Who here goes armed whenever they are out in the field prospecting or detecting?

P47RCFlyer said:
Yes, a .40 revolver will have a similar kick as the .45. Not quite as severe but it will kick. I always tell people, if your going with a .40, why not just go with a .45 ? The differences are not enough to cause one to have to rethink everything they know about a pistol and relearn from scratch. I've shot and carried all those calibers at some point. My primary duty weapon was a Sig Sauer Semi-Auto .45 for sheer knock down power. However, from my personal experience, the .40 is just as good If your shooting a hotter grain bullet. I shoot ONLY the Speer "Gold-Dot". That is what i carried on and off duty and still do to this day. A semi auto .45 won't feel like it has as much kick as a .44 revolver. High caliber revolvers will kick and you will feel it, it's in the nature of the design. Semi autos have built in recoil system that disperses most of the recoil. Go to a gun dealer and ask him to break down a semi auto for you and you can see the difference. As for a revolver, a .357 or .44 are about the two best calibers out there. If you are being serious when you talk about shooting a bear; then you might want to consider nothing less than a .44 Mag. If it were me and i had to have a revolver, i would look at the S&W .44 magnum. Again, you have to consider a couple things, the grain of bullet for what would be a potential target, distance(s) that you might encounter this target, (thanks to this POS pres. we have) how readily available is the ammo where you live for certain calibers. Here, civilians are limited to 1 box of shells per day and the shelves are empty and have been for weeks now ( i do look for this to change soon though). Another BIG factor is, are you comfortable with a .44 revolver? If so then that's what you might want to stay with. As i said, I've shot and carried all the standard calibers, revolver and semi alike. Some of them i dearly loved the way the gun fired but, i hated the way it handled and felt in my hand. Some of them were just the opposite. When seconds count, you have to have all your "ducks lined up" and no second thoughts on the dependability or question about the weapon. When you own and shoot a weapon it should feel like another part of your body. You should not have to question any part of using it, it should become instinctive to you. Sorry for getting off course there, LOL.

Stay with what you know, you are already at one of the premier calibers. Get another Ruger BH .44 and go. If you still want to try something different, Go with the Sig Sauer P220 .45 ACP semi auto. It is German made and one of the finest shooting, handling and overall quality firearms i have ever owned. If not then try the Beretta PX4 Storm .40. It too is a very high quality firearm that has yielded me outstanding results with great performance. It will also do what you want to do with the right grain bullet. Do your research on these weapons, go to a gun dealer and see if they will let you shoot them, you'll be hooked. Hope this helps, just my 2 cents.

Remember this too...... with a semi auto you will have 8-11 rounds depending on the weapon and the caliber. So, that is very important to consider also. that one extra round might make the difference between you surviving the target that you have encountered.

Here is a link that will help answer some questions about bullet grains vs. caliber.
http://www.handloads.com/misc/stoppingpower.asp?Caliber=11&Weight=All
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Thx for the input.
Yeah I'm a fan of the 44 and that's probably where I'll go. The thing is that (at least for me) its a two handed weapon due to recoil. The 45 I could shoot one handed. I have left side issues and that's part of the reason to go back to a revolver. It's ease of use. It's hard for me to grab the slide and pull it back to load. Unless I put in left hand, slide with the right, then put gun back in the right hand. Normally not that big an issue though since I do make sure I'm loaded before running out in the woods.
Is there a hot 45 round that could have almost the same effect as the 44?
I almost think I most states they've got 1 box purchase only (here its at each store).
 

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Just checked out the px4. That's a sharp looking gun. I'm going to have to check that one out. If I can handle the slide well. I actually might look into it. I also liked its safety. I've got an xd9. I liked that it has all safeties (trigger, grip, plus load indicator). I'm not certain if the other semi-autos have where you can engage the safety and it'll release the hammer. Instead of trusting thumbs to hold hammer while disengaging. Though I've never heard of thumbs slipping off of hammer.
 

I am always armed.
Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everybody you meet.
 

I usually carry my XD45 when out in the desert or woods. When in town I carry my Ruger LCR 38sp. My wife carries her XD9 out of town and her Bersa 38sp in town.
 

If you like the XD45, and the LCR 38 bersa or other small frame pistols, you gotta give the XDS 45 a try. Almost the same size as the Ruger, but 5 rds of .45!
 

Hmmm, I might just go do that and then I will have to sell my Ruger LCR. :) Dang it I am suppose to be spending money on MD not XD. lol
 

Stopped carrying a handgun about 20 years ago. Heard too many stories about people being attacked by lions and bears who weren't even able to get a shot off. Many who did manage to put a round in the animal were killed or mauled anyway. A handgun round isn't likely to stop a 1,000 lb bear. Ounce its mortally wounded, the REAL attack begins. An Ole Timer i knew said he wouldn't recommend shooting a bear with anything bigger than a .22 round. Idea being, you sting the animal just enough.. and it runs away. Then one day while i was camping, i noticed a can of WD-40 puts out quite a long flame when you put a bic lighter infront of it. No animal (no matter how big, or how pissed off), is gonna come through a flamethrower to get at you. Even a little mini can of WD-40 makes a pretty potent weapon. And you can use it for about a hundred other things. You can start a fire with it, break loose a stuck tent zipper, use it on a bait line to attract fish and it works pretty good as an arthritis treatment. Whereas a gun just shoots a bullet. Since i don't do any hunting (the outta state license is just too expensive), a gun is really too much weight to carry around for something i'm probably NEVER gonna get to use.
 

best medicine for any animal in attack(lions attack from the back %99 of the time so no gun will help much)is a shotgun with 00 Buck
 

Yeah, I carry a Glock model 24. Small compact, I carry it in a nylon
holster, But it's small enough to put in my hip pocket.................HH


P.S.

It's in 9mm, I like it...........HH
 

A .50 caliber desert eagle or SW revolver will stop a bear. Ive never shot the revolver but my old roomie owned a 50 desert eagle and that thing was a monster. I didnt like firing it. Even using the push-pull grip the thing shoots a flame about a foot long and kicks like a zebra. Every time we went to the range people would stop firing and come ask to shoot it. The bullets were about $1 a piece and that was 8 years ago so theres no telling how much they are now. Desert Eagles are amazing weapons. The one major flaw in the .50 caliber is that it does jam more often than any gun I have ever fired and due to its massive blow back I couldnt pop rounds of in succession and stay accurate. But that first shot always hit exactly where it was supposed to. In the owners manual there was a picture of a woman kneeling ver a bear she killed, and she had a scope mounted on the weapon. I swear that tng was as accurate as a rifle.
 

Shwicken said:
A .50 caliber desert eagle or SW revolver will stop a bear. Ive never shot the revolver but my old roomie owned a 50 desert eagle and that thing was a monster. I didnt like firing it. Even using the push-pull grip the thing shoots a flame about a foot long and kicks like a zebra. Every time we went to the range people would stop firing and come ask to shoot it. The bullets were about $1 a piece and that was 8 years ago so theres no telling how much they are now. Desert Eagles are amazing weapons. The one major flaw in the .50 caliber is that it does jam more often than any gun I have ever fired and due to its massive blow back I couldnt pop rounds of in succession and stay accurate. But that first shot always hit exactly where it was supposed to. In the owners manual there was a picture of a woman kneeling ver a bear she killed, and she had a scope mounted on the weapon. I swear that tng was as accurate as a rifle.
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Its not so much of "what",will stop a bear but who is able to accuratly place a fatal shot in the heat of the moment....I can tell you,I have used Bear spray on a Grizz at 20',and I dont think I could have hit him with a pistol......I was pretty shook up
 

kuger said:
Its not so much of "what",will stop a bear but who is able to accuratly place a fatal shot in the heat of the moment....I can tell you,I have used Bear spray on a Grizz at 20',and I dont think I could have hit him with a pistol......I was pretty shook up
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Did you mess your pants? That bear wouldn't have caught me, he'd been slipping and sliding in my poop. Either that or I'd just drop dead from a heart attack and the bear would have lunch! One thing I wish I would have been able to watch from a distance is those old California Vaqueros roping grizzly's. Talk about a man's man. OMG, riding a thoroughly boogered horse with a grizzly on the end of your rope. The bear must have pulled back once caught, otherwise how did they do it. Yeah, I know, four or five guys, but how did the first one get close enough.
 

Bosn,I didnt but I think I was "clinched",so tight was the only reason I didnt!Its a long but pretty neat story as how that whole situation came to be,but I learned a couple things#1 a grizz will hunt you,#2 Bear spray does work,#3 try to make sure the wind is not blowing toward you when you spray,#4No matter how Macho you think you are,when a bear is bearing down on you,....a little bit of a "little girl",comes out in ya!I had a "city slicker",client with me that completly locked up.....he would have been bear chit,had I not been there.I was the only one working out of that camp that had not been attacked by a Grizz(in the last 50 years)....and I quit that outfit holding that record

Boy you arent kidding.......I have several books that talk about those Vaqureo's and Bears in great depth.I highly recomment the "California Grizzly",by Stover and Tevis,and the remake"Bear in Mind",There is no bear today like the Calif Grizz,they traveled in packs,and those Vaqueros would actually kill them with Lariats!!The horses are what impress me,the accounts state the great agility and sheer joy the horses showed....I cant imagine,true artists ,Horse and rider!!!
 

Number9 said:
Oh.. well, what ever it takes....

Bear Attack In Alaska | TeeJaw Blog
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....in Montana as a guide you can not carry a firearm,and if you kill a grizz you better have teeth marks in YOUR azz,because you will be treated as guilty,until you prove it was justified,and likely will not be hunting(huge part of our lives,for food)let alone working...guiding,as you cant as long as the investigation goes on...that fellow said it himself,he was LUCKY.I bet that 454 with that short barre is a wrist breaker!
 

kuger said:
....in Montana as a guide you can not carry a firearm,and if you kill a grizz you better have teeth marks in YOUR azz,because you will be treated as guilty,until you prove it was justified,and likely will not be hunting(huge part of our lives,for food)let alone working...guiding,as you cant as long as the investigation goes on...that fellow said it himself,he was LUCKY.I bet that 454 with that short barre is a wrist breaker!
Click to expand...

Yeah,, it can be a hand-full if you're "limp wristed"!:laughing7:

MVC-018F.jpg

But, no need to use Wd-40 and a match... it's built in...

0.jpg
 

GarretDiggingAz said:
Just checked out the px4. That's a sharp looking gun. I'm going to have to check that one out. If I can handle the slide well. I actually might look into it. I also liked its safety. I've got an xd9. I liked that it has all safeties (trigger, grip, plus load indicator). I'm not certain if the other semi-autos have where you can engage the safety and it'll release the hammer. Instead of trusting thumbs to hold hammer while disengaging. Though I've never heard of thumbs slipping off of hammer.
Click to expand...

You would probably like it. It is a very well balanced gun and has a good overall feel to it. Yes, there are variants out there that the safety will release the hammer. It is actually called a "decocking lever". My Sig P220 has this feature and for some it would come in handy when going from a "ready to fire" mode to a "stand down" mode. It is really a choice of what you like the most. I like them in either style. I would check out the PX4 and the Sig Line. They are both some of the finest pistols you will find.

Here is my latest toy. It is a DPMS .223. scope is rated for 600yards (i'll be finding out if that is true real soon) and a second Red Dot scope for closer in targets. Just got it rigged so sighting it in is in the very near future. Still have a few more mods to make but overall i'm pretty pleased with it.

Gun.jpeg
 

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Wish I could carry when I'm detecting. I am concern about safety. Unfortunately I live in the NY/NJ area and its not that easy. Being a gunner in the Navy for 20 years and a small arms instructor for 16 years after that, I feel uncomfortable going out alone in the middle of a park with nothing but a Lesche. I envy you guys that see it as a normal way of life. Its a lot different area up here.
 

Don. I feel for you guys over there. Honestly it's time for revolt or move out. I couldn't feel safe without my guns....
 

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