Handgun for travelling/Camping

[feralmerril]

I can make a case for about every one of 30 + handguns I own. 22 lr through 44 mag and 45 colt. I think you have to basicly look at the probable most likely situation you will be going to. Obvisely if you are going to alaska its the biggest you have. Other places a itty bitty .22 will do to dispatch a snake.
If you feel the need for a good defendse gun at home in your bedroom, truth is you are more apt to want one in the boonies for looneys.
Personaly I like one that is big enough for defendse.
You mentioned going with a wife. Thats great. In that case I would take the defendse gun, and have her take the .22. Now you have both bases covered and can plink or target shoot for fun.
A neat little gun that I have and plan to start carrying a little more is a ruger single six in .32 H&R Mag.
Here in utah I and the wife like to get out on our ATV far out in the boonies. Truth is since we are rideing a huge two seat quad with a big storage box, I could and do take any gun I own or a couple of them. However I still like wearing it and not have to dig for it in the travel trunk when I want it. That happened three times last year alone. Twice with big rattlesnakes and one coyote. Once we stopped the quad for whatever reason and the wife screamed at me to take off! One of the biggest rattlers I have seen was about waist high on the trail embankment under a rock, a couple feet from where I stopped. I pulled ahead a few yards and with the wife pointing I still had a hard time seeing it for a minute! In fact I still didnt untill it moved for cover in a hole.
My revolver being in the scoot boot and not on me saved his life.
A few years ago a deputy friend of mine showed me some pictures of a guy with his bare back bone exposed where a timber rattler had hit him. I never would have belived those pictures he took of the body. Made a beliver of me! The guy sat down on a embankment or hill and the rattler got him right in the cross of the neck and shoulders!

 

[Munsterf18]

Model 396, .44 special Mountain Lite.
So light, I don't know it's on when hunting/hiking, and I'm all about lessening the weight.

To me, that's it's perfect use.

Munster

 

[jkc]

If bears may be a problem, it's a 629 with XS Big Dot night sights. Otherwise, a Glock 21SF (.45ACP) with night sights and Surefire weaponlight. We're experiencing a rabies epidemic. Skunks, foxes, and other small, nocturnal critters are vectors, and common in most areas where I camp. I've been thinking about adding a shotgun to my camp kit for eliminating these potential threats. Anywhere along a smuggling corridor, some sort of EBR with nitelite is part of the kit, although anymore, I just try to avoid camping in remote rural areas where this is an issue --- venturing into these danger zones while awake and alert and well-armed is one thing, falling asleep there is another matter...

 

[tom turner]

It sounds like your choice of your .357 is a sound one Wyatt.

Lots of cops went into harm's way toting that wheelgun as their primary "back in the day."

Me?

I've toted my M65 3" a lot in past years in the deep woods hiking and such. Ditto with several .45ACP handguns too . . . a full size Colt Combat Elite, or a Para 14.45 Limited LDA . . . or a Kimber Ultra CDP (lightweight officer's sized) . . . or my chopped barrel 3 1/4" M25-2 revolver.

Sometimes . . . just a belt-holstered M36 backed by my pocket holstered M37.

In the pocket? Always the trusty M37 Airweight!

During small game season, my belt holster carries a Ruger MkII Target model .22LR, topped by a Holosight and riding in a modified Uncle Mike's belt holster similar to the rig shown below.

Sometimes it simply depends on the weather, the terrain and weight . . . or the mood!

If in areas with threat of bears . . . the belt holster holds my 6" barreled M29-5 topped with a Holosight. On moving game such as deer this outfit has consistently proved to be quite effective in hitting the vitals and taking down the game instantly . . . with my preferred 300 grain, hard cast flatnose lead bullet.

In this modified Uncle Mike's holster, it is as fast clearing "leather" as a competition revolver, yet it has been up trees in many a ladder stand and climber through the years with no mishap . . . and taken a ton of deer too. No handgun could be any faster either for reacting to a charging bear . . . or better suited to aim the red dot as the animal went through the thickets!

T.

 

[Wyatt Burp]

OOO!! A chopped 25-2! Better than viagra.

 

[tom turner]

Yes it is!!!

And my deep woods holster for it is a Bianchi Cyclone II Nylon (long discontinued) that was made for a 4" K frame. This N frame 3 1/4" gun has "moulded" and adapted to that holster PERFECTLY!!!

It is so fast from that holster that I hold a range competition record in our area of drawing to the reaction time of a random start electronic timer (from the "surrender" position w/thumbs touching the hear muffs) and hitting the A zone of an IPSC target at six feet . . . in LESS than .80 of a second. .77 seconds to be exact. Not too shabby for a guy in his 50's.

Some hotshot at a practical match there hear about the record once, and he tried so hard to beat that time with his trick competition-only skeletonized holster for his 1911 race gun . . . and couldn't beat it. The range charged $5 an attempt (best of three draws), with the money going to improve the club.

Here's the gun that's better than Viagra. I'll be shooting it in the morning too! Frankly, it's my favorite woods revolver anyway . . . it balances so well and is super accurate . . . and only weighs about the same as a 5" 1911.