MA Compliant Bear-Protection Pistol Suggestions

[SMASHING MACHINE]

Any suggestions? My wife and I are avid hikers. I have been carrying my 9mm daily, but was thinking about purchasing specifically for bear/cougar protection for trips. Open to both wheel guns as well as autoloaders.

 

[Boghog1]

9mm is sufficient for bear and cougar, especially in MA

 

[Broc Tuah]

Any suggestions? My wife and I are avid hikers. I have been carrying my 9mm daily, but was thinking about purchasing specifically for bear/cougar protection for trips. Open to both wheel guns as well as autoloaders.

To protect against a cougar, you need to buy some tactical latex covers for your other gun.

To protect against bear, I second BogHog. I heard a 9mm can take out an F-16.

 

[SMASHING MACHINE]

I should mention most of the hiking is done in NH, white mountains.

 

[wmass]

I usually care a M&P .45 Capacity is decent, light weight and recoil is manageable for follow up shots.

 

[Fixxah]

S&W Bone Collector is more than enough gun for the job. Just save the brass to reload later.

 

[Sniper977]

If its bear then I'd suggest a minimum of a 4" 357Mag with hunting rounds (Buffalo Bore, GoldDot, Corbon etc), but for cougar the 9mm should suffice with quality +P JHP (Corbon DPX, Fed HST, Rem Golden Saber, etc).

Other options if you want to stay with semi-auto :Full power 10mm (Glock 20 with 6" hunting barrel) or +P 45ACP in the 185 gr or greater weight.
For revolver you could go to 44mag or 45 Colt.
454 or 500 s&w is probbaly overkill and pretty heavy to carry on a hike.

 

[diesel112]

I would suggest 10mm for autoloader or a 44mag in the wheel gun market. I would hate to bring a 9mm and just piss the damn bear off. that probably would end up good for you

 

[whatluck]

357 mag is plenty for the notheast. I'm always more concerned about the 2 legged predators in the woods anyways. Black bear don't really want to have anything to do with you, and I've never seen a cougar. Except at the BBC on a Saturday after 10pm.

 

[glide]

5.7

isn't there a thread about this already?

 

[jasons]

http://www.smith-wesson.com/webapp/...57771_757767_757751_ProductDisplayErrorView_Y

 

[ChevyGuy91]

SR22.

 

[wmass]

I'm still trying to get the go ahead on a Ruger Alaskan in .454... my wife is being difficult... no she's just mean.

 

[xtry51]

99% of bears in NE will run from you if you yell at them. We don't have grizzly bears. 9mm is fine.

 

[bob68]

SR22.

this is all you need to shoot your hiking partner in the leg, then you can outrun him/her.

 

[whatluck]

Most of the wildlife in the northeast hates people. I've done a ton of backpacking and have never seen a bear. Found bear droppings once. One time I accidently stumbled upon a big moose in ME. That scared the crap out of me. The moose looking at me sideways, gave me a snort, a look like, "what you want, fool?" and I went back the way I came. Another time walked into a doe at blue hills of all places. Besides that all I've come across were bunnies and woodchucks and squirrels. .460Mag should be good for squirrels.

 

[Boghog1]

pretty much, hundreds of miles and thousands of hours and 2 bear seen both walking away, one bobcat beating feet away from me and that is about it for critters that I would consider a threat, I have seen plenty of the 2 legged critters that gave me more concern.

 

[drgrant]

99% of bears in NE will run from you if you yell at them. We don't have grizzly bears. 9mm is fine.

This, for the love of god...

-Mike

 

[Twigg]

A sturdy pair of hiking boots. Brown bears are all scardey bears (Momma bears with cubs aside) and will run as soon as they get a whiff of you.

If you're being stalked by a cougar, (NO ! Not this kind !)

THIS KIND ! You won't know it until it's too late.

All you need to do is trip the person next to you so, yes 9mm is fine.
Anything bigger would just slow you down.

 

[Tater]

smith and wesson governor. load it with .45 long colt and keep one round of .410 in it in case you come across a snake.

 

[el duderino]

If youre going to the whites, youll want an autoloader, the wolves tend to travel in packs and you may need to reload quickly.