OT: Bear protection/Stupid gun store heist/ etc.

For an autoloader he picks the 357 Sig? Good luck on buying ammo for that in Hoobooville. Handload? Then you'll enjoy all the extra hassle of a bottlenecked handgun case. Yuck. Doesn't have the power or bullet weight for combined animal/human defense- you need a 10mm. Spectre's 9x23 is good too but not for everyone, though at least it's a straight walled case.

The author can't find anything but the 44 mag to carry if you don't want to lug the 500 Smith around? YEe gods; where is his head? No 41, 45 Colt, 480 Ruger?

Then he says the 44 mag is not good for people because of too much penetration. Well, unless I lived in a plaster board condo or apartment building, that is not a problem. And if I carried a big mag for mean animals and had to shoot at a mean human instead, that 'over' penetration might be just enough- to remove his spinal column and carry it into the far grove of Pine trees where it can't hurt me anymore.

Can't disagree with the 357 as general purpose. Not bad with 180 gr bullets for mean animals, either.

Speaking of mean animals, I saw on the Outdoor channel the Black Bear problem in New Jersey. Well, New Jersyans, if you do not harvest or control Black Bear, and allow them to breed unobstructed for over 30 years, you are going to lose a few children now and then.

And one more on mean animals- the author mentioned an animal doesn't have to be big to really hurt you- like an 80 pound Cougar killing a 150 human. But he doesn't mention small rabid animals, like Skunks, and small mean animals, like Badgers. Now, a Badger is not exactly going to charge. But once on my MT Bike two crossed the dirt road in front of me. I can tell you who stopped and waited, and it wasn't the Badgers. They actually stopped on the road and waited to see what I was going to do.

I wouldn't want to be attacked by a feral dog, either. A local here found a fresh deer kill and a Wolf on it. Not a happy experience, he had to clean his underwear afterwards.

munk
 
They hiss. What else do they do? I don't trust them. You look in a Marsupial's eyes, and you see a creature not of this earth. Must be a mammal thing, but they are creepy .


munk
 
Yeah!

One night I heard my beagles going crazy out back. Long story made short?

Two possoms on the fence, hissing like crazy.

Two possom's + two beagles = two hurt beagles.

I had to go and drag them in the house. The possoms I sprayed with a garden hose, they fell off and ran off. I wasn't looking forward to a vet trip...
 
When I lived in San Bernardino I could always tell when the Possums were near. Underneath the sod in my back yard, as much as a couple feet down, were tunnels- about possum sized. I'm sure the Rats used them too. Anyway, on a warm summer night, when the air was still, you'd smell kerosene. I don't know why- but it meant a possum was around. I don't know if they secret something rancid and nasty or something ferments in their holes or what.

When I was a kid fooling with blow darts and stuff- the war against anything moving and smaller than I was- I once tried spearing a possum with a ski pole. The spear bounced off. They're tough.

Getting back to San Bernardino, my neighbor killed a possum with a .22, or thought he had. No matter how many rounds he pumped into it, the thing was still breathing- playing possum. This was before I knew about firearms or ballistics...I did have a pellet gun- Good Ole Sheridan .20 I calculated where on the animal some 'important stuff' might be located, and with a single shot, killed the possum. (Right below the shoulder in the chest)

I've looked into possum eyes many times at night with a flashlight, and those eyes are weird. They are not wired like mammals.

munk
 
Yeeehawww!!! It's been a good month or so since there's been any bear medicine threads! I was startin' to go into withdrawals! :D

I got to look at the new Ruger Alaskan Backpacker the other day. (.454 or 480 Redhawk with a 2.5 inch BBl) I thought I NEEDED one of those when they first came out. Changed my mind as soon as I handled the gun. Bore axis was insanely high, zero balance, and remains unbelievably clunky and heavy, even for its size. I don't think it's a standard Redhawk frame. I once had a Rehawk in .44 mag, and it's a gun I wish I'd never let go, I liked it alot. This monstrosity was more comparable to the new Smith X frame. YUCK!! didn't like it.

When I was shopping for a belly banger a couple weeks ago I was the only guy in ANY of the gun shop that wasn't looking at the Smith 327 (Ti .44 mag)
or the Smith .500 Magnum. I felt like such a wussy looking at .38s and .357s. :D

For those of us stuck with .357s in the boonies, There's a company called Alaskan Backpacker that makes 200 hard cast rounds that are doing like 1250 fps. Better than nuthin' eh? If anyone pisses me off I'll make 'em shoot a cylinder of THOSE out of my Scandium J-frame... :mad:

As for me...I have decided I want something heavier than what I've been carrying, Z(you guys are a bad influence on my gun habits :D ) but won't be able to shell out the big bucks for a .454 Cassull or something. Kinda thinkin' about a Bisley Redhawk in .45 Colt. Get some good steroid fed round for it, and I think I'd be relatively comfortable.

I'm still a huge believer that it's better to have ANYTHING with you than the latest 700 caliber auto-mutilator-willy whup a$$ kill 'em all magnum sittin' back in camp.

Oh, BTW for those of you who are thinkin' "isn't he supposed to be in a canoe right now?" don't ask :mad: Rough trip...
 
The Alaskan is the exact frame size as the other SuperREdhawks. I guess without a barrel to speak of the balance does change a bit.


Sorry you're not on your canoe trip yet!

munk
 
Trip is finished, actually. I wound up making what was typically a three day trip in nine hours flat. River was running insanely high. It was raining like crazy, and cold as hell, and my buddy was in poor condition. My own was questionable. Decided to just shoot it all the way through to the end rather than trying to make a camp. I'll post a little more later, gotta finsh coffee with the wife. :D
 
Runs With Scissors said:
Kinda thinkin' about a Bisley Redhawk in .45 Colt. Get some good steroid fed round for it, and I think I'd be relatively comfortable.
Click to expand...
Is this what is called the .45 Long Colt or is that something else? My son has a Carbine/Rifle in .45 Long Colt and although it's a nice shooting Carbine it doesn't do much for me.
I posted about it quite a while back and for the life of me right now I can't recall whether it's a Marlin or a Winchester.:rolleyes: :grumpy:
It is the "Cowboy" style gun however.
A .45 Long Colt wouldn't be large enough for bear would it?

I know little about guns but it seems that Sam's Carbine in .45 Long Colt, like my .357 Mag Marlin Carbine, just does make it for a good deer gun in brushy country like Oklahoma where few shots are longer than 100 yards????

Runs it seems that circumstances saves us from ourselves more often than we'd like to admit. It just wasn't the right time for your canoe huntm that's all. It'll all come about perfect when it's really supposed to.:D
 
Hey Ysva,
Windchester and Marlin both make a .45 Long Colt Lever Action, but only Marlins is referred to as the "Cowboy Gun"

The .45 LC by and large is NOT enough gun for bear. It's basically a very old blackpowder cartridge. With the advent of smokeless powder they still have to keep most .45 LC pressures very low to prevent people from blowing up thier older guns. (And replicas thereof) But...there are a few modern made .45 Colt firearms that are very sturdily built, and able to take the cartridge to its full potential. Ruger, Marlin, Windchester, and the Thompson Contender are four that come immediately to mind.

When loaded to its full potential,and fired out of a sturdy enough firearm to handle the increased pressure the .45 LC has ballistics that far exceed the .44 Magnum. I imagine you've heard alot of people talk about the .454 Cassull being a tremendous power house. That cartridge itself is pretty much just a "Magnum .45 LC" Kinda like when the .357 was concieved and they had to stretch that cartridge out to keep it from blowing up all the older .38 Specials....same general concept.

Incidentally the cartridge is technically not called a .45 Long Colt, but..with all the different cartridge designations floating around out there, it just helps to avoid confusion. Hope I gave ya' something helpful there.

Edited to add: BTW, I made a bit of a mistake earlier when I mentioned lusting after the Ruger. It's a Blackhawk I'm lusting over, for some reason I mentioned the Redhawk (Double action) Which I like alot also, just not as much as the Bisley Blackhawk. :)
 
Yvsa,

As you know the answer is "depends".

This time on the load. A Winchester Silber Tip? Nope

Ruger type reload? Most likely, if a .44 would do it, then most likely so the hot loaded 45Colt.

Quit teasing us, you know that answer already!

Darn, got beat to the punch
 
A .45 Colt will do anything the .44 Mag will do, but with less pressure.

The down side is, .44s (actually, .429s) are usually in the same frame size as .45s, so there's more metal in the cylinder walls in the .44s. However, with something like the older Rugers (the new ones aren't as strong- smaller frame), you can shoot heavy loads at velocities that will work just fine. 300 grain at 1200 fps, anyone?

John
 
The harshest I loaded was Hornady XTP 250grain in front of a load of 2400 powder that should have sent that bullet downrange at nearly 1200FPS, and no it isn't much fun at all.

However I bought a .S&W mountain gun and a Winchester carbine both in .44 Magnum, gosh, three years ago?

Sold them right back.
 
45-70 said:
Yeah!

One night I heard my beagles going crazy out back. Long story made short?

Two possoms on the fence, hissing like crazy.

Two possom's + two beagles = two hurt beagles.

I had to go and drag them in the house. The possoms I sprayed with a garden hose, they fell off and ran off. I wasn't looking forward to a vet trip...
Click to expand...
I trapped a couple that were bothering my neighbor. As I was emptying the trap one got loose. I caught him by the tail and he was mad.

He settled down after I removed his head with a HI WWII.

He didn't taste half bad when roasted.
 
Heh. I've come pretty close to face-to-face with big possum more than once. Seeing a huge one bolt out of your garbage can at 2 feet will give you a good start!

Anyway, some years ago, I was out at the hunting cabin, with just myself and Stardust, my little American Eskimo. She started getted agitated about something, so I walked outside, holding my Kel-Tec Sub-9 in case of feral dogs or coyotes. Stardust barked and dashed towards something a little past the fire.

I ran out to where she was barking and found a decent-sized possum looking at me. Stardust was holding her distance, figuring her work was done, I reckon. I was holding the little carbine one-handed at the critter, and I reckoned that (1)I was not going to eat it, and (2)it wasn't hurting me or mine, so I should just let it go.

Then it growled and showed me teeth.

Anyone seen Austin Powers 2? Remember the names of the twins? "Phook Me?! Phook YOU!"

Bam.

Y'know, even on head shots, those possums take some killin'... :D
 
Y'know, I went and read the first link. The guy only rec's .357 Sig in Autoloader? WTH? There's 10mm (more power, more weight) for those who can handle it, and there's .40 (same energy as .357 Sig, more bullet weight, easier to find). There's also Forty-fricking-five-ACP fer Pete's sake.

IN a nutshell:
.40 S&W= about power level of .45 ACP in a 9mm-sized platform;
.357 Sig= .40 S&W necked down to take 9mm rounds
.357 Sig= .45 ACP power- only one can far more readily find .45 ACP rounds that will probably work considerably better against larger critters. Smaller critters? Hell, anything'll kill 'em. :rolleyes:

John
 
Geeze, Spectre- did you read my similar reaction to the guy?


Runs with Scissors; There is a Blackhawk Bisely hunter out there, which I cant' help but lust after. I want one in 480 though. Davidson's or someone did a limited run of 41 mags and I believe 45 Colt as well.

That hurt. I love the blackhawk.


munk
 
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