Handgun For Dangerous Game

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Hesa Hard1 said:
Yep, he's pretty good at that. Most 10mm-haters are. They never respond directly to facts or real-world cases.

Just bloviate on and on ... and on .... and on. o_O
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I don't know where this straw argument crap is coming from and at this point, I'm not even going to respond to it.

I'll respond to every single "real world case" you can provide.

This "hater" has 6 10mm's and has shot them for 16yrs.
 
I've used the 10mm for my woods gun for over 3 decades now. In the late 80s it was a Delta Elite, around 2007 or so that was changed to a Glock 29, usually with Glock 20 magazines. Load has been DT 200 gr XTP, since then, back during the Delta days, it was generally Winchester Silver-Tips or PMC's 170 gr HP. I found the Delta far better for me, being an auto guy, than the possible purchase of a .357 or larger wheelgun, back then, though I already owned a Redhawk, which I found a bit too large to carry. The Glock also offered the larger magazines, which is always nice to have, and left me able to keep my Colt still pristine. Strange, but it seemed I was all alone in my carry choice for hiking and the outdoors til the turn of the century. Even now though, I carry the 10mm only when in the National Forest.
 
crestoncowboy said:
I wasn't implying at all actually. Id be genuinely curious. Where I'm at the black bear are quite friendly but I have had 2 encounters where I began to wonder. They generally turn and run before you even see them.
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Same here, Black Bears typically act like big Raccoons here.
You see them, usually at night, and they usually scurry off if they see you. In the woods on foot, in the Spring and Summer is when I usually worry a little bit, and by little bit, I mean a very little bit.... even a mother Raccoon will attack if you threaten her kits, but usually have to do the wrong things in the correct (improper) order to ever get yourself in the situation.

For Example: Hiking the hillsides in June in the deep forest, off the trails, and look for a 3' hole in the side of a hill, and probe around inside it with a flashlight.....
 
Palladan44 said:
Same here, Black Bears typically act like big Raccoons here.
You see them, usually at night, and they usually scurry off if they see you. In the woods on foot, in the Spring and Summer is when I usually worry a little bit, and by little bit, I mean a very little bit.... even a mother Raccoon will attack if you threaten her kits, but usually have to do the wrong things in the correct (improper) order to ever get yourself in the situation.

For Example: Hiking the hillsides in June in the deep forest, off the trails, and look for a 3' hole in the side of a hill, and probe around inside it with a flashlight.....
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I gather that you’ve done such ?
 
Linebaugh has been building custom guns in the original 10mm, the .38-40 for several years now. With a 200gr at 1600fps, it makes the 10mm look like a pop gun. It's a funny thing, he doesn't market them for stomping bears or elephants. Instead, he says.....

https://www.johnlinebaughcustomsixguns.com/3840bisley

"180gr XTP to 1800 FPS - 18 KO
200gr XTP to 1600 FPS - 18 KO

.38-40 CONVERSION

The .38-40 is another "old" cartridge much misunderstood - like the .45 Colt - that can be "woken up" in a strong and modern gun. We had Dave Manson grind properly dimensioned minimum reamers to cut properly sized tight chambers for additional strength and safety. Oversized six shot cylinders are fitted behind a properly dimensioned barrel. Bisley parts are recommended for best shooting control along with Linebaugh Custom Grips.

Many will claim, as they did with the .45 Colt, that the case is weak and will not handle the high pressures. More than twenty years of steady use in our custom revolvers has proven the .45 Colt is amply safe to any reasonable pressure. The 38-40 is an excellent choice for a light game cartridge without the heavy recoil."

I wonder why?
 
When hunting with a revolver, it is going to be a 357 Mag or a 44 Mag.
Where I hunt, Black Bear, Mountain Lion, Moose, and Elk are going to be the big or dangerous critters I am going to be around.
If something goes south, I will have what I am hunting with, and I will have to live or not live with whatever consequences are for a given circumstance-I am good with that.
Depending on the type of hunting I am doing in the hills/mountains (day hunting or packing in) will determine the amount of weight I am willing to carry.
Sometimes I have a revolver and a center-grip XP-100 on me, but most of the time I only hunt with one at a time.
South Africa was an exception, as I carried both with me most of the time...Plains game.
FWIW-When an animal decides to sprint/charge, I doubt if most people will even get off a good shot, if they are in heavy cover.
Some no doubt have the mindset/skillset-Which is a good thing!
I have witnessed many people have a melt-down in crisis (not talking hunting), and then there are those who stay calm, and do what needs to be done.
There is a big difference between being a hunter, versus being able to shoot accurately on demand when an animal is bent on killing you.
I have enjoyed the sarcasm and sense of humor in this thread.
 
xphunter said:
When hunting with a revolver, it is going to be a 357 Mag or a 44 Mag.
Where I hunt, Black Bear, Mountain Lion, Moose, and Elk are going to be the big or dangerous critters I am going to be around.
If something goes south, I will have what I am hunting with, and I will have to live or not live with whatever consequences are for a given circumstance-I am good with that.
Depending on the type of hunting I am doing in the hills/mountains (day hunting or packing in) will determine the amount of weight I am willing to carry.
Sometimes I have a revolver and a center-grip XP-100 on me, but most of the time I only hunt with one at a time.
South Africa was an exception, as I carried both with me most of the time...Plains game.
FWIW-When an animal decides to sprint/charge, I doubt if most people will even get off a good shot, if they are in heavy cover.
Some no doubt have the mindset/skillset-Which is a good thing!
I have witnessed many people have a melt-down in crisis (not talking hunting), and then there are those who stay calm, and do what needs to be done.
There is a big difference between being a hunter, versus being able to shoot accurately on demand when an animal is bent on killing you.
I have enjoyed the sarcasm and sense of humor in this thread.
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That is also something that stood out to me about most all the notorious lawmen of the West and into the 1900’s… they kept their cool under pressure
 
just a few thoughts from a newbie -
(please excuse no capitals in my typing; it's just a lot faster and easier to type without them).

any gun is better than a rock, unless your throwing arm is a lot better than mine.
agreed, a larger caliber is better against bigger animals.
how big is needed, and in what form? (i guess that's what all the arguing is about).
i think that depends on the person.

i don't hunt, no military or law enforcement experience, and i've never faced anything down with a gun that was more dangerous than a coke can (unless gallon milk jugs are more dangerous).
i do get to hike in black bear/mt. lion country about 2-3 times a year. never been in moose/grizz country, although there's still hope of that some day.
i carry a 44 or 45 colt single action in the mountains. i would like double action, but i'm not very big, and the big bore double actions have too much room between the back of the grip and trigger for me. i can reach, but it's not comfortable. (i used to be 5'4" before decades of heavy weightlifting, now not quite). the cowboy style single actions fit my hand just about right (ruger for me).

i have read, and also heard (different places, but people that should know) that a 240 grain 44 swc at 900fps will go all the way thru an elk. that also just happens to be what all my reloads were before i ever heard that.

an elk is pretty big, so i figure that's pretty good for black bear and mt lion too.
i do think faster would be better, but arthritis doesn't like it. bigger (454, 460, 500, etc.....) probably too, but i think most people would not be proficient with that. just my opinion.
someone mentioned follow up shots - i think the speed of those depend on quite a few factors; bullet/load used, the shooter, conditions, experience, etc...., so i think that will vary widely with everybody in here, and i will leave that argument alone.

i would love to think, and say, that i would be cool enough with a charging animal to deal some serious damage to it before it eats me.
however, probably more realistically, i'm gonna hope it slips and falls as it's running behind me (i eat a lot of fiber) as i'm shooting over my shoulder at it.
 
xphunter said:
FWIW-When an animal decides to sprint/charge, I doubt if most people will even get off a good shot, if they are in heavy cover.
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Ernie, when whitetail hunting a few years ago I was seated on the ground with my back to a small tree and bush at the edge of a crop field. A nice buck came around the field on the edge of the surrounding brush heading for my position. At about 12 yards I fired my 629 Classic for his front shoulder, expecting him to drop. Instead, he leaped and rushed past my left shoulder at about 5 feet where there was an opening in the brush. If I hadn't had the tree at my back he might have run right over me. I was able to turn the revolver and fire a shot double action as he went past me, but if he had come straight at me I doubt I would have been able to get off another shot; his speed was amazing. We tracked him for over two hours and finally lost him in a slough. Hunting the same farm ten days later, my buddies found the buck about a quarter mile away on the edge of the slough. Coyotes had decimated the carcass, so I never found out whether my second shot hit or had any effect.
 
Real life situations tend to be harder and more humbling.
Recently, I found myself in a shoot on demand situation with a narrow shooting window (Not two-legged or a game animal), and it all worked out.
I kept my head, and what needed done, was done. I can't tell you how many times I replayed it my mind afterward.
Way different than hunting for me.
 
I find it interesting that most people focus on predators. Bears, lions, tigers, snakes… all over the world it’s the same. Here in the USA we have some nasty critters, but I can’t think of anything more dangerous that an injured and frightened moose. A close second would be an angry bison. Third probably comes down to Alaskan bears which are abnormally large, and then the list kinda trickles down.

So what’s going to stop an angry bison or a moose? I think a 460 or 500 revolver might, and a shotgun slug would do well, but a magnum rifle would do best.
 
WestKentucky said:
I find it interesting that most people focus on predators. Bears, lions, tigers, snakes… all over the world it’s the same. Here in the USA we have some nasty critters, but I can’t think of anything more dangerous that an injured and frightened moose. A close second would be an angry bison. Third probably comes down to Alaskan bears which are abnormally large, and then the list kinda trickles down.

So what’s going to stop an angry bison or a moose? I think a 460 or 500 revolver might, and a shotgun slug would do well, but a magnum rifle would do best.
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Elk can be feisty too. I’ve seen them in the Great Smokey Mountain NP and the bulls have no fear during the rut, so I would expand your scenario to include them. They will ram your car.
 
Anchorite said:
Elk can be feisty too. I’ve seen them in the Great Smokey Mountain NP and the bulls have no fear during the rut, so I would expand your scenario to include them. They will ram your car.
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I agree with you about Elk! They can be dangerous. And even more so with the elk that reside in the National Parks. They don't develop a fear of humans.
 
As @WisBorn points out, there are some very large herbivores in the US that can kill a person with relative ease. Elk, Bison and Moose outweight humans multiple times.

Moose worry me most, because they're usually solitary, like to hang out in thick brush where they're harder to spot at a distance, and tend to be quite grumpy. They also like marshy areas where running away is harder for people. And based on personal experience, can move quickly at speed through densely forested wet areas.

My wife and I were Still Hunting through a fairly wet and densely forested area sprinkled with pockets of open marsh, up around 10,000' a few November's ago now. I had an Elk tag and was hoping there might be some stragglers still that high up. After a few hours fresh sign confirmed I wasn't wrong, but it appeared to be a large lone animal (I guessed bull and I had a cow tag). We left that trail and dropped down a marshy meadow and back into the trees. I saw a wave of black and brown through the trees and hissed for my wife to stop and look. It had come from in front of us and circled left, and moved so fast through the forest that I didn't even see the front or the rear of whatever it was. We were travelling into the wind and moving slowly, but when I turned to get her attention I lost sight of it. We waited. It appeared to 9 o'clock of where I'd originally seen it and circled in and around us. Still separated from us by trees, we were only getting glimpses. Finally at 5 o'clock where the tree cover was gone and it was down wind of us, it caught our scent fully. A reasonably large bull Moose complete with decently sized paddles turned to face us straight on, at maybe 15-20 yards distance and with nothing but open ground and a few small logs between him and us. I had one gun with me, and it was a .44 Magnum RH loaded with 300gr JHPs. So we said "Hi!", "Hi there Moosey!", "Please don't stomp us into the mud, m'kay Moosey!", waved our arms, and backed away slowly.

It was one of my best wilderness experiences, but to say I was intimidated wouldn't be an exaggeration at all. They're big and fast, and can move easily through terrain that's difficult for us.
 
First bear thread I’ve replied to, so here goes…
I’ve had some interesting encounters with Moose, but nothing really dangerous. By interesting I mean the animal knew I was there, that I was human, and continued to approach. A couple of these could be called somewhat aggressive. I was armed a couple of these times. I also know that from hunting moose, they dont seem to know they are dead when hit with a 30-06 class rounds to the boiler room. They do die but it takes 15 seconds to a half minute. That’s a long time if things have gone south. Not many handguns compare to an 06 180 grain. So…I’d want to break some bone, which I’m not sure I could do in a hurry with a handgun under duress. It appears bear spray may be more effective (there is a joke about this) than a gun. If I were really worried I’d have my 375 HH but this causes a conflict between laziness and fear, so I usually just pack my carry gun and delude myself into thinking I’m better prepared.
 
sugarmaker said:
First bear thread I’ve replied to, so here goes…
I’ve had some interesting encounters with Moose, but nothing really dangerous. By interesting I mean the animal knew I was there, that I was human, and continued to approach. A couple of these could be called somewhat aggressive. I was armed a couple of these times. I also know that from hunting moose, they dont seem to know they are dead when hit with a 30-06 class rounds to the boiler room.
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Moose certainly can be feisty and irritable, but that only indicates the need for a dosage of high-performance 10mm slugs into their boilerplate, like so:

(Viewer caution is advised by YT, if you're the soft-n-snively type :scrutiny: )

 
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