Bear rifle. Will 44 mag be enough?
- Thread starter Jdiep
- Start date
Don't spoil a good bear thread with facts and experience!
Which, as usual, gets ignored...
R.
I knew you would end up with a 71 the way you have been posting. If you do a 375-348 I will be fascinated to hear how that turns out. I have thought long and hard about turning a Miroku into something I can get bullets for without trouble. Maybe Barnes can come out with a 200 gr X again and solve all our problems.
Ardent
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Don't spoil a good bear thread with facts and experience!
Which, as usual, gets ignored...
R.
Experience has also shown taking out 5 or 6 vertebrae with anything to be highly effective, and I wouldn’t expect it on a fast approaching animal.
Ardent
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Always does, I started with a gateway 1886 I accidentally won at auction. Was immediately taken with the action, but it needs to be a cartridge well rounded enough for BC. Enter the 71, look forward to seeing if it’s an answer to a question I never thought to ask before, always shunned levers except for my first rifle.
Good observation. lol.
OP asked for experiences with 44 mag lever guns on bears in a defensive situation, seemed relevant being as it was a 44 mag lever gun used on a bear in a defensive situation… Main point being however that even slow moving hardcast bullets up close will slow critters down if you hit the important stuff.
Given the choice however, walking out the door in the morning and knowing that at some point that day I would have to stop an angry bear up close and personal, for me it’s going to be a softer bullet pushed fast every time.
- Location
- Blaster land, Okanagan BC
Not all pistol cartridges are made equal, some are more than capable. Back in the day it was likely a benefit to have your handgun and rifle chambered in the same caliber, I’d think having a 44 mag or 45 colt pistol and rifle would make a lot of sense.
You own at least one 22 centerfire I’m guessing, no?
Do you own any 22 rimfires? And if you have a 22 centerfire, why handicap yourself with a 22 rimfire?
Pretty facetious question, I know.
For me, I started out with a S&W 629 in 44 mag that I carried for field work, and it seemed like a good idea to have a rifle chambered the same for……..reasons.
Now it’s just fun to have for giggles. Pretty much a giant 22 rimfire for me. Inherited and acquired a few thousand 240gr hardcast, and ten grains of powder per shot makes for cheap plinking. Had to have something to run all the hardcast through, and I’m not a fan of having to go to a gun range to shoot a pistol.
Ardent
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Fun, is a big one. I want a takedown carbine in a paired pistol chambering for my cabinet. For plinking and training the kids, and hunting black tail deer at fifty yards, I’m not worried about the best rifle for dropping a grizzly bear in the cold jungle or a mountain goat on a ledge like I was at work.
If it’s going to be hunted seriously and broadly, there are of course far better choices that are very easy to find in all our cabinets. For something that can be tucked in a pack or bushplane, pistol chambering carbines are pretty dang slick and fun to use. We just can’t get any illusions a .44 lever is the equal of a .308 or .30-06. It’s the leatherman you carry because it’s handy, rather than the most appropriate tool for the job.
Use them, enjoy them, just accept it’s not a modern rifle. Much of the time it’s plenty for the not so serious job we nearly all do with hunting guns, the vast majority of the time.
Had a cinnamon sow at a paced 7 yards the day before yesterday. The Kimber Montana in 270 WSM was somewhat of a comfort; but so was the thought that if it wanted to do something it would have already. That massive chocolate brown boar yesterday wasn’t quite as close, but the same rifle back in the boat wasn’t any comfort at all
Bear taps guy on the shoulder...."you're not here for the hunting are you"
older joke... maybe not pc but....haha
Ardent
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
And before that, it was bows and arrows, before even that it was spears, and there was certainly meat on the rock. Long as this argument is simply to say almost anything can take a deer or black bear at short ranges, I support it.
But we’re talking stagecoach era to aviation era, both can get you where you want to go; it doesn’t mean they’re equals. Slow chamberings can hunt, they just aren’t on equal footing with a post-WWI chambering, and that’s fine. I ride a 1941 Indian, because it’s fun, too. It doesn’t keep up with modern traffic either.
But we’re talking stagecoach era to aviation era, both can get you where you want to go; it doesn’t mean they’re equals. Slow chamberings can hunt, they just aren’t on equal footing with a post-WWI chambering, and that’s fine. I ride a 1941 Indian, because it’s fun, too. It doesn’t keep up with modern traffic either.
