jcoulson64
CGN Regular
- Location
- Somewhere in the Western Colonies
Ok, so here's the deal. My mother was alone last night at one of our properties in BC near the NWT border. She woke up in the night to what she thought was more pesky mice screwing around. What she found instead was a large black bear trying to get in the window screen. She slammed the window closed and thus began a long ordeal. The bear was undeterred by yelling, bear bangers etc. She had a sporterized .303 with her but was concerned about what would happen to her eardrums if she fired it indoors. So for the next few hours the bear tried its vest to rip the exterior of the building apart to get at her. It finally seemed to leave so my mother grabbed the rifle and her pillow and went into her van to sleep, rating it as more secure than the flimsy trailer she was in. She woke up a few hours later to the bear ignoring the trailer and trying to tear its way into the van to get her. Having no food etc in the van its a fair bet the bear was after her. She ended up shooting it out of the window. Unfortunately, in the dark she had the wrong magazine and the rounds were FMJ. She got it we think in the guts but her second round jammed. We believe the magazine had been stored full for possibly a good decade and its spring failed. The bear finally was driven off.
So moral of the story, my mothers long practice of not keeping her firearms skills in practice and generally having an unfavorable but accepting view of guns has had to end. It was always few and far between that we ever got her to fire even the rifles we kept for bear defense.
Fortunately she is at this moment ordering my father to re-train her and help her practice with the existing rifle.
Problems discovered:
1. Unfamiliarity with the firearm in question and the operation of its safety.
2. Unfamiliarity with the feeding of the firearm (granted it was dark with no electricity)
3. She found the length of the .303 was excessive when trying to maneuver it in the trailer and van.
4. She found the weight of the firearm was excessive.
Now given these problems and given the fact that she is short and i believe nearly 60 (c'mon, like you havent forgotten your mothers age before) and not particularly strong, I am looking for suggestions on a good bear defense firearm for her. It will have to be light enough for use by a woman, non scoped, preferably short as possible and the recoil must not hurt her more than the bear. We also dont want it so powerful or complicated that she is uncomfortable practicing with it or fearful to employ it.
A handgun is out for obvious reasons. My initial thoughts were a lever action in .44 mag due to the simplicity of operation, controlability in a carbine platform and availability of ammunition.
Your thoughts?
So moral of the story, my mothers long practice of not keeping her firearms skills in practice and generally having an unfavorable but accepting view of guns has had to end. It was always few and far between that we ever got her to fire even the rifles we kept for bear defense.
Fortunately she is at this moment ordering my father to re-train her and help her practice with the existing rifle.
Problems discovered:
1. Unfamiliarity with the firearm in question and the operation of its safety.
2. Unfamiliarity with the feeding of the firearm (granted it was dark with no electricity)
3. She found the length of the .303 was excessive when trying to maneuver it in the trailer and van.
4. She found the weight of the firearm was excessive.
Now given these problems and given the fact that she is short and i believe nearly 60 (c'mon, like you havent forgotten your mothers age before) and not particularly strong, I am looking for suggestions on a good bear defense firearm for her. It will have to be light enough for use by a woman, non scoped, preferably short as possible and the recoil must not hurt her more than the bear. We also dont want it so powerful or complicated that she is uncomfortable practicing with it or fearful to employ it.
A handgun is out for obvious reasons. My initial thoughts were a lever action in .44 mag due to the simplicity of operation, controlability in a carbine platform and availability of ammunition.
Your thoughts?
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