Wilderness camping and gun safety
When camping as the lone camper with miles of wilderness around, do you feel safer with a loaded firearm handy? Or is having the magazine ready to slide in a better option? Thank you for any thoughts....
Forum Discussion
I was a state certified firearms instructor for about 25 years and taught both LEO's and civilians. Many with the same question you have. Muscle memory is what one safe when handling a fire no matter whether it's a pistol, revolver, shotgun or rifle. Each have their own characteristics. A loaded revolver is the easiest to handle and easy to conceal. A pistol is somewhat more complicated. Some have safety's others don't. You need to know how to clear a jam, and they do. How to load a "magazine" they are not "clips". You need to know how to break it down and clean it, a fouled pistol will malfunction. One of the reasons that a pistol will malfunction with an inexperienced shooter is a term "limp wristing" which means that the shooter did not have a tight grip on the weapon and did not allow the slide to do it's job.
To get back to the OP's question. Unless one spends a considerable amount of time practicing loading, firing the pistol it's better to have a revolver, loaded.
As was stated an unloaded firearm is about as useful as a boat anchor. A quality revolver will not discharge if dropped, has no safety that you have to learn to manipulate. For the most part they are less expensive than a pistol and as stated less maintenance is needed.
There are other alternative to a hand gun that are easy to learn and maintain. In the last few years Remington and others have introduced a shotgun, which is classified as a "firearm" in both 20 and 12 gauge. The beauty of this is their 14in barrel and pistol grip stock. Loaded with "low recoil" ammunition the are easy to shoot. You can also get an "arm brace" for it to be used as a defacto stock. Then there are the AR style pistols. They are more complicated so I would stay away from them. As far as 12ga ammo everyone touts 00 buck when actually no. 4 buck is better it has a little less recoil which means a quicker followup shot. more pellets. Don't forget no matter which shotgun ammo you use the pattern will be very tight out to about 25yards.
The alternative to lead ammo is rubber shot. It comes in both a slug or buck shot and that's what I carry. In my time in the back country with my TC I have had three black bear encounters. I did not fire a shot but the rubber shell would have sufficed.
.
To get back to the OP's question. Unless one spends a considerable amount of time practicing loading, firing the pistol it's better to have a revolver, loaded.
As was stated an unloaded firearm is about as useful as a boat anchor. A quality revolver will not discharge if dropped, has no safety that you have to learn to manipulate. For the most part they are less expensive than a pistol and as stated less maintenance is needed.
There are other alternative to a hand gun that are easy to learn and maintain. In the last few years Remington and others have introduced a shotgun, which is classified as a "firearm" in both 20 and 12 gauge. The beauty of this is their 14in barrel and pistol grip stock. Loaded with "low recoil" ammunition the are easy to shoot. You can also get an "arm brace" for it to be used as a defacto stock. Then there are the AR style pistols. They are more complicated so I would stay away from them. As far as 12ga ammo everyone touts 00 buck when actually no. 4 buck is better it has a little less recoil which means a quicker followup shot. more pellets. Don't forget no matter which shotgun ammo you use the pattern will be very tight out to about 25yards.
The alternative to lead ammo is rubber shot. It comes in both a slug or buck shot and that's what I carry. In my time in the back country with my TC I have had three black bear encounters. I did not fire a shot but the rubber shell would have sufficed.
.
