It was ten years ago but I can remember the feeling as if it were yesterday. I was hunting Sitka deer on an island off the coast of Valdez, Alaska with my friends Mike, Tim, Craig and Sammy. Mike was the captain on our rented boat, the Bold Eagle, and he slowly motored us up a long inlet surrounded by thick woods where we hoped to find a few tasty deer to fill the 4 tags apiece we each held. Suddenly we spotted a huge mass moving along the shoreline. Mike calmly told us it was a grizzly bear but I could have sworn it was a brown VW bug! The bear paid us no mind as it walked off into the woods. We proceeded another quarter of a mile up the inlet then motored into shore to hunt. Within minutes Sammy quickly downed two deer and when we began to drag the deer back to the beach the memory the huge grizzly came back to me. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up as I looked around me at the dense woods. Suddenly I didn’t feel quite so confident in my .300 Win Mag and began wishing I had a back up handgun with me.
Glocks for Bears?
The Glock pistol is one of the most recognized handguns in the world and has been used in print and video media for decades. How many times have you been watching a movie and when the character pulls out a gun you can immediately tell it is a Glock? Worse, how many times have you stated it out loud only to have your beloved wife give you a look that can only mean, “Really? I married that?” Don’t worry, you’re not alone. The main reason for this notoriety is the pistol is outstanding. It is reported to have over 65% of the law enforcement market as well as millions of guns sold to the public. You don’t get to this level without making a quality product.
The Glock pistol has proven its worth time and again as a law enforcement and personal defense weapon. Whether you are a personal fan or not, you can’t argue with its success in the police and civilian marketplace. But how about the outdoor community? You don’t see a lot in print regarding the Glock and the hunting community. I am willing to bet there are a lot of outdoorsmen who carry Glocks for protection and also take them with them into the woods. If you are one of these or wish to be, the Glock 20 or 29 in 10mm is a great choice.
Really, A Glock in the Woods?
What makes a good woods gun? First, let’s define a woods gun. What I am talking about is a handgun you take into the woods for personal protection or as a back up to your primary weapon. I am not talking about a dedicated hunting handgun which is an entirely different platform, but rather a gun you take into bear country as a last ditch effort. Therefore, to be a good woods gun a pistol should have a few key characteristics. First and foremost, you must be comfortable with it and shoot it well. Second, it should be of a large enough caliber to be relatively effective. I say relatively because handgun calibers are inherently underpowered to begin with. Third, it should be safe and reliable, and finally it should be as light as possible to enable the outdoorsman to carry it for an extended period of time. These are sometimes difficult qualities to match. A pocket .380 is easy to carry all day but not too comforting when dealing with an aggressive wounded animal. Conversely, a .454 Casull is an effective caliber but most guns chambered for it are a little heavy as back-ups. The Glock 20 or 29 are good combinations of all of these characteristics. One of the biggest advantages is ammo capacity. Most big bore revolvers have a 5 or 6 round capacity while the Glock will give you 10-15 rounds depending on magazine and the ability for a fast reload.
A 10mm Shooter
If you have shot a Glock in any model then there isn’t much I can tell you about shooting the G20 or G29 you don’t already know. Except what it is like to shoot a 10mm. Imagine a .40 caliber on steroids, which is the reverse of how the .40 came to be. The 10mm was created in the 1980s and intended to be the new law enforcement round of choice. Unfortunately it was simply too big. It kicked too much and it made the guns too large for many shooters. The short version of the story is that they chopped the 10mm down and the .40 caliber was born. That left the 10mm rather dormant for many years until Glock revived it with the G20. I’m not going to sugar coat it, the 10mm is a big round if you are used to shooting 9mm. It is also a very accurate and hard hitting round which makes it a great caliber for a woods gun.
I spent some time at the range shooting two brands of ammunition through a Gen4 G20 and a Gen3 G29. First, was ammo by DoubleTap Ammunition and included five different loads. There were two controlled expansion loads with 180 and 200 grain bullets running at 1305 and 1250 fps respectively. Then there was a hardcast 200 grain solid bullet pushing 1300 fps. Next came a 135 grain controlled expansion JHP round and finally a 125 grain solid copper expanding load, both of which were coming out of the muzzle at a screaming 1600 fps! All of the DoubleTap loads shot well and each has its place depending on your intended purpose.
The second brand of ammunition came from Buffalo Bore. If you need a heavy bullet for heavy animals, Buffalo Bore has what you need. The first load I fired was their Heavy 10mm 180 grain JHP round which ran around 1,315 fps out of a Glock 20. This is a normal pressure load and will run out of any factory gun. The next load is the one I would use for taking into the woods. It is the Dangerous Game 10mm Auto Mono-METAL. This is a 190 grain bullet pushing around 1,120 fps out of a Glock 20. This baby really packed a wallop and left you feeling like you could really put some hurt down range. This round features a Lehigh Defense flat nose bullet and took a lot of R&D to get right. The result is an effective, deep penetrating round that will bust through hide and bone on its way to vital organs.
I haven’t had the opportunity to hunt with my Glock 10mm, but Mr. Bob Radecki has and with great success. Bob is the National Sales Manager for Glock, so suffice to say he knows a bit about the product! I have had the pleasure of spending some time on the range with Bob and can tell you he knows his way around firearms. During the fall of 2022, Bob took two whitetail bucks with a G20 Gen 5 MOS Glock topped with an Ameriglo Haven red dot sight. Both bucks were taken with the Double Tap 200 grain JHP Controlled Expansion loads and were quick, clean kills. Now I know a 200 buck isn’t the same as an 800 pound grizzly but I think you get the point.
Good in the Woods
If you are looking to shoot steel plates as fast as possible then you should stick with a G34 9mm, but if you want a large bore hard hitting round in a semi auto pistol then look no further. The Glock 20 and 29 shoot great, are utterly reliable and carry plenty of 10mm big bore firepower. I hope to never have to face a grizzly bear up close, but if I do I’ll feel a lot better with a Glock 10mm on my hip instead of just my skinning knife.