I will be mountain biking in mountain lion country. What concealable handgun & load is best for protection?
By Holster Guy ~ April 28th, 2009. Filed under: Uncategorized.
Andy S asked:
Gun must be concealable beneath a tee shirt on a hip holster, or fit in a small ***** pack (3 - 3.5" barrel). Would .45 ACP, .45 GAP, .40 S&W, or .357 SIG be adequate for up close and personal confrontation out of a short-barreled Glock, Kahr or Colt clone? Suggestions please.
I should add that mountain bikers get dumped--a lot. Revolvers are kinda lumpy and their lockwork relatively fragile.
Gun must be concealable beneath a tee shirt on a hip holster, or fit in a small ***** pack (3 - 3.5" barrel). Would .45 ACP, .45 GAP, .40 S&W, or .357 SIG be adequate for up close and personal confrontation out of a short-barreled Glock, Kahr or Colt clone? Suggestions please.
I should add that mountain bikers get dumped--a lot. Revolvers are kinda lumpy and their lockwork relatively fragile.
If a cat gets me unseen, we'll likely fall and roll at speed, probably releasing his grasp. I'll probably have a second or two to stop it--enough time for 2-5 shots if the bullets do their part.
A proven hog load should be good for cougars. Pepper is as likely to get me as the cat. Just as hard to aim pepper spray as a gun, and I don't want to spell like a jalapeno popper in case there's more than one cougar around who likes Tex-Mex food.
April 28th, 2009 at 10:50 pm
glock it up ho
April 29th, 2009 at 8:24 am
hmmmmm…..
will a low-power pistol really help you that much against a mountain lion?
if you think you need to bring a gun to be safe you probably shouldn’t go
April 29th, 2009 at 1:47 pm
a .45 would be best because if your attacked you want to kill it.
May 1st, 2009 at 5:04 pm
i’d go with a .357 sig. Glock makes good concealable firearms that chamber the .357 sig rounds. i’d avoid the 45 GAP. sorry to all the extreme Glock enthusiasts lol, but the you mights as well get a firearm that will chamber the standard 45 round. 45 Gap is pretty expensive. same with .357 sig, but at least other firearms manufacturers make firearms that will chamber the .357 sig round.
May 4th, 2009 at 6:59 pm
I think anything above 9mm would be sufficient, but I dont think you would have time to react when that 200 pound mountain lion hits you from behind….they usually dont make a habit of letting you see them until there mouth is on your neck.
May 5th, 2009 at 5:03 am
Sigs are reliable. Mountain lion’s aren’t that aggressive. If it gets shot with anything it’s not going to stick around. They want to kill their prey instantly, not hang out and fight.
May 8th, 2009 at 10:40 am
Nothing unless you have a CCW.
Pepper Spray works great.
But, if you want a gun a good concealable gun would be any of the sub-compact glocks, which comes in most all calibers.
May 10th, 2009 at 10:27 pm
I like the .45 ACP personally. This works for wild Boar too. If I was going to conceal it then I might opt out for the .357 and I’m sure either would do the job easily with a mountain lion. Just the noise of the gun would chase a mountain lion away in most cases. They don’t like being around people and generally keep to themselves. However, if confronted they will attack and it will be swift so you need to have your gun available in a moments notice.
May 11th, 2009 at 3:11 pm
Obviously you have never encountered a kitty before, the encounter will be over for you before you have a chance to stop your bike , dismount, find and draw your gun then get a bead on a cat running dirrectly at you at 30+ MPH . Forget the gun and buy yourself one of those huge canisters of Grizzly Pepper Spray, you know the ones designed for walking around up in Alaska. Add a extra water bottle holder up on your handlebars to put it in and your set. You dont even have to stop to use it, just grab point in general direction and pull the trigger and peddle out of there as fast as you can.
But if you are set on a gun – get a revolver!!! 357 41 and 44 mags are great. Glassers or some other type of radicaly expanding hollowpoint are recommended. I’m recommending a revolver because in a real pinch who has time to try to find and figure out the safety on a new gun when you are about to become a Kitty snack
May 14th, 2009 at 6:37 am
Glock Model 38 .45 GAP, that’s what I carry, very concealable.
May 16th, 2009 at 7:29 am
Like you’re going to be able to shoot while you ride anyway. I wouldn’t be too worried about mountain lions attacking you while you ride.
May 18th, 2009 at 8:41 pm
personly I say forget those other guns and use a .44 Mag with soft or hollow points
May 22nd, 2009 at 12:38 am
If you have you a permit I would tell you you should go with a snub revolver in .357mag. There are lot more ammo options you can use in it and it would be more reliable than a semi auto pistol. There are a lot of hollow points in either .38 special or .357 mag that are availble, or if you really want you can use Glaser Saftey Slugs. If you don’t have a permit go with bear spray or pepper spray that shoots in more of a spread than a stream. The Lifeact from kimber looks like a pretty good gel type pepper spray and is launched with a pyrotechnic rather than compressed air.
May 23rd, 2009 at 5:14 pm
I think you would be better off with Bearspray. Pistols are notoriously bad for hitting charging Grizzlies, and I suspect pounching mountain lions are no easier to hit. The spray covers a large area which will hit the animal no matter where you aim. Also, you could carry it openly, and have no embarrassing situations where the gun drops on the ground in front of the ranger. The Bearspray has proven itself on 1000 pound grizzlies, and I think it will work on 175 pound mountain lions.
May 27th, 2009 at 1:12 am
Well, you seem to have given this some thought. I think your decision to go with a semi auto is good but for the wrong reason. With a snub revolver you get five or six shots. For the same size gun, in a semi auto, you can get up to ten or eleven. You may well need the extra lead.
The Puma is, on average, about 160 pound animal (males, females are about 40 pounds lighter), but a tough critter to kill.
I would opt for a .45 ACP, 200 grain, plus P, hollow point round. At slightly over 1000 FPS, the bullet should convince even a hungry, angry, attacking cat that it is dead.
Normally, I would suggest a Taurus Millennium 145, a compact, striker fired, 11 shot, 45ACP gun. However, I think the safety on the gun and its somewhat spongy trigger might be a bit of a handicap for you. So, go with the Glock 30. Same features at the Taurus but no manual safety and a shorter, crisper trigger as well.
Your next problem is a holster. You want something that will give you quick access yet hold your gun securely while you and the Lion roll around on the ground. Check out the Blackhawk holsters. One of their paddle holsters might work for you.
I suspect your chances of surviving the initial attack of the cat are slim. However, having the gun is better than trying to fight it off with the cheesy bicycle pump. . .
May 29th, 2009 at 8:44 am
My suggestion is to leave the gun at home. There are thousands of hunters who go after cougar and never see one. The only one’s I have seen have been the ones that have treed by hounds and I’ve lived in cougar country for 30 + years. One exception, there was one that got into my uncles barn and couldn’t find it’s way out. Scared the **** out of my cousin when he went to milk the cows!! Cats run from the sound of people and if you are riding a bike, you will be making enough noise to scare any cat off within 5 miles. Any place that you carry the gun that is easily accesible will hurt you when you take a tumble. Think of the hammer hitting the rib cage during a tumble. On the miniscule chance you actually see a mountain lion and it did decide to attack (never happen!) there is almost no chance you will be able to get your gun out in time to do any good. Do yourself a favor and leave the sidearm at home or in a pack. As far as the caliber if you have to take one, just about any will do, cougars do not have heavy bone structure and can be easily stopped by most rounds. Most of the farmers I know kill pest cougars with 30/30 or 12 gauges. I saw one taken from a tree using a 22 mag, it just dropped and fell, dead with one shot from about 20 yards.
In all of the US and Canada between 1991 and 2003 there have only been 73 actual attacks and only 10 deaths. If you must worry about something, mountain lions should be WAAAAY down at the bottom of the list.
May 31st, 2009 at 2:29 pm
My advice would be to get as big a caliber as you can accurately shoot. I would consider nothing smaller than a .44 mag. A .454 Casul or a a .500 S&W would be better. You won’t be shooting a cat unless it is about to attack you and at that time, you want to be using a gun that will stop it in its tracks. If you only wound him you are in a heap of trouble. If you are lucky you will only spend a lot of time in a hospital being put back together. If you are unlucky, you will end up being tomorrow’s cat ****.
May 31st, 2009 at 10:38 pm
those will work but id take the ruger redhawk .44mag
June 3rd, 2009 at 11:01 am
I forget the model number, but Glock makes a compact 10mm, which is an ideal choice for hiking and etc.
June 5th, 2009 at 6:39 am
Your best choice & more than adequate is the 357 Magnum Revolver in Smith & Wesson with 4″ barrel.*