Alaska Ping.
Alaska Ping.
How many more rounds and did he empty the magazine to stop the bear?
My guess: Yep!
I carry a S&W 629 chambered in 44 Magnum with Buffalo Bore bullets.
Yeah, years ago there was a girl who killed a grizzly with a .22. So what? Were i in an area with grizzlies i would still carry a .44 mag at least.
AM Shooting Journal is either written by a first-grader, or translated from Swahili to Chinese to English. The incredibly poor writing/editing/punctuation greatly diminishes the impact of its stories.
They were lucky. That’s an irresponsible and poor guide who takes his clients into dangerous areas ill prepared.
this “reporter/journalist” did not bother to read the product description... The description says:
“...This load is designed to penetrate deep (4 to 6 feet) in a straight line, through flesh and bones and that flat nose does considerably more terminal damage, as it crushes its way through tissues, than a round nose bullet does as it slips and slides it way through tissues and that crushing action, keeps the bullet nose forward and ensures very deep straight-line penetration. Round nose bullets tend to get sideways as they slip and slide through tissues and this often causes them to veer off path. This bullet is designed to crush through a large bear skull, coming and going.”
https://www.midwayusa.com/product/101803111/buffalo-bore-ammunition-outdoorsman-9mm-luger-p-147-grain-hard-cast-lead-flat-nose-box-of-20
I live in black bear country. I bought 180gr hard cast Buffalo Bore rounds for the .357 in the event one gets in the house. A black got mostly into our kitchen in 2007. My wife bonked it on the nose and it retreated.
The recoil and noise on those Buffalo bore rounds is a noticeable bump over a standard .357 round.
A few years ago a guy killed a charging Grizzly with a 5.45x39 AK. 7 rounds IIRC.
I have no doubt a 9mm would work also, but that must taken 15 rounds or so. Wow!
I’m no expert on guns or bears, but I’d want something more than a 9mm handgun to take on a bear in Alaska - I’d have thought that all a 9mm would do is make the bear angry.
Shot placement; he was lucky.
I wonder what he will carry with him the next time he goes into bear country?
There have been four successful, documented uses of 9 mm handguns to stop bear attacks. One was a black bear in Colorado, two grizzlys in Alaska (the Phil Shoemaker account is one of these) and one grizzly in Montana.
http://gunwatch.blogspot.com/2018/02/defense-against-bears-with-pistols-97_25.html
Lacked penetration? Buffalo Bore 9mm hardcast gives 4 to 6 FEET of penetration depending on the bone vs soft tissue combo.
He shot it in the vitals because that was the shot he had. A brain shot didn’t present itself. But that round could have easily brained him through a bear skull.
Shot placement and hard cast bullets probably made the difference...But a 9mm (or any pistol/revolver under .40 caliber, other than a .357), is “iffy” and would not ever be my choice for bear defense...
Pounded a lot of ground in central Alaska as a young infantry NCO, and our point and drag guys were armed with 12 ga pump guns, loaded with slugs for bear encounters...