Ten Million And One Unique Scenarios

I don’t have to worry about bears, cats or snakes. Hyenas if you get my drift are the biggest problem. The old saying “a pack of Hyenas can take down the strongest lion” applies. 99% of crimes in my area are those of opportunity, organized groups are not a problem. I follow the first rule and always have a gun, it could be an LCP, J Frame, Bulldog or a Kahr CM9. All of which I am proficient in both shot placement and speed of reload. I always carry a reload. My days of seeking out Hyenas are over with. I am comfortable in what I carry and my skill set that I can deal with whatever seeks me out.

Everyone has to access their own situation and security needs. Situational awareness, hand to hand abilities, etc. Plenty of options and no one size fits all answer.

Old Dog said:

Is this just another thread for rationalizing carry of mouse guns in sub-optimal calibers?

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What or whom defines a "sub-optimal" caliber?

Internet experts? People with blogs and YouTube channels? "Trainers" who have never personally experienced a DGU, but have the correct operator beard and extra-tight graphic tee-shirt?

Optimal can vary from day-to-day, situation to situation, and individual to individual. It's far from the ad nauseam "one gun for all situations" pontificating.

.455_Hunter said:

What or whom defines a "sub-optimal" caliber?

Internet experts? People with blogs and YouTube channels? "Trainers" who have never personally experienced a DGU, but have the correct operator beard and extra-tight graphic tee-shirt?

Optimal can vary from day-to-day, situation to situation, and individual to individual. It's far from the ad nauseam "one gun for all situations" pontificating.

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Well, there you go then; you've solved the whole issue.

But seriously, if you cannot understand the concept of a sub-optimal caliber, you probably aren't following what's happening on the streets. Even most of our local gangbangers turn up their noses at anything less than 9mm or .40 S&W; we recover spriinklings of .380, .38, .45, occasionally .32, surprisingly often .22... And, truly -- results have been in for quite a while: what's used in shootings (criminal and by citizens), rates of incapacitation and deaths. If one really wants to quibble about what constitutes "sub-optimal," well, that ship's sailed.

Of course, I'm no internet expert on anything, don't blog or do YouTube; I guess you could consider me a "trainer" although I consider myself an "instructor" with a bit of personal experience, no beard, though (woman likes smooth) and haven't worn tight tees with logos for 35 or 40 years...

Wasn't pontificating about "one gun for all situations." But I certainly will pontificate about those that believe one can only conceal a tiny gun in a silly caliber and limited capacity when we have so many excellent options (easily concealable packages in effective calibers and decent capacity) now. So, c'mon, you've never read any of my posts over the years? Celebrate diversity! Variety is the spice of life!.

tightgroup tiger said:

I wouldn't shoot a black bear in Western Pennsylvania with a 9mm unless I was being attacked and had no choice. They get to big there. I lived there for my first 50 years and the big bore that would visit us in my back yard weighed 609lb dressed out. (He got shot in bear season one year). I don't think a 9mm would do much to a bear that size except make it madder than it already was.
I would use a 41 magnum and up if I carried in the woods there but I seldom carried unless it was deer season.

This big boy and his sows would visit our house on an almost daily through July and August on the way to the huckleberry fields on top of the mile long hill of deep woods, we lived on. Our back yard was carved out of the woods and we had a spring in the back of it where they would drink. He was huge and had a squared off muzzle like a dog. He would always stop and look around to see if he could see me outside. Once he did he would continue on his way.
They never bothered me, other than coming up on our deck and standing up to look in our kitchen window now and then.

We didn't feed them, including no bird feeders, and they didn't bother us other then to stop and say hello once in a while.
I miss living there, we had Bobcats, Cougars, Bear,deer, lots of Turkey, Grouse, then the Coyotes showed up out of no where.

Wonder where they came from?

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Hello @tightgroup tiger
I grew up (mostly) in SW Pennsylvania. For a while we lived on a bear migration trail. Bears would travel from the low hills to the mountains in the Spring and back down the trail in the fall. They never bothered anyone.

I have encountered all the animals you mentioned except cougars…well, not in the wild.
Regarding coyotes. You will find little evidence to prove it but coyotes were brought into PA by none other than the Department of Fish and Game some time in the mid-‘70’s. Two were shot in Rogersville, PA in 1976 that had yellow DFG tags in their ears. The DFG denied any knowledge, but every once in a while a tagged coyote would be shot.
The story was that the DFG knew they needed to control the whitetail deer population but didn’t want to expand deer hunting seasons. The head of the DFG really didn’t like guns or hunters at the time and didn’t want to give hunters more clout - this was what I heard. I have no idea if it is true. After moving to CA I could believe a DFG bureaucrat could hate hunters. Anyway, the theory was the coyotes would cull the fawn population and help regulate the over all deer population. Apparently the Brain Trust never considered talking to anyone that knew about coyotes and implemented the plan not realizing that chipmunks, opossums, skunks, squirrels, rabbits, muskrats, etc. were much easier game than fawns protected by mamas so the deer population flourished as did the coyotes on all that available small game.

This summer we plan to move close to “back home” to either SW Pennsylvania or northern West Virginia. My carry options will depend on where I am going and what I am doing. The gun I would carry in town is not the carry into the woods or fishing. Just as it is now.






The funny things is, regarding people and their guns, if there was one gun that checks all boxes why do so many people have “that one gun that meets their needs”, but they all never have “the same gun”?

Pat Riot said:

The funny things is, regarding people and their guns, if there was one gun that checks all boxes why do so many people have “that one gun that meets their needs”, but they all never have “the same gun”?

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Boy, isn't that the truth!
As the coyotes go, we heard the same thing up in Clarion Co. The word up there was the car insurance companies were pressuring the Game Commission to do something about all the deer that were being hit on the road that they had to pay for.

The Game Commission denied Cougars being in the area but I saw one myself once. We had a local deer ranch in the area and the owner would bring his fawns to our area to walk them. He was walking a pair of twins in the field across the road from my house and he came barreling across the road on onto my front deck with a fawn under each arm. He yelled open the door so I did. He ran in and said he saw a Cougar skirting him in the woods just below the field.
He used my phone to call his wife to come get him while we played with the fawns in our kitchen. They were only a few days old.
Cute little buggers.
Like you Pat, I carried for the area I was going to be in. Between 9mm, .357 mag, and .41 mag. What ever made me feel comfortable for what else was in the woods at the time.

I've got the answer. Find an internet gun group in your geographical area and pose the question: what should I carry around here for any conceivable problem? You will get 100% identical responses and thus solve your quandry. Or my name isn't http:[email protected]

Even though it did seem to ruffle feathers to some extent the second post in this thread answered the question.

I carry an “obsolete” 40S&W. Virtually guaranteed to bounce of the bad guys. A bear? Forget it.

2 legged animals are all I worry about. More likely to die from hitting a deer with your car than a bear attack, even in Pennsylvania. Sig p365 9mm is as perfect as it gets for me.

Mr. Mosin said:

The saying “What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.” does not ring true regarding firearms of any sort, but especially of handguns.

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I completely agree but I would argue that the adage rings true especially of shotguns, where handling and pointing qualities are so important but so unique for every individual shooter; not to mention gauge, size, type and purpose for every shooting/hunting endeavor.

Well this gander needs a compass, because I can’t figure what this thread is about…

It’s either about pistol to hand fit, a cartridge argument, or capacity. But evidently the OP hasn’t gained the energy back to explain his cryptic opener.

I guess this is where I waste a paragraph telling what I carry and why I’m comfortable with it? Or should it be about how it uniquely fits my phalanges? Or maybe how capable the pistol is compared to all the other identical tools that look different?

Instead should it be about how it is just for a man to have tools on himself for self preservation, and that it is also just for a woman to do so?
Or it is to coax the fairer sex into more powerful cartridges for carry, because 9mm?

I’m not sure where to go with this…