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Travel Guns
I am getting ready to take an extended offroad trip up into the Utah Canyonlands. The park rangers have rules against guns, but I would not even consider going on this trip without one. There are regular reports of bear problems and two legged varmits can always be a problem. The park rangers seem to take a "Don't ask, don't tell" attitude.
Because of the rules, we are not going to be doing any plinking or fun shooting. This is strictly for personal protection in an area where we are going to be over a day away by offroad vehicle from civilization and professional medical care. That means no cell phones, water, toilets, gasoline or any of the other amenities. I will certainly take a 10mm, .44Mag or 45ACP handgun. Any of these will do fine, but I tend to favor the 10mm. I think I want to take a long gun also.
The question is, what long gun would be best? I have a Springfield Armory survival gun which is .22/.410, but I think that gun might be underpowered for potential problems that might arise. How do .410 slugs do against a bear?
I could bring the old reliable Winchester 30-30 and I am sure that would work just fine. Other options that come to mind are a 12 ga. pump with some slugs and buckshot or my old Ruger .44 carbine rifle.
I am not going hunting, so I have no intention at all of bringing a hunting gun with a scope and all. The guns need to be stowable in cases and discrete. I have been thinking about this for a few days now, and I thought that it might be a good topic for the discussion group.
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I have hunted small black bears and wild boar with a cross-bow. I would carry a Marlin .357 lever gun as backup, but never had to shoot the rifle. On other occasions, I have used 8X57 Mauser and .308 for rifle hunts. I am familiar with dangerous game.
While doing off-road adventures, I have had bears in my truck but I have never been forced to kill one of them. They have torn up coolers and so forth, but never caused any injuries. I have shot a .357M from my pistol into trees near them to keep them out of my camp. This works with many, but the bears in this part of the world get agressive because people feed them and they become accustomed to humans and associate food with them.
One of my buddies that is going on the trip said that he is not worried because he is going to put a pork chop near my sleeping bag before he goes to sleep every night. I told him that I was not worried, because I was bringing a magnum super soaker filled with honey to wet him down after he plants the pork chop.
Seriously, though, the 12 ga. with a Brenke sabot slug is high on my list. I have an 870 with an 18.5" bbl with slug sights that would work fine. But at the same time, I expect that over history there have been more bears killed with a 30-30 than just about any other cartridge.
I grew up on a farm and have hunted since about age 12. I taught shooting and hunter safety. I am a big believer in gun control...you know...hitting your target. I am not worried at all about using the gun properly if I need it.
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This is all good advice. This trip is going to be a dry hot trip that is 100% off-road over slick-rock, boulders, and other obstacles. There will be no fishing, but the Green river will be within two miles at points on the trip. We will be in the higher country. The planned loop will take about three days in total to complete.
I have a couple of .44Mags that would work fine. Probably the best choice is a Smith 629 with a 4" bbl. It is small enough to carry and packs plenty of punch. My Ruger Super Redhawk is scoped and is good for hunting but a little big for this situation. The reason that I mentioned the 10mm is that it is even more compact than the 629. It is a Glock 20, packs a considerable punch and carries 15 rounds in the magazine. The 10mm with the loads I use is very much like a .41Mag ballistically.
I think that the 870 with the slug bbl is probably the other gun that will go. It is pretty versatile at close range. I really did not know about the .410 slugs. I have never used one for hunting. I have used the .44 M Ruger Carbine for deer, and a .44 will pack a good punch when used in a rifle barrel. But, I consider the Ruger .44 to be a "brush" gun for shots under 100yds.
My comment about the 30-30 relates as much to its time in service and general popularity as much as anything. I would never use the 30-30 to hunt large dangerous game. But, over the years, it has protected many homes and ranchers around the west and does pretty well for a light cartridge in a light gun.
It seems that today, we tend to use some pretty heavy calibers to assure one shot humane kills on game. I support this. I have a .338Mag that I would use for hunting boar, bear or elk. I use .308 for most other hunting. Pests are dispatched with a .223 or whatever is handy. I chased off a couple of ferel dogs yesterday morning with a bull whip.
The bears that we may encounter will generally be medium size black bears. They are not generally dangerous and can be driven away with noise. But, with people feeding them and with dangerous bears being located to the area where we are going to be, I think a little extra caution is called for. Pepper spray was also mentioned. I ordered a big can of that yesterday. It should arrive before my trip.
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I got the 12 ga. Rem. 870 out last night and put the slug barrel on it. It is just a short cylinder bore barrel with rifle sights on it. I also collected up some random buckshot and slug loads.
I have some "bird bombs" that I will take with me. They are like a big firecrackers that can be shot in the 12 ga. They go out about a hundred yards and make a big boom and a flash. This may be useful in scaring away some bears. I would think that these would work better then flares, but aren't good for anything in close.
I have a flare pistol, but I am worried about shooting it because of the fire danger. It has been so dry in the west this year that nearly anything will light it up. Years ago, I was in an old open pit mine called the Vulcan mine where a friend of mine and I were shooting. It was very barren as most of these old mines are. There was one little patch of grass and bushes about ten feet in diameter in the whole pit. My friend was trying out a flare gun, and sure enough, the wind took the burning flare into the only vegetation around for two hundred yards and it went up like a tinder box. This situation resulted in no consequential damage, but the same thing in a forest would be disasterous.
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I was getting stuff ready for my trip last night and I was digging through a big box of shotgun shells. I cannot believe I have so many different odd lots of buckshot and slugs. I guess that it is like spare change; I use one or two and then drop the rest in a box. Eventually the box gets heavy and I start sorting it out.
I have a clip full of heavy solid bullets loaded up for the Glock 20 which is 10mm. This is a gun that I am used to packing around and I can hit very reliably with it.
On a lighter note, I also got out the astronomical telescope to do a little star gazing. It should be very dark out there and should make for good viewing. There will be a full moon, which is also amazing to look at through the scope.
I don't leave for another week or so, but I have another business trip between now and then. I will post a picture or two of the trip when I get back Utah.
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