- Location
- AB foothills
A short, well balanced rifle every time. Shotguns are for the birds.
Top 10 Bear Guns, What the Professionals Use
- Thread starter geologist
- Start date
A short, well balanced rifle every time. Shotguns are for the birds.
My camp gun/bear gun is a BrnoZH304 7x57r over 12 gauge! 175gn round nose in the 7mm barrel and a slug in the shotgun barrel… fire the slug first then the 175gn bullet back to back, fast and easy in handy gun that can be use for moose and grouse all in the same trip!
Licensed to kill
CGN Regular
- Location
- Peace Country Alberta
Correct. I, like I bet most if not ALL people posting to this thread have Never had the unfortunate "pleasure" of having to defend myself from a close range charging bear so my opinion, again, like most if not ALL people posting here, is conjecture at best. I have, however shot LOTS of bears, ALL with a rifle (I don't even OWN a shotgun suitable for slugs). However, NONE were in self defence so dropping them on the spot was never paramount but usually the case. It is my belief that dropping a bear "on the spot" is MUCH easier when they don't know you are there than when they are charging you. Even a heart shot on a charging bear @ <40 yards would still likely end up with a pretty good mauling before it perished. The energy from a big slug ALL being expended in the bear has a better chance of knocking it off its feet than a rifle that PRODUCES more energy but expendes most of it in the trees beyond the bear after passing through. The bear is just as dead in the end, the difference is whether or not you are. These are ALL generalities as there is no way to predict where a shot will land in such a case (or if most would even HIT a close range charging bear.) Whole lot different game when shooting at something that doesn't know you are there and shooting at something that is trying to kill you also. Some Guns found on the battle field from the ACW had several charges in them as the soldier, in pure panic would load and load and load and never fire a shot. Like my Dad believed ANY firearm is better than throwing rocks.
Young geos if from cities are pretty anti gun. Most of them do drill duty right out of school so really they're in camp a lot. they're mostly citiots.
The only good ones are those raised in northern towns. They all know the value of a gun and how to shoot.
Pump shotguns rule because they are cheap. And field people, especially the young ones don't have a lot of $$ for nicer tools.
It's true that defense shots will generally be under 20 yards and 12 ga slugs will equal or better most rifles my concern is the training time needed to run a pump without malfunctions, especially short stroking under stress.
It's possible for even experienced shooters to short stroke a pump. That's why in recent years I've been considering gas SAs for camps, especially if they will be run by citiots.
In the end I prefer a reliability tested, 30-06 CRF bolt action rifle with irons. It gives you more options and options, in serious matters are a good thing.
Like my hunting rifle on top. Just take off the scope and you're GTG. But it costs more than a 12 ga pump........
YMMV.
The only good ones are those raised in northern towns. They all know the value of a gun and how to shoot.
Pump shotguns rule because they are cheap. And field people, especially the young ones don't have a lot of $$ for nicer tools.
It's true that defense shots will generally be under 20 yards and 12 ga slugs will equal or better most rifles my concern is the training time needed to run a pump without malfunctions, especially short stroking under stress.
It's possible for even experienced shooters to short stroke a pump. That's why in recent years I've been considering gas SAs for camps, especially if they will be run by citiots.
In the end I prefer a reliability tested, 30-06 CRF bolt action rifle with irons. It gives you more options and options, in serious matters are a good thing.
Like my hunting rifle on top. Just take off the scope and you're GTG. But it costs more than a 12 ga pump........
YMMV.
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Not all slugs are created equal, not that I'm a slug advocate.
I've shot blacktails with foster type slugs at 40 yards and had them donut and stop in the offside hide.
From what I've seen I don't think an attached wad Brenneke or thug style slug would behave the same, I haven't used a slug for hunting in over a decade though.
BB your comment about potentially puncturing bear spray with a saw reminded me of the multiple idiots I've seen puncture bearspray with caulks. Let's just say it was a lot more than people I've seen with atcs lol
Geologist why gas and not recoil operated semis? Recoil are cleaner and easier to maintain and more reliable when dirty as far as I understand? I ordered a wild boar barrel for my Franchi affinity, coming from Italy so will take a while to arrive, looking forward to trying it out with challenger and score slugs. Maybe I will even take it on a black bear hunt
I like the idea of being able to easily and quickly empty the chamber of a semi with a cut off lever (all of them?) and put in a cracker or rubber slug/buck for porch bears or camp gun duty
One of the novels above is going on about "energy" of slugs and ignoring capacity to breaking bones to stop forward momentum. This is where good slugs and rifles with heavy well constructed bullets come in handy. A one ounce foster slug made from soft leadvthat donuts on a deer may not be up to this
I've shot blacktails with foster type slugs at 40 yards and had them donut and stop in the offside hide.
From what I've seen I don't think an attached wad Brenneke or thug style slug would behave the same, I haven't used a slug for hunting in over a decade though.
BB your comment about potentially puncturing bear spray with a saw reminded me of the multiple idiots I've seen puncture bearspray with caulks. Let's just say it was a lot more than people I've seen with atcs lol
Geologist why gas and not recoil operated semis? Recoil are cleaner and easier to maintain and more reliable when dirty as far as I understand? I ordered a wild boar barrel for my Franchi affinity, coming from Italy so will take a while to arrive, looking forward to trying it out with challenger and score slugs. Maybe I will even take it on a black bear hunt
I like the idea of being able to easily and quickly empty the chamber of a semi with a cut off lever (all of them?) and put in a cracker or rubber slug/buck for porch bears or camp gun duty
One of the novels above is going on about "energy" of slugs and ignoring capacity to breaking bones to stop forward momentum. This is where good slugs and rifles with heavy well constructed bullets come in handy. A one ounce foster slug made from soft leadvthat donuts on a deer may not be up to this
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With quality slugs like Brennekes in a gas gun it'll cycle even if you have a poor shooting position or god forbid from the hip. It also wont be sensitive to accessories and their weight that you attach to the SG.
- Location
- Blaster land, Okanagan BC
Lol, I know a guy that told me a tale about a can of bear spray being punctured somehow inside the cab of the FIST while driving planters around. That’s one way of getting rid of the stench of hippies!
I could see a can getting popped by a rock or any number of things if I slip and fall hiking around the bush, just last week during a weekly falling audit my faller supervisor threw my kombi can to me. It landed on my chain and punctured the oil side of the can, could’ve easily been a can of spray in my pack that was thrown to me.
So your saying that if you had a grizzly charging from 20 feet away, you'd rather have a bolt action 243 with a fixed 10 power scope then an 870 with 18" barrel and Brenneke slugs? Taking your liberties with interpretations to come to that conclusion, lol.
There isn't a slug anywhere, that will out penetrate a bullet in a comparable delivery system.
Hold the fluff, and pass a rifle.
R.
Have a neighbour that did just that actually. Seemed to work for him.
- Location
- Southern Vancouver Island
Threads like these tend to give me gas. 
