I'd carry one of those dudes into bear country any day! Use the HEDP round; the #4 buckshot load is too light for Brownies. If you're seriously interested in a blooper, either the old M79 or a current-issue M203 to piggyback on an M16 or AR15, check with
Randy Shivak My own idea of a discouragement gun in bear country [required by state law] was a shorty Remington 870 loaded with three slugs up the tube and a *dragon's breath* magnesium signal round as the first one out, also a pretty good survival situation firestarter in snowy conditions. The trick was to not burn down an entire forest.
-archy-/-
The M-79 was called a "bloo
ker", at least by the Marines who I tended to as an HM2. And be damned, that is indeed the noise they made when firing. The rounds always detonated in a small puff of grey smoke, unlike the ones that hollywood uses, which explode in a twenty-foot fireball and flip over armored cars.
I actually got to fire the M203 a great deal more. Those were fun days, with Uncle Sugar buying all the ammo!