---Disclosure: This is for a work of fiction so I am not limited to what is in my gun-safe---

Background: A normal kid goes on a white-water rafting trip with a bunch of yuppies.
Firearms are not allowed.
He brings one anyway and carries it in a fanny-pack (swung around so it is in front of him).
The river is in West Virginia.
The only restrictions is that the weapon must be commonly available and must be small and light enough to carry in a fanny pack with enough room left over for a water-bottle, paracord and all of the other stuff a normal person would carry with them. Keep in mind that this weapon might go swimming.

Make, chambered-in, barrel length, how many reloads?

My inclination is a stainless steel Ruger SP101 with a 2" or 3" barrel chambered in .357 Mag. with three reloads in speed-strips.

Can you help me out with some other alternatives?

Never been white water rafting but I’ve spend a lot of time in kayaks and canoes with life jackets and sitting for hours.

A Glock on my hip works for me.

Sounds like the beginning of a Christmas song:

Three mags a-waiting,
Two targets to service
and a Glock on my hip works for me....

Maybe Die-Hard 9

Thanks for commenting.

I do whitewater but not in a raft. Some problems are common though. One of those is that of ending up outside the boat and in the water. Swimming and getting back in the boat is more dangerously difficult with extra gear, such as a fanny pack, attached to your body. You won't see any experienced whitewater river runners sporting a fanny pack,, or responsible whitewater guides allowing the same. Any gun or other personal gear that needs to be carried should always be within the PFD. And adding non-buoyant weight also adds risk. So it's unlikely that anything larger than a PF9 or P365 would be a good choice, and reloads should be kept at a minimum or left entirely.

Now, if your story is based on bad decisions adding to troubles......flail away.

G43...or some version of it. Mag in gun, empty chamber while on the water, 2 reloads. Dale Frickie Zac triggerguard tied to something in the fanny pack. Fanny pack under the life jacket but where the pack clip could be unclipped if needed.

Where was Deliverance filmed?

If you want to die.

Never white watered, but have canoed some in fast rivers everything gets wet and might get lost. Wouldn't take anything steel like the SP101, any of the small compact 9mm's would be better. Put it in a Hill People Gear kit bag on his chest, if the guide hassles him about it, say it is for his insulin (even if not diabetic).

Smith and Wesson 642 5 shot 38 or a Glock 43 , 43x or 48 maybe even a 26 or 27. All of which are 9mm except the 27. At least one spare mag for the Glocks and a couple of speedloaders for the Smith.

I have one of the smaller HPG Kit Bags. I wouldn't wear it on my chest over or under the PFD, even for medical supplies. That's an invitation to either snag or cause improper PFD fit and defeat a rescue. There are plenty of PFD's with low profile pockets large enough for that.....or a small pistol. A decent guide would know this.

I carry my glock 19 and 1 extra mag when I'm otherwise unarmed in my kayak. No round chambered.

Thank you. Always best for clarification from someone who has actually done something.

All y'all know that Deliverance is fiction - not even good fiction - right?

I carry a small pistol in a pfd pocket. It's not there for while on the river so much as for the often sketchy takeout locations. I have the option of transferring the pistol to a pants pocket or other gear when hiking at intermediate points. The rivers are never salt water, so rust isn't an issue in any of the stainless pistols. Keep it lubed and out of the mud, and you're GTG.

Fwiw, Kevin Bacon used what looks to be a 3" Model 66 RB.








It should be noted that Meryl Streep eventually shot him with it, proving that it did work when wet...

My white water and canoe weapon is a Ruger LCR 357 mag and kydex holster. Only modification I made to the pistol was to install an XS big dot sight.

I'm going to assume your tongue is firmly planted in cheek.

I think a modicum of plausibility will be all you need unless it becomes an essential part of the story.

Yes, that would definitely be a valid assumption.

Sig Sauer P226 MK25.

Made for wet.

I’ve done the waist pack thing for years. Unless said waistpack is big enough to be clumsy and also scream GUN to anyone familiar a Ruger 101, S&W j-frame AND a water bottle ain’t gonna all fit in, let alone three reloads. Weight is critically important too and any stainless revolver is going to be on the porky side.

Same thing is true of the higher capacity compact nines (P365, Taurus G2 etc). Single stack magazine 9mm like the Ruger EC9 or Glock 43 come closer to what you want. As do Airweight jframe revolvers.

For the deep concealment your scenario presents tho you’re gonna have to move down to at most a .380. Smallest and lightest would be a Ruger LCP (7+1 rounds). Marginally bigger with better sights and easier to shoot would be the LCPII (10+1 rounds). Next up in size would be the Glock 42 (6+1 rounds).

I’d give your character an LCP II and one extra magazine. Both would disappear into a dry pocket, wet clothes would be more problematic unless the LCP were concealed in a pocket holster resembling a wallet in outline. Failing that a pocket in his or her life jacket might work.

He must be afraid of banjos. 😳

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.