From: ben.sansing@chaos.lrk.ar.us (Ben Sansing)
Newsgroups: rec.guns
Subject: Re: guns vs. K9s
Date: 8 Jan 93 22:21:59 GMT
Organization: The Courts of Chaos * 501-985-0059 * Public Access Usenet


I hope this makes it to the moderator. Our bastardized interface here
makes these things difficult...

MX>In article <1993Jan4.130458.7348@email.tuwien.ac.at> holger@vmars.tuwien.ac.
MX>Holger Reusch (Dipl. Gerhard + Joe)) writes:
MX>#Consider the following scenario:
MX>#
MX>#You are confronted with a very  unfriendly  and  rather  big  dog
MX>#(growling,  foam  at  the mouth, suspected rabies) in your garden
MX>#(so carry laws are not an issue).  What gun/ammo would  you  like
MX>#to have with you?
MX>#
MX>        My first choice would be a 12 ga., #4 buck.  After  that, just
MX>        about ANY shotgun.  Handguns are OK too, but I'd prefer the shotgun.
MX>        I'd do with a rifle in a pinch, but it would be one the last
MX>        choices.

MX>        I agree that a .357 would do well.  I think anything from a 9mm on u
MX>OK, but of course even a .22 would be better than
MX>        nothing.

In my case - if we ran into the beastie while out camping, or in town
(we live in a small town) on a day when I was being "prudent", the
varmint would get dispatched with a 3" Chief's Special loaded with
Federal Starfire .38 +Ps. This little gun "lives" in my right front
pocket much of the time. I guess it would do the trick.

On the other hand, if it was a matter of looking out the front window
and spying the rabid monster, and thus having time to select from the
full arsenal, my first choice would be my Rossi M92 lever action in .357
magnum, loaded with 110-gr. JHPs.

We don't own a shotgun just now, though that would definitely be a
front-runner in the "kill the rabid varmint" category if we had one
handy.

MX>        Your concern for not wanting to scatter body parts all over the plac
MX>        is well founded, but must take a distant back seat to the need to
MX>        kill the animal.  Rabid animals are incredibly dangerous, and it is
MX>        absolutely amazing what they can do.  I have seen footage of rabid
MX>        rabbits walking around on their hind legs like a man.  Gives me the
MX>        willies big time just thinking about it.

Rabbits walking on their hind legs? WEIRD...

MX>        Six months ago I was chased down my street by a rabid racoon.  Scare
MX>        the shit right out of me.  It then went into a neighbors yard and
MX>        proceeded to shred their 200 pound Labrador, Sadie (yes, she IS a bi
MX>        girl :)).  Finally the cops arrived and blasted the `coon with a
MX>        shotgun.  Took two shots to kill it.

Extremely unpleasant situation.

MX>        The one thing I came away with from this experience was the distinct
MX>        knowledge that such an animal is not like a living creature, but mor
MX>        like a biochemical machine.  Mindless and violent, it simply acts, a
MX>        as such can be expected to do prodigious things.

That is quite true. In some respects, they're like small, fuzzy
Terminators. You gotta keep shooting till they're all blasted into
quivering gobbets... then burn the gobbets!

A related problem is feral dogs out in farmland country - or even in the
National forests where we sometimes camp. Those dogs people like to
"dump" when they quit being cute puppies can be a serious menace - rabid
or not. They run in packs, they have no fear of man, and they're
absolutely crazy. Back a few years ago, when my wife owned a farm in
Northern Arkansas, her "weapon of choice" against these beasties was a
scope-sighted .30-06. Shooting feral dogs became a "hobby" like unto the
less dangerous sport of shooting woodchucks and prairie dogs. A pack of
them treed her two young daughters once... Fortunately, her (then)
husband came along in the truck after a few hours, on his way home from
work, and dispersed the dogs with some skilful pistol shooting, but from
then on the rule was "shoot on sight"... yet they NEVER managed to
totally obliterate the menace.

We've seriously discussed carrying an SKS, or the Rossi lever gun, along
on our camping trips, just in case of feral dogs...
---
 . SLMR 2.1a . Mage ihre Ehre und ihrer Mut immer glaenzen donuts!