Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Another Bear Stopping Thread

Maybe don't smoke (so much) pot. Grin.

As to the op. Well, I have a lot to say, but I'll abbreviate.

I don't think a handgun is an overly heavy thing to carry. They can be downright handy when you're up to your armpits in moose guts and your rifle is not on you.

Only hits count, and not all of those do the job. I haven't seen a lot of big bore sixgun shooters with quick and accurate follow up shots. Especially shots 6 and up from that group are slow This is where I feel cartridges like the 10mm come into play. They allow even us average folk to shoot relatively quickly and relatively accurately while producing decent penetration. Not 460 penetration, but certainly faster than 460 follow up shots, and I think if we're being honest better than 460 accuracy on shots after the first. Add 15 round mags and quick reloads to the equation and things skew more in their favor.

I also kind of think the 458 socom has promise (as would the 450 bushmaster were there better bullets available) . If you can approximate 45/70 performance in a semi auto, with reasonably short barrel length, I see that as a win. Again, add 10 round capacity and removable mags to the equation and all the better. I will likely give this a shot as a camp defense weapon and something for the berry pickers to carry while we're out doing stupid things.

A couple years back, the moose camp across the river had company. They shot a sow and two 2 year old bears that were stealing meat off the meat pole in the middle of the night. I helped them drag the sow back to camp and she had a perfect 12 gauge hole 1" above the eyes and perfectly centered between them in the forehead. She went 20+ yards from where she was shot. That stuck with me.

I wouldn't shy away from hunting a bear with a big bore pistol, but I think they make a rather poor defensive weapon against the same animal. So I guess.... Another borough heard from.