Buying Your First Handgun, Outdoor Defense

Outdoor defensive guns come in many calibers and styles. It is also region dependant. If you have to content with aggressive coyotes versus grizzlies and kodiaks, we may not need the same tool to do the work.

Here in Montana, we have a wide variety of horizontal predators. Coyotes, wolves, mountain lions and of course black bears and grizzlies. Most of these animals have about the same girth and weight as humans (around 150 lbs), just with a horizontal anatomy. But here in the backwoods, one could easily also run into a bear. Often black bears can be up to 400+ pounds and adult grizzlies weigh between 400 and 800 pounds. This puts bears into a different class when it comes to selecting a defensive pistol.

When selecting an outdoor gun, we should start by looking at the kind of penetration of which the caliber is capable. To get through the heavy muscle and bone that encases a bears vitals, we need something that penetrates deeply and tracks in a straight line through the animal. This brings up a few calibers, including the 10mm automatic, the 357 magnum and the 44 magnum. All of these are excellent choices for bear defense, especially with heavy loaded hard cast ammunition like Buffalo Bore. A potent cartridge, paired with a heavy loading and hard, non-deforming bullet, will penetrate deeply and give you the best shot at success in your defense against a large animal.

With these three cartridges being the standards in Montana, we should now choose what type of firearm we want to carry and train with. The 44 and 357 are both nearly exclusively found in revolvers. This limits their capacity to somewhere between 5 and 8 shots, depending on the gun. In general, this also means that the guns will usually be all steel construction, and thus, heavier. The benefit to these cartridges is that the energy produced is noticeably greater than what is possible out of a semi automatic. Given that a grizzly bear can run over 20 miles per hour, perhaps the extra ammunition found in semiautomatics is a non factor.

The semi automatic 10mm, on the other hand, can be found in lighter guns that can carry up to 16 rounds in the magazine with no extra extension on the magaine. Often, a concealed carriers pistol will also be a semi automatic, leading to a good familiarity with the semi automatic 10mm that might have to be trained for with the revolver. Even though the weight on the pistol is reduced, often the recoil is more mild given that the movement of the gun is dampened by the recoil spring.

Both designs have their merits, and it is a good idea to try them with the bear capable ammunition beforehand.

Make a good choice based on your needs, and practice with your choice. The gun is only as effective as your skills and training.

Authors Note:

Even though I have highlighted only 3 cartridges in this article, that doesn't mean that there have not been successful defenses with other cartridges as well. 9mm has defeated bears before, as well as 40S&W and 45ACP. I don't believe that many people would consider these to be the best choice however, but they can work with proper ammunition. Also not included are lesser known magnum calibers such as 41 magnum, 454 casull and others. I assume the people that know of these calibers already know their virtues and have likely already made their choice.