Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Grizzly Defense With A Handgun: Doable?

Thanks Doc. I just did a search, heck they are in my neck of the woods. Might have to get a hold of them. I don't run barn burners but extra protection is always good.

Cool, Tim. Belt Mountain makes a good product. You won't be sorry for switching out your stock Ruger cylinder pins for theirs.

Remember Keith's No. 5 revolver? He had it built to his specs based on his experiences in developing "heavy" 44 Special loads... now known as 44 Magnum loads. The cylinder pin on that one had a setscrew-type lock on it, which just goes to show that this problem is not new.

If you're going to use the set-screw feature on the Belt Mountain base pins you might want to file a small flat onto the underside of the barrel to give the set-screw more surface area to contact.

I've replaced the base pins on all my Ruger's with Belt Mountain units and, even when not using the set-screw, the fit is tighter than the factory part and noticeably reduces cylinder side-play.

Received this from a friend who hunts Alaska a lot... I could not attach the pics that came with it however...

Bob





Good Morning,

Let me tell you I am very happy to be here to tell this story.

My friend Steve Thompson and I were duck hunting on Saturday (10/08/11) in Portage Valley (Alaska) and we were attacked by a brown bear. We are both OK but we killed the brown bear within 10 feet of our duck boat blind. This is one of those stories where you are just glad to be alive to tell it. I have lived and worked in Alaska for over 25 years and been around bears but never thought I would encounter one in my blind while duck hunting. I have provided a brief description of what happened below.

We had a small bull moose run about 10 feet behind our duck boat blind. About 30 seconds later, we heard some grass rustling and thought it was another moose, but then we see a brown bear following the trail of the moose. When the bear gets about 20 feet from our blind he looks up and sees us and heads right toward the front of the blind where I am sitting. I fired 3 rounds (3" #4 steel shot) into the bear at point blank range. My friend says I fired my last round when the bear was 2 feet away. He goes on to say that my head and the bears head were 2 feet apart at one point. After firing my third round, I dove away from the bear and out of the blind and my friend Steve fires 3 rounds (3.5" #4 steel shot) into his head that sends the bear to the front of the boat on the ground about 10 feet away. Steve reloads as the bear is doing the death spin. He puts 3 more rounds into the bear. I get up, reload, and fire 3 more rounds into the bear. The bear isn't moving at this point in time.

Neither of us was hurt (not a scratch). We were just scared [bleep]. We had 2 dogs with us. The older dog (Mynx) was out of the blind with hackles up about 20 feet away from the bear. The young (5 months) dog (Lulu) was hidden under one of the chairs in the boat, She was shaking and wouldn't come out for awhile. On a side note, we got one duck (a gadwall).

I have attached a few photos. You will see our boat blind is destroyed. That was from me diving out one side of the blind and the bear coming in the other. There is also a picture of blood on the blind to show how close the bear was when he got shot. We think the bear was a 7+ foot brown bear.

As a department employee, I thought I should send this to some select staff and the staff I work with. I did complete a defense of life and property report and turned in the completed report and the skinned bear to ADF&G staff here in Anchorage.

Regards,

Tim
__________
Tim Baker
FIshery Research Biologist
Bristol Bay Salmon Program
ADF&G-Commercial Fisheries
Phone: (907) 267-2240
Email: tim.bakeralaska.gov

Wow!

Thanks for posting that, O45. IIRC, Belt Mountain suggests you fabricate a flat or detent on the bottom of the barrel for the setscrew to rest in. I used a metal punch and then a 1/8" drill to make a small indentation on the bottom of the barrels of my revolvers.

Jay-zus!!! That'd be a Charmin Extra Strong experience for sure!!

The silly thing is that there are no Griz up Pole Cr. Idaho. Just Blacks, Mtn. Lion, and wolf. I have archery hunted in that general area numerous with no firearm.

On second thought, bowhunting Idaho without a sidearm may not be such a good idea.

That's not my quote. I never said it. I've never been there. DD

I don't think i would ever underestimate a brown bear. A friend of mine was hunting in alaska a few years ago and tells a story about a guy with the shakes and blood covered at the bar at the base station he was at. The guy had been hunting bear and came accross a bunch of cane along the river where there were some carcasses. Bear came out standing up, and took a full back of .338winmags in the chest. one of the rounds blew off the bears nose squirting blood all over the guy who was backing up as he was firing. This was at point blank range. The guide stopped it with two rounds of .375 at point blank

Yup, the Grizzlies are way big up there in Alaska. Fortunately, our Griz ain't that big but they are big enough.