good defense handgun for hiking/trailblazing?

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ghost

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here in Florida there's a lot of open land and i'm generally an adventurous person. I like to see the beginnings of a natural trail in the woods and see where they lead, i often times find pretty peaceful spots that fortunately haven't been tainted by man yet. but here in florida there's also a huge population of wild boar, and the occasional water moccasin or rattlesnake. im not so worried about the snakes, live and let live.

but boars are really aggressive here. whats a good caliber/handgun in general to stop them when it comes to it?
 
i would recomend a .44 magnum or a .357 magnum...if you want a .357 magnum i would say get one of these three... a S&W model 686+ which is a 7 shot .357 magnum, S&W model 627 which is an 8 shot .357 magnum, or a Ruger GP100....or if you want to spend alot of money get the Colt Python .357 magnum...if you want a .44 mag get the S&W model 29 or Ruger Red Hawk
 
well if you are going to be hiking you want something light and thin. check out the ruger LCP or LC9. and also my favorite small conceal carry gun is a bersa thunder 380. all these guns are under $400 new. but if you want something with a little more punch go for a snub nose .357 mag.
 
Ruger GP-100 .357 magnum revolver. They are reasonably light and well balanced. Also they are not terribly expensive compared to what you might pay for a semiautomatic. The .357 magnum round would have enough stopping power for what you might encounter.
 
In your case, with the mix of snakes & other stuff; the Taurus Model 4510 Judge Public defender in .45 colt/.410 shotgun makes sense. The .45 colt brings more lead over the Magnum without the recoil. The shotshell will turn a python snake into hamburger.
 
Serbu Super Shorty 12 gauge
Its manufactuered in florida too!
 
If you are good with a handgun, then any .357 Magnum revolver would work. I was given a box of .357 shotshells by a friend. I just shot soda cans with them, but I was pretty impressed at close range. I would think that would work for snakes in a pinch. You can get .357 loads that would stop a boar right in it's tracks, but it takes a lot of skill to hit things with a handgun.

Another good option would be a short carbine style rifle. I have a Mosin M44 sporter that would be good for the job. It was built by a friend to be an all weather rifle you could use for all sorts of things, and not worry too much if it couldn't be cleaned or dried off right away. A Winchester 94 or any number of other rifles would work just as well. Carrying a rifle is kind of a pain at times, but you get so used to it after a while, you don't even feel right without one after a while.
 
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