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Expert's Opinion
Posted by Forestar on Oct 17 2003
There was an excellent article on the subject of handguns and bear protection in the June-July 2003 issue of Handloader Magazine, written by someone with real Alaska experience and actual close encounters with bears (I don't recall his name at the moment). He made many of the same points that have been made here already: A handgun is, at best, an anemic substitute for a rifle, BUT it may give you that all-important confidence to stand your ground. This guys carries a S&W Mountain Gun in 44 mag which replaced his S&W 357, which his daughter now carries (and has used in to protect herself and others from bears). He did not really favor big "boomers", feeling that it is more important to have something that handles well and has moderate recoil so that recovery from recoil was minimal and follow-up shots were not delayed significantly. He preferred double action revolvers to single actions.
I got my wife a 4" S&W 41 mag to carry when she's out picking berries or hiking the local trails. It's sweet. The 41 mag isn't a bad choice caliber-wise; quite an improvement over the 357 without the recoil of the 44 (with not a lot less horsepower) . Taurus makes one in titanium, I believe. As I mentioned earlier, I have my Dan Wesson 445 and the more I shoot it, the better I like it. Some guy I talked to in Anchorage had three in stock earlier this year (they're around). For anyone with a 45 auto: some of them can be converted to 460 Rowland, which puts them in the same league as a 44 mag, and they can still shoot 45's.
Lotsa options (and opinions, lol).
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