Posted on 11/04/2010 8:43:43 PM PDT by Saije
Even as Scott Oberlitner squeezed the trigger on the .375-caliber H&H Magnum rifle and sent a massive slug flying toward the hulk of the charging Afognak Island grizzly bear, he sensed it was too late. This was like trying to stop a freight train with a bullet. A miracle was going to be necessary to halt this madness, and there was no miracle. The bullet hit the bear, but did nothing to slow it. There was no time for a second shot. There was no time for anything except the fleeting thought that what was happening couldn't be happening. Then the bear was on Oberlitner.
"I thought it was all over," the 40-year-old Anchorage man says now, just over a week later.
About the last thing he remember doing in the split second before the bear hit him was trying to make a bullfighter pivot out of the way of the charge. It didn't work. The bear hit Oberlitner, and he went down.
From then on, he was powerless. His life was in the hands of fate.
"She bit me on the leg. She bit me on the butt," he said, "and then she threw me on a log and cracked some ribs."
(Excerpt) Read more at alaskadispatch.com ...
That’s a common misconception about some of the heavier magnums.
I’ve shot mule deer with a .250 Savage, .270 Winchester and .338 WM. Of the three of them, the .338 causes the least meat damage. The .338 can be pushing a 210 to 230gr bullet at 2900 down to 2700 fps. A .270 can be pushing a 130gr bullet at over 3100 fps.
The worst blood-shot deer I ever saw was hit with a .264 WM. Most of the front quarter where the bullet entered was pulped by a 120gr bullet - that was launched at over 3200 fps.
The .375 is typically pushing something like a 270 grain bullet at a modest velocity - like, oh, 2600 to 2700 fps.
From my observations, it is the velocity of a bullet that causes explosive terminal ballistics, not the bullet weight. The .375 (and similar “African” or “dangerous game” cartridges) don’t launch light bullets at 3,000+ fps velocities. They launch heavy bullets, sometimes non-deforming solid bullets, at “normal” smokeless rifle powder velocities (2200 to 2700 fps).
I guess he was using a bolt action rifle. In those conditions he’s only going to get off one shot. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
I've read several times that you can carry whatever you want, but the guides always seem to be carrying shotguns with slugs. Go figure.
Would YOU eat that?
WTHeck is THAT? Is the guy a midget, or do bears get a LOT bigger than I thought? WOW!
Several years ago some G.I.s killed a sow Brown bear on the Russian River with a 9mm, I don’t recall whether she was charging them.
This is not a woman, this is a scary beast....!
He could slap more than my head off. Dang near the entire upper half of my body.
True story. Part of the internet legend.
10’ 6” bear. Shot with a .338 WinMag
http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/bearhunt.asp
http://graphics1.snopes.com/photos/animals/graphics/bearhunt4.jpg
LOL!
Hunting Kodiak Island with a .375-caliber H&H rifle, Oberlitner always figured he was pretty well protected. The cartridge traces its history to the British company Holland & Holland, which designed it in 1912 for hunting dangerous African game — lions and tigers. It has even been used in Africa for hunting elephants and water buffalo, and has long been thought to be near the ultimate stopper for bears in Alaska.
>>Several years ago some G.I.s killed a sow Brown bear on the Russian River with a 9mm, I don’t recall whether she was charging them.
If she wasn’t, they’re pure idiots. That’s not a fight you start without a reason.
Where I live just a few miles north of Wasilla, Alaska I keep in the house ready in an instant a fully loaded short barreled Remington Model 11 semi auto 12 gauge loaded with slugs.
I have a Winchester Model 70 in .375H&H, in .300WIN and a 7MM, then I have the Ruger M77 Mk2 which is stainless in .338Win and it has a rubber coated fiberglass stock, thats my prime hunting rifle, whats nice is that it along with the Winchester can chamber a cartridge even upside down.
My preferred choice of bullets that I reload are the Barnes all copper Triple Shocks, I don’t actively hunt bear but if I did I would probably use the Barnes solids. We do have black bears and whe I go fishing I keep my Glock 20 in 10mm with me and I handload hot rounds in it.
I know of one group of guys up here that find the high ground and look for bear but they do it from a LONG way away, and they use a 50BMG that has a saboted round of .375 caliber. If I had to use anything against a Kodiak brown bear I would grab a .378 Weatherby, or a .460 Weatherby.
The .338 is the smallest rifle most guides will allow when hunting the browns up here, and yes they do carry 12 gauge slug rifles, more fast follow up shots than a bolt rifle.
Tigers are actually rare in Africa.
I hope that shot was taken form the back of a pickup truck.
Okay, here’s a rhetorical question: If a .375-caliber H&H Magnum rifle slug can’t stop a charging grizzly, how would an oversized can of pepper spray do the trick?
Bullets don't have that much momentum. A charging grizzly has about 500 times the momentum of a .375 rifle bullet. You can hit a bone and the bear can no longer support its weight. You can hit the brain, spine or other important nerve and get some reflex action dropping the bear. But a rifle bullet's momentum will turn 1200 pounds of bear meat moving at 30 mph into 1200 pounds of bear meat moving at 29.9 mph.
Mythbusters had an interesting show where they shot pig (I think) carcasses to show how little the meat actually moves when hit by a bullet without a neurological spasm in a live animal.
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