HK USP 45 field pistol

[GJM]

Many years ago, long before PF I found a fascinating blog written by a long time AK hunter who got fairly well mauled once and was saved by hunting partners shooting the brownie. He made quite a study of bear defense and spoke in some detail of testing Alaska Troopers did on whole brown/grizzly bear heads they had the DNR freeze and save for them (from a variety of causes of death of the bear, road kills for example).

The Troopers were evaluating service calibers and heavier revolvers. What he reported as to the Troopers' findings was that if the skull was hit solid, all the service pistols penetrated the skulls. That was 9mm, .40 and .45 at the time as I recall. He also reported they found that on a less than solid glancing hit, .44 magnum slugs should be expected to deflect and fail also.

I've looked and looked for years since for that blog to no avail sadly so it's just a story now. "Is that a true story?" "It's true that its a story." (Sheriff Ed Tom Bell )

In any case, I take it the AK Troopers subsequently chose the .40 Glocks.

We have discussed this, and it is too bad we haven't been able to find that information again. I suspect the selection of the .40 then had more to do with it being the common police cartridge than bear skill penetration.

Back to the Shockwave, impressive performance on the video, but a reason handguns, and I emphasize "hand," do well in bear attacks is due to their ability to be shot one hand. The Shockwave becomes a no-go for me for that reason, although the semi auto model would be more interesting. Really hard to beat a 1301 or M2 with a micro and Brenneke slugs backed up by a handgun.

[JHC]

We have discussed this, and it is too bad we haven't been able to find that information again. I suspect the selection of the .40 then had more to do with it being the common police cartridge than bear skill penetration.

Back to the Shockwave, impressive performance on the video, but a reason handguns, and I emphasize "hand," do well in bear attacks is due to their ability to be shot one hand. The Shockwave becomes a no-go for me for that reason, although the semi auto model would be more interesting. Really hard to beat a 1301 or M2 with a micro and Brenneke slugs backed up by a handgun.

Yep yep re the choice of the .40, but why not given it was no great handicap should a Trooper have to use one to dispatch a bear.

One of your ESSENTIAL points re the choice of a defensive handgun be it in town or in the field and esp in the AK field - is the absolute familiarity and skill to use said handgun in the gravest extreme fighting for your life.

You've made that point better than any - why spend big volumes of training time and ammo with one type of handgun, then choose something totally different that one might only occasionally shoot in lower volumes to protect yourself in the wild lands.

For example in the train up for my AK visit which involved just a small amount of hiking I put my Glocks through the paces vs my 4" Model 629. Shot the scenarios on the timer. I came to the same conclusion and packed a G22 with hard boolits up there.

[MistWolf]

“Awe, c’mon fellas! I said time out! I gotta reload!”

[GJM]

With plans to hike near Red Lodge, MT this weekend, I looked long and hard at the USP FS before leaving on the trip. Went cold turkey and took a Glock 9mm and the Underwoods. 2,500 feet up and back down to get on a gorgeous plateau at 10,000 feet today. No bears spotted!

[MickAK]

Back to the Shockwave, impressive performance on the video, but a reason handguns, and I emphasize "hand," do well in bear attacks is due to their ability to be shot one hand.

I think this is something that's difficult to explain to people that don't spend a lot of time going through thick brush.

There's just not a way to have a long gun ready for hours and hours of strenuous work doing that. You are going to get tired and you are going to sling it to your pack, or you are going to get sick of it snagging every 5 feet and sling it to your pack and cover it. Or you are going to fall on your face because you have both hands on a long gun at low ready when you slip and need to grab something. Or you're going to lean it against a tree to defecate. I suppose it's possible to go through Alaskan wilderness bowed up with a compact shotgun at the ready at all times but it doesn't sound like very much fun to me.

Bears I can see don't really scare me. It's the bear I can't see 20 feet away in the brush that just started clacking his teeth that scares me.

[Bergeron]

With plans to hike near Red Lodge, MT this weekend, I looked long and hard at the USP FS before leaving on the trip. Went cold turkey and took a Glock 9mm and the Underwoods. 2,500 feet up and back down to get on a gorgeous plateau at 10,000 feet today. No bears spotted!

The swamps and marshes have their beauty, but your pictures of the Western and Alaskan wildernesses frequently leave me slack-jawed in admiration.

I'm still interested in bigger-bored semi-autos, but I am always interested to learn of useful success with specialized loadings in 9mm.

[Buckeye63]

I catch myself strapping on my Gen 3 23 loaded with 180gr Whitebox JHP when I head out in the woods more often lately.. nuthin but Black Bears and meth heads are my only worries in the woods …

[fatdog]

Just envious you got to hike into the Beartooth range. My western trip for this year got canceled.

[OlongJohnson]

Just envious you got to hike into the Beartooth range. My western trip for this year got canceled.

Suspicious outline there on the left side of the backpack...

GJM does what he wants.

[Irelander]

Just envious you got to hike into the Beartooth range. My western trip for this year got canceled.

Likewise. The last time I was in the Beartooth was back in 2010. We fell in love with Red Lodge. The mountains have been calling ever since. Need to get back there sometime soon or I'll go crazy. Guess I'll need to source a USP45 FS for the trip.


*heads off to Gunbroker