I am not really a fly fisherman, but I am lucky enough to live 10 minutes from a good rainbow river, several super bass lakes, and I have my own ponds. I enjoy catching a bass, bluegill or crappie on a fly, but when the wind is too high, or that fails me, I reach for a spinning rod or bait caster. Most of my fishing is for bass, bream and crappie, some striped bass in fresh and salt water, big rainbows in deep lakes, and a few trips to saltwater for redfish, sea trout inshore, occasionally some tuna and kings offshore. I will try fly fishing for all those, but just for a change of pace. Since I travel all over the US, if I am going to be in a spot for more than two weeks, I will take a rod or even a rifle or shotgun and try to partake of the local outdoors. A trip back to Minnesota or Canada for smallmouth and pike would be nice.

Pink is not a good color for a self-defense handgun.
Go matte black. I prefer a hammer and a manual safety over a striker-fired weapon - something like a Smith 3914.

pink is so cute, though! How is the recoil on a 3914? What do you like about that gun.

It is flat, a straight stack 9mm designed for the U.S. Marshal's Service, plainclothes police, and as a backup weapon to the 5906 police service pistol.

The 3914 fits most hands, and settles into the hand quickly.
It has less recoil than a lighter .380, with a lot more energy.
It is easier to control than most really small polymer handguns, or even its double-stack big brother compacts like the 6906.

It works with a wide variety of ammunition, from almost as mild as a .380, to the hottest +P 9x19mm.
That makes it very reliable, going over 20,000 rounds without a jam in police tests.
It is rugged and durable.
It is very accurate for a small pistol.
The manual safety makes it impossible to accidentally hook the trigger on clothing and fire it while holstering.

I grew up in western Mass. and my grandpsrents owned a farm right on the banks of a flooded 3 mile long and 1/2 mile wide swamp. It was no deeper than 15 ft. at any point. There was a limestone quarry that changed the Ph to a point so it wouldn't support trout and when the sunfish population got big, they stocked it with pickerel. When that got big they added northern Pike. There were also plenty of Bass and Bullhead, (bo pout,catfish, whatever you call them where you live).

Every year by the end of June the "lake" was covered with weeds, What does that spell? Bass, some that could swallow a small dog. I remember fishing offshore in a stump area and bouncing plugs off stumps and accually being afraid of the monsters that came up. They were so heavy they wouldn't be able to,(or be bothered to), come completly out of the water and all you would see is this 5 inch dorsal lol. I would prolly spend $12 a plug and lose 5 before I would give up.

Also they pulled state record N Pike out of tht lake year round.

For rainbows and brookis there were a lot of good spots in west Mass also.

I allways wanted to go to alaska and fish for salmon and to the great lakes for walleye but after 25 I had to give up fishing, alas time and money.. I guess now I can start fishing again. I used to live for it when I was a kid, just like hunting, but thats another story..

I haven't owned a single firearm since my first marriage but I have repaired a few for my friends. Second wife was "afraid" of them even though she came from a rural farm community.

I remember my friend Jim who was like 4 years older than me when we were in boy scouts. I was like 10. I was a fan of daniel boone showand learned as a kid to sqeeze the trigger and I was a pretty good shot.

Jim and I and the rest of the boyscouts were at the firing range and everyone was crowding around Jim to see how well he would do. When the results were in I did better than him, lol. It was a grand moment for a 10 yr old.

Years later, when I was 28, my neighbor who owned a pistol and a rifle asked me if i wanted to go out plinking. I ended up being a better shot than him with his own pistol? Also this is the kicker, He had a new bolt action 22 which he loaded with 22LR stingers. He wanted to see if the sights were on and he asked me to check it out. I shot once and picked off a wren at least 40 yds on top of a tree. lmao. everyones jaw dropped but I acted like I knew I would hit it. Still, I brag about that though because for whatever reason, God granted this nearsighted kid with cokebottle glasses a steady hand with firearms.

I probably should own one because of where I live and might look into it. It would be fun to go to the range with my friend who doesnt have a clue that his 12GA mossberg has a riot barrel or how to use it. He got the gun after his son and him were tied up in there own house. He needs to learn how to use it and what to expect. Practice makes perfect.


So as far as handguns go, I think for personal protection a 30-06 lever action would be my best home weapon. It is short enough to wield in tight quarters and you can hit what your aiming for unlike a shotgun, which hits everything. It also makes a neat sound when you put one in the chamber. For a pistol thogh I have no clue. A federal marshall I met once while I was doing a service call at his home showed me his glock. It was the onewith the extra large clip for law enforcement. At the time he said it was the best weapon then but that was in 1994. What is you guys sugestion for a Hogleg?


Keep in mind I love that quote from Quigley down under, the movie with Tom Selleck. He was a sharpshooter who "didn't find much use" for handguns

When the "Bad guy" who thought he was the "fastest gun in the territory" had a shootout with Quigley and forced him to use a pistol Quigley beat him to the draw. Quigley said ..

"I said I didn't have much use for em, not that I didn't know how to use em"


Sorry love that line and had to find a way to squeeze it in.

Since you want a .22, and you want an handgun, consider a .22 handgun.

Taurus revolver, 4 or 6 inch, half lug under the barrel or full lug, adjustable sights. Clone of a S&W K-22. $300.00.

Browning Buckmark .22 semiauto. Looks good, shoots good, had built in scope ring bases on the frame. $325.00.

Thanks Retread! I will look into this!

I don't know if I would want a .22. I had to borrow my friends 45 auto when there was this crazy dude running around shooting ppl and wearing body armor. I would have emptied it into his chest if he breached the door, (Thereby breaking some ribs and knocking him out I have heard). It had hollow-points and the "illegal" extra large clip.

If I got a Pistol for personal protection I was gonna put it in one of those gun safes next to the bed that have a finger combination lock. The kind you can open in the dark cuz they are in the shape of a hand. I also was going to get something that could stop someone cold if nessesary.

What do you suggest retread for a hand cannon?

My late father-in-law had Glock G35 (S&W 40). It is a bit big for CC, but is hoot at short range. It has almost as much knock-down as the 45 ACP with about half the barrel lift when firing in rapid fire situations.

It packs more punch than a 9X19 or .380 without the weight of the 45 ACP.

I keep hoping my wife's step mother is going to give it to her since it was one thing she really wanted, but so far, it doesn't look like we'll have it at our house very soon.

For CC the subcompact G27 (also chambered for S&W 40) or the G29 in 10mm are nice and light, short but aren't really rapid fire versions since they do lift pretty hard when you hear the "bang."

The S&W 40VE or 40GVE are also nice. Under 500 bucks.

The scariest hand gun I ever shot was a S&W 460XVR Hunter. Makes a 44 Mag look like a target pistol. Don't know that you could carry one, at least not unless you worked out a lot. They make a compensated model that might get back on target faster, but the sound alone will drop most folks in their tracks. It would be handy as a back-up if you were hunting rhinos or elephants.

Alas we haven't been able to have any guns in the house since DD was diagnosed as bipolar when she was a kid. A few times I was glad we didn't have them. A few others, I might have wanted to use one on her...

One nice thing about shotguns for personal defense is that racking a 12 gauge pump gun is the loudest sound in the room when the time comes to bring it out. People falling stop half way to the floor when they hear that 'Ker-chunk" of the pump sliding back and forth.

Mark

When you were just awakened, it's dark, you're still half asleep and confused, the last thing you need is trying to remember which handgun you have and where the safety is. Get a revolver. A .357 four inch barrel revolver is king. You can load it down with .38 Specials and its a pussycat to shoot. Weight doesn't matter; your nightstand doesn't care if it weighs a few more ounces.

One thing I really like is you can buy the Speer plastic bullets and cases. They only need the primer to propel the bullet, and the bullets are reusable if you catch them in something soft. They make little noise, so you can practice in the house, basement or garage. You can seat the primers against a table top, and the depriming tool comes in the box of cartridges. They will really improve your skills. For a bullet trap, all you need is a cardboard box with an old towel hanging over a dowel, so it will give with the bullet, and they just fall into the box.

Looks like when the time comes it will be a few months of "Guns & Ammo" and some trips to the Gun shops for tryouts of the suggested weapons..

Thanks guys.

Would it help in the dark if the gun was pink?.....