First let me apologize for rehashing such a tired topic.. but I'm looking for opinions.
Scenario: Hiking the north Georgia mountains with sons. Black bears are very common, but attacks are somewhere between rare, and nonexistent. Factor in my experience of near mauling by a large black bear in Gatlinburg TN when I was 16. My father was literally bluff charged and harassed by a bear repeatedly for over 15 minutes on a trail. I was further down the trail, but he was pretty shaken, and almost broke his ankle trying to fend the thing off with a stick. Whenever he tells that story he says he wished he'd had a gun. I'm worried that that experience will taint my decision making process. So threats would be in order of priority:
1) Bad guys
2) Rabid animals (dogs, raccoons, etc..)
3) Black bears
So here is the question..
Question 1: What to carry.
My choices are pretty narrow. I have several handguns, but consider two in the running for this decision. They are:
1. Sig P229 chambered in 40 S&W.
2. Ruger Redhawk 44 Mag revolver with a 4inch bbl.
I think the Sig would be more than adequate for all situations EXCEPT for an aggressive black bear. Black bear would be better handled by the big bore revolver. BUT the big bore revolver has only 6 rounds, so an attack by a group of bad guys would be better handled by the sig and the 12+1 capacity. With the likelihood of bear attack so small, which would you carry? I also consider weight of the heavy revolver vs the light by comparison Sig. With the Sig I would get the doubletap 200gr hardcast ammo. For the .44 I'd go with the doubletap 250gr hardcast. I have carried the Sig on the trail several times, but not in the mountains where the Bears live. I felt completely confident every time.
Question 2: How to carry
When I carry the Sig while backpacking, I use a safepacker from thewilderness.com. It works great because it slides onto my backpack's hip belt, and then can be transferred to my pants belt when the pack is off. The safepacker is a sort of "in the open" concealed carry. I like it quite a bit. I will probably carry with that if I decide to go with the sig auto. For the Ruger however, I don't currently have a holster. They make a safepacker that will fit the ruger for around 80 bucks, but I could also get one of those inexpensive Uncle Mike's sidekick holster for around 14 bucks. That is a more traditional open carry solution. So, would you go with the Safepacker or an open carry hip holster for a revolver?
Thanks for any input you guys can give me. I appreciate it.
Scenario: Hiking the north Georgia mountains with sons. Black bears are very common, but attacks are somewhere between rare, and nonexistent. Factor in my experience of near mauling by a large black bear in Gatlinburg TN when I was 16. My father was literally bluff charged and harassed by a bear repeatedly for over 15 minutes on a trail. I was further down the trail, but he was pretty shaken, and almost broke his ankle trying to fend the thing off with a stick. Whenever he tells that story he says he wished he'd had a gun. I'm worried that that experience will taint my decision making process. So threats would be in order of priority:
1) Bad guys
2) Rabid animals (dogs, raccoons, etc..)
3) Black bears
So here is the question..
Question 1: What to carry.
My choices are pretty narrow. I have several handguns, but consider two in the running for this decision. They are:
1. Sig P229 chambered in 40 S&W.
2. Ruger Redhawk 44 Mag revolver with a 4inch bbl.
I think the Sig would be more than adequate for all situations EXCEPT for an aggressive black bear. Black bear would be better handled by the big bore revolver. BUT the big bore revolver has only 6 rounds, so an attack by a group of bad guys would be better handled by the sig and the 12+1 capacity. With the likelihood of bear attack so small, which would you carry? I also consider weight of the heavy revolver vs the light by comparison Sig. With the Sig I would get the doubletap 200gr hardcast ammo. For the .44 I'd go with the doubletap 250gr hardcast. I have carried the Sig on the trail several times, but not in the mountains where the Bears live. I felt completely confident every time.
Question 2: How to carry
When I carry the Sig while backpacking, I use a safepacker from thewilderness.com. It works great because it slides onto my backpack's hip belt, and then can be transferred to my pants belt when the pack is off. The safepacker is a sort of "in the open" concealed carry. I like it quite a bit. I will probably carry with that if I decide to go with the sig auto. For the Ruger however, I don't currently have a holster. They make a safepacker that will fit the ruger for around 80 bucks, but I could also get one of those inexpensive Uncle Mike's sidekick holster for around 14 bucks. That is a more traditional open carry solution. So, would you go with the Safepacker or an open carry hip holster for a revolver?
Thanks for any input you guys can give me. I appreciate it.