What's your choice for a back up handgun in bear country or in africa, SA or DA ?

SA in 44 or 45LC. Heaviest bullets I can shoot accurately. Les

You find most of the folks that carry in bear country use a double action. I used a 6.5 inch Smith 29 during the mid to late 70's while in Alaska. I also had a nice Smith 4 inch 57, but always carried in a shoulder holster anyway so barrel length within reason was not a problem.

Having to thumb the hammer back on a single action adds a complication getting that first shot on target in a hurry unless you really practice. You can apply the question to any defense gun choice. You'll see very few folks carrying a single action revolver for a defense gun. Much harder to get into action than the simple pull of a trigger on a revolver.

Today I use a Taurus Tracker 4 inch in 41 mag. I'm not taking away from what a fine hunting and shooting weapon a good single action revolver is and i n the right practiced hands they can be pretty fast.

If I was in Alaska today I would probably carry one of the Short barreled Rugers in 480 or 454. I was put in a position of having to kill a bear, not in my defense, but a friends. Used the Smith 29 and it worked, but I sure would have liked more gun in the situation. I always carried a short barreled shotgun for bear protection after that.

What ever you decide to carry shoot it a lot til your really comfortable with it. The bottom line is being able to effectively use what you carry is probably way more important than the action type.

You find most of the folks that carry in bear country use a double action.With most double actions, the shooter has the option of SA or DA depending on the circumstances. Agree with Bob, DA is the way to go.

Personally, as long as you practice, I would go with a single action revover (I'm biased) for the following reasons:

1. In my experience (which is why I dislike DA) recoil is substantually less expressive with a Single Action revolver, which allows for hotter, heavier loads with control.

2. Regardless of some belief, a SA revolver will have a better trigger than a DA revolver. If you do a trigger job to a DA revolver, it must be done to the SA revolver for comparison.

3. Operation of a SA revolver is done with one hand, which means you can be proficient with either left or right. This is helpful when one arm is "unavailable." I'd like to see you guys shoot a DA revolver with one hand with high power bear loads twice.....

4. Clint Eastwood AND John Wayne had single action revolvers.

My next large handgunwill be SA on the recommendation of my orthopedic surgeon. He says a SA's recoil is less "offensive" and easier to control.. I shoot my Redhawk single action 99% of the time anyway.

A bit of quick draw trivia. Who was the fastest quick draw actor??

RJ


















Sammy Davis Jr. Saw it on the Discovery channel a couple of years ago. So it's gotta be true, right?

Yeh I heard that it was Sammy Davis jr too, cant remember details though.
If I could carry a defensive handgun it would probably be a SA simply because its a gun I'm familiar with and good with, and the few times i've shot a DA i couldnt hit a barn wall from the inside with the door closed.
Statistics i've read suggest that the speed difference between SA, DA and semi auto from draw to first shot fired is almost nil, so it all comes down to accuracy, power and speed of followup shots.

Bob

so it all comes down to accuracy, power and speed of followup shots.

Bob

Also, whether or not you still have a thumb.... :D :D