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Hello,
I have been on the search for the best lightweight handgun for backpacking. I have a HPG kit bag to carry and I am trying to keep weight to a minimum. My smith and Wesson 41 mountain gun is what I normally take on the trail and its a wonderful piece for it, but I am wanting something lite.

I just wanted to get some input on what you all carry when backpacking, and why?

Revolver vs semiauto?

Thanks!

Most of us would want the mountain gun!

S&W Scandium Revolvers. This one is .44mag at 25oz unloaded.
http://www.smith-wesson.com/webapp/..._757896_757896_ProductDisplayErrorView_Y

Polymer 10mm's by Glock and EAA. The EAA is under $450 and is 31oz unloaded.

I do love the mountain gun but its at 50oz loaded. Not ideal for packing

Glock 20 in griz country

Glock 19 in non-griz country

S&W 360 3in Scandium kit gun if weight is an overriding concern

My S&W 357 weighs 19 oz unloaded.

I EDC a Smith Shield. No bears where I hike so two legged critters are my main concern. For that the Shield, my Sig RCS, or my FNS 40 all will work fine.

Which 357 do you have?

I like the looks of the ruger lcr in .357 mag. 17 oz. I'm sure it's not fun to shoot, but lightweight for backpack carry, and some umph to go with it.

Mountain Lite

PS, the good thing about the 357 in a lightweight is the option to shoot 38 special.

Ruger GP 100 Wiley Clapp edition. It's not a lightweight at 37 oz but it sure is handy. I don't notice it on my hip. It'll stop most things here in the northeast.

If I want to go really light I'll carry a S&W Mod 63 Kit Gun. That's like a feather.

Dan

I always thought that a big bore revolver that is DA and ultralight would be ridiculously more punishing to the web of your hand than a SA, ultralight big bore BUT there are no super lightweight SA's.

It is really only S&W and Taurus that have gone into extremely lightweight big bore revolvers & they are both not in the SA game. Am I missing any? The lightest non-custom SA I know of would be a 5 shot .45 Colt Freedom Arms Model 97 but it is really at about the same weight (within a few oz) as S&W Mountain Gun.

It sounds silly but not when you consider the niche that it fills. A Scandium framed Ruger New Model Bisly in .45 Colt anyone?

This is my scad .357 3 inch barrel, with tritium nite sight.
I put some aftermarket grips on it, the ones that come with it suck.
The lightest one out there. You hardly know you have it on. Now when you shoot it, well lets just say full house loads are not something you want to do much. But in a adrenaline stoked situation you probably would not even feel it.
If you could handle just a little more weight, this one would be the ticket.

180 gr., @1250fps this group was shot at 32 yds off a bench rest. My glock 20 with 6 inch KKM barrel you get the added vel. without the weight of a long slide.

I really like the 396 NightGuard. It's a .44 Special, 5 shooter L-frame.

I think Smith really got this one right. Comes with the factory tritium front. Here it is compared to the 310 NG which is an N-frame like your MG. 310 on the top, 396 on the bottom.


Big difference all around when they put the 396 together...



Otherwise I like an LCR in .22 LR.


Travis

I like the night guards

Mine weighs 14.4oz empty. That's a J-frame 3in 360/.357 Yours must be the 7-shot K-frame. Wanna swap?

This is a subject close to my heart.

I packed with goats for more then 10 years, had two pack goats killed by lions. I also worked as many of you know in the bear management program in the PNW for Weyerhaeuser. In parallel as a hunting guide where I packed a handgun everyday for over a decade.

For starters, the 44 mag is the minimum I would carry if there is a serious threat from bears. I've seen way to many snared wound up crazy angry bears shot with a 357 mag live plenty long enough with fight to maul a guy to bits before it died.

There is a huge difference ending the life of a big animal that is calm and unaware VS one all fired up with anger adrenalin and other high performance additives in his system. A full house 44 mag load has never failed to decide matters for me. Lesser cartridges were " hit and miss" so to speak.

The 329pd is absolutely brutal to shoot to zero in with full 44 mag loads. It's engineering proof, that just because you can build something does not mean you should. After many years packing and NEEDING a side arm I got myself a 629 4" barrel mountain gun. Maybe on the heavy side, but I have seen it fold horribly angry giant bears pulling on the cable snare fired up beyond your imagination wanting to kill me.

It does this with manageable recoil. After being on the test team for the ( then) newly engineered Hornady XTP bullets I was shooting 100's of them from this gun. It's still as tight and perfect as the day it was new. During this testing an interesting development came about. As I was also testing for Randy Garrett, there was an interesting phenomena. Those astonishing 300 grain sledgehammer loads had marginal stopping power compared to a simple 1100-1250 fps 240 grain HP.

The big bullets whistled through, and those bears kept pulling on the cable to get at me. Occasionally they would roll and pull away, but they still fought the cable. Often the thought occurred that it was a miss, the bears anger and fighting did not miss a beat?

The 240 HP bullets, took the steam right out, deflated them right now and changed the game on the spot. There was never one second of doubt that they were hit hard. On occasion a shot was less then perfect. The brush they get into is jungle thick, and hard to make perfect clear shots every time.

Several times a bear charging straight away would slip the noose on his foot and just be gone. Being within 20 yards of a bear when this happens plays on your mind every time you walk in on one. It can be somewhat nerve wracking when 3/4 depart rapidly away, and the rest sit there or decide to come for you.

Killing a bear is easy, Stopping a bear is more difficult. I've been knocked down and clawed and chewed on. All the while having my 44 on my hip. Never realized what was happening until I was hit from behind and knocked down without the ability to breath properly. No way to get at that revolver in the holster under my carhart jacket.

Big lesson, if you really think your in need of a gun, you better have it handy. Holstered under a coat it's worthless. I could go on with this, it's been a big part of my life. Moving to South Africa the need for a handy powerful revolver for follow up tracking was important as well.

My vote, has to be what I did, or it would be a contradiction. The 44mtn gun with trijicon night sights, and crimson trace laser grips. In a panic, in the dark the crimson trace is far and away the best game in town. You can make a big hole wherever you see the red dot. With absolutely no aiming effort or skill.

The 329PD is light, but after shooting it you will decide to use 44 special loads, and those are still too much! Save the disappointment and get a mountain gun in 41 mag, 45LC, or 44 mag. Then shoot hollow points at reasonable velocity.

I think there is a difference between pursuing a critter and passing through their AOR.

And the OP did not mention if bears/predators were part of his criteria. I do agree with the OP that a MG is a tad heavy for backpacking.


Travis

Nope, 19 oz is as light as I want to go. But thanks for the offer.

I have a 329 pd with x frame grip. ...wonderfully accurate and not bad to shoot with those grips. I have a g20sf with dawson sights and a kkm barrel that is close in weight not so in accuracy in my hands but trumps in fire power. The taraus 450ti was the lightest nastiest little gun I've ever owned. 45lc+p in a 19oz. 5 shot package. ...it doesn't get lighter with more horsepower.

I find myself swapping between 10mm ' s and the 329 in the woods.

Sorry for the crappy pic, but I'm sold on my G20. A G29 might even be better. Compared to my 3" 629 the Glock is 3/4 lb lighter and 1" shorter. The 44 will leave 10mm in the dust when fired from 8" barrels, but by the time you shoot them from a 3" snubby most of the 44's advantage is gone.

I have chronographed 200 Gr Double tap ammo at 1315 fps from my Glock. 240 gr ammo in the 3" revolver is around 1150 fps. Better yes, but not the 1500 fps you'd get from an 8" gun.

Even in the woods my primary concern is 2 legged predators. The Glock gives me magnum revolver power with the lighter weight and mag capacity of a semi.

My velocity findings are about the same as these guys. Short barreled magnum revolvers just don't get anywhere near their advertised velocity. They are all based on 7.5" or 8" test barrels that few actually use. Published numbers from semi pistols are usually taken from the 4.5"-5" barrels actually carried so published numbers are pretty close to real world numbers.

http://www.ballisticsbytheinch.com/41mag.html
http://www.ballisticsbytheinch.com/44mag.html