i would not take a gun with me unless i really had too..for a dry run maybe toss in a broom and say thats my gun if the real thing go's down..

I just switched from a .44 magnum Rifle and a 4" Colt Anaconda to the .357 magnum Carbine and a 4" S&W 686 plus . The .357 mag combo is lighter and the ammo is far lighter. Easier to carry if I need to carry it with my bad leg. IMHO the .357 will do what I need it to do with the right loads, as There are no Grizz anyewhere near me, just black bear and moose in the mountains. .38/.357 might be easier to find if I have to "scrounge" ammo.

When doinfg test runs, I like to keep them as real as possible. A broom is a different size and weight than a carbine and will carry different. Besides what happens when TSHTF and all you have with you is your "Broom"

TS can HTF at anytime!!! That has been proven to me several times!!!

That's why I take the entire bundle. If I am going farther than 25 miles from home (a day's walk), then I want my BoB, including weps/ammo with me.

I also prefer to carry the maximum amount of ammo that I can comfortably carry. With my home BoB which has 2 ammo pouches on the Combat Harness, that's 80 rounds of .270cal in 8 10rd bandelero's (plastic), or about 160 rounds of .357mag/.38cal, or about 1000 rounds of .22cal.

I carry a "BOB" in the vehicle with me all the time. My carbine and 686 are with that bag. I take it out at night and put it in in the morning when I start for work. The bag rests near my entry door when not in the vehicle. There ate gun locks on the firearms, just in case. I carry the gun lock key in the vehicle as well as my EDC key chain.

I do these tests myself. Any situation that I would leave my house for and not just stop at a hotel I would head to my parents farm. We got our best test a couple yeats ago when my mother called me at work Friday afternoon and told me that my grandmother was being sent home from the nursing home as there was nothing more they could do for her (sending her back to her home to pass away). I had to leave work and my wife packed things and we left not knowing how many days we would be gone so it was a pretty good test of take everything you need to live for a undetermined amount of time.