Bear defender 12 gauge

Caveat: we only have black bears on the property, not Grizzlies, but we also have coyote packs. This is what I carry as my non-hunting utility gun. when I'm out to shoot birds or rabbits or whatever, I carry a longer-barrelled upland gun. I use a no-nonsense plain nylon sling on it to ensure I actually have it on me when needed, not 5 paces away leaning on a tree.

DA Grizzly bead sight model w 12.5" tube. Gun is finished in FDE Cerakote. Stocks replaced with a much lighter Hogue set.
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Barrel threaded for RemChokes. I.C. installed. I load with Rem 00 Buck for defensive purposes. If I was in Grizz territory, I would consider slugs. I also had a Remington pedestal sight installed to correct the POA.
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S&J follower and Remington Flexi-tab elevator installed so I can quickly clear any jams.
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I'm a lefty so it has a big-button steel Williams lefty safety in it.
 
OP. I see you're new here.... here's a rundown of topic days... Just being humorous in the dreary Sunday afternoon....

Monday- Shooting into space, mag capacity
Tuesday- Bear defense, FRT numbers, EE and Site sponsor rants
Wednesday- Zombie, SHTF guns, all conspiracy theories
Thursday- AR re-classification, CCW, ISIS, and associated terrorists
Friday- AR vs. Tavor vs. XCR vs. ACR vs. VZ/CZ vs. SL-8
Saturday- What's the best/ first handgun/ rifle to buy
Sunday- Slamfire stocks. Slow day for threads



But seriously.... I am rarely seen in the woods without my Maverick 88 18.5" pistol grip
 
It's a fair and logical question and I'm always happy to read these threads, which are actually quite occasional, to get new and different opinions. I do not read them for the inevitable dreary mockery that comes from some unexplainable corner of the collective Canadian firearms psyche, but it's always there too.
 
THis is generally what I keep in my farm truck most of the year around. You don't need anything long range for bear problems. I like it clean with nothing on it. It slides in and out with ease from the back of the cab when I need it in a hurry.


 
fiddler said:
THis is generally what I keep in my farm truck most of the year around. You don't need anything long range for bear problems. I like it clean with nothing on it. It slides in and out with ease from the back of the cab when I need it in a hurry.


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Hi there !
Could you tell me what gun that is you posted.
Thanks
Leavenworth
 
That's either a Dominion Arms Grizzly or Norinco HP-9 (same gun, branded differently) with a 14" barrel on it. You can tell as the Chinese clones like this one have a la larger, less-rounded ejection port than Remington-made versions.

In my experience, the Chinese guns work as well, or better, than an off-the-shelf Express.
 
Claven2 said:
That's either a Dominion Arms Grizzly or Norinco HP-9 (same gun, branded differently) with a 14" barrel on it. You can tell as the Chinese clones like this one have a la larger, less-rounded ejection port than Remington-made versions.

In my experience, the Chinese guns work as well, or better, than an off-the-shelf Express.
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My HP9-1 has been very reliable and all my 870 accessories fit without mods. My mods are worth more than the SG :).
 
Leavenworth said:
Thanks for the welcome Dwayne !

I would agree with what you have mentioned. If your not comfortable with the firearm you shoot nor practice with it I think one sets up him or herself up for poor results ! I will check out the link you posted for me ! I perhaps should have mentioned that I have hunted for moose and was successful for many years but have not been for more than a few years lately. I'm looking at shotgun for those times when I'm out in the woods camping or hiking but not hunting .
Thanks Again !
Leavenworth
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Leavenworth;
Thanks for the reply and further information, you're well ahead of the curve if you've already got some hunting experience under your belt I'd think.

For the sake of science, I've just this morning put in an order at S&J for their Uzkon AS40 with a 14" barrel. I've been hearing things about this brand of Turkish shotgun and they had a decent deal on them, so I thought it'd be a good experiment to run a few hundred rounds through one to see what happens.

In my opinion you've received a lot of really good information on this thread, which isn't always the case.....

The folks who've recommended a pallet of slugs and lots of practice are in my view absolutely on the right track.

Speaking personally, a couple years ago I started carrying a slug shotgun in the pickup during regular season for the off chance that I end up doing multiple back pack trips with moose or elk meat on my back. The theory being I'm not packing meat unarmed and while a shotgun isn't any lighter than a hunting rifle, I'm likely to care a lot less if it gets barked up on the pack or in the packing process.

So far there's been no call for the shotgun, but maybe this'll be my year for a bull on the mountain behind our house - I can always hope!!

Again good luck with your shotgun choice whichever way you decide and all the best to you in the upcoming weeks.

Dwayne
 
The first gun I bought is my animal defense gun. 20" Mossberg 590, telescoping stock, forend has a built in light for nightime encounters. Currently a brass bead that's getting switched for a fiber optic bead
 
A piece of good advice I read, particularly for use with groups whose skills may vary, is to leave the safety OFF and rely on an empty chamber to prevent accidental discharges. It strikes me this is actually safer than using the safety, although the obvious disadvantages are that it might take a fraction of a second longer to fire and you end up with one less round to deploy, but realistically those are minor issues compared to trying to fire with the safety on and then fumbling around for it afterwards.
 
Big Bad said:
A piece of good advice I read, particularly for use with groups whose skills may vary, is to leave the safety OFF and rely on an empty chamber to prevent accidental discharges. It strikes me this is actually safer than using the safety, although the obvious disadvantages are that it might take a fraction of a second longer to fire and you end up with one less round to deploy, but realistically those are minor issues compared to trying to fire with the safety on and then fumbling around for it afterwards.
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Or, use your safety and practise until it's an automatic part of your shooting technique.
 
When I carry a shotgun, I carry it with an empty chamber, and I believe the empty chamber carry has benefits beyond just safety. Most notably, you can quickly and easily load a round from your pocket, sidesaddle, or butt-cuff, that differs from the type of rounds that are loaded in the magazine. The broad range of loads from lethal to less lethal, from shot to slugs, from target loads to game loads, from 3" magnums to mild law enforcement rounds, makes the versatility of the shotgun unique in this regard, and is one of the reasons for its popularity in bear work. Typically, the magazine is loaded with slugs, but should you find it prudent to fire birdshot, buck-shot, cracker shells, or rubber bullets, this is easily accomplished by dropping the select round into through the ejection port, and slamming the action closed. Alternately, the select shell can be loaded conventionally but requires that the gun is carried with a round short of a full magazine. Simply stuff the select shell into the magazine, and cycle the action. If the chamber was empty, cycling the action doesn't drop a loaded round into the snow, water, mud, muskeg, or loon-sh!t, and the select shell is now in the chamber and ready to go.
 
I prefer not to use non lethal rounds like crack flares in my primary (usually with a modified choke) as I want to make sure that if I need it, that it will go bang.

I have fired a lot of crack flares but very few rubber or beanbag rounds.
 
There are a few of us here who prefer not to use less lethal rounds in our kill guns, but we seem to be in the minority. Most of the shotgun packers around here swap between cracker shells and slugs without giving the issue much thought. Not me though I've seen enough of these things leave partial bore obstructions and cause barrel damage due to corrosive propellant powder that I won't use them in my own guns. With respect to rubber bullets, when bears become complacent to cracker shells banging off around them, a rubber bullet applied to the back side tends to reinforce the message, and leaves them nervous when cracker shells are fired.
 
I used crack flares from pen launchers in the past with the primary at the ready and that has worked well. My own SG has a modified choke so I would never fire a non lethal through it and the same goes for any other camp SG with god knows what choke.

I now have sights on my Czech flare gun. I launch Tru Flare pen crack flares from it but wish that I could get 2.5" crack and rubber slug shells from places like Margo.
 
Margo sells a .38 caliber centerfire RG revolver (they refer to it as a 9mm, but it uses rimmed cartridges) which increases the range of the cracker shells considerably over the rimfire versions. They also have a multi launcher for it, which fires 4 crackers simultaneous, but the range is reduced, and it increases the cost of the crackers if you bang them off 4 at a time instead of individually. The big reason I like the centerfire is because reloading the gun with the larger 9mm blanks is quicker and surer with my fat fingers, then it is trying to deal with those little 6mm caps, that often as not, spill on the ground, or on the floor of the truck.

Just a word about less lethal rounds. This past fall a polar bear was killed here with a 12 ga cracker shell, when the shell aimed at the bear's hind end, exploded against it's back leg cutting a major artery, and the bear bled out rapidly. Similarly, a rubber bullet fired at close range to a broadside bear will break a rib, and possibly puncture a lung. Here's a photo of a bear that was reportedly hit on the shoulder, at close range, with a rubber bullet . . .
 
Not living in the woods with bears around all the time, I lack the opportunity and expertise with bears to know when to use a crack fire or a rubber bullet. If I shoot at a bear for self defense, it's going to be because that bear is menacing me or my group and needs to be dead. I'm not saying I wouldn't first try to scare off one with a 'warning shot'- I've done that, and to good effect. It beats hammering a pot with a spoon.

And is there not a danger of starting a forest fire with a bear banger type of device, or did I dream that?
 
Big Bad said:
Not living in the woods with bears around all the time, I lack the opportunity and expertise with bears to know when to use a crack fire or a rubber bullet. If I shoot at a bear for self defense, it's going to be because that bear is menacing me or my group and needs to be dead. I'm not saying I wouldn't first try to scare off one with a 'warning shot'- I've done that, and to good effect. It beats hammering a pot with a spoon.

And is there not a danger of starting a forest fire with a bear banger type of device, or did I dream that?
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I use crack flares when they are a long ways out 50 - 75m. The crack flares have a range around 60m when you launch them at +25-30 degrees.

It gets their attention if they have not been hazed with crack flares before.

These are centrefire TruFlare pen flares fired from an adaptor in a 26.5mm flare gun with sights. I aimed just to the right of the target then around 8 metres further right. Height of aim was a couple of feet over the top of the target.

[video]http://vid71.photobucket.com/albums/i155/pbgeologist/DSCN2681_zpsyzjumc6p.mp4[/video]
 
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