I call it as I see it. Backpacking firearms comes up from time to time and the answers often fail to address the question. There are two issues here, firearm and backpacking, and one location; Western Washington. Backpacking is not meandering around in the forest 100 yards from your truck, it’s carrying everything you need for however long you intend to be out (and here’s the important part) on your back. Food, shelter, etc, on your back, often for many miles.
Since I own firearms (and participate in firearms forums) and hike/backpack (and participate in hiking/backpacking forums) I offer my advice based on my experience. It’s rare among the hikers in the hiking forum to even see a bear, and they haven’t proven to be any trouble to the hikers. The most recent ‘incident’ involved a goat, not a bear. Bear encounters are rare, incidents with a bear that would require the use of a firearm for protection are so infinitesimally rare as to be considered nonexistent. The only bear incident I recall in years of participating in the hike forums was where a bear repeatedly, for several hours, charged a backpacker in his tent in the middle of the night. He was unarmed and never mentioned running out and buying a gun even after that harrowing experience. The bear did its thing and left.
The second thread drift comes from the idea that every bear is an enraged 18 foot tall Alaskan grizzly, robbed of her cubs, hopped up on PCP, with a rabid squirrel living in its rectum. All year around, I, and hundreds of other hikers and backpackers, are crawling all over the Olympic and Cascade Ranges, plunking down tents, frolicking in the trees, and trying to catch a glimpse of a bear or cougar. 99% or more of those hikers are unarmed. Of the 1% that are armed, half carry bear spray instead of a gun.
I owned a Ruger Alaskan and I loved it, but it was too heavy for backpacking. I left it home on several solo off trail hikes because my pack weighed too much. You see, I hike when I feel like hiking, not when I can get a group together. I also prefer to venture off the trail to fish remote lakes or summit remote peaks. I’m not the only one who solo hikes either. So I offer my advice based on what I know, experienced, and have seen. Let the OP decide what advice he will take.
If not, well, I use a Glock 29 with 200gr DT loads. But that's in black bear country. In Grizzly land, I think I'd opt for the 1911 and a 460 Rowland conversion.
