Thoughts on guns, bear, and everyone surviving the bush.

[horseshoe]

...and the speed he moved at running away was remarkable.

The heart was grenaded...

80 yards with a hole the size of a fist in his heart.

I've seen a deer run 50 yards after the heart was blown clean through the exit wound.

And yet I have co-workers who call in sick from a paper cut...

 

[Rugdoc]

"My point is we put a lot of stock, and too much thought into guns- it's what we do here. "


You're right there.

 

[RSA1]

If bear spray works for you, use it. It is easy enough to carry, so why go without it?

Regarding firearms for protection against bears, the calibres mentioned here vary tremenduously. You cannot seriously think of a 6,5 as a bear stopper. Yes the 215gn from a 303 will work better, and the 416,s with 400gr bullets have built up a great reputatoin. Bigger is better. But look at the reality:

1) Most OC sprays have a regulated concentration (the % active ingredient in the spray), so most are the same. But when a blanket statement says all sprays are better than rifles, it is an incorrect statement: Does this statement compare bear spray to the 30-30, or to a 416? Was the shotgun slug a soft 2 3/4 round, a 3" slug with a Barnes-X bullet, or what? All of this makes a difference, and until optimum calibres in rifles, with optimum ammo is used in the comparisson, it is a meaningless statement to say bear sprays are better than rifles. If you want to justify this statement, compare bear sprays to 22LR rifles!

2) In Africa 12gg slugs have been found to be very ineffective on lion, so why would you want to use it on an even bigger grizzly?

3) Going back to the original question regarding what to carry, I suggest a 416 Ruger Alaskan rifle. It is possibly the most compact and powerfull combination available. Yes a shotgun will be lighter to carry, and that is possibly why people carry them. I have a 375 Ruger Alaskan and an African, but if it was part of my regular routine to carry a dangerous game rifle, go bigger! Get the 416 Ruger Alaskan. Ammo is also cheaper than 416 Rigby or any 458. A large 458 Lott will be even better, but this is a biger and even heavier rifle to carry ( yes, I do have a 458 Lott Ruger SM), and you may just end up without it when you needed it.

4) I have had very bad reliability with feeding in the two Marlin rifles (1894 and a 336) which I have purchased during the last 4 years, but if you could find one in 45-70 and get it to feed well with 400gr bullets, it may also serve you well.

More slam to the gram, more bounce to the ounce!

 

[Ardent]

Boomer is exactly right. The only guaranteed shot to anchor any animal, is one that severs the spine or hits the brain.

In 2010, I shot a big black bear, at the pointblank distance of 28 paces. This bear was walking up the trail toward me, and was basically unawares of my presence.
I hit him with a chest shot, inside of the right shoulder, with a 400gr Hornady IB, from my .416RM. The bear reacted to the shot (as Gatehouse said), by running away. But he covered 80 yards before expiring.
So if he had been interested in attacking me, he certainly had enough energy left to reach me. And even with the huge impact of that 400gr slug, he did not go down, and the speed he moved at running away was remarkable.

The blood trail was very easy to follow!

The heart was grenaded...


I'll still always take a firearm over bear spray...

Appreciate you sharing that, I've had the exact same experience with the slug tearing this spring bear's heart. There's a lot of gas left in a bear even with no heart. While we disagree on the effectiveness of spray, I appreciate the frankness of your post, I think it's likely that any of us that have heart shot them feel the same way. It made me think, I shot the bear this spring extremely close too, he could have been mauling me for not much less than 30 seconds before he truly expired.

The intention of the bayonet is to stab that son of a ##### if it charges you and your out of rounds or it closes in before you get enough shots off to put it down.

Drive that sucker in and blow the SOB's guts out, worst that can happen is you brave heart skewer the bastard in a vital organ, on a long rifle like a Mosin nagant or Lee Enfield it could keep you just out of swatting range of those nasty claws.

My 91/30's bayonets spike is 16 inches long, affixed the rifle is 5 feet 5 inches long........I'd much rather that then try and fend off it mauling my ass with my bare hands.

I highly doubt anyone has any plans of killing a bear solely with the bayonet.

With all due respect, this would suggest you obviously are unfamiliar with the strength of even a small bear. They'll rip a bolted down tool box out of the box of a truck if there's something smelly in it like it's a toy, you don't have a chance on the end of that rifle. 200 or 300lbs of animal strength is worth multiple times that in human strength.

 

[NB444]

With all due respect, this would suggest you obviously are unfamiliar with the strength of even a small bear. They'll rip a bolted down tool box out of the box of a truck if there's something smelly in it like it's a toy, you don't have a chance on the end of that rifle. 200 or 300lbs of animal strength is worth multiple times that in human strength.

X2 on the strength of even small bears. I do not recall even one attack on humans here in NB but have seen the aftermath of a bear breaking into cabins. They will overturn heavy cast iron cooking/wood stoves to get any grease or whatever that was under them.