Best Bear Pistol……Power…Weight…Practical Carry?
Seriously…BEST BEAR HANDGUN???
On Bud’s Gun Shop Forums, the question came up: What is the smallest caliber handgun you would trust to protect yourself from bear attack?
The forum members, faced with practical dense woodland and mountain-side ease of carry, against the current selection of powerful, but heavy, .40 and .50 caliber Magnum handguns, considered this to be the most practical answer:
‘My personal favorite defense gun has always been a Beretta Jetfire in 22 short. Over all the years I’ve been hiking I never leave without it in my pocket. Of course we all know the first rule when hiking in the wilderness is to use the “Buddy System.” For those of you who may be unfamiliar, with this it means you NEVER hike alone. You bring a friend or companion, even an in-law, that way if something happens there is someone to go get help.
I remember one time hiking with my brother-in-law in northern Alberta. Out of nowhere came this huge brown bear, and man was she mad. We must have been near one of her cubs. Anyway, if I had not had my little Jetfire I’d sure not be here today. Just one shot to my brother-in-law’s knee cap, and I was able to escape by just walking at a brisk pace.’
Do you feel this is practical, or sportsmanlike??? Or, would you take your chances with one of the .450+/.50 caliber heavy magnums?
As always….your opinions in such matters are greatly appreciated!
Kindly ‘Ol Uncle Hoot 🙄
All Replies
Been there and done that, I shot a bear in my house with a contact wound with a 40 Glock 23.
It is not a bear gun.
After that I routinely carried a S&W 4″ Mountain gun loaded with cast 250 Keith loads at 1000 fps. Still not a bear gun but better than the 23.
I also shot one one time with a CAR 15 with 52 grain Nosler varmit bullets. It took two shots one quartering away with the bullet going into the chest from the left rear rib cage and exploding into a grapefruit size pattern inside the front inter rib cage, it went up a Ponderosa, then fell out of it, went for me but I was up hill and animals can’t go uphill without lungs, it turned and I spined it with a high shoulder shot.
I shot one with a 250 Nosler Partiion in a 340 Weahterby, now that is bear medicine.
7 foot squared AR 15 carbine kill
Shooting the brother-in-law in the knee cap is chicken shit, just hike with a fattie, as long as you can outrun them, that is all that is important.
Regards,
Roachcreek
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In the above picture, which is the bear????
I don’t like hiking with a fat girl. I had a bad experience with a heavyweight when I was young. We were going up a steep hill, and being a gentleman, I let her go first.
Well….one of her knee gears stripped out, and she jack-knifed on me. I wasn’t fast enough when she lost traction, and her under-carriage rolled right over me.
I’ll never forget those two huge hip tanks coming right at my face. I screamed and everything went black.
Fortunately it had rained earlier that morning and my body was pushed deep into the mud. I woke up with a salty taste in my mouth. I look downhill only to see a path of destruction, crushed trees, shrubs, one smashed outhouse, and a green Yugo lying on it’s side.
She had rolled all the way down the hill, hit the Yugo, and spun 90 degrees off into a waste treatment holding pond.
The police were called, but she was long since dead. I was afraid I was in deep trouble for taking her up such a steep path with no run-away sand stops on either side of the tiny road, but the Sheriff understood it was youth and ignorance, and ruled her death a “Sewer-Side”!
Kindest regards,
Uncle H 😯 😯 T