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?
Nope need to ramp it up to 50 cal
12 gauge pump guns are the gun of choice in Alaska.
Pistols are for when a long gun is not carried.
They are much better than nothing.
I thought 45-70 leveraction was the time honored solution.
I2 gauge pump with sabot slugs. Marlin 1895 guide gun in 45-70 or 450 Marlin.
How about a Freedom Arms revolver in .500 Wyoming Express?
any experienced bear country guides i ever travelled with rely on shotgun.
i had one Alaska guide make this comment about my carrying my 454 Casul:
“yes, that will be helpful. you can use it to signal for help after the bear chews your arm off”
A 44 magnum snubnose? No thanks.
I live in Alaska and I’m an out avid outdoorsman, I hunt fish trap and shoot ultra long range here. I have 1000 pound bears that live on the creek behind my house that is full of salmon… When I’m caring one of my rifles I have my side pistol which is a Smith & Wesson .500 with .700 grain bullets hand loaded. If you have to shoot it it’s like a hand grenade going off in your hand! When I don’t have my rifle, I carry a Keltech KSG shotgun.
However, it is important to know whether the bears are black bears or brown bears. The best way to tell the difference between black bears and brown bears was to examine their droppings. Black bear droppings will contain squirrel fur, berries, and smell of fish. Brown bear droppings will contain little bells and smell of pepper spray.
That's definitely not a plinker!
I guess these are the real “Bear Arms”????
I thought you were supposed to wear little bells on you shoes, to give the bear advanced warning.
Rick's Bear Hunt
Rick was excited about his new rifle and decided to try bear hunting. He traveled up to Alaska, spotted a small black bear and shot it.
Soon after there was a tap on his shoulder, and he turned around to see a big brown bear.
The brown bear said, That was a very bad mistake. That was my cousin. I'm going to give you two choices: Either I maul you to death or we have sex.
After considering briefly, Rick decided to accept the latter alternative.
So the brown bear had his way with Rick. Even though he felt sore for two weeks, Rick soon recovered and vowed revenge.
He headed out on another trip to Alaska where he found the brown bear and shot it dead.
Right after, there was another tap on his shoulder.
This time a huge grizzly bear stood right next to him. The grizzly said, ' That was a big mistake, Rick. That was my cousin and you 've got two choices: either I maul you to death or we have 'rough sex. '
Again, Rick thought it was better to cooperate with the grizzly bear than be mauled to death. So the grizzly had his way with Rick.
Although he survived, it took several months before Rick fully recovered.
Now Rick was completely outraged, so he headed back to Alaska and managed to track down the grizzly bear and shot it.
He felt sweet revenge, but then, moments later, there was a tap on is shoulder. He turned around to find a giant polar bear standing there.
The polar bear looked at him and said, 'Admit it Rick, you don't come here for the hunting, do you? '
Always hunt with a partner. If charged by a bear, use this to shoot partner in leg. Then you can outrun the bear. ;)
Ok, just kidding for those with no sense of humor...
I LOL’d when I read this. A freekin’ snub nose?? Yeah, good luck with that. A 700lb grizzly charging close range at 30 mph and you got a snub nose? And just what do you imagine you’d hit? The camper 2 clicks away and to the left?
Nope, I prefer an auto shotgun but would use a pump action in a pinch.
Yes, see post 11 for details.
Great for two-legged and four-legged unbearables.
Available at $300 brand new, with a little looking around.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.