Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Your favorite trap line sidearm

Deerhunter5555: I have not trapped in 50+ years now but used to carry a 22 single shot Rifle.
A few years back my close friend of 40 years was running his trapline near Mussigbrod Lake in SW Montana.
He came to one of traps and saw that the quarry in it had been half eaten.
Just that quick a Cougar lept upon my friend breaking his wrist.
My friend got off one shot with his 22 Magnum and the attack was soon over.
That one shot through the throat area of the Cougar killed it in a matter of several seconds.
I have the skull of that aggressive Cougar.
My friend had a very hard time turning his snowmobile around and trekking back to his truck and loading the snowmobile there.
My thoughts "use/take enough gun"!
Maybe even two guns - a small caliber to dispatch trapped animals and a larger caliber for self protection?
My friend was thankful he had so many layers of clothes on that prevented more injuries to his self.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

I used to carry a Ruger MKII bull barrel. No frills.

Fur is murder.

Not nearly as insightful as yours. Still banging drunk indians at the rez?

Don't get huffy, that wasn't a directed at your immediate family.

Single Six for many years (3 screw 5 1/2").
Smith 648 6"
High Standard "Sharpshooter".
Ruger Mk2 5 1/2" target.
Favorite is a 6" Colt Match Target Woodsman.

4 1/2" Ruger single six for me. trapline, running beagles...

I carried my LCR last year. Nice and light, disappeared into the front pocket of my bibs. Accounted for a few coyotes and a couple wolves. The cats get the pole treatment.

Years ago whilst in high school cooning it was this M63.

I had an old High Standard Double Nine variant, called the "Marshal" with a 5.5" barrel and plastic-fake-stag grips. Dad used it when he was trapping coons and such who were bothering his chickens.

It was really too light, it had an alloy frame, and nine holes in the cylinder, so it was sorta hard to shoot well, but it really would shoot if you knuckled down and squeezed the rough trigger.

I think Dad paid about $70 bucks for it, when he bought it for my 16th Christmas. I left it with him while I was off in the Army, and he got some good use out of it.

It was stolen about 15 years ago. I miss it, it was fun to shoot.

I had an old High Standard Double Nine variant, called the "Marshal" with a 5.5" barrel and plastic-fake-stag grips. Dad used it when he was trapping coons and such who were bothering his chickens.

It was really too light, it had an alloy frame, and nine holes in the cylinder, so it was sorta hard to shoot well, but it really would shoot if you knuckled down and squeezed the rough trigger.

I think Dad paid about $70 bucks for it, when he bought it for my 16th Christmas. I left it with him while I was off in the Army, and he got some good use out of it.

It was stolen about 15 years ago. I miss it, it was fun to shoot.

I had a nylon 66. It got banged around in some below zero temperatures and the stock cracked severely. I sent it into Remington and they replaced it. I ended up getting rid of it. It shot just fine, just didn't want to risk another similar incident.

Now my woods carry for trapping is a good old 6" Smith 617 ten shot revolver with 6" barrel. It has been employe trapping, snowshoe hare snaring and during deer season to pot ruffed grouse with Aquila Super Colibris. Very accurate and highly reliable gun.

I had a trapline for a short time in the 1960s...used a Beretta Mix .22 Short..

Friends son has been trapping for two seasons and uses a stainless Charter Arms 3" .22. This is one of the ones from the original CA company back in the 1980s...is a very nice gun..

Yup^^

I had a mark II ruger semi auto and had so many issues with FTF in cold temps that I retired it and went with a single six.

I've used a number of .22 rimfire rifles for the purpose, Belgian Browning, 10-22 and a Remington 512 -T come to mind. S&W Kit Gun, K-22, 317. Probably if I had a favorite it would be my old model Ruger Single Six (Which I haven't seen in several years because it's suffered the same fate as my SP-101: my brother really likes it. You know how it is with brothers.)

That was my dads truck gun for around the farm. We shot the heck outta that rifle. It was a shooter and I can't remember it ever jamming. My trap line gun was a stainless Bicentennial Ruger Single Six 5.5" barrel or a MK I 5.5" bull barrel.

It's not pretty, but it does the job...

Heritage, single action .22lr w/6" barrel

Original Ruger Bearcat.I got from my dad

M63 is also my favorite carry gun when after varmints, mine with its original factory grips.

Mine has always been an older S&W K-22. Trapping is an endavor where even the smallest details can matter and I never liked an auto loader that tossed empty brass around the set