Your personal choice of Caliber?

Southernscotty

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Ok so I deciding between 10mm, 40 or 45 cal.

I know the 9mm very well and am happy with it as a self defense carry piece, however when I am running around the woods here, I am feeling a little under gunned.

Black Bears and wild Hogs mostly is the threat here and I believe the 9 is a little bit light for this if I was bowhunting and had an aggressive animal after me..

So I considering an upgrade to a bigger caliber that is still relatively easy to conceal and light for packing around all day.
I use a conceal leather vest mostly, However I have sneaky Pete and ankle carried as well but when I have on boots it is not quick access.
So what are the opinions?

Springfield Xdm 10mm looks like a good contender here. I love the XDS 9mm and it will really group.
 

Southernscotty

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bears are pretty tough, what has less recoil?
Recoil doesn't bother me but 9 mm has the least I would say, However a quality firearm will balance out hand slap pretty well.
 
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Gregory Thompson

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Southernscotty

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JackRT

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When the ringmaster at the circus was informed that the man who they shoot out of the canon was killed in a traffic accident, he was understandably upset and said "It will be so hard to find another man of the same caliber."
 
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I learned to dance with a 1911 in 45 at Pharris Island in 1968. It is the sling of David and the sword of Gideon if God is for you. God or physics rules and a bigger bullet hits harder. If you can't hit what you aim at you might as well throw firecrackers and rocks. The bullet or amount won't matter. IMHO
 
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Southernscotty

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I learned to dance with a 1911 in 45 at Pharris Island in 1968. It is the sling of David and the sword of Gideon if God is for you. God or physics rules and a bigger bullet hits harder. If you can't hit what you aim at you might as well throw firecrackers and rocks. The bullet or amount won't matter. IMHO
A solid hit with a small caliber is always preferred to a large caliber miss :)
 
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Darkhorse

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I would lean towards 10mm, since it is a high-energy cartridge with a somewhat-heavy bullet.

Of course, where bears are concerned, my first choice is 44 magnum, but that's not on your list.
 
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Southernscotty

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I would lean towards 10mm, since it is a high-energy cartridge with a somewhat-heavy bullet.

Of course, where bears are concerned, my first choice is 44 magnum, but that's not on your list.
A 44 is a little hard to conceal on slacks lol. Yeah I like the 10mm and can get a 17 round mag.

I also could shoot full metal jackets so they penetrate better which is what I do with my 9 now.
I load up one hollow point and then one full metal jacket in that order.
 
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Servant68

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Where you are located is a factor. I live in the Pacific Northwest and our black bears around here are small and skittish compared to the ones in the upper Midwest and East. Fish and Game did a study a few years ago and the average size was around 150lbs.

Now, I grew up in the woods and spent most of my youth exploring the mountains on horseback and on foot with nothing but a .22lr six-gun.

Having encountered dozens of black bears, I have never had one not run away at the first sight/smell of me. Same with cougars. Had a wolf check out my camp and watch me and my dog set up camp last summer. That was creepy.

But I do understand that hogs are a bit more temperamental and should be your main concern.

The first rule of cartridge effectiveness when it comes to animals is penetration. Mammals like bears and hogs have a lot more muscle and denser bones to bust through than humans.

The .45 acp is the worst choice because of it's large diameter and slower velocity. It's great on thin skinned humans, but doesn't penetrate very well with animals. I once stopped on a highway when another car had hit a deer and a deputy pulled up to investigate. He decided to put the deer out of it's misery with his .45 acp S&W 4506. He fired from about 6' away into the head. The first shot bounced off the deer's skull. As did the second. He finally found a flat part of the skull to get the bullet to penetrate and put the deer out of it's extended misery. That was pretty eye-opening to me and there have been countless other examples of similar failures to penetrate I've heard of over the past couple of decades since.

Now, 9mm is what I carry for my CCW, for now. I prefer the .40 S&W, but 15 rounds of hot 9mm in the same space as 10 rounds of .40 S&W has me currently carrying the Glock 19.

I used to carry a .40 S&W for my woods gun a few years ago and felt it was adequate for wolves and cougars and two-legged threats. I started reloading my own ammo and even casting my own solid lead bullets. With 190gr hard cast lead bullets in the .40 S&W loaded pretty hot, I did not worry.

But, I ended up buying a Glock 29, which is their compact 10mm. It is the best choice I have found for defense against woodland critters while being compact, light, reliable, and having acceptable capacity and stopping power for everything except large bears. As in 600lb Grizzly bears.

The great thing about the Glock 29, is that you can buy cheap .40 S&W ammo and shoot it in the stock Glock. No changes whatsoever. It works. Not sure about the XD series.

The downside to the 10mm is ammo cost. Plus, most commercial 10mm ammo is little more than warmed up .40 S&W. You can buy excellent HSM and Buffalo Bore 200gr hard cast loads that will stop a train, but they are expensive and have quite a bit of recoil.

If you reload, then 10mm is the answer.

I don't have any experience with the XD 10mm, but I have owned XD pistols in the past and like them, and I currently have an XDS 40 that I carry occasionally.

I think the advantages of the Glock platform are is the incredible amount of aftermarket support for them as well as the ability to fire .40 S&W for cheap practice rounds.

For mine, I've added a 4.5" KKM barrel for increased velocity for maximum effectiveness...

Wf-lVOVvwrjxpKNPTUxO9jsg9ERbtQxbPAGsnYF-1CIpX92IB.jpg
 
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Southernscotty

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All great points and I do love the sight on that Glock above. I have seriously considered buying one of those myself.
The Judge is a serious contender but I do prefer more than 5 rounds and the trigger on every one of them that I have shot has been around 12 lbs!
I am a trigger sensitive snob and I can't stand heavy trigger pulls on weapons. lol
Rifles around 3 lbs and handguns not over 7 at the most. Perhaps I am just spoiled but it really affects me with grouping well.
 
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Southernscotty

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I shot my brothers 454 with a 10 in barrel and leupold scope on it and let me tell you, It will blow a chunk out of a tree.. lol
A little large for conceal carry but it would certainly make a bad guy think twice when you pulled it out :D
 
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Southernscotty

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Here's a video of a Casull Taurus taking out a wild hog. I doubt you would want to carry that cannon around much though.
Loving that deer blind. Man I want one of those!!
 
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Silverback

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Ok so I deciding between 10mm, 40 or 45 cal.

I know the 9mm very well and am happy with it as a self defense carry piece, however when I am running around the woods here, I am feeling a little under gunned.

Black Bears and wild Hogs mostly is the threat here and I believe the 9 is a little bit light for this if I was bowhunting and had an aggressive animal after me..

So I considering an upgrade to a bigger caliber that is still relatively easy to conceal and light for packing around all day.
I use a conceal leather vest mostly, However I have sneaky Pete and ankle carried as well but when I have on boots it is not quick access.
So what are the opinions?

Springfield Xdm 10mm looks like a good contender here. I love the XDS 9mm and it will really group.

357 Magnum, you can get them from S&W, and Ruger with eight round capacity, carry in a chest rig with two speed loaders and you can take down anything in North America short of a Grizzly. I would check with your state fish and game to see if you can carry a sidearm when bow hunting, some states prohibit this...I think.
 
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Trey Veston

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357 Magnum, you can get them from S&W, and Ruger with eight round capacity, carry in a chest rig with two speed loaders and you can take down anything in North America short of a Grizzly. I would check with your state fish and game to see if you can carry a sidearm when bow hunting, some states prohibit this...I think.

The choices were 9mm, 40 S&W, or 10mm...

10mm is the easy answer. Glock G29 or G40. 15 rounds of 10mm in a relatively light and absolutely reliable platform is the choice of thousands of outdoorsman in Alaska.

Though in the Southern US, I would pack a Glock G23 with 13 rounds of .40 S&W in a hotter factory loading and feel absolutely confident.
 
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