Watch for grizzer bears.
From what I have been told by local residents, trouble grizzer bears are dumped off by the feds in those mountains.
Needless to say, you should go in well heeled.
I know this has been done to death but what last ditch handgun would you carry in this country? Thank you for all of your great replies.
that`s pretty lonely country.... You get hurt out
there your on your own that`s why I would hope for the biggest, bad`est gun on the planet...![[image]](images/uploaded/202606101403406a296ebcad2d2.jpg)
having danced with a couple of bears I would go with the
most powerful revolver I could shoot well, that being the 510 GNR or the 475 Linebaugh. I would also have a 12 gauge pump with the shortest barrel allowed loaded with premium slugs or a 3 inch magnum OO buck or OOO buck..
Anybody that goes into bear country with anything less than the 475 Linebaugh should be bear food. I hear all these stories of the guide carrying the 10mm for back-up just makes me wonder who allowed that guide to work in Alaska. A 44 Magnum is right at half of the power of the old 30-30 and the 10mm is way under the power of the hottest 44 Magnum. So what moron decided that the 10mm is good for a Grizzly or any pissed off bear?
Any bear that has the adrenaline pumping is extremely hard to put down. You don't have to kill him, you have to break him down, put him on the ground, then kill him.
In Alaska years ago I had a big bear come to dance with me. I hit him at about 5 feet with the hot loaded 510 GNR. The round hit him in the shoulder and we found out later it went all the way thru exiting at the lower ribs. He rolled at my feet and I hit him again at about 2 feet with the same round. He screamed nasty things about my mother and ran off. With 4 50 caliber holes in him, (each round exiting the bear), he still ran off which meant I had to go in to finish him off. Thank the Lord the bear was dead when I got there. Good friend Larry Kovach and guide George (can't remember his last name) were there. WB and several others can also vouch for this tale. But it just shows that even the hottest revolver round doesn't always put him down immediately.
you been there and done that......
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I would wait til he turns his head and put a round at
the base of his ear. It has worked on Black Bears and with the right round (no lead or hollow point round) should work on a Grizzly or Brown Bear.
After problems putting Grizzlys down with hard cast lead bullets, George, the head man, banned all lead bullets. I saw a big bear hit with a 445 grain hard cast lead bullet just behind the front leg from a 510 GNR and the bear ran off. I was taking a video of it and was standing behind the shooter. In the video you see the bullet hit the bear just back of the front leg and go all the way thru and hit the water behind the bear. The bear was standing in about 2 feet of water when he was hit. The bear ran off and we never saw him again. We tried tracking him for several hours but no trace of the bear. George said he had the same problem with other hunters using lead bullets.
He said the bullets just pushed a column of air in front of it and the bullet didn't do any internal damage. The heavy hide plus probably 2 inches of fat slowed the bullet down enough that it did no internal damage.
There are several ways to go when bear hunting. The thing
you have to remember is either you are going to die or the bear is going to die. There is no wounding a big bear. That just pisses him off even more.
Years ago I was bear hunting in Washington with bear dogs. The dogs scented a bear and the race was on. The dogs chased the bear and backed the bear up against a big boulder. The guide and I were trying to get up to the bear but the brush was so thick all we could do was try to crawl on our hands and knees. When we got to where we could see the bear the guide told me to shoot the bear as it had already killed 2 of his dogs.
Back then the 44 Magnum was the big boy. No 475 or anything with more power than a hot loaded 44 Magnum. I took a shot while on my knees, then another. The bear had the adrenalin pumping and never felt those 2 rounds. I thought I needed to break the bear down so I went for a shoulder shot. The round was the Hornady 260 grain jacketed soft point. I was shooting a S&W model 29 with the hottest round that was safe in that gun. That shot got the bear's attention as he started biting at his shoulder. That also told him that we were what was hurting him. The bear started spinning at the next round but now he wanted to spend some time with us. He put his head down and came at us. The dogs were still biting at him so that slowed him down a bit. As he got within about 10 feet from us I hit him in the chest with my next to last shot. We were still on our knees and the guide had his strike dog on a leash connected to his belt. That is the important dog as he scents the bear from the truck and he didn't want to get the dog hurt.
Unfortunately the bear had other plans as he went right for the dog. In doing that he knocked the guide and me over on our backs. I had one round left and all I could think of was heart shot. I reached up and put the muzzle of the 44 in the bear's arm pit. At the shot I heard a second shot. The guide was carrying my Contender chambered in the 41 GNR#2 and had shoved the muzzle of the pistol in the bear's throat.The bear was nose to nose with the guide. The bear was dead but kept doing that spastic snapping of his teeth. The guide just kept muttering "shoot the bear" again and again.Unfortunately the strike dog was killed. But thank the Lord the bear was dead. I think it was the guide's shot that killed the bear.
The bear was a big Black Bear and took a lot of killing.
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Honestly I don’t think it matters too much to the bear
But if it helps you when all the hair on your neck goes straight up… I know lots of guys that choose any of several Glock 10mm. Not bad if you use a premium heavy loaded ammo. Most factory 10mm are weak, .40 S&W +P.
I loaded some 10mm 230 gr. at 1200 fps (6) G20. Ditto a special G21 in .45 Super. Anything less is just light. I’d do a normal .45 ACP with ball ammo, but I really wouldn’t like it as much. 13-shots or no. We have a big HK that shoots nice.
Any revolver that starts with a .4, shoots a 200+ gr. bullet at 1200 fps, is as good as any. George in AK told me you’ll only get one shot, if you are lucky, in a genuine Bear charge. I like penetration, period. My personal big gun is a .510 GNR with 370 gr. FPGC. In the #6 chassis it’s all I can barely hang onto. I have a 4” Redhawk in .45 Colt that works very well too, with hotter than factory ammo. Lots of “experts” say a 12 ga. pump with premium slugs is what you really want. That sounds good to me. The little Kel-tec 14-shot bull-pup pump sounds great to me. But I find them a bit unwieldy to mount and shoot quickly. An old 870 or Mossberg 500 Turkey gun suits me.
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