450:

OAL is:

7.62x25 Wolf 85 grain HP = 1.347
Wolf 85 grain FMJ = 1.368

.357 SIG S&B 140 grain FMJ = 1.134
Win WB 125 grain HP = 1.129

As you can see, the 7.62x25 is a very long auto pistol round. There ARE legitimate reasons for the refusal by various companies to build a gun around it, as it would require a new frame than most that are out there. Have said that, I am betting a Glock high capacity 7.2x25 built around the 10 mm auto frame with a lightened slide would be just the pickles for me. Magazine capacity might be 20?

The poorly designed but wonderfully accurate and performing {strange combination, I know} .357 SIG was designed around an OAL to accomodate pistols built around the .40 S&W OAL, and that one was built around the ability to beef up existing 9x19 frame/slides. I very much like the .357 SIG, but the miniscule neck has been noted to have caused some problems. A little more length there would be nice.

I have carried many different revolvers and many different auto pistols in the field and for my purposes and for personal reasons I just do not like carrying a revolver, my .44 Magnum, or the others I've owned. I do have reason occaisionally to use my .44, but only for specific purposes where the lighter auto rounds might not work. Heavy frame revolvers are just plain too bulky for me and particularly in winter, they fill up with snow and ice and generally are a mess to handle. I make 1/2, 3/4 and full flap holsters and can keep them reasonably clean, but even so, blowing snow and that from falls gets all inside the cylinder mouths and extra care must be taken to make sure the gun is clear. My autos are much easier to get clean inside. And the Tok and CZ52 are incredibly light and FLAT pistols, and make for a very trouble-free carrying package.

We have bear here, mostly black, a few grizzly to the east and southeast, plus wolves and lion but of course, no bear of any sort this time of year. And in many of the areas where I am skiing right now, there is no game or wildlife of any sort, as they have all moved down to the low country. Maybe a few hares, the odd moose, but not much else. It is later in the season, with the first melts, that game moves back into my ski areas and the wolves follow in force.

Regardless, they don't scare me much. For winter jaunts, I do, however, want a pistol package that has some capacity, or spare magazines that are reasonably closed up and self-contained, as if I get hurt and stuck, the wife wants me to start signalling 2 hours after dark on a day I "should be home for supper". I have some milsurp 7.62x51 NATO tracer bullets a friend loaded for me for the Tok that can be fired singleshot, too, and give a decent trace for several hundred yards. All purely personal stuff, as others disagree and like revolvers {like I used to}.