Weapon Of Choice

[Guest Cryptic Megafauna]

Claxon Air horn, non lethal and so no wounded and angry bears. I'm most likely to bump into a bear and they startle easily and it short circuits their predatory response and they skedaddle. Guess I could just speak low and loudly, holler or clap my hands, that has worked in the past.

 

I've seen cougars, bears, wild dogs, wolf, moose and noting realy bothered me too much (yet) 

 

My encounters with Cryptids would not have occured if I was the weapon carrying type. There have been times where a weapon might have been comforting though. If in Grizzly country

[Woodslore]

Norseman My father is a 36 year Navy vet. Guns were not a foreign concept in my life. Top it off he is a hunter. As was my Grandfather. Was taught have the gun for the need not the need for the gun.

Edited January 4, 2016 by Woodslore

[Doc Holliday]

its all in what you're familiar with.. and perhaps differing philosophies.

 

here we've seen other countries subject to stricter regulations.

perhaps that makes many of us more appreciative of the rights we currently enjoy.... and as for needs , well i suppose  people collect all sorts of things my friend .

 

but fwiw, i've got a glock ive had for years and its a favorite since it shoots well and has been dependable.

 

got a deal on a flat top  AR last year and scoped  it makes a decent varmint gun . wish i'd  had it with me the other AM when those 3 coyotes came in instead of the bolt action i was carrying . got one but the others were gone before i could rack the bolt.

 

agree with norse on shooting what you're comfortable with... main thing is that you're shooting .

[MagniAesir]

Norseman My father is a 36 year Navy vet. Guns were not a foreign concept in my life. Top it off he is a hunter. As was my Grandfather. Was taught have the gun for the need not the need for the gun.

I am not sure how old you are, so I don't know if you have ever had the fun of blasting off a 20 or 30 round magazine rifle in a center fire caliber

I have hunted all my life and for big game I have always used either a bolt or lever action.

However before C-65 became law I had a mini 14 with a 5, 20 and iirc correctly 50 round magazine

I never used it for hunting, but I will say I found it fun to squeeze off a full magazine as quick as I could

A lot of American hunters are very familiar with AR type weapons and practice with them a great deal

if you are proficient with a firearm then there is no harm in high capacity magazines and in certain situations it is beneficial

[Woodslore]

I'm old enough. I have fired off more than a 5 round mag for a center fire rifle in both Canada and the USA. I am not against AR AK or glock I just do not understand the hype. Nor do I see the need for an over dose of fire power. Doesn't mean I don't enjoy shooting the larger bores. I'd love to try a 45-70. As I said maybe it was just the way I was raised. Not saying anything bad about anyone or anything. If an AR AK or glock is what you are comfortable with great all the power to you. For me I really do not see the hype.

[Guest]

I would use a .45 or .357 as far as handguns. I'd be more worried about attacks by bears, mountain lions, etc as opposed to being attacked by Bigfoot. I always wonder if the Finding Bigfoot crew has any weapons when they venture out

[Airdale]

The meme of "Don't use semi-auto rifles for dangerous game because they jam.", has been around longer than I have. The most telling counter argument that I can think of is this, most every military in the world uses self loading rifles against the most dangerous game afoot, the one that shoots back! As with every such bit of common knowledge there is a root of truth. We only need look back to the introduction of the M-16 in Vietnam for a glaring example. We had a design that blew hot gas and propellant residue right back into the chamber to cycle the action and a powder that compounded the problem. In retrospect, it should have been obvious that a design that fouls itself in normal operation and generates a lot of heat would be problematic in any environment let alone a bloody jungle. In the meantime, guys did everything they could think of and more to hang on to their M-14s, which kept operating as designed, just like their immediate ancestor the M-1 Garand, from the steaming islands of the Pacific to the beaches of Normandy to the frozen battlefields of Korea.

 

My father-in-law turns 85 today, he has COPD and is under hospice care. We brought him to our home a few months ago as he was no longer able to live alone and we didn't want to place him with strangers in assisted living. Last week he gifted me with the rifle that has been hanging over the front door of his house since before Linda and I were engaged 39 years ago this month. It is a U.S. Rifle Model 1884 Trapdoor Springfield in 45.70 Government including the bayonet. It's the same basic rifle the Seventh Cavalry was equipped with at the Little Big Horn in July of 1876, though theirs may have been conversions from muzzle loading rifle muskets. Single shot, big bore and with a trajectory more like an artillery piece than a modern rifle when the tangent sight is flipped up. Self contained brass cartridges were new technology at that time and quality control was not up to par so some cases were stronger than others. Even with the relatively low pressures generated by black powder, sometimes the case head would separate on firing leaving the rest of the case in the chamber. With the end of the case gone the ramrod couldn't be used to clear the chamber and the troopers learned to use their pocket knives to extract the remainder of the fired cartridge before another round was loaded and some likely died in the process (I've not studied the battle in depth but welcome input from anyone that has). Long story short, we had a powerful, solidly built single shot rifle, jamming due to ammunition manufacturing variances.

 

Long story short, any weapon can jam for a multitude of reasons. You keep it clean, you use factory ammo proven to work in your rifle and appropriate to the game from tested magazines and, for dangerous game, you have a reliable gunner backing you up. I'm not a hunter but have been shooting for near sixty years and do any gunsmithing that doesn't require a machine shop. With the conditions I've just laid out I would not feel under gunned against any North American animal when armed with my Springfield Armory M-1A Socom-16 with a 20 round magazine of .308 and the EoTech holosight on the forward rail. What's more, I can keep it easily on the mark for follow up shots and not be pounding my shoulder black and blue in case targets present for another 20 rounds.

[norseman]

I agree with a lot of what your saying airdale. Any rifle is capable of a jam.

But I have been a hunter all of my life. And my rifle rides in a scabbard most of the time. Before the Marlin a Browning BAR rode there.

And I speak from my own experiences the meme is true.

[Airdale]

That's got to be about as tough an environment as you'd find, short of the battlefield, for any rifle, especially for a guy like you that really gets into the back country for extended periods. Your Guide Gun is likely about perfect for that, carbine length makes it quick to shoulder from the scabbard and the tubular mag keeps the profile slim. Anything with a protruding box magazine would not be a good fit for that kind of carry.

 

I was thinking more of my own preference in weapons when writing the previous post. I'm a very practical, performance oriented person when it comes to firearms and the like. I appreciate the craftsmanship that goes in to a beautiful, blued rifle or shotgun with a nicely figured wood stock, perfect wood to metal fit and slick, machine turned bolt as much as the next person, and maybe more than some. And if presented with one it would be displayed proudly above my mantle or in a lighted case. But the rifle in the ready rack in case one of the local cougars gets out of hand or a bear invites himself in for a visit is the Socom-16 with 20 rounds of Federal Fusion queued up. The other consideration is that my shoulders are the only major joints in my body that are OEM and haven't been chewed up by arthritis. With the muzzle brake the slick engineers at Springfield Armory designed just for the Socom-16 and Socom-II the felt recoil is barely above the Mini-14 that is racked below it. If I didn't have those two, it would likely be a pair of gas piston AR's in similar caliber kept at the ready. I've had the Mini for thirty years now and the Socom for eight. I know the actions inside out, can tune the triggers and shoot either of them well enough to handle any situation they're designed for that I'm likely (or unlikely) to face. They share the same manual of arms and there's getting to be a fair amount of aftermarket parts; if I can't find an accessory I want, I'll figure out a way to make it or adapt one made for another gun. Heck, that's half the fun!

[norseman]

I have a story about the M14.

I had a USMC vet that helped me move furniture anytime I was in Phoniex. His name was Sergio and he served in a rifle company in I corps.

When the transition came to the m16 rifle, they hid as many m14's as possible. And while on patrol they always had one on point. Because it was so reliable vs the m16 which they hated. It jammed, it was underpowered and it didnt shoot the same ammo as their m 60's. In a pinch they would pick up and carry AK's as well.

I think the m1a scout would be my weapon of choice if I had to go into combat.

But not if I was trailing a wounded brown bear in the brush on Kodiak island.

[Incorrigible1]

My AR is great medicine for prairie dogs in central and western Nebraska, my home state. Using 20-rd magazines so to keep the profile short enough for good prone shooting. Generally far more accurate than the Mini-14s out there. When shooting a dog town, we start with .22lr, move to .22mag, and then to the .223 ARs. When the dogs get spooked by the .223, I break out the Remington 700 heavy barrel in 6mm.

[Guest Cryptic Megafauna]

AK47 so I can go from gang banging to Sasquatch self defense in one easy move.

[Airdale]

I'll leave the wounded brown to you Norse. Our director at the military museum was a Green Beanie in 'Nam. We were discussing the M-14 a couple months ago on a slow afternoon. He told me of an Army battalion commander he met as a j.o. at some function. The guy was so agin the M-16 he kept finding ways to shift his command around hither and yon and stay one step ahead of the switch. Finished his deployment and retired a bird colonel with his outfit still packing M-14's.

 

The problem, accuracy wise with the Mini-14 up until the nineties was the pencil thin barrel. They start out on target but start to string shots vertically as the barrel heats up. Mine has improved with installation of an Ultimak forward rail that replaces the hand guard and upper gas block, anchoring at the rear with a bracket under the barrel just forward of the chamber. It stiffens the first foot or so pretty well and provides a solid mounting rail at the height of the factory sights. There are some other add on accessories to help with the barrel forward of the gas block. That said, I'd never consider them a varmint rifle though my son had some luck on coyotes with it back when he was in high school. What they are is extremely reliable. In thirty years and I suppose four or five thousand rounds I've never had a jam due to the rifle malfunctioning with any ammo including hand loads and imported stuff. One friend managed to get the OEM web sling over the top and jammed in front of the bolt as it closed, and there was one failure to feed from a cheap freebie magazine. 

[Doc Holliday]

inc is your AR stock / oem or have you changed out for some aftermarket goodies? 

i'd like  a timney trigger and a free floating handguard, and am considering a longer barrel .....agreed on the longer mags being a bit much for prone.

 

woodslore, i guess part of the hype for ARs is they can be like LEGOs for grown ups.... you can mix and match and the possibilities are endless.

 

the other side of the hype is the negative way media has portrayed them ........ but that's a discussion that turns political quickly so we'll save that for the tar pit section ( and readers here  join if you haven't  hint hint )   but suffice to say they are still  a tool that should be handled safely .

[MagniAesir]

The meme of "Don't use semi-auto rifles for dangerous game because they jam.", has been around longer than I have. The most telling counter argument that I can think of is this, most every military in the world uses self loading rifles against the most dangerous game afoot, the one that shoots back! As with every such bit of common knowledge there is a root of truth. We only need look back to the introduction of the M-16 in Vietnam for a glaring example. We had a design that blew hot gas and propellant residue right back into the chamber to cycle the action and a powder that compounded the problem. In retrospect, it should have been obvious that a design that fouls itself in normal operation and generates a lot of heat would be problematic in any environment let alone a bloody jungle. In the meantime, guys did everything they could think of and more to hang on to their M-14s, which kept operating as designed, just like their immediate ancestor the M-1 Garand, from the steaming islands of the Pacific to the beaches of Normandy to the frozen battlefields of Korea.

 

The difference is that if your dangerous game rifle jams you are generally alone or perhaps in a small group

And the danger is very close and you need to stop it immediately, this usually requires large caliber rounds not originally designed for semi-auto

In the military you are trained to cover one another in a firefight if a rifle jams (full disclosure here, I have no first hand military experience, this is just what I have been told)