Posted on 02/17/2022 3:31:40 AM PST by marktwain
“Guide yelled for Wrangler to shoot a warning shot. In the excitement, Wrangler could not chamber a round.”
This applies to human defense as well - having an empty chamber is a stupid idea in a modern weapon intended for self defense, be it against bear or marauding humanoids. Operator failure under stress is the main problem with a pump gun and is why military and police who fight with shotguns for real have all been moving to autoloading shotguns.
bkmk
Unclear as to why when elk hunting no one took the rifle that was used. If you can pack a shotgun you can pack a rifle, elk quarter be damned.
They were done hunting and were retrieving game.
Having a rifle would not have made any difference what so ever.
There’s a whole collection of videos of people dying while trying to chamber a round. Quite sad.
I think I may have seen it - empty chambers had their place in ancient times when all people had were revolvers without drop safety mechanisms, but it’s been well more than a century since that was the case.
Let’s not get into the related stupidity that racking a shell into the empty chamber of a shotgun will cause an assailant to flee, because it doesn’t.
Gotta be from stupid kommiefornians moving into the area and feeding the sweet little furballs.
One of us would have had a 45-70 Marlin Guide gun, chambered and ready to fire.
Another of us would have had an over/under, both chambers loaded with high velocity slugs.
The third would have been carrying a Ruger Redhawk 44 mag (I own two) loaded with hard cast bullets.
I'm not a fan of warning shots, but then, I don't hunt in griz infested woods.
44 mags are ok. but to be sure take a 454 Casull. the one with the 2 inch barrel is a kick
But, sure, the 454, if you wish.
I visited with a wildlife biologist who is tasked with tagging and recording every kind of critter.
He admitted to a heightened level of excitement when being charged by a grizzly on the end of a cable snare.
Your choices have merit, especially the.45-70 & the .44 Mag. My shotgun choice would be a short-barrel 12ga. autoloader to reduce recoil from the heavy slug & 00-buck rounds I would load in an alternating sequence. Birdshot has no place in a self-defense scenario, IMO. This scenario also requires all to have bear spray, too.
Someone let me fire his 454 some years ago. 2” barrel like yours. He loaded three rounds and gave it to me. I shot 2 and gave it back, my hands were shaking so much I dare not fire the third. Too much gun for me, that thing is a BEAST!😬
How would an autoloading shotgun have helped in this situation? If I'm reading the article right, the problem was the inability to manually load the initial load into the chamber. That process has to be done manually whether the shotgun is a pump or an autoloader. The problem here was the chamber wasn't loaded before it became a stressful situation.
Autoloaders generally don’t have a bolt release tab that you have to hit before chambering a round from a closed bolt and empty chamber.
Even though I trust the transfer bar safety in my Uberti El Patron SA revolver, I still load them with an empty chamber. Just in case.
That’s not a modern weapon, though - it’s a modified replica of an ancient design. :P
I is so refreshing to read a well written article these days.
Only at the dollar store.
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.