Wilderness camping and gun safety

Trekkar wrote:
What is a wheel gun?

A revolver aka with a round cylinder that holds the bullets instead of a clip..

Trekkar wrote:
What is a wheel gun?

Revolver

What is a wheel gun?

Get some bear spray on Amazon :C

silverbullet555 wrote:
I don't feel unsafe in the wilderness in a camper. But, I am generally armed when out and about. Humans worry me more than animals.

^ This is me also. I feel much safer out in the wilderness than I do in any city. I have also packed a wheelgun everywhere for the past 50 years (except Canada). In all those years I've never needed to shoot any animal that was threatening me. But there were a couple times when just having my .357 on my hip was enough to settle down some aggressive (and probably drunk) rowdies.

I don't feel unsafe in the wilderness in a camper. But, I am generally armed when out and about. Humans worry me more than animals.

How many of you who responded to the OP have EVER had to shoot an animal in when camping "with miles and miles of wilderness around"?

How many of you have EVER had to even get your firearm out in response to an animal?

I'd really like to know. No political agenda here at all whatsoever.

I have..Grandjean Idaho with horses..The local guides cook shot a black bear out of a tree with his .38 just wounding it..The fish and game officer came by our camp warning of a wounded bear and suggesting we move...That evening the bear got into our horses and when we went to intervene,it charged and succumbed to one well placed bullet..

I camp in the boonies where anything can happen..Wild places where there are few,if any people and always lots of wild game..Just a couple years ago we had a bear come down into camp by a back country air strip and went after the dogs and when I came out to intervene,it skedaddled up the hill..I put down the gun and tried to get a picture of it..I have it somewhere...

It happens in the true wilderness all the time..



Or near backcountry air strips..

Me too.....regarding carrying a fire extinguisher.

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.
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Geewizard wrote:


Please tell me where you plan to camp alone with miles and miles of wilderness around? Give me an example, please.

How many of you who responded to the OP have EVER had to shoot an animal in when camping "with miles and miles of wilderness around"?

How many of you have EVER had to even get your firearm out in response to an animal?

I'd really like to know. No political agenda here at all whatsoever.

I keep a fire extinguisher in my camper too.