American Handgunner May/June 1977

that one takes on a camping trip or hike,.or a pistol one sticks in a tackle box for afishing trip. A trail gun is a pistol that hasto be versatile in order to be there whenyou need it, and yet capable of doing thejob required of it. In addition to versatility,the trail gun must also meet certainrather restrictive standards.The first of these is weight. A trail gunmust be light weight if it is to be carriedwhen other guns are left behind. In a recentarticle on big bore trail guns, one authorsuggested a trail gun should weigh nomore than forty ounces. It is a matter ofpersonal preference, but it is hard for thiswriter to see why he chose such a limit.The big Smith and 'Wesson .44 magnumonly weighs 48 ounces. The difference of8 ounces when one is carrying a threepoundgun around is moot. Therefore, itis our belief that the trail gun should be iislight as physically possibl~while still meet-$ ing the other criteria of power and accu-EveThe matter of power is also hard to determineprecisely. As stated before, a trailgun is not the gun one would pick as a primawweapon to go deer hunting with.~urin~ the.relatively few short weeks ofdeer season, it would be far more logicalto carry any of the magnum handguns, orphrase "trail gun" has probably garnishedenough funds to enable it to retire in PalmSprings for eternity.Unfortunately, gun writers nor theirphrases seldom retire. Perhaps more unfortunateis the fact that this writer is goingto examine the term "trail gun" oncemore. But rather than simply state that webelieve the .38 special to be the perfecttrail gun, we are going to present a casefor the .38 special which we think willhelp "demystify" the concept itself.What is a trail gun? Well, it is obviouslya hunting firearm. But so is a Smith &Wesson Model 29, or a Winchester Model94 or a Remington 870. However, wewould suspect that few would classify anyof these guns primarily for trail use.From the term itself, one would assumethat the trail gun is a gun that one woulduse in the out-of-doors. It is most often referredto as a gun that one can easily carryor have close at hand, even while engagingin another activity. For this reason, we areinclined to agree that the trail gun shouldbe a pistol. Only a pistol can be handy atall times with a minimum amount of effortexpended in carrying and storing it.A trail gun is a firearm that you carrywhen you just want a gun by your side,whether you're actually hunting or simplytaking a walk in the woods. It is a pistolThe trail gun in a well-designedholster can be carried all daywith no fuss or bother, assuringit will be there when needed.AMERICAN HANDGUNNER MAY/JUNE 1977