, .44 magnum or .45 Colt.

Hard-cast lead bullets. No jacketed or hollowpoint ammo.

The hard-cast bullets should allow you to still harvest small game and it'll probably end up pre-gutted for you, but the meat still edible.

There's also a way to convert large-bore revolvers to .22LR.

http://www.lothar-walther.de/200.php

An insertable/removeable barrel sleeve with chamber adapters to convert a big bore cartridge to .22 LR rimfire.
 
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Doodlebugger45

New member
I have a wide variety of revolvers at my disposal depending on my mood or my needs, but I realize that's not your situation. I suppose if I had to limit it to just one and only one revolver that would cover practically any situation, I would go with the 44 mag in a lightweight short (4") barrel. It's a tough choice though. If I want the ultimate in lightweight, I will often just throw my S&W J-frame .357 with the 3" barrel in my jacket pocket and I hardly even know it's there. If I'm just wandering around in the hills, it's all I need. Realistically, I don't worry about snakes, coyotes, or wolves, although they are out there. I don't really need to worry about shooting them, although I might anyway. Mountain lions are a bit different, but the 357 would be fine for them (assuming you even know they are there).

However, if you are truly in a situation where you might face a bear, the .357 is not the greatest choice. It might work but maybe not. If I'm going fishing in the high country of western Wyoming, where the odds are you will see a grizzly every day and I'm not going to be carrying a rifle, then sure I'll pack my 454 or 480 BFR. But they are HEAVY. So heavy that often times I'm tempted to just leave them in camp. I have a 45 Colt revolver that has a 4 5/8" barrel and is light and accurate, but it's not a Ruger so it's not rated for the heavy loads, so it's not ideal either if a bear encounter is likely.

That gets to the 44 mag as the ideal. I have a S&W 629 with the 8 3/8" barrel but it's kind of heavy and unwieldy as well. So for those situations I carry my Ruger Vaquero (old style) with a 5.5" barrel. It's pretty light and if I want to shoot it all day long I can use my light handloads for practice (or you can buy 44 specials or the Cowboy loads if you don't handload). But if you're hiking in SERIOUS bear country, just pop the cylinder full of the full power fire-breathing ammo and you're in fairly decent shape. And if you're facing a big bear, you won't even notice the recoil from even a light revolver. Perhaps the 5.5" Ruger isn't the ideal though. I think the super light 329 or just a regular 29 S&W with a 4" barrel would still be light enough to get carry without a problem plus be accurate enough to get the job done.

Either that or do like someone else said and carry a light 357/38 plus a can of bear spray.
 
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Old Grump

Member in memoriam
As close to a one gun does all as you can get is any 357 magnum revolver with a 4" barrel. loaded with 38 spcl and a pocket full of magnums. I don't like to mention flavors because what fits my hand may not work for you. Suggestion of 2 guns is really the best way to go, a 38 spcl wadcutter for pot meat will work but a 22 would be cheaper and easier to shoot. SA would be good as long as it has adjustable sights and you practice 7 yds to 25 yds with it regularly. Black bears aren't really much of a problem but a 357 for that exception would be a minimum in my book. Brown bears is doable if you are really cool under fire but a 41 mag would be my minimum for anything big enough to take out a moose by itself.

44 mag with 44 spcl and magnum loads and a 22 would be optimum pair.

357 with 38 spcl and magnum loads would be absolutely minimum suggested gun if you only want one gun you could both shoot. In the lower 48 that should suffice unless you are really unlucky. The weight saved with a 3" or 2" snubby compared to a 4" wouldn't be worth it when you need the gun. Just dos centavos from a dinosaur.
 
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UpandAtIt

Moderator
I do not make mist out of squirrels and wabbits with the judge and it is just more useful since it can switch from real shot shells to 45 long colt in a heart beat. I eat everything I shoot and with practice, it is easy to hit a wabbit or squirrel in the head with #4 shot. The other thing I really like is the ability to get shell reducers from .410 to shoot anything from .22lr up to some of the 45 lc cousins.

So far, I have heard 44mag, 357 in both single and double action. You are stuck with that round or the useless shotshells for them and have to carry a different gun to do so called LIGHT work. With the judge, you can do it all with just a change of ammo. No cylinder swap outs, no two guns. I keep mine with the first two rounds in 000 Buck and the rest are 45lc.
 
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Charles Ellis

New member
I have to go with the group that says carry two guns.My choice would be S&W mod 43 in 22lr 4in air weight (12 oz)and a S&W 629 Mountian gun in 44 mag. The two of them together weigh less than some of the larger revolvers out there.
 
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22-rimfire

New member
I would carry my Smith M57 Mountain Gun and have a mix of ammunition from the 250 gr hard cast, to regular 210 gr HP's, to the low powered 210 gr wadcutters. The wadcutters would be running at about 800 fps and should be okay for smaller game if you are a good enough shot. The same reasoning would apply to a 44 mag. I'd skip the shot shells entirely.

I would support the 357 choice except for the occasional brown bear or griz. It is probably fine for just about every reasonable encounter except big bears which are uncommon. Your call. There is no perfect choice unless you carry more than one firearm and I don't think that's practical by yourself lugging a heavy backpack.
 
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