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Best concealed weapon to carry on runs. (Read 462 times)

GoRunDad


    This thread has really been an awesome way to get through a boring conference call.  I have learned a bunch.  I am going to start packing when I ride and the next time a car cuts me off or gets too close, I am going to shoot the bastard.

      Wtf?!!  I'm still hoping this is a joke / troll thread. Please let that be true.

       

      Leave us alone, Purdey! We're AMERICANS!

       

       

        One of the field tests for the S&W .500 Mag (Alaska state weapon? see below) was shooting/killing a bear.  None of the .500 Mag variants are light enough carry on a run though.  .44 Mag might have a chance against a bear, depending on the load used.

         

        Optimizing stopping power vs. weight/bulk is difficult, especially for carrying during a run.  A .380 is ideal from the weight/bulk perspective but I would not trust it to stop anything larger than a dog.  9mm is definitely a step up, but still... if the likely aggressor is a wild pig, I'd practice emptying the clip as fast and accurately as possible.  .357 and .45 are better options, but now the weight is significant. Finally, most attacks on runners are by people, not animals.  A self-defense course is potentially more useful than a gun.

         

        The best option is to avoid situations where you feel the need to carry.  I've spooked many a rattler here in the Southwest but I've NEVER felt like a gun was necessary to protect me from them.  Usually a long stick is all you need to shoosh them off the trail.  I wouldn't say the same about bears in Alaska or Montana, though.

        Shooting a bear with a handgun is more likely to decrease your chance of survival.

         

        http://www.gunblast.com/images/SW500/MVC-001F.jpg


        Feeling the growl again

            .44 Mag might have a chance against a bear, depending on the load used.

           

           

          As I said bear thread on hunting forums are about like sport jester on here.  They tend to be epic.

           

          Last elk season two hunters saved themselves from an attacking grizzly with a .357Mag.  I heard about it directly from someone who knew them and had talked to them on the phone that day.  The internet crown tends to think you need a crew-served artillery piece to stop a bear but the fact is anything that will reliably penetrate the cranium will work....no bear will be stopped by a center-of-mass shot.  Having actually spent a decent amount of time in Montana and hunting in the densest grizzly populations in the lower-48 with the locals, unlike the internet crowd many of them feel perfectly comfortable with a .357...a smaller gun you will carry is better than a four lb hand cannon that you leave in the truck because it was too heavy/awkward to carry.

           

          As for being more likely to be killed by a bear if you are carrying a gun, I would need to see some evidence of that.  I've never heard of someone provoking an attack not underway by shooting a bear but there are typically a few cases each year of people having to shoot bears attacking them (typically over a carcass or a sow with cubs).  If you are shooting a bear that is not imminently attacking you and cause it to then actually attack you, you are an idiot.  If it is a grizzly, well, they enjoy about the same protection as a human in the .lower-48 and if you shoot one there had better be claw marks or very good evidence that your life was in perile or they will nail you to the wall.  My hunting partner lives in Montana and has had many close encounters with grizzlies...many in which the .357 came out of the holster...but both he and the bear left them unharmed.

           

          Black bears are a lot more timid and attacks very rare.  I would be much more worried about cougars or wild hogs.

          "If you want to be a bad a$s, then do what a bad a$s does.  There's your pep talk for today.  Go Run." -- Slo_Hand

           

          I am spaniel - Crusher of Treadmills

           


          Feeling the growl again

            This thread has really been an awesome way to get through a boring conference call.  I have learned a bunch.  I am going to start packing when I ride and the next time a car cuts me off or gets too close, I am going to shoot the bastard.

             

            Just remember not to drop the soap.

            "If you want to be a bad a$s, then do what a bad a$s does.  There's your pep talk for today.  Go Run." -- Slo_Hand

             

            I am spaniel - Crusher of Treadmills

             


            Snowdenrun

              Thank you. You just save me five minutes of typing.

               

              I wouldn't carry a gun to be bad ass or to shot anything and everything that I see. But if I'm going to carry its going to be something that would actually penetrate the skull. I would hate to kill a bear, especially a sow if it meant leaving the young-ens alone. But when it comes to my life or the bears, I'll shot. But not sooner.

               

               

              As I said bear thread on hunting forums are about like sport jester on here.  They tend to be epic.

               

              Last elk season two hunters saved themselves from an attacking grizzly with a .357Mag.  I heard about it directly from someone who knew them and had talked to them on the phone that day.  The internet crown tends to think you need a crew-served artillery piece to stop a bear but the fact is anything that will reliably penetrate the cranium will work....no bear will be stopped by a center-of-mass shot.  Having actually spent a decent amount of time in Montana and hunting in the densest grizzly populations in the lower-48 with the locals, unlike the internet crowd many of them feel perfectly comfortable with a .357...a smaller gun you will carry is better than a four lb hand cannon that you leave in the truck because it was too heavy/awkward to carry.

               

              As for being more likely to be killed by a bear if you are carrying a gun, I would need to see some evidence of that.  I've never heard of someone provoking an attack not underway by shooting a bear but there are typically a few cases each year of people having to shoot bears attacking them (typically over a carcass or a sow with cubs).  If you are shooting a bear that is not imminently attacking you and cause it to then actually attack you, you are an idiot.  If it is a grizzly, well, they enjoy about the same protection as a human in the .lower-48 and if you shoot one there had better be claw marks or very good evidence that your life was in perile or they will nail you to the wall.  My hunting partner lives in Montana and has had many close encounters with grizzlies...many in which the .357 came out of the holster...but both he and the bear left them unharmed.

               

              Black bears are a lot more timid and attacks very rare.  I would be much more worried about cougars or wild hogs.

                ...I would be much more worried about cougars...

                 

                While the “Cougar Life” commercials on the radio are exceptionally annoying, if you shoot a cougar we’ll have another thread about whether or not someone on RA needs a lawyer. Cougars are people too: it still counts as murder.


                Walk-Jogger

                  While y'all are worrying about the bears, hogs and cougars, it's the sneak attack by a BEAVER that you need to watch out for.

                  Retired &  Loving It


                  Snowdenrun

                    While y'all are worrying about the bears, hogs and cougars, it's the sneak attack by a BEAVER that you need to watch out for.

                     

                    This man just needed to carry his dose of common sense.

                      This is a good point, however, the point that I think we were both trying to make is that running is very difficult if the gun is big enough to be effective against a bear: .357 Mag or larger.  I've never had a problem with the black bears around here, they always run off even if we have startled each other at close range. I've never run trails in grizzly country and such is not likely any time soon. If I ever felt the need for added measures, it would be bear spray and bells, not a gun.

                       

                       Last elk season two hunters saved themselves from an attacking grizzly with a .357Mag.  I heard about it directly from someone who knew them and had talked to them on the phone that day.  The internet crown tends to think you need a crew-served artillery piece to stop a bear but the fact is anything that will reliably penetrate the cranium will work....no bear will be stopped by a center-of-mass shot.  Having actually spent a decent amount of time in Montana and hunting in the densest grizzly populations in the lower-48 with the locals, unlike the internet crowd many of them feel perfectly comfortable with a .357...a smaller gun you will carry is better than a four lb hand cannon that you leave in the truck because it was too heavy/awkward to carry.


                      Feeling the growl again

                        This is a good point, however, the point that I think we were both trying to make is that running is very difficult if the gun is big enough to be effective against a bear: .357 Mag or larger. 

                         

                        I believe I made the same point.  Smile

                         

                        And +1 on the beaver victim needing to exercise a bit more common sense.  Those things bite through trees after all.  Those are a bit tougher than a femoral artery.

                        "If you want to be a bad a$s, then do what a bad a$s does.  There's your pep talk for today.  Go Run." -- Slo_Hand

                         

                        I am spaniel - Crusher of Treadmills

                         

                        Arimathea


                        Tessa

                          If you're trying to guard against physical attack by a two-legged predator, your best bets are either to run elsewhere or to fight back. The most effective weapon I've used? We start our adult lives with 32 of them.

                           

                          The guy who jumped me on a run one morning wound up running off nursing a badly bitten hand. And I'm not a large or imposing person.

                           

                          If you're trying to fight off wildlife, I would say having other people with you is the biggest deterrent. Honestly I don't think any weapon that you can carry whilst running is likely to be effective against a sounder of feral swine. Are those javelinas or wild boar? Unless you're in Alaska, Canada, Montana, or Wyoming grizzlies aren't likely to be an issue, and mountain lions are unlikely to go after a group of adult humans.


                          Kalsarikännit

                             

                            Cougars are people too: it still counts as murder.

                             

                            +1

                             

                            It's not a "kinda/sorta" crime like killing a hooker.

                            I want to do it because I want to do it.  -Amelia Earhart

                             

                            L Train


                              It's not a "kinda/sorta" crime like killing a hooker.

                               

                              I don't even have anything to say about this, I just wanted to quote it.

                               

                              zonykel


                                I'm thinking the only weapon I'd need would be for dogs. Pepper spray would probably do. How do you guys carry it?

                                 

                                i'd never run with a gun. If it's that dangerous, why run there?

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