Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns What handgun for a white-water rafting trip?

We’re required to kill our gators here with a large caliber handgun, no rifles allowed in the boat. First inclination was to use one of my N frames. On second thought, Glock…something I won’t mourn as it sinks out of sight if things get exciting. That would be my choice on a raft trip as well.

Since you said "kid" I'd say a smallish, sem-auto, and nothing very expensive. Taurus, LCP, kind of thing.

"Kids" don't often have top flight gear/guns. Semi-auto is the choice of way more "kids" these days. But, if the "kid" is under 21, I'd have a bit of backstory as to where they got the gun.

Any Glock. They work and if you lost it, no big deal.

If it were necessary, I would modify my PFD or perhaps a wetsuit shortie or vest to accommodate a very small weapon. Rescue knives are my go to weapon, not guns on a whitewater trip, and never have I worn a fanny pack on the water!

A revolver for a kid? When was the last time anyone saw a millennial or gen-z pick up a revolver, let alone carry one? And then try to have the millennial take the side plate off, while on the side of the river, and re-oil the lockwork? Um, not happening. I'd go with some small semi-auto Ruger or Glock. Something easy to disassemble, shake the sand and water out of, and something in the range of a kid's budget.

Edited to add. I've rafted several rivers including the Rogue in Oregon and the Colorado, in Colorado. We saw several black bears during a three night trip while on the Rogue. If I was to pick a river gun, I'd go with a G29 west of the Mississippi, and a G26 or 43x east of the Mississippi with a one spare mag each in a sealed bag. I'd 100% have a Spyderco H1 serrated blade of some sort on my lifejacket-vest and a H1 regular blade folder available at camp, both in yellow. Floating with a 8", 629 and a bandolier of 44mags would not be an issue with a proper river lifejacket, let alone a small semi-auto (as others have hinted). Sans the life jacket, which is almost never done on a river - even to jump in and cool off in the flat water, a good swimmer wouldn't notice two pounds of gear. A bad swimmer would have issues in a current regardless of a fanny pack or not.

Revolvers contain intricate lockwork that are very susceptible to having issues with fine sand that is commonly along rivers. I absolutely would take a polymer framed handgun, like a Glock before I would take a revolver.

I kayak on rivers and generally use a G19 in a chest rig. If I was going on a float trip in the back country, I would run a Glock 30S .45 ACP with some heavy hardcast bullets that are capable of handling any large predators, as well as any lesser 2 or 4 legged threats.

Pic from the kayak wearing an HPG kitbag and a G19:

My question for you is, have you ever taken a swim in real (as in aerated) whitewater? You know - that place you're most likely to be ejected from the raft, with recirculating hydraulics or strainers, etc? No unnecessary extra weight for me, thanks.

Question for the OP. What kind of whitewater are we talking about? Point&shoot? Class 2 pool&drop? Class 4/5 continuous thrashing? Something in between? What are the odds &, consequences of a swim? Does the subject of the story even have a clue? Do the yuppies have a clue? Is this Deliverance revisited? Or are we intending to actually know what we're doing?

I have. Voluntarily. We put our life jackets on and ran the rapids several times without the boat. I've done it numerous places. They were probably class III. Without a lifejacket, it would have been very tough. Very tough. Also jumped off cliffs 45'ish (better have on shoes) in Oregon. I've run class II-III's in a tube before, gotten stuck in eddies, sucked under. Be smart about where you run them, have the proper gear, and know your limits. I swam competitively, lifeguarded, and still swim recreationally and SCUBA dive. Just did 2800 yards in a pool two days ago.

Afraid to face the music, so to speak. Archery gear is the only sensible choice.🤔

Good context. Thank you. The average whitewater rafter may not be so practiced and capable. When I think of whitewater rafting, I think of class 4 and up. I do 2-3 in canoes. I'm a better paddler than swimmer, so I prefer to be geared up for swimming vastly more than for shooting.

That rig looks pretty interesting. Maybe in another thread, just for fun, you could do kitbag dump of what else you like to carry inside and on it for a kayak trip.

Up-date:

Guided float. Good-guy going to opt for a kayak because the rest of the dudes are worthless.

Guide going to tell hero to clip the fanny-pack into the kayak instead of wearing it. And tells him why...all the reasons you told me it was a bad idea.

Opting for Glock-19 and two magazines. While there might be better choices for specific applications, one never need apologize for carrying a G.19.

Good-guy taking weapon on principle. Crack-heads are everywhere and hogs and bears are also possibilities.

THanks for the help, gentlemen!

That sounds believable.

Might as well carry two. Make it a pair of Desert Eagles in ankle holsters.

It'll give your character some ballast if he falls in......grin

Rafting is a perfect application for TRH's shower Glock.

LOL 😂

Sig 365 with two 13 round mags.

Bb

I worked as a river guide in WV for a number of years in my younger days. I agree about not having anymore weight on you than needed. I'd probably take an air weight j-frame with no extra ammo or maybe one speed strip. And remember in this story, the young man is not supposed to have a firearm on him, so he'd want something that was easy to hide.