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Aside of legallity, what is the ultimate rifle or pistol for hound hunting (bear & cats)? I've been looking at a .22 Mag Crickett rifle. The old timers have killed a lot of game (big and small) in trees with a 22 rimfire, they die in the tree instead of hitting the ground running. A friend has a .22 hornet rifle that is cut down with a small scope on it, he loves it.

I've always carried a ruger single six 22/ 22 mag and they come with two cylinders. I consider it the best revolver on the market, lions or bobcats.

Throw the bears out and you can get by with a 22 Mag. if you hunt in tree country where you generally get to pot shoot them off a limb, they work fine. If you get into tight scrape country ledges bluffs, bad bayups in the rims where you may not be able to get real close to save a dog's life then think again. Bears yes i have killed them with a 22 but not becasue I wanted to or it was my choice but forget it for real hunting.

All kinds of combinations do fine but you must find the balance of power, portability easy of operation and versatility. I have got tons of guns and love them all but for me after all these years of following the hounds my dog hunting guns of choice are.

Coons and bobcats: 22 colt Woodsmen auto with high speed hollowpoints.

Lions a model 66 4" stainless Smith and /Wesson 357 magnum loaded with 125 Gr. jacketed hollowpoints. And close at hand or on my horse my faithful Rossi 92 carbine in the same caliber stocked with 158 gr. jacket hollowpoints. It does fine too with the 125 grs. but the extra barrel length and velocity can blow a pretty good hole at times.



Bears: a 44 Magnum or 30-30 Wionchester carbine with a sling on it is mighty hard to beat.


Like I said there are tons of guns that will work but you have to find the balance and not everybody hunts them in the same places and you should plan for the worst becasue there will be a time it will happen.

32 winchester special lever action and 22 revolver on the hip for the little stuff.

Lots of climbers will work fine, but if I had to choose just one caliber weapon type for bear and lions I would choose a 357 mag in a short barreled lever action rifle. if look at it in terms of easy to shoot, little recoil, distance for lions in bluffs you cant get close to, knock down power, ammo is easy to find anywhere.

I have a .357 pistol, a .44 Pistol, .45 Pistol and rifle. My favorite is the .357, I am going to buy a new one on my birthday. I say skip shootin the animals themselves, use a .500 "pistol" and just shoot the whole tree down LOL. And slaughter every stump on the way if they live in your neck of the woods LOL. The .500's come in long barrle cannons and even little snub nosed cannons... Though the snub nose .500 might just give YOU a snub nose, still, it will do everything from kill Bears, Lions, Bobcats, Stumps, Trees, Rocks, Quitimundi, Chupacabra, Big Foot, and even shoot through car/truck doors if people are harassing you!

.500 hand cannon moto: GET SOME!

I seen a guy shoot a bear with the .460 S&W. One of the fastest kills i have seen, big entrance hole lots of damage and no exit. I was impressed.

I always have a single action Ruger .357 or Sig 40S&W on my hip when I'm in the woods. If I had the money I would like to get the ruger single six 22 combo pistol, but the crickett fits my budget at just over $100. I also have a Marlin 336C in 35 Remington with a sling, its not too bad to get around in the woods and I can shoot a 2in group at 100 yards with the iron sights. I'd rather have something I can put in a backpack or on the hip though.

Hard to beat a 30-30 but a 357 pistol is my standard

I use a .17 hmr mostly but I also have a ruger single six with vaquero sights, and a semi auto ruger. 22 mark 1. If I was looking for a bigger gun id look into those take apart survival guns.

Not being able to use handguns here in Canada we have to find one rifle for the lions and one for small cats.
For years I have used a TC Contender that I modified so it takes down with one screw attached to the sling swivel that holds the forend to the bbl.
I have a 30-30 and a 22 Mag barrel , it fits in a small pack and weighs nothing with the composit stock.
Put a 1.5 power scope on the 30-30 for clients and have the best of both in one rifle.

Im pretty happy with a fuji fine pix myself

Have a Ruger Single Six and the Ruger .44 should be here any day, thinking about a scope on each.

I still say the Ruger Mini-30. Since the last time this question was posted I have harvested a few Bears and cats with this rifle and swear by it. Its small enough to shoot a Bob and not cut it in half and big enough to drop a bear in a bay up no prob. And the fact it extremely light is one of the best features.