Posted: 12/21/2016 8:14:26 PM EDT
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A little back ground... I'm up in anchorage and am wanting a carry firearm for the summers up here when backpacking, hike, etc... My 1st line of defense is bear spray. I have a G26 for the house and around town.
A G29 is what I'm considering but a friend argues that at that barrel length and with a 180gr bullet a G23 essentially offers the same result. Looking at the ballistics I tend to agree. A 230gr 10mm adds 200ft•lbs over a 40 and is what I would carry with. So is a G29 worth it or should I consider a 41 or 44 revolver?? |
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Quoted:
A little back ground... I'm up in anchorage and am wanting a carry firearm for the summers up here when backpacking, hike, etc... My 1st line of defense is bear spray. I have a G26 for the house and around town. A G29 is what I'm considering but a friend argues that at that barrel length and with a 180gr bullet a G23 essentially offers the same result. Looking at the ballistics I tend to agree. A 230gr 10mm adds 200ft•lbs over a 40 and is what I would carry with. So is a G29 worth it or should I consider a 41 or 44 revolver?? Id rather have  a 12 ga shotgun in a scabbard attached to my backpack. |
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Quoted:
A little back ground... I'm up in anchorage and am wanting a carry firearm for the summers up here when backpacking, hike, etc... My 1st line of defense is bear spray. I have a G26 for the house and around town. A G29 is what I'm considering but a friend argues that at that barrel length and with a 180gr bullet a G23 essentially offers the same result. Looking at the ballistics I tend to agree. A 230gr 10mm adds 200ft•lbs over a 40 and is what I would carry with. So is a G29 worth it or should I consider a 41 or 44 revolver?? In 10mm I'd recommend the G20 (4.6" barrel) or G40 (6.02" barrel). Personally, I'd skip the boat-anchor weight mega-magnum revolvers that guys normally hype for bear country ... Limited 5-6 shot capacity, slow follow-up shot(s) coming out of recoil, and fumbly-fuck slow to reload. Big-bore guys talk a good game, but out on the trail these wheelguns get heavy and for that reason usually end up in the bottom of a backpack, where they're useless when Mr. Bear decides to make you lunch. The 3.8" tube in the G29 would be sufficient for dispatching 2-legged predators in typical urban environs, but if you're talking about weighty, heavy-boned 4-legged bruins, you want a lot of velocity pushing a relatively heavy bullet that will penetrate (meaning high sectional density). Something like a 210gn Hardcast 10mm load from Buffalo Bore. By the way, I assume you know that the Danish Mil units (called "Sledge Patrol Sirius") which patrol the Arctic regions of Greenland are issued Gen 4 Glock 20s (loaded hot) for sudden defense against polar bears. They're issued bolt action 30.06 rifles too, but they don't always have those within reach when surprised by a polar bear charging into their camp site, or tent, late at night.  
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| The 29 can almost match original Norma loads. With handloads I was able to get 200grn up to 1175, without going over max data. But the little 29 is a handful with stout loads, I sold it eventually, the 20 is the better gun and much easier to shoot. The 230hardcast loads really don't offer much, point of diminishing returns with that heavy of a bullet. You wanna run heavy, go revolver or bigger auto. |
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Why would you limit yourself with the 29 for a backpacking gun? Get a 20 with some Buffalo Bore or Underwood loads.
Commercial 10mm is neutered to near .40S&W pressures with minimal benefit over .40S&W, however the manufacturers noted above make some full-house loads that mimic the ballistics of a 41 magnum. |
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Quoted:
Why would you limit yourself with the 29 for a backpacking gun? Get a 20 with some Buffalo Bore or Underwood loads. Commercial 10mm is neutered to near .40S&W pressures with minimal benefit over .40S&W, however the manufacturers noted above make some full-house loads that mimic the ballistics of a 41 magnum. I'd agree.... for backpacking I'd go with a G20 and a Surefire x300u on it. I have mine loaded with Cor-Bon DPX. Great combo. |
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If you want power get a revolver, an S&W 69 .44 mag is light and packs a big punch and punches big holes. Capacity isn't it's strong suit but it's a great packing gun.
In general I don't think the 10mm offers significant improvements over the .40 no matter platform. I've handload for both for a long time to put it in perspective, from a 4.2" KKM G29 the fastest 180gr I've ever ran was well over book and hit 1300 fps whereas from a 4" G23 (shorter bbl) the hottest 180gr (also over book) did about 1210 fps...so if barrel lengths were the same, maybe 75 fps? The .40 isn't weak at all, I've ran 200gr hardcast out of a 4" G23 KKM barrel at over 1150 fps but even at 1000 fps a 200gr hardcast is going to penetrate deep. |
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Glock 20. The benefit of using a bigger version of a service pistol you presumably shoot a lot should be obvious. Most guys can shoot a Glock better than a big bore revolver and if you shoot/train/compete with a 19 or 23 you're going to shoot a G20 well.
Yes 40 is powerful but the 40 caliber Glocks are more problematic than the 10mm Glocks. |
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As big as the bear get in Alaska, I would carry a ""44 MAG"". Next would be a 10mm. But, I would want to make sure i dropped the bear. I doubt bear spray would do any good if a bear got on your azz.
For me, .44 MAG all day long. Those bear are NOT SLOW. Get a pissed mamma grizzly on your azz jus cuz you happened to get too close to her cubs, your toast, dead meat. .44 mag |
| Get whatever you shoot best with. 1 hit from a .40 S&W is better than 6 misses with a .44 mag. If you need to use it whatever is coming at you will be fast and you will likely miss a couple of shots. Something you can shoot fast, accurately and has a high magazine capacity would be otptimal. If it were me I would opt for a Glock 20 10mm over a revolver. |
