Bear protection advice needed

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RugerForMe

Single-Sixer
Joined
Jul 29, 2006
Messages
494
Location
Greendale, WI USA
I carry a S&W 329PD. Fully loaded with 300gr bear loads, I would guess loaded is would only weigh about 25.5 oz. But it's not for the recoil shy
 

Yankee_Papa

Bearcat
Joined
Mar 24, 2006
Messages
55
Location
Southwest NH
Small shotguns may be great defense, but few people are going to routinely carry one. Why? Because they're too big. Therefore if that is your choice, you are in more danger because you'll often leave it behind. A handgun can be a routine carry item.


Why do you assume he's lazy? Your reply should be addressed to the author, not to imagined lazy people.
 

Snake Pleskin

Banned
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Mar 26, 2022
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Aiken, South Carolina
I saw Chuck Norris shoot 10 times out of a 1911 in a movie once! Of course, it's true!

Seriously, while doing my thesis I was charged by a 2-year-old male black bear. Too far from the truck and didn't have spray or a firearm; all I could do was open up my windbreaker and yell. He stopped about 6-8 feet from me ("bluff charge"!).
My DW 9mm 1911 holds 10 rds? a .45 Para can hold 10 rounds? a 1911 with mag ext can hold 10 rds. LOL, Chuck would never lie to us!! LOL.
 
Joined
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11,838
Location
Webster, MD.
"QUESTIONS: Would I be better off using the Super Blackhawk (single action = a little slower to reload) or possibly the quick-into-action 9mm with LOTS of ammo in the magazine or just stick with my usual .357 six-guns?"
Now I didn't read all 11 pages of answers but I did wonder, if you have a .44 mag, are using it in a bear attack, fired all 6 shots, and you need to reload you are doing something VERY wrong.
 

Snake Pleskin

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"QUESTIONS: Would I be better off using the Super Blackhawk (single action = a little slower to reload) or possibly the quick-into-action 9mm with LOTS of ammo in the magazine or just stick with my usual .357 six-guns?"
Now I didn't read all 11 pages of answers but I did wonder, if you have a .44 mag, are using it in a bear attack, fired all 6 shots, and you need to reload you are doing something VERY wrong.
Bears are tough. There is a reason they use "big" firearms to hunt them!
 
Joined
Dec 16, 2005
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7,183
Location
On the beach and in the hills
I left ve these threads. But, it would be fun to know if a poster has ever killed a bear.

My experience is scant. One black bear taken while hunting them. One shot, 30-06, bear DRT. It didn't even know I was there. Range about 30 yds. Of course this was over thirty years ago, so maybe they are armored like deer today.

What I gleaned from this is simple. Bears die just as easy as any other critter. But they are large, strong and fitted out with impressive teeth and claws.

Oh, and I sure as heck don't want one chewing on me.
 

BearBiologist

Buckeye
Joined
Dec 4, 2021
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1,836
I left ve these threads. But, it would be fun to know if a poster has ever killed a bear.

My experience is scant. One black bear taken while hunting them. One shot, 30-06, bear DRT. It didn't even know I was there. Range about 30 yds. Of course this was over thirty years ago, so maybe they are armored like deer today.

What I gleaned from this is simple. Bears die just as easy as any other critter. But they are large, strong and fitted out with impressive teeth and claws.

Oh, and I sure as heck don't want one chewing on me.

Monrovia Police killed a problem bear before I could trank it or DFG could relocate it=They used .223s. One local poached a black bear using a 243. Another that e called The Black Robin Hood shot several using bows (as a poacher in a residential area, he couldn't use firearms!)
 

reuben_j_cogburn

Blackhawk
Joined
Mar 5, 2006
Messages
849
Location
alaska
I bought an after-market rifled barrel for my 870 years ago.... It is 21" long and shoots slugs quite well at reasonable ranges. It was much cheaper than an actual Remington barrel, and except for the crappy ghost ring sights I added to it, the barrel is great, and I'd definitely use it for big game hunting at ranges under 75 yards. In fact.. I used it as my primary bear gun for years... It was those sights that screwed everything up...
p.s. the after-market barrel has open sights ala Remington style...
 

Snake Pleskin

Banned
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Mar 26, 2022
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Aiken, South Carolina
When it comes to bear killing, whether you are hunting them or trying to be prepared for a surprise encounter, you guys need to read a little bit of Elmer Keith's writing.
What will Elmer tell me? Probably how he had to shoot one while he was standing on one leg backwards, at 500 yds while the bear was running?
 
Joined
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On the beach and in the hills
What will Elmer tell me? Probably how he had to shoot one while he was standing on one leg backwards, at 500 yds while the bear was running?
Actually, he will tell you how he and others actually killed bears. The man lived in a time before electronic sights, practically invented the .44 mag, and was wise beyond most of the world, especially today's experts, on hunting.
 

Snake Pleskin

Banned
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Aiken, South Carolina
Actually, he will tell you how he and others actually killed bears. The man lived in a time before electronic sights, practically invented the .44 mag, and was wise beyond most of the world, especially today's experts, on hunting.
I was actually being facetious, however, I read his Book" Hejj I was there." An interesting character.
 

KIR

Sparks, NV
Joined
Mar 2, 2022
Messages
1,675
I was just reading an article about other bears who are bigger than a grizzly. Two are now extinct, but one is the Kodiak and the other a Polar. I don't think too many people are going to run into those two guys.
I asked once before but didn't get a reply...if anyone knows if a loud, high pitched hand held air horn would scare off a bear?
 

Cyrus

Single-Sixer
Joined
Oct 27, 2014
Messages
232
Location
New Jersey
An old friend runs a salmon boat up in Alaska. He and his family live on the boat. Quite amazing way to live actually. I asked him about bears. He said when he needs to be near shore in certain places with thick vegetation by the waters edge, someone stands guard with a marine magnum 870 loaded with what he calls "special slugs". I know he also has a Super Blackhawk from many years back because he loved mine. His has likely been there and done some of that, while mine was sold here recently after living a comfortable life in suburbia.

PS Having had more than a few black bear encounters over 26 years camping in the High Peaks of the Adirondack's as well as living in rural Sussex County NJ, I can say that I have ZERO need for further interaction with them. My wife bumped one's nose opening our front storm door in pitch black one night. She was not pleased. I was taking out the garbage and left the bag on the back porch for 3 minutes to tuck my daughter in. I came back and went crazy looking for it. Neighbor across the way yelled that a bear was enjoying it in my back yard. I went and looked (fully armed) and from 40 yards peering into dark bushes decided he could enjoy it and I'd clean up the next day in broad daylight. My old CEO's daughter was practicing lacrosse with her beats headphones on, oblivious to the world. Turned around and bumped into a bear. SLOWLY backed into her house hoping that lacrosse stick was deterrent enough. It was thankfully. I haven't even mentioned how many Daks campers we needed to warn that they were between mama and her babies as they snapped pics of treed cubs.
 
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