ayoob files: dueling rifles - Jeffersonian's Home Page

scoped bolt-action pistols. Indeed, they
are interesting little buttstock-free rifles.
I do own a Thompson/Center Contender,
but no handgun barrels over 10"
in length. Mostly I shoot Contenders as
carbines, with rifle barrels.
I also own defensive handguns
chambered for rounds such as the .357
Magnum and .40 S&W, and am pretty
competent with them. They’re handy
to carry in certain situations, but aside
from one coyote put down with the .357,
I have yet to use them on anything practical.
There’s also a Taurus .44 Magnum
that fits into a nifty custom shoulder rig
made by leather-worker Norm Schertenleib
of Great Falls. Norm makes these
rigs for fly-fishermen, so we can cast
and yet remain armed against varmints.
I have no illusions of stopping a grizzly
with the .44, mostly because if grizzlies
are a problem I don’t fish there. But it
would work on a mountain lion or a
2-legged varmint, for sure.
Maybe handguns are the primary arm
in certain parts of the country, particularly
those urban jungles where they’re
often “controlled.” But out here in Big
Sky Country, a lot of us still think of
handguns as sidearms, just as Elmer
Keith did. He loved sixguns, but freely
admitted they were only truly handy
when you couldn’t get your hands on a
rifle or shotgun. A lot of us still
look at it that way. *
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