Posted on 10/19/2017 8:24:35 AM PDT by w1n1
It’s often prudent to be armed when in bear country. Here are our picks for the 10 best bear defense guns that are available on the market today. When you head into bear country, you must accept that you are no longer at the top of the food chain. Luckily, most bears usually do not want any trouble and will leave the area as soon as they detect you.
However, this is not always the case and you should be prepared to defend yourself if you get in a tight situation. A good bear gun should be a part of your defense plan.
That being said, an ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure. By using your brain and taking a few basic precautions out in the woods, you can dramatically reduce your odds of being attacked by a bear. Here's a few bear defense gun to look at.
Ruger Super Redhawk Alaskan
The revolver is available with a 2.5-inch barrel which makes it very compact and easy to carry. However, the short barrel comes with a price of increased recoil, muzzle blast, and slightly reduced power. Even so, the gun still packs quite a punch and has been successfully used by many people to defend themselves against bears.
Ruger GP100
Many shooters are able to shoot both faster and more accurately with a .357 Magnum than a .44 Magnum or other larger cartridge. With this in mind, a high quality handgun chambered in .357 Magnum, like the Ruger GP100, can be a very effective bear defense gun.
Taurus Raging Bull
The revolver features the famous red “Raging Bull” backstrap on the grip, which considerably tames the gun’s recoil, making it another good choice for bear defense. Read the full description of the Top 5 bear defense guns here. What's yours?
Holy crap, that is Kim’s story! Thought it was the big toe!
Its a great story!
When I work in Alaska I carry an 870 smoothbore with Brenneke “Dangerous Game” slugs. I can’t find them in the store, but you can buy them online. Much larger lead than a regular deer slug, and has a fin thing behind it to help guide it. I forget the size of the slug - but it is substantial.
I also carry bear spray.
Suffice it to say that when the county I hunt in allowed rifle hunting after many decades of not.....I dropped all my investigations into accurate slugs.
I got nice hundred yard groups with sabot slugs. But always somewhere between 5-10 rounds there would be a flyer that did not stay on the paper at all. I do believe that occasionally, 1/2 of the sabot stayed on for a microsecond longer than the other causing the slug to sail.
This happened with both a Winchester rifles barrel and a mossberg
I was going to have my son turn down a copper or brass rod on the lathe to the correct diameter and hand load these as projectiles.
Ironically the most accurate 12 gauge I ever fired was a fiends scoped browning A5 in full choke smooth bore. It fired Foster slugs into 2” groups at 100 yds. Go figure. It goes against all accuracy beliefs. A semi auto with a barrel that moves like a 1911s. A scope mounted on the reciever, and a full choke. But these big fat slugs were almost touching at 100yds.
Go figure
That is a wonderment.
I’ve seen those brennenke slugs locally. I’ll be sure to try some out. Good info to know thanks.
My barrel is cylinder bore with iron sights. Paper plate accuracy at 100 yards suits me fine for large animals. Thank for the info on the chokes- I will be sure to get one. It’ll be my choice for some big critters.
Enjoy
bkmk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRHmDaDnwDU
Actually, I think the last batch I brought up were the Brenneke Black Magic Magnum. They may have done away with the “dangerous game” ones (or perhaps it was Black Magic for dangerous game??? Memory isn’t the greatest.
The above link at the end is pretty impressive penetrating the gel at 30 feet. I recall their accuracy is pretty impressive as well.
The one thing I’m worried about is I’m there working and it is on a sling over my shoulder. So I wouldn’t have much time if one charged in the thick brush. In a couple of sites we have had local Indians serve as constant bear watchers and at the ready with a rifle. No bears yet - but they did get two wild dogs at one site.
They said that the wild dogs were more dangerous than the bears.
That’s a good vid. TNToutdoors makes some informative vids.
You could fit a sling adapter plate and single point sling to carry your shotgun in front. But that may interfere with your work.
Here are some examples if you have not heard of them.
https://www.midwayusa.com/product/939213539/midwayusa-tactical-single-point-bungee-sling
Thanks for the info - I’ll have to look at how those work.
Stay safe out there!
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