What TimZ just wrote. I traded my K22 for a blued M34 because that K frame was too heavy for my .22 handgun needs. Early on I replaced the little stock grips with a full size custom walnut set and have since tried a finger groove rubber set, but the larger walnut ones are back on it again for better accuracy. I bought an original Bearcat back in '67 and being all alloy, it was too light and I couldn't hit anything with it. I sold it to a kid in the dorm for $35.00 and was pleased that it had only depreciated $5.00. The 34 and 63 are better pieces than any Bearcat and in your place I sure wouldn't trade it. I'd also leave a handgun home when you go elk hunting or you might just get a rabbit instead of an elk. You can rabbit hunt back home the rest of the year.
The epiphany for me when I went to CO. elk hunting is that I was hunting 9,500 feet higher in elevation than I was back home and there wasn't enough air to breathe. Every day I'd look in my pack and see what I could take out to save a little weight going up those mountains. A handgun would have been totally superfluous and probably the first thing to go.
