Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Alaskan side arm

If I spent time around Grizzlies I'd probably carry a G23. Or more likely, a S&W Shield in 45 ACP or .40 S&W.




Dave

I'd carry a 480 Alaskan, maybe two.

In that case, what would you have your shield stoked with?

ŷ.

Put me in the Glock20 10mm camp.
I heard that Swedes that patrol in Greenland are issued those as protection against Polar Bears...I guess they should know.
As a backup a revolver for sure..say a Ruger SRH in 454Casul

I'm kinda partial to the 480 srh, something about 400 gr @ 1200 fps that gives me a warm fuzzy. That said I'm likely going to pick up one of the Ruger 4" 45 colt redhawks. Much handier and 330 gr @ 1200 fps isn't much in a drop in balistics.

For a self shucker, a Glock 20 has much appeal.

Ruger's 4 inch Redhawk in .45 colt.
I shoot 2 loads in this. One is a 250 gr. SWC with a mild dose of Unique. The other is a 330 gr. GC, wide meplate both are made from wheel weights, with a max dose of H110 which is the bottom end of a Casul load. The second load is quite the handful, but I doubt you would notice it in an adrenaline charged situation.
It is packable, accurate, and you can plink with the first load.

Swedes?

Greenland belongs to Denmark. Not sure what the Danes would think about Swedes messing with polar bears.

Swedes, Danes - damn near interchangeable!

I only lived in Alaska for 33 years, and had a few incidents with the various animals that will bite or stomp you. Like most gun people I have a number of guns in various calibers that I felt comfortable with. I mostly carried a Ruger Super Blackhawk 44 mag. More important than caliber (starting with 44) is the quality of Ammo. I'm VERY confident in the Buffalo Bore ammo LBT. There are other good ammo, that will work but that is what I have the most experience with. Examples of gun that I've carried over the years.
Super Blackhawk 44 Mag
Ruger Redhawk 4" in both 44 Mag and 45 Colt.
Ruger Alaskan in 44 Mag, 454 (that I carried 45 Colt ammo in) and 480. I'm also a believer in something light and handy enough that you will have it with you. Closest incident was a moose that I had the hammer back on and caressing the trigger. I've drawn my gun on several occasions because of bears who were too close. One never knows what's going to come up. For Example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUG8UPsgE3U This also shows that full contact isn't necessary to need your gun real bad.

By the way, the Ruger 480 is alive and well, I trust it thoroughly.

That's my carry.

Manageable w. Buffalo Bore 310s @ 1235 and not undergunned.

I like that chest holster. Have one coming for my Glock 21 on Friday. Should be handy when I'm on the tractor or the utv at our place in Virginia.

Yesterday, on one of Paco Kelly's forums, I came across a really good quote on shooting critters with a handgun. I thought that it was worth sharing...

“I have heard it said..."that if you want to eat it, use jacketed hollow points. If it wants to eat you, use hard cast.”

Good saying, IMO.

Written by a really stupid person and believed by morons. Why? If you think the goal is to kill a big bear - you're a fool (and likely to show up in the scat). The goal is to stop the attack. A JHP will put a bigger hurt on a critter than hardcast and the critter's attention to turn to the owie and away from you.

Thats the reason bear spray works. Only gays and fuecktards believe they will actually carry a hip cannon that will quickly kill a bear with hardcast.

And Deflave will still be eating Cheetoes out of Craigc's [bleep] while responding.

This is the dumbest crap I've read in a long time, infact it is hilarious! Phil Shoemaker a few weeks ago killed a 900 pound bear that charged his fishermen that he was guiding useing hard cast infact he killed the bear with body shots from a 9mm shooting 147 grain hard cast. Folks with experience know that penetration is your friend Phil has over 30 years experience with big bears.

Geezzz...

Along with Phil's recent incident, maybe dla should read Larry Kelly's bear story. If I remember correctly, the jacked bullets failed miserably on an attacking bear,which was killed by the guide's .375 H&H. Later using hard cast bullets in the same handgun killed a bear with a single shot. memtb

Yup. at point blank range, he emptied his revolver into the bear. If memory serves me correctly, this was the point at which Larry Kelly went with heavy-for-caliber hardcast bullets. Penetration is your friend.

not an Alaskan so not speaking from experience but i would go any of the full size offerings from Glock, H&K, SIG, S&W etc that hold 16-18 rounds in 9mm

More bullets, less recoil, faster follow-up shots for me anyways...
I would load these..

Lehigh xtreme penetrators. expensive? yeah but my survival is worth it for that situation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYLbmSp5itA

Seems it would penetrate like crazy, while still potentially doing more damage than say an FMJ and like I mentioned 16-18 rounds

I think this covers everything nicely....