Pack Gun?

10mm is a good choice for the lower 48, not so much for up north with big bears.

 

G31C with HST’s

 

With the right ammo, I think the 10mm is the best option for 90% of people in the backcountry. There are bigger and bader cartridges on the market, but very few people are capable of handling them. Pulling the trigger on a 500S&W if you can't hit the target doesn't make it a better bear stopper than a 10mm.

 

Very true. Impact energy and penetration depth matter for nothing when you don’t hit the target.

 

10mm XDM 5.25 inch barrel. Kenai chest holster, 185 grain Underwood extreme penetrator. 15 + 1. Last one is for me.

 

You’re lucky, most fudds realize that “6 shots is more than enough” is outright wrong and irresponsible way too late. I wanna smack some sense into people everytime I hear them say stupid things like “If I need more than 6 shots I shouldn’t have shot” or “I only need 1 bullet, the rest are optional.”

 

Unless you’re talking about Grizzly Bears nothing in North America is threatening enough to need a sidearm while hiking. I’ve had close encounters with every big predator multiple times and with the exception of Grizzly they all run away at top speed once they see you or catch a whiff of you.

I’ve been charged by a Grizzly and you don’t have time to draw a pistol and even if you did you would have to get extremely lucky with a brain or spine shot in the 2 seconds before it steamrolled you and rag dolled you to death.

 

I’d rather have the chance to be lucky packing a gun, than leave it at home and not even have a chance to be lucky. A firearm is merely an insurance policy. It might protect you or it might not, but it’s best to have one on you then not have one. Not every thing is out to eat you, a moose or a mountain goat can kill or maim you just like a grizzly. But neither is everything I want to protect myself from walking on four legs. People can be just as dangerous in the back country as they are in the urban areas. There’s just far fewer of them in the woods, so your chances of running into a bad one is much smaller but not nonexistent.

 

Not always the 4 legged critters you gotta watch out for on the mountain


That being said...

My pistol is always in my pack, in a case, if I decide to walk with a pack.

 

Go back to univision

 

If you don’t want to carry a sidearm in the wilderness then don’t, probably a good decision for you. I never go afield in the wilderness without one. I carry not only for 4 legged but for 2 legged predators too. Over the last 30 years my sidearm has discouraged 2 legged predators on 2 occasions. I’ve been stalked by a mountain lion and felt pretty good knowing I was packing. I’ve been bluff charged by a black bear and again felt good knowing at least I had a chance to survive had things gone really sideways. I took out a coyote who was about to go after a friends dog. I’d rather be prepared than be defenseless. There’s no do over when you are ripped to shreds or are stomach contents of some predator or scavenger.

I do agree that for the average person who is not expert with a gun the odds of stopping a griz or black bear with one or two shots when you have 2 to 3 seconds from start of charge to contact, your adrenaline is pumping and you are shitting your pants is quite low. Unless you’ve fired thousands of rounds under varying conditions and in different positions your sidearm probably won’t save your ass. The vast majority of people are better off with bear spray. I personally carry both. But in any event I’d rather carry a gun than not.
Besides carrying for protection another good reason to carry in the wilderness is to bring help to your location. If you become lost or injured the international distress signal to bring help is 3 shots in rapid succession. It alerts people someone is in distress and it helps people zero in on your location.
In any event my weapon goes with me afield.

 

Bring what you quickly and accurately fire, and something that you will actually carry. G17 or 300 blk SBR

 

Imagine saying something like this.

 

Hard cast bullets are necessary for stopping Brother Bruin(s)

 

Depending on the size of the bag, sig rattler canebrake 300 blackout is my bag gun

 

G43X or FN509CT