I have gone on several long distance hiking trips, Across all sorts of terrains. I have always carred my Glock 21 45acp, its always worked great, and luckly I have never had to use those 14 rounds of knockdown power. I have been looking at H&k Usp 45acp,and some other large caliber pistols, and i was woundering if any one had any experince with one in those type of conditions, or had a better option,

It only carries 8+1 and it is heavier than a Glock, but my SIG P220 has spent 8 years as my (almost) everyday carry weapon. It has been carried through most of the Superstition Wilderness in a tanker holster. It has been submerged(intentionally and unintentionally) in water that was much colder than it looked. It has been fired over 50,000 times, with no failures! Most importantly it was there when I needed it twice.

<img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> I'm a Sig guy too, there is just something about the feel and way they shoot.

Another option is the Smith & Wesson Mountain Gun. It is made specifically for backpacking. Every year it is made in a different caliber, either .357mag, .41mag, .44mag or .45 Long Colt. It is only a six (or 7 in the case of the .357) shot revolver, but these calibers are quite stout. It is a half lug, with a smaller outside diameter barrel to cut down the weight. My g/f has the .357 and it is one of the nicest revolvers I have ever shot.

You can't beat the original... 1911 Colt... however, at the price, Springfield Armory makes a pretty good second place clone.

Before the magazine capacity question rears it's ugly head, I quote " if ya can't get'er done with 7 and one in the shute, a whole box 'a bullits pro'ly won't help"

Troy

The 230 grain, .45 ACP is a direct descendant of the cartridege developed for use in both Scofield and Colt revolvers. The military criteria was " To founder a horse " or in modern terms wound it sufficiently to break a charge. The average wieght of a 19th century cavalry mount was @ 900 lbs of a creature designed for flight instead of fight given the options. I honestly haven't read much in survival literature about shooting horses; be they seahorses from a liferaft, unicorns seen while in psychological trauma or being attacked by 3rd world invading armies in some survivalist novella. We've had numerous handgun posts in the past. Here we go again <img src="/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

I forgot to mention that my SIG P220 was the most accurate handgun right out of the box I've ever had... bar none. I've had a few handguns... and the P220 is still my favorite.

I am a firearms instructor for a local agency and I am a huge fan of the glock!.. it is IDIOT proof in a high stress situation. One caliber that you might look at is the .40 (model 22 or 23) this round has the speed of the 9mm and the knock down power of the .45 with the right ammo........

I like my model 21, but for sheer brute toughness, nothing comes close to my Ruger Super Redhawk in 44 mag. It's about the only regular production gun I've ever seen that can kill just about anything in the lower 48 you can put in front of it out to 100 yards, and still be used to hammer tent pegs into the ground (I would never even think about doing that with my S&W 629, let alone a stripped down version like the mountain guns).

Even with great stats like that Sig, I would take a good quality revolver over any semi-auto for toughness. Still, in a bug out situation, I'd probably grab my Glock before my SRH for other reasons, go figure.