Survival and Emergency Preparedness

https://www.ammoland.com/2022/04/update ... effective/

The author started the study back in 2018 IIRC and has updated it periodically.

That's interesting. I usually just carry my EDC 9mm while out and about on my hunting property. Been carrying my .45 Ruger P97 on my ATV more often but thinking about switching to my 44 mag or 357 mag just because. It's nice to know that just about anyone of them will do the job.

I remember glassing grizzlies from far away up in Glacier in the Eighties. They were bending down larger trees than I would have thought possible. A .44 Magnum didn't seem as impressive as I'd first thought - heck, a 12-bore seemed minimal.

So I used to buy the con about needing a semi-tractor in my handgun. But then I started thinking about 9x19 ball's long vaunted penetration characteristics (it was designed so it could kill cavalry horses easily) and how easy it is to shoot and shoot fast and keep right on target . . . and how many of them fit into a relatively small and lightweight (compared to a big steel five- or six-shooter) platform. I've shot a Ruger Alaskan in .454. I shoot my Glock 17 a whole lot faster and more accurately, and it has three times as many rounds on board and reloads in a twinkle. If I were headed into griz country (forget the overgrown-raccoons that are black bears: I have those right here and they're generally only predacious on sleepers), I'd head back to the range to work on speed, but I wouldn't be schlepping a fat wad of steel - just some Tupperware and a whole lot of nice S&B ball.

Hey, it'll almost certainly never be an issue, anyhow, and everyone should do what seems smart to him. So much of these "I need more powerful gear!" claims strike me as just idle entertaining thoughts like all boys used to have in elementary school, though - especially when you consider that so many people lived in this country just fine without any of that stuff for so long.