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Buying a new OC Pistol

mquinn

Newbie
Joined
May 14, 2015
Messages
9
Location
United States
as part of my move from texas to montana i am in the market for an OC pistol. for years i have carried the smae old school Keltec because it concealed comfortably .... but in montana, IF God forbid, i should run into a bear this little thing will only piss hi off. whats a good OC gun for montana? im kinda leaning towards a glock 20 (10 mm) but ammo's kinda hard to find.
 
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slapmonkay

Campaign Veteran
Joined
May 6, 2011
Messages
1,308
Location
Montana
A 10mm or 44 mag is probably good if you're especially concerned about bears, even better would be bear spray. Bear spray and a 9mm should be able to handle a bear if its what you have at the time and you have a large magazine :). The odds of having to defend yourself against a bear is probably pretty low, they're probably more interested in running away from you.

If you NEED a reason to buy a new gun you can use the bear excuse if you want. :)
 
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The Truth

Regular Member
Joined
Jul 18, 2014
Messages
1,972
Location
Henrico
The above links will tell you all you need to know about 10mm. Ammo is actually easy to find online, and you'll want to shoot full power loads anyway. My suggestion is Underwood. Hottest on the market and it's all I carry. I practice with the cheap stuff. Armscor is usually $27 for a box of 50. Remington UMC is $37 for a box of 50. I've got a Glock 20 Gen 4 and I absolutely love it and carry it all the time. I highly suggest the G20.

Glock just released the G40 which is a 10mm longslide geared more towards woods carry. Might want to check that out too.
 

mquinn

Newbie
Joined
May 14, 2015
Messages
9
Location
United States
Kalispell to start with. Its always been a dream of mine to move there. My wife got a pretty good job offer and we decided to go.but after looking at the jobs I would do we'll prob end up near billings or missoula.
 

J_dazzle23

Regular Member
Joined
Dec 4, 2013
Messages
643
Nice. I spent some time in bozeman, but made it up to Kalispell quite often. I carried a glock 20 and always found ammo.
 

mquinn

Newbie
Joined
May 14, 2015
Messages
9
Location
United States
Ive been all over the US, mostly on business. Montana is by far the most beautiful place ive ever seen! And after doing a little research I realized the people there are legit as hell and they are on the forefront of gun laws. I can't wait!

Glock 20 is looking like a pretty good choice. Thanks you all for the info
 

Firearms Iinstuctor

Regular Member
Joined
Jul 12, 2011
Messages
3,428
Location
northern wis
Kalispell to start with. Its always been a dream of mine to move there. My wife got a pretty good job offer and we decided to go.but after looking at the jobs I would do we'll prob end up near billings or missoula.

Nice areas also. I spent a lot of time in MT lots of good areas
 

EMNofSeattle

Regular Member
Joined
Aug 7, 2012
Messages
3,670
Location
S. Kitsap, Washington state
Ive been all over the US, mostly on business. Montana is by far the most beautiful place ive ever seen! And after doing a little research I realized the people there are legit as hell and they are on the forefront of gun laws. I can't wait!

Glock 20 is looking like a pretty good choice. Thanks you all for the info

My cousin used to live in Whitefish, so I'm familiar with Kalispel. Personally I like Missoula better though

That said, bears are unlikely to attack you, you shouldn't rush to buy a gun based soley on bears. Get the bear spray, the jury was in decades ago, spray works better then any pistol on ursa. If yu need a gun against bears you want a rifle that's semi auto, lever, or pump, no bolts.

Personally I carry a 4 inch .357 for black bears (I live in Washington state and we don't really have grizzlies) and that's next to the spray which is my first choice. The hornsdy levorution .357 is good power and you'll hit far better with that round. Ruger GP-100 if you want new, I have a Service Six I picked up for 400 bucks that I use, the older Rugers are a great value.
 

Firearms Iinstuctor

Regular Member
Joined
Jul 12, 2011
Messages
3,428
Location
northern wis
. Get the bear spray, the jury was in decades ago, spray works better then any pistol on ursa. .


No it hasn't been in the notion that spray works better has only been promoted my anti hunting, anti firearms persons and bear spray manufacturers.

Anti hunters like it because it cause less bear deaths, anti firearms person like it because it takes away one more reason for owning a firearm. Bear spray manufactures like the notion because it sells more spray.
 

deepdiver

Campaign Veteran
Joined
Apr 2, 2007
Messages
5,820
Location
Southeast, Missouri, USA
I love threads about buying new guns! I don't want this derailed with a bunch of stuff about bears...

Look, bear spray, bigger caliber blah blah, you don't need any of that. All you need to do is always go hiking with someone you can outrun. Problem solved...

Now back to the guns.
 

slapmonkay

Campaign Veteran
Joined
May 6, 2011
Messages
1,308
Location
Montana
Kalispell to start with. Its always been a dream of mine to move there. My wife got a pretty good job offer and we decided to go.but after looking at the jobs I would do we'll prob end up near billings or missoula.
FYI, Missoula and Billings are a little more liberal leaning. They both are university cities and have those very liberal pockets. That said, there are good job opportunities in them. Montana liberal cities are still much more conservative than that you will find in most other states.
 
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EMNofSeattle

Regular Member
Joined
Aug 7, 2012
Messages
3,670
Location
S. Kitsap, Washington state
No it hasn't been in the notion that spray works better has only been promoted my anti hunting, anti firearms persons and bear spray manufacturers.

Anti hunters like it because it cause less bear deaths, anti firearms person like it because it takes away one more reason for owning a firearm. Bear spray manufactures like the notion because it sells more spray.

Don't forget the anti gun anti hunting arm of the bear spray lobby: the fish and wildlife service

http://www.fws.gov/mountain-prairie/species/mammals/grizzly/bear spray.pdf
 

Firearms Iinstuctor

Regular Member
Joined
Jul 12, 2011
Messages
3,428
Location
northern wis
Don't forget the anti gun anti hunting arm of the bear spray lobby: the fish and wildlife service

http://www.fws.gov/mountain-prairie/species/mammals/grizzly/bear spray.pdf

They haven't been know to be pro gun or pro hunting for a long time there are a lot of anti's in the FWS.

The below links give a different opinion of spray and bullets

http://gunwatch.blogspot.com/2014/10/wybear-spray-v-bullets-flaws-in-studies.html

http://www.examiner.com/article/bear-deterrence-pepper-spray-or-firearm


Three recent cases of bear attack in Wyoming illustrate the flaws in studies purporting to show that bear spray is superior to firearms as a defense against bears. On September 20th, 2014 the following incident occurred. From county10.com:


(Dubois, Wyo.) – The Wyoming Game and Fish Department and the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service both confirmed today that a third bear incident occurred this past weekend, on Saturday in northwestern Fremont County. In this incident, Lander Large Carnivore Specialist Brian DeBolt said a Grizzly bear was shot and killed “in an act of self defense” in the East Fork drainage east of Dubois. He said the bear was an adult male. He said there were no reported injuries in the incident
 
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