Alaska bear gun

[Buckhunter24]

Find one of these, load it with some Montana HSM 305 grain bear loads and call it a day.  This pistol/round is hard to beat in many ways. I’m still in awe with the power of this pistol and round combo. 

https://www.guns.com/firearms/handguns/revolver/taurus-444-ultra-lite-titanium-44-magnum-revolver-6-rounds-4-barrel-1-8-lbs-blue-used?p=99699&soldout=1

I like it 

[Skyvalhunter]

When the OP stated thick bear country. Where are we talking? What kind of bear? Is he just fearful of black bears? If it's in grizzly country you would want a gun you are comfortable shooting. Also one that you can easily deploy to fire if it is indeed that thick of brush. Maybe a semi auto to put more lead out if you missed with the first shot. What I am saying it depends on the circumstances also you are most likely to be in.

Its a contract requirement for a job located on the Yukon River never carried a gun while working before and want to buy something that makes sense. No worried about black bears not particularly worried about brown but better safe than sorry

Sounds good. Hunted the Yukon near Galena, and have a friend that moose hunts there every year. He hunts and packs a 45/70 guide gun for its compactness and knock down power. Only had issues with bears when meat was in camp otherwise they were skitterish. Is better to be safe.

[Buckhunter24]

When the OP stated thick bear country. Where are we talking? What kind of bear? Is he just fearful of black bears? If it's in grizzly country you would want a gun you are comfortable shooting. Also one that you can easily deploy to fire if it is indeed that thick of brush. Maybe a semi auto to put more lead out if you missed with the first shot. What I am saying it depends on the circumstances also you are most likely to be in.

Its a contract requirement for a job located on the Yukon River never carried a gun while working before and want to buy something that makes sense. No worried about black bears not particularly worried about brown but better safe than sorry

Sounds good. Hunted the Yukon near Galena, and have a friend that moose hunts there every year. He hunts and packs a 45/70 guide gun for its compactness and knock down power. Only had issues with bears when meat was in camp otherwise they were skitterish. Is better to be safe.

Nice, I'm hoping to find some good paddles up there

[JWBINX]

When the OP stated thick bear country. Where are we talking? What kind of bear? Is he just fearful of black bears? If it's in grizzly country you would want a gun you are comfortable shooting. Also one that you can easily deploy to fire if it is indeed that thick of brush. Maybe a semi auto to put more lead out if you missed with the first shot. What I am saying it depends on the circumstances also you are most likely to be in.

Its a contract requirement for a job located on the Yukon River never carried a gun while working before and want to buy something that makes sense. No worried about black bears not particularly worried about brown but better safe than sorry

Sounds good. Hunted the Yukon near Galena, and have a friend that moose hunts there every year. He hunts and packs a 45/70 guide gun for its compactness and knock down power. Only had issues with bears when meat was in camp otherwise they were skitterish. Is better to be safe.

  Or just carry a .338 Win Mag!

[Alchase]

This comes up every year, A ton of myth to wade through on this topic, here is a study of the results of caliber used in bear defense.

https://concealednation.org/2018/10/handguns-for-bear-defense-a-study-by-caliber/

[Brushcrawler]

If you are serious about it, try some different guns and different bullets and see which works the best for you. I tested a 4” 44 mag, a 2.5” 44 mag, and the G40 10mm on a series of wood blocks that I could take apart and measure the penetration. I shot the 10 much better on a quick draw than the other two. Some bullets for each were clearly junk, despite the advertising,. The buffalo bore hardcast 10mm penetrated just as well as the 44 mag. Based on that I went with 15+1 chances. As Wetwoods said, they also work pretty good on ptarmigan. And you still have plenty left over for the real business.
Enjoy your trip up north!

[Caseknife]

I have one of these, https://www.taurususa.com/revolvers/taurus-tracker/tracker-r-44-44-mag-matte-black-oxide-4-00-in-ribber-grip-r

I did install Hogue grips, seem to tame recoil better and more secure fit in the hand.  It is a hand full to shoot with Buffalo Bore 300 gr hardcast, but easy to get used to.  I carry it in Wyoming in grizzly country while elk hunting, that and bear spray if I am not the hunter and carrying a rifle.  If I am the hunter with the rifle then I also carry bear spray in a chest holder.

Really depends on the type of work you will be doing.  Will you be walking through the brush along the streams with equipment in your hands doing stream research, handgun in a chest rig.  Doing something that leaves your hands free, defensive shotgun with slugs or lever big-bore rifle would be the right choice.

[Night goat]

Big bore hand cannons are useless in my opinion

Why? Aside from the macho cool factor who the hell can get a follow up shot after hellish recoil in a split second moment of absolute horror when one of these beasts makes up its mind on ending you? I'm sure some
Can get one or two shots off but how accurate is your follow up shot going to be? Plus you only have 5 rounds, 6 if you don't cowboy load....

When that bear charges and knocks you down and you're dazed on your back and have about 6 seconds before it's standing on you pressing it's claws into your rib cage chewing on your skull or ripping flesh from your leg, the last thing I want to be concerned about is being able to hang onto a giant hand cannon getting the last or second to last shot off before my
Life is over.


Glock 20 or 40 with 10mm +p+ hard cast Buffalo bores gives you way more options. It's the new popular thing to carry up there for a reason. 17+1 with 44mag like performance is hard to beat.

12 gauge is hard to beat too

But nothing says macho like a hand cannon in a chest holster...... seriously though that's the #1 giveaway to a tourist or somebody new to the back country is a shiny new hand cannon in a chest holster.....

Ammo is hard to find up there....12 gauge is everythwere to the point it's guaranteed to be anywhere you go.

Best gun is the one your most comfortable with and can get more than one or two rounds off with


I commercial fish up there so that's what I've personally seen

I have a huge opinion on this subject to be frank, but it's just my opinion.

My experience? Had an accident with a single action 44 bear gun some years back and  almost lost my leg.

Take my words with a grain of salt but it's what I stand by

I fully understand the physics of what it takes to stop a bear, you want a huge chunk of lead moving as fast as possible to not penetrate but absolutely immobilize it, and penetration alone doesn't always do the job, and that a bear can keep fighting for minutes after it's medically dead. You want to hit it hard as possible ie blowing out a shoulder blade or similar, to stop it in its track....they are nasty animals but one needs to be realistic in a real life scenario.....

When do attacks happen the most? low light conditions, and in thick brush. I want to be able to get as many shots off as possible and trust me the 10mm works, I've talked to a state worker who has killed 3 bears in southeast working at fish hatcheries. Pop a light on a 10mm, and with 17+1 or whatever it is, I'd feel a helluva lot better than 5 or 6 from a big bore,

The exception being a 12 gauge. 12 gauge wrote the book on bear protection next to 45-70.... big bore hand cannons have their place but I'd hate to be in a life and death scenario with one knowing there were other options. Not bashing others choices, as I said the best gun is the one you're most comfortable with

But personally I'd take a Glock 10mm with a compensated barrel, a high power flashlight and tritium radio active night sights with my next choice being my 12 gauge

And again this is just my opinion

[Remnar]

 There is no reason to "cowboy load " a modern transfer bar style revolver . Which almost all of these type revolvers would be ...Just saying

[HUNTINCOUPLE]

Like stated very fun discussion at this time. Hopefully we never have to have the other discussion........... Whatever Bore you like in a chest holster.  Plan to stuff your pistol hand with pistol down the bears throat and don't stop pulling the trigger. Bear attacks are crazy!!!! This brings back the Mark Uptain death in Wyoming. Never take your holster off..............

[b23]

Big bore hand cannons are useless in my opinion

Why? Aside from the macho cool factor who the hell can get a follow up shot after hellish recoil in a split second moment of absolute horror when one of these beasts makes up its mind on ending you? I'm sure some
Can get one or two shots off but how accurate is your follow up shot going to be? Plus you only have 5 rounds, 6 if you don't cowboy load....

 
10mm +p+ hard cast Buffalo bores gives you way more options. It's the new popular thing to carry up there for a reason. 17+1 with 44mag like performance is hard to beat.

I had a 4in S&W 500 mag and unless you have Jerry Miculek like skills, it would be nearly useless.  They're fun to shoot, for short amounts of time, because they truly are a fricken beast of a hand cannon and they are thunderous but even with their weight, which is significant, the recoil is so substantial it takes a very long time to get back on target.  I mostly only shot the 275gr Barnes XPB in my 500 and the recoil was, damn, so I could only imagine what shooting some of the 400-500+ grain hard cast ammo would be like.  My dad has a S&W 460 w/8 3/8 barrel and you can tame it down quite a bit with 45LC ammo but it's a huge handgun and weighs 5+ lbs loaded.

I shot a SA 454 Casull at the range once and not only would I, never, want a SA only revolver as any kind of defense weapon but it was easily the most miserable handgun I've ever shot.  It was fairly light-ish and the grips were small and had sharp corners that made shooting it very unpleasant.  Some of the other DA/SA 454's are probably better.

Big bear defense handgun, I'd agree, something like G20 or G40 would be a much better choice.  I'm no particular fan of Glocks but I've had a few, one of them being a G20, you won't need to sell a kidney to buy one, they pretty much always function properly and go bang with any and all ammo.  They shoot plenty straight for use as a defense weapon and the aftermarket for them is extensive as well as they are very easy to modify.  The recoil of a semi auto will be substantially less than any of the big bore hand cannons and with +P loads the recoil is more than you like, swapping recoil springs to tame it down a bit is easy peasy and can be done in just a couple minutes.  Under a bad situation where you had to shoot it one handed, with a little practice, something like a G20/40 is pretty easy to do but shooting any of the big bore revolvers one handed, yeah not so much.  Also, Glocks don't have any kind of external/manual safety so once you have a round chambered, it's just a matter of drawing it from the holster and it's game on for 16 rounds.  I sold my G20 a couple years ago and bought a Sig 1911 10mm.  I like shooting the 1911 10mm better but as a bear defense handgun I would take the G20 over the 1911 because of the much higher capacity, no safety to think about as well as once the Glock has one chambered it's ready to go as soon as you pull the trigger.

Having had both, with regard to big bear defense, I would take my G20 over my S&W 500 every single time.  If I was hunting bears from a tree stand or something like that then I'd pick the hand cannon over something like a G20 or 40.

It's kind of ironic because I sold my 4in 500 to a guy about a year ago that was going to Alaska to work as his buddies guide's assistant the does Griz hunts.  I talked to him quite a bit about maybe it wouldn't be the best choice to use but he was insistent a 4in S&W 500mag was exactly what he wanted so I sold it to him.

I always kind of thought something like a Remington TAC-14 w/arm brace shooting 00 or 000 buckshot would be a pretty good option for a relatively compact shotgun setup but even with the mag tube modified you'll only have six rounds but even with only six rounds of magnum 00 or 000 buck it should make for some pretty stout medicine at short range.

[jrebel]

Folks that say any "one" caliber is no good due to comfort of shooting / recoil....have likely only shot that caliber a couple times with one manufacturers round.  Point being...you can shoot my 454 with 5 different rounds from different manufacturers with different bullets and bullet weights......one will hurt you and the other will be a pleasure to shoot.  My 454 is super not fun to shoot with mag tech 225 grain bullets.....like break your wrist not fun.  The same pistol with HSM 325 grain bear load is a *censored* cat....shoot it one handed *censored* cat.  I reload to a very similar feel with hard cast 325 grain bullets and I can put 6 on target as fast as I can with my 1911 in 45 auto.  I have owned subcompact 9mm that were equally unpleasant to shoot as the 454 with mag tech.....?? 

Two take away points....

1.  Big bore revolvers can and are a very effective tool if you....
2.  Practice.  You have to practice with any pistol / firearm to the point that shooting it becomes an unconscious act. 

[RGB]

I went with a Glock 29 since Washington decided we can't be trusted with larger magazines.