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| Jack of All Trades, Master of Nothing  |
So it seems I've found another inner debate in my head that leaves me thinking I need another bear gun. For years I've carried a Smith 629 Mountain Gun. Then last summer was planning a brown bear photography trip to Haines, Alaska. In order to get there I have to drive across a corner of Canada. A revolver with less than a 4.1" barrel is prohibited in Canada so I felt the, "Need" to buy a Smith 329 with a 4.125" barrel that is legal to transport through Canada. I've also got a 3" Ruger GP100 in 10mm that I've been known to carry. I absolutely love that revolver. I've got a small daypack/camera bag/Camelback that I carry on my hikes around the trail system of the Chugach Mountains. The 3" Ruger carries great on that pack and I find myself taking it more than either of the .44's. It's smaller size makes it much easier to carry on the pack. Then I started thinking, maybe a snubby .44 would be the thing. Enter the Smith 69 2.75" and Ruger Alaskan into my thinking... So any experience with either one of these? I've looked at the 4.25" Smith 69 before and decided to go with the 329. But now the 2.75" has my eye. My daughter can deflate your daughter's soccer ball. | ||
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Member |
Consider the pros & cons of the shorter barrel? Yes, easier to carry & get into action but you lose velocity & accuracy. The Ruger Alaskan is a fine gun in any of the calibers it’s chambered in. I owned one & traded it towards a 3” GP100 in 10mm. A wonderful woods Gun as you know. I too is my favorite wheel / woods Gun but When I hiked through Bear country & remote, never felt fully comfortable with anything less than a rifle. Good luck with your balancing act  ______________________________________________ Life is short. It’s shorter with the wrong gun… | |||
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Mistake Not... |
I guess I'm not clear. Do you want a gun that you can take into Canada? That matches either your 629 (which I guess is not Canada legal because otherwise you'd just take that?) or your 3" 10 mm? Or you just want some (any) excuse to get a snubby .44 that might free up the 629 for Canada duty? Here's my $.02: Just buy, don't justify. And I'm totally trademarking that so no stealing. ___________________________________________ Life Member NRA & Washington Arms Collectors Mistake not my current state of joshing gentle peevishness for the awesome and terrible majesty of the towering seas of ire that are themselves the milquetoast shallows fringing my vast oceans of wrath. Velocitas Incursio Vis - Gandhi | |||
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blame canada |
Alaskans who are serious about bear protection carry a 45-70 or 12 gauge. When I've got another long gun, I carry my 329PD. It's been Alaska's favorite 44 mag bear gun for a long time. Most the fly-fisherman, hikers I know, have one or have had one. I know people around los anchorage have opinions about everything, and when they adventure to the great wilderness of girdwood or something, they bring whatever new fancy BMG sized hand canon the idiot at cabelas convinced them to buy... if you really think you need a gun for true bear protection, don't bring a handgun. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "The trouble with our Liberal friends...is not that they're ignorant, it's just that they know so much that isn't so." Ronald Reagan, 1964 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Arguing with some people is like playing chess with a pigeon. It doesn't matter how good I am at chess, the pigeon will just take a shit on the board, strut around knocking over all the pieces and act like it won.. and in some cases it will insult you at the same time." DevlDogs55, 2014  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ www.rikrlandvs.com | |||
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| Member |
When I'm fly fishing on the Russian River near Moose Pass, or in Soldatna, I carry a John Ross S&W Performance Center.500 Magnum (5" barrel) which is specially designed to shoot up to 750 grain hard cast loads. I carry this only because the brush is dense enough that it's difficult to carry a rifle or a 12 gauge shotgun loaded with Brenneke Black Magic slugs. Avoidance is best with bears, but even with a handgun that offers 2500 foot lbs of energy (.500 S&W) I would still prefer to have a long gun against bears who can't be avoided, dissuaded, and won't back down. You've got to train a LOT to be able to make these shots accurately under stress. When I've helped train Alaska Fish & Game surveying crews for bear defense (who operate in brush so dense that bear guards with rifles can't see or protect them), we start with a very manageable handgun caliber, .40 S&W or .45 acp. The goal is to place every round in a 4" circle on the soft tissue of the bear's nose so that all shots penetrate the brain. We train to draw from the holster with accurate hits in less than 1.5 seconds. After getting proficient at fast accurate hits with that, we move on to .44 magnum, .454 Casull, .500 S&W, or other similar performing handgun rounds. Being accurate - and relatively fast - with these calibers takes real practice. I offer these insights humbly, after having a number of close calls with bears over the years in which I have thankfully not had to shoot. Good luck in your travels, hoping you have some great adventures and bring home many happy memories. | |||
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I Deal In Lead |
I was raised in Alaska from 2-1/2 months of age on. Started salmon fishing with my Dad on inland rivers when I was around 9 or so. When I got older I carried a Ruger Super Blackhawk with 4-5/8" barrel loaded with hard cast bullets using the Elmer Keith load and a Marlin .45-70 loaded with hard cast 500 grain bullets and a maximum load. | |||
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"Member" |
As a wise man once said... "buy em both". | |||
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| Member |
I would bring a Glock 20. A 10 round mag is legal in Canada, and you can buy 15 round mags in AK. Ship the mags home at the end of the trip. The 10mm round is easy to shoot. It has a fraction of the recoil of a big revolver, and you can unload the entire mag in the time it takes most persons to shoot 2-3 rounds from a heavy recoiling revolver. Also you would be much more accurate with the Glock, if shooting fast, than a heavy recoiling revolver. -c1steve | |||
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| A day late, and a dollar short  |
If I was in Grizzly, Brown bear country I would seriously be considering the 12GA shotgun/or rifle as has been suggested. I know it would be a pain to carry along, but being mauled and eaten would be more uncomfortable! ____________________________ NRA Life Member, Annual Member GOA, MGO Annual Member | |||
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| Member |
Thanks, Loswsmith. Not your intention, but you helped me resolve an internal conflict. I just bought (laid away, no cash on me) a p320 X5 Legion and an AXG Scorpion. You're right, I don't need to justify. I have the money, and wanted them. Life is too short. | |||
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| Member |
Went through this when I recently lived in Anchorage for a couple years. I used this for a reason for me to acquire my first wheel gun. Yes, a rifle or shotgun came out #1 in my research. I was going to carry hiking and fat biking. Main decision was 44mag vs 10mm. Most of what I could find pointed me to the 44mag, which scratched my itch for the revolver. Often wish I had picked up a Scorpion in 10mm, with the extra rounds being a bonus, but I went with a Ruger Redhawk, 5044 with the 4.2" barrel. Perfect mid sized gun. Can't imagine what shooting the Alaskan in .44 would be like. I've held those S&W 329, they were almost uncomfortably light. Going with the Ruger was also based on what I saw natives carry up in the bush and the village where my wife is from. WAY north inland on the Kobuk river. Either a rife over their shoulder, or a revolver on their belt or in a holster on a belt or something casually slung over their shoulder. I also know one person, friend of the family, a teacher, who stopped a bear with his revolver. Side story. When I brought my Redhawk home for the first time. My wife from Alaska who could care less about guns, no interest in talking about them, just another tool to her, saw it and said, "Wow. It's pretty."  --------------------------------- I know my nation best. That's why I despise it the most. And I know and love my own people too, the swine. I'm a patriot. A dangerous man --Edward Abbey After one look at this planet any visitor from outer space would say "I want to see the manager." - William S. Burroughs | |||
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| Member |
I was reading about a Canadian guy who went river/stream fishing in Alaska every summer for a month. Each year for the first five years I bought a 12 gauge, and he never once saw a bear. Next year he left the shotgun at home, and he saw 30 bears in the month he was in Alaska. For me it would be a pistol in a chest or waist holster, plus a 12 gauge. When hiking with others, each adult should have a pistol but not everyone needs to carry a long gun in my opinion. -c1steve | |||
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| Mistake Not... |
Glad to be of help! ___________________________________________ Life Member NRA & Washington Arms Collectors Mistake not my current state of joshing gentle peevishness for the awesome and terrible majesty of the towering seas of ire that are themselves the milquetoast shallows fringing my vast oceans of wrath. Velocitas Incursio Vis - Gandhi | |||
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Prepared for the Worst, Providing the Best |
I'll piggyback off of this because I've been going through a similar thought process. I live in the lower 48, so thankfully, I don't have to deal with Canada's stupid laws, and I don't go looking for bears (you guys are crazy!)...but I do a lot of backpacking in places where bears live. So far, I've never had a close encounter with one, and plan to keep it that way, but I like being prepared. I currently carry a 3" SP101 in .357, but I have been looking at taking some trips in Grizzly country, and a .357 seems like a popgun up against one of those. I have a 4 5/8" Blackhawk that I have carried on the trail before, but it's single-action and pretty huge. What I really want is a .45 Colt since I already load for that caliber, but nobody makes a small DA revolver in .45 Colt (and no, I'm not getting a Judge). A 3" model 25 would be just the ticket, but they're out of production and stupid expensive. As such, I've pretty much resigned myself to a .44. The two I've been looking at are the 329PD and the Model 69 2.75". The price of the 69 is a bit more attractive, and it would conceal better, which is nice because I don't much care for the attention that open-carrying brings, even in the woods. The 329 is significantly lighter and has more sight radius and probably slightly better ballistics...but looks harder to conceal and costs quite a bit more. I'm also not sure how I feel about a titanium cylinder. Does anybody have experience packing either or both of these, who can speak to how they carry and how they shoot? | |||
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| Member |
When backpacking, every ounce counts. A polymer pistol is much lighter than a revolver. I have had a small bear walk on top of me while sleeping in the backcountry. Anything can happen, and "be prepared" is a great motto. -c1steve | |||
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| Prepared for the Worst, Providing the Best |
I agree about the weight, but some things just need more punch than a little polymer semi-auto can provide. I also like revolvers...my SP101 actually carries more comfortably than my G26, and I shoot it better. I'll be honest, though...it's also an excuse to justify another gun to my wife  . | |||
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Age Quod Agis |
I have a 629 4" and I love it. I'm jonesing for a Super Redhawk Alaskan in .480 Ruger. I think it's the best all around bear gun that exists. "I vowed to myself to fight against evil more completely and more wholeheartedly than I ever did before. . . . That’s the only way to pay back part of that vast debt, to live up to and try to fulfill that tremendous obligation." Alfred Hornik, Sunday, December 2, 1945 to his family, on his continuing duty to others for surviving WW II. | |||
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Member |
What about the ruger redhawk? Shoots 45 colt and 45 acp. https://ruger.com/products/red...specSheets/5050.html ----------------------------------------- Roll Tide! Glock Certified Armorer NRA Certified Firearms Instructor | |||
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| Prepared for the Worst, Providing the Best |
I've looked at that one, too...but it's huge and very heavy. And for some stupid reason, the price on those has gone up almost 100% in recent months. I've seen them go for over $1300! I'm not saying I wouldn't buy one if I stumbled across it for a good price, but even though I'm a big Ruger fan, I think the Smith fits my needs better in this case, due to size and weight alone. | |||
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| Member |
When I visited my Brother up there and we went out I carried my 10mm Ruger 1911 in a chest holster. Steve........ NRA Patron Life member North American Hunting Club Life Member | |||
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