HK USP 45 field pistol

[Caballoflaco]

This popped up on my YouTube feed today. It’s from Active Self protection a couple of years ago and shows a dude still mobile and who made it 70 yards after taking 4 hits (at least one was lethal since he died) from a .44 mag. Just some more real world data that shot placement trumps everything and .44 doesn’t even have the power to knock down a human sized mammal if structure or cpu isn’t hit.

[Gun Mutt]

Guess I'll need to source a USP45 FS for the trip.
*heads off to Gunbroker

Or mebbe some Lehigh ammo for one of the 9mm's you already own?

Jeebus, I don't know what's wrong with me, I can't believe those words came outta my keyboard. I'm sorry, All...I know this isn't what we do here when someone wants a new pistola. It's probably just the propathol, I had a procedure this morning and I'm still not all the way back. Forget I said anything.

[OlongJohnson]

Or mebbe some Lehigh ammo for one of the 9mm's you already own?

Why not both?

[JoeSixPack]

Unfortunately, Red Lodge made the news earlier this month in the form of a missing female hiker who is presumed dead. Be safe out there.

[03RN]

This popped up on my YouTube feed today. It’s from Active Self protection a couple of years ago and shows a dude still mobile and who made it 70 yards after taking 4 hits (at least one was lethal since he died) from a .44 mag. Just some more real world data that shot placement trumps everything and .44 doesn’t even have the power to knock down a human sized mammal if structure or cpu isn’t hit.

I've had deer and men run/fight after 12g/.308.

[JonInWA]

Thanks in large part to this forum, both this thread and particularly GJM's other thread on Underwood Lehigh cartridges, I feel very comfortable in using my Gen4 Glock G22 with .40 Underwood Lehigh's; and similarly with my Gen 3 G21 with .45 ACP Underwood Lehighs when on hunting trips or wilderness hikes. On shorter hikes with my wife, I'm likely to use my HK VP40 with the Underwood Lehighs, simply because the VP would be easy for my wife to use if necessary.

I will admit that a HK USP/HK45 is somewhat on my desirability radar acquisition list, but I'm pretty well covered as things are-they'd be a "want" as opposed to a "need."

Best, Jon

[Borderland]

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.

You would probably carry a shotgun only one time on a wilderness hike. My choice would be something polymer that was rated for 45 +P+ like the HK45 or USP 45.

I know a guy who used to live in Anchorage. He hiked and fished a lot. He has a 6" Colt Anaconda he carried and he said it was a PIA because it was so damn heavy. I shot it a few times and I don't think I would want to pack it either. About 4 lbs loaded.

[GJM]

You would probably carry a shotgun only one time on a wilderness hike. My choice would be something polymer that was rated for 45 +P+ like the HK45 or USP 45.

I know a guy who used to live in Anchorage. He hiked and fished a lot. He has a 6" Colt Anaconda he carried and he said it was a PIA because it was so damn heavy. I shot it a few times and I don't think I would want to pack it either. About 4 lbs loaded.

I carry a shotgun on nearly every hike I am on in remote Alaska. As Clint says, it is supposed to be comforting not comfortable.

[Clusterfrack]

I carry a shotgun on nearly every hike I am on in remote Alaska. As Clint says, it is supposed to be comforting not comfortable.

On our latest AK trip, I carried a 1301 on some of our hikes. A lot were steep and long enough that I took a G20 instead. And--I totally get what @MickAK is saying about heavy brush and an awkward long gun. There's no one best solution.

[MickAK]

I carry a shotgun on nearly every hike I am on in remote Alaska. As Clint says, it is supposed to be comforting not comfortable.

Yeah, but you make plans on how to deal with getting attacked by 3 bears at once so....

A lot of it depends on what you're doing and where, and when. I am usually backpacking in temperate rainforest off-trail and if I have a long gun it's for meat, blacktail/other small animals. I know those bears and their habits. I'm comfortable there. The handgun is as much for sketchy people as it is for bears.

I wouldn't walk around the West end of Kodiak or Unimak in October/November during hyperphagia without a long gun in an appropriate caliber because I am the farthest thing from comfortable at that time. I don't know those bears the same way and there's less to eat.

I suppose everyone's comfortable until they get ate.