If You Were Heading For The Yukon Today

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Depends entirely upon how far from the pickup I'll be hiking.

Yukon sounds like a long hike may be involved - so maybe a GP100 4" in 10mm?
 
DPris said:
What revolver would you take along?
Denis
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Pop quiz?

A Redhawk in .45 Colt loaded with the baddest Ruger-only hardcast bear loads I can find. But that's just my answer, from a guy who's never been further north than Spearfish, South Dakota.

Although I've gotta say, some of the stuff I'm reading in this thread is most intriguing...
 
I would likely take a .22 RF revolver for foraging something to eat. Something like a nice Ruger Single Six. I would also take a good pump shotgun in 12ga. for any big critters that take offense to me being there.
 
If You Were Heading For The Yukon Today
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The question does NOT say it's about "revolvers only" (at least in the heading) and if it was the Yukon in Canada, revolvers "handguns" would not be let in... but I did carry a M-29 in Fort Yukon more than one time, along with a drilling for hunting, when I flew out of there...

DM
 
Ruger Redhawk in 45 Colt. 300gns Hornady Bonded XTP over 18.5 of AA#9 because... but I wouldn't feel under gunned with a standard 250gn Deep Curls.
 
Oh come now on- quite clear in the question. :)
I'm pretty sure Borland's right.

I think it'd be my convertible Blackhawk in .45 Colt, just to mate tradition with modern practicality.
Denis
 
I shoot mostly handguns, but mostly for fun, and have never tried for speed with a magnum caliber. I am better and faster with a rifle for something like this. Others are more comfortable with a revolver, and some neither.

And since this is a what revolver question, it would have to be one of my Redhawks, either .41 or .44 Mag, as I no longer have a .45 Colt Redhawk. I do not have a larger caliber revolver.
 
I carry a Smith 329PD. In town, I carry Hornady .44 special hollow points. In the country I carry Buffalo Bore reduced recoil .44 magnum hard cast Keiths. This gun is an amazing, joy to carry in a Milt Sparks PMK. One lightweight gun that is a constant, easy carry companion.
 
I used to do long range charters in Prince William Sound. One of the things we offered was going to shore with as many as 6 customers. As these neophytes where almost always excitable and hard to control, (like herding cats) I would always be armed. I would always carry my 4" 29 with 310 grain sledgehammer hard cast and a 458x2 American built on a Remington 660. Normally we were just doing tide pools and short walks. Sometimes we would come across a Salmon stream with shredded fish carcasses. Generally the rifle stayed in the skiff and I'd just have the Smith in a Simply Rugged chest rig. The bears on the coast, black and browns are commonly larger than the inland bears, sometimes quite a bit bigger. Felt very under gunned at times. So I have to agree with MaxP, who mentioned the 480 Ruger is pretty stout, and certainly capable.
I weight using the X Frame guns, but, you might as well carry a rifle. I bought a SRH in 480 and bobbed the barrel to 5.5", carries pretty well. The 480 is just, recoil wise, just a little more the a stout 44 mag. I also started to build a 50 Alaskan as well.
The 44 Mag would work well for the inland bears, if you are good with it. But that goes for any caliber. What sold me on the 480 is with 410 hard cast at 1100 fps, the penetration is better that the 454 with 360's at 1350 fps. The other benefit is the 480 is more controllable than the 454. Velocity is not always your friend.
I believe you should count on only 1 or 2 shots if your lucky. I was usually able to heard the cats to a safe place and only suffered one close call, fortunately the Brownie stop about 20 feet out. I believe the critter stopped because nobody ran and we bunched up so we looked BIG. Uncomfortable to say the least.
 
I hunted in the Yukon area in the 80's & my guide carried a Smith & Wesson Model 19 w/6" barrel stuffed into a shoulder holster. I never discussed the subject with him but he mentioned that the revolver was illegal but out there in the middle of nowhere who would know?. My guess is that if he took the trouble of carrying it he must have thought it was good enough for mountain grizzly or any other emergency he would run into. In his place I would prefer something with fixed sights & carry one my Ruger Vaqueros - 44 Magnum w/5.5" barrel. Those are the biggest handguns I own & I shoot them well enough.
 
Charlie, nothing wrong with a hot 357 mag with some 180 or 200 grain WFN slugs for inland bears. A 357 with the right slugs penetrates quite well. I have started carrying a 3" SP101 while working on the Homestead, because it fits in my back pocket and is handy. Around the interior of Alaska black bears are 150 to 300 pounds and Grizzly's are extremely few and far between. If you would run into a Grizzly around here, while larger then a black bear, they are rare and small. I'm thinking no matter what caliber, especially a 357, you want a head shot. I prefer the 44 mag and keep a Browning 92 and a Smith 29 stoked with Hornaday 265 grain flat nose slugs because they function well in both, and I have a ton of them. This is at the house and shop, when out away from the house I carry as stated above a SP101.
 
Max I agree with you.
But, when I'm out working someplace on the property I found that if I have a rifle it gets leaned against a tree and may not be close to hand. The 357 SP101 fits nicely in my back pocket with out dragging down my pants. A handgun that is larger needs to be in a chest, hip, or shoulder rig. If I was in big bear country I would go with one rig or the other for the 44 or 480.
Having said that, when I first opened up this valley I and the neighbors (this covers about a 5 or 6 mile radius) killed 11 blacks that summer. Never was without a 44. One neighbor killed 3 inside his cabin in 4 days. Never meet him but fish and game told me about him as he was writing me a ticket for shooting 2 bears without a licence that weekend. Never had to kill one inside, but they sure have torn my cabin apart more then once. Unfortunately the critters seem to always know when I'm out.
 
I've flown over the Yukon a couple of times for six week trips down both the Kongakut and the Canning. Both times, I took a Smith & Wesson 629-1 to supplement my rifle, an '86 Winchester in 40-65.
Food was a problem. Fishing on both rivers proved spotty. Once on the Kongakut, about a month out, I decided I needed to test the revolver to make sure everything still functioned, and I headshot a couple ground squirrels. Ground squirrels were actually quite prevalent, and I wish I had a .22 pistol with me with something like CB caps. I didn't have enough .44 magnum ammunition to burn for no more than the value of the ground squirrel, and I didn't like announcing my presence to the world for no more meat than a ground squirrel offered.

I'm not that enamored with the idea of a handgun for bear protection. It can and has been done and will be done again, but I've seen too many large animals hit with a handgun to have too much faith in it. Killing the bear at close range is easier than stopping him. Still, I wouldn't want to be without the handgun. If my boat went down in a rapid and I lost everything but what I had on my person, the .44 magnum in an El Paso Saddlery crossdraw would leave me higher on the food chain than I would be without it.

In Canada, east of the Yukon, during a five month trip through the Mackenzie Mountains, I relied solely on a Remington 700 .35 Whelen. I would have loved to have had a handgun, any handgun, a Ruger Bearcat .22 would have been a godsend. One thing I won't do again is rely on just one weapon. Too much can go wrong with any mechanical device. It's a sick feeling when you hear something outside of the tent, the bolt's out of the rifle, a cleaning rod is in the barrel, and you have no other weapon.
 
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