Travis' bear hide.
Posted on 12/06/2023 3:55:42 AM PST by marktwain
In 2005, Travis Newman was archery hunting in Washington state. He had drawn an archery elk tag for the Blue Mountains near Walla Walla. Late in the evening of the 20th of September, he was on a familiar elk trail. As he approached a corner, he thought: “I don’t remember seeing that stump before.” The “stump” was close, about 10 yards. The “stump” transformed itself into a big bear coming at him full bore, furiously chomping its jaws. Travis thought the bear would bluff, took a step back, and speed drew his Taurus Tracker .45 Colt from a cross-body holster made by Uncle Mike. The revolver was loaded with Remington 250-grain jacketed hollow points.
Taurus Tracker 5-shot revolver
Travis’s first shot was fired at ten feet and went over the top of the bear. He fired the second shot at 4 1/2 feet. When he fired the third shot, the bear was right under his arm. The third shot broke the bear’s back, far down, disabling the hind legs. As the bear was passing, he stepped back and fired the last two shots in the revolver’s cylinder, double action, and hit the bear two more times in the back end. The entire action took less than three or four seconds.
The bear went over the edge of a ravine, just to Travis’ right. It is the upper end of the Wolf Fork Creek, which flows into Dayton, WA. Travis was left with an empty revolver. He dumped the empties into a coat pocket and grabbed in his other pocket, finding four spare cartridges. He loaded the four into the cylinder of the five-shot revolver, with the empty chamber under the hammer.
The bear was making an
(Excerpt) Read more at ammoland.com ...
Travis' bear hide.
Handguns over and over have proven to be effective in defending oneself.
Did he send his pants to the laundry or just throw them away?
.45 Colt can be loaded pretty hot, if you have the right gun, like a Ruger Blackhawk/Redhawk/Super Redhawk, or a rifle.
Reloading manuals have two sets of data for this reason.
Ruger Blackhawk revolvers in .45 Colt are marked as “.45 Caliber,” which I always thought was interesting.
Travis Newman was lucky. He would have been better off with full metal jacket bullets instead of hollow point ones.
It is all about advertising.
Don’t want the Name Colt on your non-colt handguns.
My trail gun is a Ruger Redhawk 44 magnum.
When buying my 44 ammo, the stereotypical gun shop clerk says, “you know most likely you’ll just shoot your hunting buddy’s leg off with that .44 if you ever get attacked by a grizzly.”
“I’ll take my chances. Two boxes please.”
My thoughts too when I read the article. Travis is a very lucky stupid man. Walking into a mud waller where a wounded Bear was blowing bubbles which means he was still alive, is monumentally stupid especially with a gun loaded with hollow point loads.
God obviously has plans for Travis.
45 Colt can be loaded to levels approaching magnum status. They can’t be used in (my) 1873 Winchester or in Colt’s Single Action Army, but in Ruger or Taurus, they can be stout. My reloading manuals actually have separate data for “Ruger Only” loads.
The bear invited Travis to dinner…
Travis declined the invitation.
Good on him.
“He would have been better off with full metal jacket bullets instead of hollow point ones.”
And likely even better off with hard-cast Keith semi-wadcutters.
Although the adrenaline dump of a bear within 10 feet may have had a LOT to do with the situation.
He would have also been better off with a Super Redhawk than with a five shooter, although one understands the idea of weight savings for bowhunters. Redhawk probably weighs a couple of pounds more than a Tracker, which does count on an ordinary, non-bear-shooting day.
Nunsense lawsuit against Smith & Wesson.
https://www.newsmax.com/politics/smith-and-wesson-nuns-ar-15/2023/12/05/id/1144866/
Smith & Wesson Shareholder Nuns Sue Over AR-15 Rifles
.45 Colt can be loaded to higher power levels than the .44 Magnum, but it’s only safe to shoot in select over-built revolvers (incl. .454 Casull & .460 S&W), top-breaks, falling blocks and maybe a couple of lever guns. I knew guys 50 years ago who were shooting .45 Colt in Blackhawks loaded hotter than anybody’s factory .44 Mag loads.
Buffalo Bore sells .45 Colt with a 260-grainer loaded to 1500 fps and 300-grainers to 1325 fps (with a long list of cautions attached). For a handgun, that’s some serious horsepower.
I carry a .45 loaded with hollow point Federal Hydrashoks. They work.
He had 5 rounds in his pistol and 4 more rounds in his pocket.
And he missed with 4 rounds out of the 8.
He’s lucky to be alive.
Out of the 9. Need more coffee.
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