• If you are being asked to change your password, and unsure how to do it, follow these instructions. Click here

9mm side arm

When you live in Griz country and hunting by yourself in thick woods, you will have a conversation with yourself and hopefully figure it out. I did two years ago. I knew one shot with my rifle may not be enough at close range. I had it of my shoulder. My dog alerted me. My bear spray ? No time for that if going to shoot rifle. One or other. I wished I had my S&W 460. It's heavy. 5 rounds. Yeah maybe. I had plenty of time to think about it hiking back to truck and on way home. A few days later I bought a new Glock 20 10mm from guy I bought new pup from . If I had it, I know I'd of pulled it first. No doubt in my my mind. Carry what your comfortable with. If I were in Tennessee I'd not be as concerned with what I carried 😉 walking around in woods in N/W Wyoming is a whole different world. You don't like hunting alone.... Theads about bears and pistols are many on this site. I don't know why I post on them anymore. Oh I know, black bears are more dangerous 🙄
 
Last edited:
WYO300RUM said:
When you live in Griz country and hunting by yourself in thick woods, you will have a conversation with yourself and hopefully figure it out. I did two years ago. I knew one shot with my rifle may not be enough at close range. I had it of my shoulder. My dog alerted me. My bear spray ? No time for that if going to shoot rifle. One or other. I wished I had my S&W 460. It's heavy. 5 rounds. Yeah maybe. I had plenty of time to think about it hiking back to truck and on way home. A few days later I bought a new Glock 20 10mm from guy I bought new pup from . If I had it, I know I'd of pulled it first. No doubt in my my mind. Carry what your comfortable with. If I were in Tennessee I'd not be as concerned with what I carried 😉 walking around in woods in N/W Wyoming is a whole different world. You don't like hunting alone.... Theads about bears and pistols are many on this site. I don't know why I post on them anymore. Oh I know, black bears are more dangerous 🙄
Click to expand...
What we really need are lightsabers, meanwhile Elon Musk is focused on building really high priced terrible quality cars that won't work when the mercury dips below 0….why can't he dedicate those resources to a light saber for backcountry hunters…..I'd take a red one like, call myself Darth Bronner
 
jbronner13 said:
What we really need are lightsabers, meanwhile Elon Musk is focused on building really high priced terrible quality cars that won't work when the mercury dips below 0….why can't he dedicate those resources to a light saber for backcountry hunters…..I'd take a red one like, call myself Darth Bronner
Click to expand...
Luke , you are my son.
 
jbronner13 said:
I spent the morning looking at a variety of 10mm offerings in semi-auto (both 1911 and non-1911), and compared them to revolvers in 357 mag and 44 mag (I just looked at Smith & Wesson).

After digging through the specs I don't think we can justify the argument that (revolvers are heavier). The colt delta elite 10mm is 35 ounces empty, the Glock 20 SF (smaller one) is in the 33 ounce range as was the Sig P320 X Ten.

The lightest 357 I could find was the 360pd and it was 12 ounces. The 329PD 44 mag was 25 ounces. I will wager recoil sucks in both of those models something fierce making follow up shots near impossible but from a weight perspective I can't see the generalization that "revolvers are too heavy" continuing to hold water. Add in magazine weight with a fully loaded magazine and the 10mm Semis are in the same realm as stainless N frame Smith & Wesson's loaded up. Now….which one are you going to shoot better is a whole other can of worms.

We can all debate the merits and which work better for us, all comes down to personal comfort and personal performance. I can tell you a 13 inch LOP is best for my 5'4 Hobbit Frame (even have the hairy feet to go along with it) but my buddy Ed, 6'5 Polish farm boy with catchers mitts for hands is probably going to shoot my rifles very poorly.

One thing we can all however agree on collectively…..9mm sucks for shooting bears.
Click to expand...
Last time this topic came up I did that comparison. I am not, nor do I claim to be a a great pistol operator who operates, operationally with a pistol.
x-five/320 plinking reloads 115grn
100 yards slow fire, six shots, 3 hits, I usually do better at this range with this pistol but you take what you get shooting cold.
C135A20D-382C-4084-988F-608977F502FD.jpeg

B03EB688-0547-4836-B0CE-50A5357BC0C7.jpeg

10 yards as fast as I felt I could comfortably hit from low ready so there wasn't a holster vs holster comparison which this pistol would win based on a comp holster vs a chest rig for my "yard gun". First shot .57, last 2.20.
F3A66CA2-41E1-4BFF-8ED0-C0C7B81BC407.jpeg

329 2 5/8" with my hot hand loads built to simulate buffalo bore as close as possible without breaking the bank (240 grn loaded to near max).
100 yards, slow fire single action.
image6.jpeg

image4.jpeg


Again from low ready 10 yards as fast as I could (double action). First .93, last 5.3. So yeah, about half speed but still pretty dang fast and by power factor I believe it would take approximately 15 of the 9mm rounds to apply the equivalent affects as the .44 so time would shake out in the .44's favor for power over time. Also note the shot placement is better with the .44, possibly because I took more time.
image3.jpeg


So bottom line, I don't buy that semi's or longer sight radios guns are more effective for bears. Now what I will say is what you train with and what you are comfortable with will make a difference and you should absolutely use what you can effectively shoot and manipulate...but/however/coma you shouldn't use that as an excuse to not carry what you should be carrying to defeat a threat. Will I unfriend you because you carry a 9mm in bear country that you can shoot well? No. Will I unfriend you because you carry a 500 S&W that you can't hit a milk jug at 20 yards with in bear country ? Yes. Would I carry a 500 over a 9mm? Yes, but they are heavy SOBs so I carry the 329 and am looking for a PD so I can get a few more fps out of my bear gun.
 
Last thing I'll throw out there for points to ponder while I'm on my bear gun soap box, lots of hate here and other places regarding 6.5C and it's inability to anchor game. At 500 yards a 130 grn 6.5C has as much energy as a 270 grain .44 buffalo bore does at the muzzle, has twice what a 180 grn 10mm baffalo bore does at the muzzle, and nearly three times what a 115grn 9mm does at the muzzle.

Pistols are just not great things to shoot big animals with, period.
 
sea2summit said:
Last time this topic came up I did that comparison. I am not, nor do I claim to be a a great pistol operator who operates, operationally with a pistol.
x-five/320 plinking reloads 115grn
100 yards slow fire, six shots, 3 hits, I usually do better at this range with this pistol but you take what you get shooting cold.
View attachment 398060
View attachment 398059
10 yards as fast as I felt I could comfortably hit from low ready so there wasn't a holster vs holster comparison which this pistol would win based on a comp holster vs a chest rig for my "yard gun". First shot .57, last 2.20.
View attachment 398061
329 2 5/8" with my hot hand loads built to simulate buffalo bore as close as possible without breaking the bank (240 grn loaded to near max).
100 yards, slow fire single action.
View attachment 398064
View attachment 398063

Again from low ready 10 yards as fast as I could (double action). First .93, last 5.3. So yeah, about half speed but still pretty dang fast and by power factor I believe it would take approximately 15 of the 9mm rounds to apply the equivalent affects as the .44 so time would shake out in the .44's favor for power over time. Also note the shot placement is better with the .44, possibly because I took more time.
View attachment 398062

So bottom line, I don't buy that semi's or longer sight radios guns are more effective for bears. Now what I will say is what you train with and what you are comfortable with will make a difference and you should absolutely use what you can effectively shoot and manipulate...but/however/coma you shouldn't use that as an excuse to not carry what you should be carrying to defeat a threat. Will I unfriend you because you carry a 9mm in bear country that you can shoot well? No. Will I unfriend you because you carry a 500 S&W that you can't hit a milk jug at 20 yards with in bear country ? Yes. Would I carry a 500 over a 9mm? Yes, but they are heavy SOBs so I carry the 329 and am looking for a PD so I can get a few more fps out of my bear gun.
Click to expand...
I need to get a few of them in my hands to see what fits best but the S&W Models 19, 60 and 329PD and 340PD all look enticing as a sidearm to double as a nightstand gun. Where I am I only have to deal with black bears but some say I'd like to chase muley's out west so having a little more juice never hurts….course I could just buy em both and not tell the wife….🤔
sea2summit said:
Last thing I'll throw out there for points to ponder while I'm on my bear gun soap box, lots of hate here and other places regarding 6.5C and it's inability to anchor game. At 500 yards a 130 grn 6.5C has as much energy as a 270 grain .44 buffalo bore does at the muzzle, has twice what a 180 grn 10mm baffalo bore does at the muzzle, and nearly three times what a 115grn 9mm does at the muzzle.

Pistols are just not great things to shoot big animals with, period.
Click to expand...
looks like I have another upvote for lightsaber?
 
sea2summit said:
Last thing I'll throw out there for points to ponder while I'm on my bear gun soap box, lots of hate here and other places regarding 6.5C and it's inability to anchor game. At 500 yards a 130 grn 6.5C has as much energy as a 270 grain .44 buffalo bore does at the muzzle, has twice what a 180 grn 10mm baffalo bore does at the muzzle, and nearly three times what a 115grn 9mm does at the muzzle.

Pistols are just not great things to shoot big animals with, period.
Click to expand...
I carry Grizzly 220 gr. Hardcast or HSM 200 Hardcast. The 220 grain is 1200 fps from 4.5 in. barrel. I'm comfortable carrying 16 rds. of it.
Like I said, I'd carry my S&W 460 with 350 gr. Buffalo bore but it's too dang big and heavy. Even in shoulder holster. 5 rds. I might get a round off. Maybe two after recoil from first . 😳
I see nothing wrong with shooting big animals with pistols if using correct caliber and distance. About everything that walks has been killed with pistols.
 
sea2summit said:
Last thing I'll throw out there for points to ponder while I'm on my bear gun soap box, lots of hate here and other places regarding 6.5C and it's inability to anchor game. At 500 yards a 130 grn 6.5C has as much energy as a 270 grain .44 buffalo bore does at the muzzle, has twice what a 180 grn 10mm baffalo bore does at the muzzle, and nearly three times what a 115grn 9mm does at the muzzle.

Pistols are just not great things to shoot big animals with, period.
Click to expand...

Energy has little to nothing to do with the firearms ability to stop the animal! It's, placement, the depth of penetration, the amount of bone, organs, muscle, and nerves damaged/destroyed while said bullet is travailing through the animal!

Many of us continue to fall for the bullet energy myth! Yes, the small amount of energy imparted into the animal somewhat contributes to the bullets lethality, but there are other factors much more important! JMO! memtb
 
memtb said:
Energy has little to nothing to do with the firearms ability to stop the animal! It's the depth of penetration, the amount of bone, organs, muscle, and nerves damaged/destroyed while said bullet is travailing through the animal!

Many of us continue to fall for the bullet energy myth! Yes, the small amount of energy imparted into the animal somewhat contributes to the bullets lethality, but there are other factors much more important! JMO! memtb
Click to expand...
Well doesn't energy drive the projectile. Hence, more energy the deeper the penetration. Sorry, it doesn't take much to confuse me.
 

Recent Posts

Top