ORIGINAL: Rammer
What kind of critters would you be running into?
For non-bear related encounters you can't go wrong with the Springfield XD line of pistols.
My concerns are, in no particular order:
1) Running into someone in the back country, with bad intentions,who doesn't really care if I'm left for dead or not. Humans have more brain power to conjure up crazy ideas than any other animal. I know a extremely small percentage of violent crimes take place in the back country, but there are an extremely small percentage of people in the back country too.
2) Hiking across a bear or mtn. lion with cubs or with some other reason to view me as a threat.
I had a buddy who killed and quartered and elk. He packed out what he could, hung the rest in a tree, and made a return trip for it. When he returned, he had a bear standing up on its hind legs underneath his hang site. He took a couple pictures of the unaware bear. He sat with his rifle ready. He didn't know if the bear was somehow spooked by him or something else, but it ran off hurriedly without ever looking in his direction. I, however, will be doing a lot of my hunting during muzzleload season and although I'm a good shot with my current weapons, I don't like the security of a single shot black powder rifle. I wouldn't want to return to the same situation, only to have a bear/lion with young around, or starving for a good meal and not so eager to run. Most of my back country hunting trips will be in areas with mtn. lions and black bears, but nothing larger. Actually, all my hunting takes place in areas with these animals, but most of them in very limited populations. I did a little reseach, with price a factor of course, and this is the list that I'm planning on researching a little more.
.45 ACP
.40 S&W
.357 Mag/.38 Revolver
Models I've chosen to look at are the Springfield XD and some Glocks, namely the 23.
In response to the quoted comment, would these not be effective on black bears?