my brother just ordered a Ruger Superblackhawk Alaskan.

[vash]

we are both prepping for hunting alaska. grizzly country. as it stands, apparently i will be the one with the bear spray. damn..pistols are crazy expensive!!

he thinks i should postpone my .357 purchase and just go for the big boy. how does the ruger compare with the SW 629 in the same short barrel?

the rugers are flying off the shelves.

[aigel]

From all I read and see in videos that thing kicks like a mule. It may be the 454 casull. You are planning on that or a .44 mag? The 629 is a nicer gun IMHO, and may kick a little less even compared to the Ruger in .44 due to geometry? If you want to get a .44, I'd get a used 629 with a 4 or 6 inch barrel (pre-lock) - it will cost the same and sell for the same if you don't want it any more. It will only go up in value compared to the Alaskan.

What are you going to hunt? Are you bow hunting? Do you need a handgun or could you take a long gun? In place of a handgun, I would take a 12 ga slug shotgun with a short barrel and mag extension. It carries more punch, more rounds and costs a lot less. Weren't you shopping for a home defense shot gun already?

Let us know more about your trip!

G

[Rick V]

[Buckterrier]

If you are using it to defend your life against a bear I'd get at least a 4 inch barrel for accuracy reasons. I'm a S&W guy myself so I agree with the 629.
Or as aigel says take a shotgun. I'd take an sbs and carry it Mad Max style

[ODDJOB UNO]

vash dood.............you are now entering the "spirit world" and it iz written ........

smith= NO HOT RELOADS

ruger=HOT RELOADS thicker backstrap and cylinder.


but then it would be a cold day in hell that i used re-loads anywhere around mr grizz. unless completely tested and reloading each and everyone as yer life depended on it , cuz it will.


find yerself a 4" or 6" 629 and get a "butter" job on the action, fer sure chamfer the cylinder for yer speed loaders, and magna port the barrel.

buffalo bore 305's or corbon for grizz 320grains will do a hell of a job.


if yer gonna ever reload HOT, then buy the ruger. they weigh damn near the same, look damn near the same, shoot damn near the same, have damn near the samo sights on them.

remember dont listen to ANYBODY if they say use a hollowpoint. they aint yer friend. it will just wad up with fur and NOT KILL HIM! and then...........well yer REALLY FEEKED! you MUST HAVE A MEPLAT BULLET! if you never listen to me about anything ever again........YOU WILL BE BEARPOO IF YA USE HOLLOWPOINTS!


and dats a FACT! bigg azz solid chunk of 305/320gr meplat going so damn fast it crushes bone and rips him a new azz out the other side causing MASSIVE BLOODLOSS TO HIS FREEKING BRAIN! no O2 to brain..............bear dont move.


but it aint just plug and play.


its PAY $$$ and SHOOT $$$ out yer azz until yer comfortable with it in a snap shot situation with mr grizz running yer white azz down.


these 320 gr corbons aint nothing for the city slickers. ya better damn well practice alot with them. out of a model 29 or 629 they are a handful.


i work with a bunch of alaskan pilots and an a&p who is an avid hunter there. all of them say to a "T" "take whatevar you can shoot accurate". so with that in mind buying a .460/.480/.500 is just plain stoopid because unless yer rich, yer gonna be broke practicing with those rounds.

.454 casull gives ya also the .45LC to shoot. but then there are no .454 casull lever actions to go with it.

heres a pic of my model 29 nickel. cross chest holster is the katz azz sailing a fly, fishing in jellystone on the madison the nez perce and the yellowstone rivers. cross chest is a bianchi UM-84R. the model 29 nickel 4" just fits it. it will go as a cross chest or a belt holster. my other cross chest is a westwood landing cross chest with pockets for 4 speed loaders. both werk beeet-chin.


this bull elk hunt i will be taking the 6" 629 as my sidearm. 225 gr hornadays for mr elk. flatter shooting round than a 305 or 320gr. for close up work in the cedar/junipers or if my rifle should take a crap for some very odd reason. but then weirder poo has happened and im prepared for it.




remember what my amigos said...........a .357 is better hittin the damn bear 6 times than a .500 ya cant hit a broadside of a barn with.

other choices 12 gauge anything, a 45/70 marlin with 405gr to 500gr bullets, a .338 win mag with 250gr bullets or .375 H&H.


or a freeking SOCOM WITH A 30RD MAG! 168gr FEDERAL HPBT's. probably frowned upon by all game and fish agencies, but when its MY AZZ ON THE LINE and not theres................i will be more than happy to attend court for shooting mr grizz 30 times as fast as i can to avoid being eaten anyday and gladly pay the fine.

[enzo1]

[HardDrive]

I don't see any reason to go bigger than a 626 with corbons. A .44 firing a 'keith' bullet is going to have massive penetration, even on a large animal.

[MT930]

The Red hawk is the ticket, it will shoot the stiff loads with no worry.

Living in Griz country here in MT and getting up to Alaska on the peninsula.

I see more of these straped on the hips of the the guys who really know what's going on. Guides and FWP officers.

The S&W is a better looking gun for sure.

The Ruger is a beast it's the #1 choice in griz country.

[Rick Lee]

I have a model 29 and it's too nice to carry for bear protection. The bluing looks like a mirror. If I ever go out in the bush in AK, I'll buy a Ruger for the trip and then sell it later if I don't think I'll go back. Lots of used Rugers out there for this purpose.

[9dreizig]

Cliff, I have the 629 "mountain man" version 4 in pencil barrel .. I love it,, I usually keep it in AK but it's home with me now..
Why don't you plan a bird trip and I'll let you shoot a few rounds through it?? Give me a call still need to download on AK as well...

[Buckterrier]

Originally Posted by 9dreizig

Cliff, I have the 629 "mountain man" version 4 in pencil barrel .. I love it,, I usually keep it in AK but it's home with me now..
Why don't you plan a bird trip and I'll let you shoot a few rounds through it?? Give me a call still need to download on AK as well...

He'd better bring back something for your trophy thread Todd I had a scoped 29 8 3/8" barrel, loved that gun. One that got away.

[varmint]

Some company named puma makes a copy of the old 92 browning lever action in .454 Casull

Gal I work with has one. Seems nice enough.



They reopened bear season on the Kenai last month. Ton of the damn things running around.

[9dreizig]

Originally Posted by Buckterrier

He'd better bring back something for your trophy thread Todd I had a scoped 29 8 3/8" barrel, loved that gun. One that got away.

I"m still waiting for an Elk steak from his last hunt!!!!

[vash]

packaged and frozen away.. i have some great steaks for you!!

how is the caribou? you mowing thru it? i had to recalibrate my stove techniques for the elk. i got it down now. the wife even loves it!! she may just encourage me to go after another one..

i tell her moose is better. hahahha.

[9dreizig]

The sausage is EXCELLANT!!! the meet is very good too. Next weekend i'm going to throw a bunch in the smoker.. Let me know and I'll bring some over the mountain and we can trade a couple of steaks or roasts..

[fred cook]

I have a Ruger Redhawk 4" stainless in .44mag. I have fired everything from .44 specials up to a load from Georgia Arms that pushes a 200 grain bullet at about 1600 fps! Before buying the hot loads from Georgia Arms, I called and asked if they had been tested in a revolver. I was told that they regularly used the Redhawk to test their hotter loads before adding them to the catalog. You can do the math, but a 200 grain pill at 1600 fps works out to a bit over 1200 ft.lbs. of energy! The only real downside is a bit more recovery time between shots due to the recoil. It is not something that you would want to go plinking with! Other than the Redhawk, I don't know of any other double action revolver that I would use this load with! Smith and Wesson make pretty guns, but the Ruger is built to take care of business.

[Jeff Higgins]

That's a Super Redhawk Alaskan, Vash - a double action revolver. The Super Blackhawk is a single action, and there is no "Alaskan" version of it. There is, however, and equivelent in this year's TALO custom Super Blackhawk with a 3 3/4" barrel. I just picked one up a couple of months ago (and had a thread about it):



The photo shows it with my two "standard" .44 mag loads. One is the original Keith bullet from RCBS mold number .44-250K (mine actually drop at about 265 grains) over 22 grains of the old Hercules 2400 for about 1400 fps from that stubby little gun. The other is from an LBT mold, a 300 grain bullet of their "LFN" (long flat nose) design, over 22 grains of 296 for just shy of 1300 fps. Both are exceedingly accurate in this little gun (as well as my other .44 mags).

Those are both very heavy loads. I would not shoot them, especially the 300 grain load, in any model 29. At least not very much. Any Ruger, be it a Red or Blackhawk, will shoot these forever without ill affect. To the gun, anyway - the shooter is another story.

Recoil is a bit stiff with either load in this little gun. They are a bit loud, too. That's o.k., though, becuase if it ever comes right down to it, you won't notice either. Yeah, it can be a bit tiring to get much practice with these heavy loads, but that's why we practice with .44 Special level loads. Use the Specials to get familiar with the gun, and to stay sharp with it, while shooting just enough of the serious loads to zero it and get a feel for them. A good shooting glove, like a PAST, will help as well.

Oh, and listen to Oddjob - no hollow point for this duty. I'll go one step further and say no jacketed bullets at all. Hard cast lead bullets, heavy for caliber, are what makes big bore revolvers really perform. Forget the light for caliber, high velocity nonsense - energy numbers look good, but that's not what we are after. Energy does not do the killing with these, nor does expansion. Penetration is what counts. Deep, straight, and reliable. You can only get that from hard cast, heavy bullets. If you don't cast your own and reload, look to Buffalo Bore for quality cast bullet loads.

[ODDJOB UNO]

during one of my kids az hunter safety classes(ya get an extra draw point) the instructor pulled out a model 629 and a ruger super blackhawk.


he showed us the ruger 1st, and described the added beef backstrap and the added beef to the cylinder.

then he pulled out the 629 IN FREEKING PIECES! YEAH LOTS OF FREEKING CHIPS AND SHRAPNEL! and you ask why???? the freeking IDIOT MORON DOUBLE POWDERED HIS RELOAD!


now i honestly dont know if a ruger anything can handle that either.


and then for added PAIN/DRAMA/DOOM AND GLOOM he pulls out a 1911 .45 that the IDIOT MORON OWNER FAILED TO ADD ANY POWDER and SQUIBBED THE FREEKING ROUND and THEN FIRED ANOTHER ROUND!


and yes.............the 1911 was in lil itty bitty pieces as was the smith 629.


and i have seen 1st hand another individual NOT POWDER HIS RELOAD and SQUIB IT and then FIRE ANOTHER ROUND in a TAURUS and BULGE THE HELL OUT OF THE BARREL! he was escorted out of scottsdale gun club for breaking their RULE.................NO RELOADS! EVAR! and that is why.


hey before i went to jellystone fly fishing, i shot a hell of alot of different .44 mag full house loads. crap its a FREEKING HOOT to shoot HOT LOADS thru my marlin 1894SS! man is that FUNNNNNNN!

but when it comes down to hot loads in my 629(magnaported-all the goodies no more money can be dumped into it) and my model 29 nickel(magnaported-ditto no more money can be thrown at it).....................yer hand is gonna hurt BIG TIME without a glove. thats a fact jack! either corbons or buffalo bore.


now when the POO GOES DOWN and ya gots mr grizz bearing down on you, you aint gonna feel NOTHING but POO RUNNING DOWN INTO YER BOOTS, and (6) VERY LOUD KA-BOOMS and ya damn well be ready with a SPEEDLOADER READY TO RELOAD AND KEEP PUMPING ROUNDS INTO THE FEEKER UNTIL HE IS DEAD DEAD DEAD! yeah practice COMBAT RELOADS OVER AND OVER with speedloaders.

then you can clean up yer POOPY PANTS, and have yer picture taken with whatevar pistole ya bought, with it stuck up his azz or mouth or ear! and we will all POO OUR PANTS and BREATHE A SIGH OF RELIEF IT WASNT US!



their is a general consensus among many hunters from different "mr. grizz" states that upon "mr grizz" hearing some big azzd mega magnum go off, they DONT GO THE OTHER WAY! they ACTUALLY GO TOWARDS THE GUNFIRE SNIFFING FOR BLOOD! aka YOU ARE NOW THE HUNTED!

one of the pilots here with a bad azz pilatus went to wyoming with wifey and guide. they popped (2) bull elk. not a 1/2 hour later the dawgs start barking, and the next thing they knew they had a big azzd silvertip coming at them claiming the elk for his DIN DIN! all night long they were hassled by this damn bear. after that trip, he swore he will NEVAR GO THERE AGAIN HUNTING!

sooooooooooooooo.................it would BEHOOVE THE HELL OUT OF YOU once ya drop a critter, to go like HELL, slicing and dicing and quartering it to get the HELL OUT OF THERE WITH IT!


practice practice practice with whatevar round groups best with yer new toy. make it 2nd nature. you are not going to have a 2nd chance. dont GO ANYWHERE WITHOUT IT ON YER CHEST OR SIDE! i mean NOWHERE! even taking a crap, ya have that damn pistol ready to go. dont sleep in the same clothes ya cooked with. hang yer food, do every damn anti bear trick in the book. follow it to the letter as their is a damn good reason for it.


i mentioned before and i will mention AGAIN! last year while i was sitting on my azz taking 16 gazzilion pictures from the bleachers of ol faithful along with 20 millyon other tourists, a guy NOT 1.5 MILES NORTH OF OL FAITHFUL GOT REAL DEAD FROM MR GRIZZ! do you realize how many freeking people come and go from ol faithful in an HOUR???? BUSLOADS CARLOADS MOTORHOME LOADS! its insane. so there is NO PLACE SAFE when yer in the wilderness with kritters.


i would set my sights for 50yards DEAD ON! no sense shooting a damn bear at 100yds and missing or wounding him. they can run real damn fast, and will be upon you in no time at all, presenting YOU with a ONCE IN A LIFETIME SHOT!


the only thing i have to worry about on this years bull elk hunt is mountain lions. very very few black bears in our unit.


THINK "MEPLATS" as in BULLET DESIGN! one BIG AZZD CHUNK OF FLAT HARDENED LEAD,GOING RIGHT THRU MR GRIZZ OUT THE OTHER SIDE CAUSING MASSIVE BLOOD LOSS! NO 02 to BRAIN = (1) DEAD AZZD BEAR! breaking bone slicing arteries,dee stroying tissue/dee stroying organs and generally feeking him ALL UP so his genes never get to be procreated EVAR AGAIN!

[vash]

Red hawk. Check.

[Jeff Higgins]

Originally Posted by ODDJOB UNO

then he pulled out the 629 IN FREEKING PIECES! YEAH LOTS OF FREEKING CHIPS AND SHRAPNEL! and you ask why???? the freeking IDIOT MORON DOUBLE POWDERED HIS RELOAD!

There are fools everywhere. Some reload. Proper choice of powders will preclude the possibility of double charging a case, since the second charge would overflow and be obvious as hell there was something wrong. Too many reloaders use small quantities of faster burning powders in pistol and revolver loads, which many times won't even fill half the case. This is simply inviting a double charge. Of course, a good inspection of charged cases prior to bullet seating helps as well.

Originally Posted by ODDJOB UNO

and then for added PAIN/DRAMA/DOOM AND GLOOM he pulls out a 1911 .45 that the IDIOT MORON OWNER FAILED TO ADD ANY POWDER and SQUIBBED THE FREEKING ROUND and THEN FIRED ANOTHER ROUND!

and yes.............the 1911 was in lil itty bitty pieces as was the smith 629.

and i have seen 1st hand another individual NOT POWDER HIS RELOAD and SQUIB IT and then FIRE ANOTHER ROUND in a TAURUS and BULGE THE HELL OUT OF THE BARREL! he was escorted out of scottsdale gun club for breaking their RULE.................NO RELOADS! EVAR! and that is why.

If my gun club outlawed reloads, we would lose half our members. At least. It's a sad day when a gun club feels it has to make such rules. Horribly missguided. They are effectively throwing many potential members off the bus before it even leaves the curb.

Handloading is a wonderful hobby. I've done it all my life and have never had an issue of any kind. I cannot remember the last time I bought factory centerfire ammo.