Just a moment...

Interesting article on the various sorts of firearms, the Mention of a Remington 870 maybe not stopping a very large aggressive animal is something I'd never considered. Usually the 12 gage .00 buck will take down about anything provided Your close enough. which may be the problem. the use instead of 12 gage rifled slug however will go quite a distance , can be aimed and make a huge single hole. Our Police Department used the Remington 870 and each qualification at the range We fired 15 rounds of 12 gage 00 Buck and 1o round of rifled slugs. (25 total of both). The Air Force also used Remington 870s plus the older M12 shotguns both of which I had fired with there. A lot other the other firearms shown were also very effective and on handguns the Magnums to include .357, 41 and 44 all of which I had fired expert with. I found often both 9 (or 40 caliber) and 10 mm rounds though didn't always get the job done as well and We were taught to double tap (fire two rounds) I never had to fire more than one round with a Magnum to take anything down. (Usually sick or badly injured animals that would not have survived, ie: struck by vehicles or torn apart by other animals)

I'll admit however I've never had to take an animal charging at Me down, so actually have no experience with that at all and that's not a complaint, lol I had encountered a Tiger that passed within approx. 40 feet of us on a somewhat isolated post but I guess He had already eaten and showed no interest in us. lol We kept watch and hoping He didn't come back and sure worried about it. We didn't see Him again but He was huge and at least double the size and maybe more of two of us put together. In Vietnam I did carry an M16 every day and did use that but it wasn't animal charges We were holding off but humans and it worked well. I also found if too small an animal was shot with an M16 there was not much left of them. The only other firearms I'd used were much larger such as the M60 and 50 caliber. Our Air Force K9 troops often carried the Car15. (short version of the M16) The Police Department I retired form now also has the the newer M4 which all Department members have to qualify with along with the handguns and shotguns. My firearms experience both with the USAF and the Police Department was for Police work in both places (added duties also only in Vietnam on defense of our installation from enemy attacks)

All this leads us to the most reliable guns around. A proper double-action revolver is just about fail-safe. A simple break-action single- or double-barrel long gun doesn’t have much to break either. The trigger/hammer mechanisms could theoretically burp, but they remain fully enclosed within the frame or receiver. So long as the ammunition is up to scratch, there is just very little left to fail. There are options aplenty in these platforms, and pricing spans the spectrum from surprisingly cheap to ludicrous.

The XCAL chamber inserts from Chiappa sounds really terrific, but I've had only bad luck with Chiappa.