[mikedl5185]

I am looking for a good HD gun and I am confident this will be a great gun, plus my wife will be able to handle it.(OHHHH is that a good thing,I can be a bit of a pain at times) I am in the wood a great deal and where we hunt there are bear. I want a hand gun at my side that will be able to defend against a bear. Something that is light, accurate, and fast to use which i know the five seven is perfect. I don't want to carry a cannon. Will the commerical rounds be approiate to stop a bear. some gun dealers seem to have as many misconseptions as the lobbiest trying to spread lies on this round and what it truly availabe to the public. Looking for imput from anyone who can help. what do you all think??

 

[ShipWreck]

My Five Seven is my nightstand pistol. I am confident with it. And, it has light recoil - so it would be good for a woman.

However - this is not a gun to defend yourself for a bear. You need a 44 mag, 454 or a 45 LC if youw ant a handgun to stop a bear.

And honestly - an average woman will not like the recoil of any of those weapons. And, they are not that light (although, there are some short barrelled revolvers that shoot those rounds).

So, there really isn't anything that meets the EXACT reqirements you asked for that would do ALL of that. The bear self defense issue is the sticking point.

 

[Zhurdan]

Personally, if I lived in bear country, and I do, and if I were worried about running into a bear, I'd carry CS spray because shooting a bear without a license is gonna cost you, because dead bears tell no tales. Not to mention that all the Forest Ranger's l've ever met like to puff up their chests and nail people to the wall regardless of what happened to make you have to shoot a bear.

As far as 5.7 for stopping a bear... I'd not recommend it. 5.7 is just gonna honk off the bear whilst it closes distance and chomps on your face. Now, before someone says, "just put one in it's eyehole", remeber that you are going to have a pantload full of poop, and that makes it very difficult to shoot straight! A shotgun with slugs is about your only real problem solver outside of 41 mag, 44 mag, .500S&W and other hand cannons. I have three uncles that guide in Alaska, and have witness people literally 'bouncing' 9mm's off the bears skull. So, again I'd recommend something fast, heavy and with large cross section!

Zhur

 

[Promoted Pawn]

I trust the USG as being sufficiently lethal against hominids. I carry one daily. I wouldn't worry about it becoming illegal. I've been hearing that for years. It's a sales tactic.

As for bears.. I actually have a bear vs USG story.

I was in the woods 'playing survivor' as I say when it started raining. So I laid under the trunk of this fallen tree to wait out the storm. After a bit I hear the most god-awful beastly noises nearby. I draw my USG and stand up to see this particularly huge black bear bruin aggressively destroying astump with it's claws. I have a bead on it's big head and I say "hey there" in a conversational tone. It's feet are suddenly flying so fast that it does a sorta somersault, knocking down a tree, and it high tails it up the hill like a horse. I could feel the ground shaking.

And I had the feeling that my USG would have been absolutely ineffectual against such a moving mass of bone and flesh.

I don't worry about the black bears around here, but if I lived in grizzly country I think I would tote a compact 12g.- the kind without a shoulder stock. Or a big bore carbine. Anything that starts with .4 or 5 and ends with magnum would be my choice for a handgun in grizzly country.

 

[wlcohen]

I think the grip on the 5-7 is too large for most women

 

[fathermorpheus]

Well I have small hands for a big guy. And each time I've shot the Five-Seven I've found it fits well. It has something to do with the thinner handle. But of course, everyone's hands fit differently. I would have the woman fire it first, of course.

And the only thing I do like about the idea of using a Five-Seven as a trail weapon is the large capacity. But I think I have to agree that it just wouldn't have the dropping power of the other large caliber weapons.

FM