Need some opinions with rationale.

[MtnMuley]

Personally, I'd take the 44 mag and a can of bear spray.  Granted the shotgun loaded the way you mentioned might be your best defense, but after all, it is a fishing trip and I could cast all day with a can of bear spray and a pistol on my side.  With the shotgun, it would be difficult.  As for wading in the water fishing, the shotgun would definately be in the way.  In all reality; it is great, and a must....to be prepared, but 99999/100000 times, you won't have to pull the trigger on a bear.  Hence--Id take the pistol and spray.

[JimmyHoffa]

If he chooses the shotgun approach, I'd agree with the poster that said forget the 00 and just load slugs.  I would go with a revolver bigger than .44 mag.  There are a few pistols now with some kind of 'Alaskan' designator to them.

[thinkingman]

I would agree with the shotgun idea, however....
Slugs offer you one projectile and you aren't likely to make your best shot under the circumstances.
I'd load #6 birdshot in the chamber and another behind it, then buckshot.
Remember, you're not trying to kill the bear, just deter it from chomping you or someone in your party.
If I can hit a bear in the face with birdshot, disable it's sense of sight, I have a pretty good chance of not getting injured.
If you want to be a hero after that, load slugs and finish them off.
I don't want to be a hero, I want to be uninjured.

[Rick]

I'd go with one of Marlins big bore lever actions. Either a 45-70 or .450 Marlin.

18 1/2" barrel with a 6 shot capacity. Compact with lots of horsepower.

Get some 400+ grain hard cast bullets from a campany like Buffalo Bore.

Even the biggest handguns are a POOR substitute for a rifle. A shotgun is better than a handgun,but still not as good as a rifle.

A rifle like this is going to kick like a mule. Not something most guys are going to shoot enough to get good with. Definately not something for the average Joe to strap on his back and think he is gonna save his ass with.

In real life,a big can of bear spray is gonna be his best bet.

[Rick]

I'd load #6 birdshot in the chamber and another behind it, then buckshot.
Remember, you're not trying to kill the bear, just deter it from chomping you or someone in your party.
If I can hit a bear in the face with birdshot, disable it's sense of sight, I have a pretty good chance of not getting injured.
If you want to be a hero after that, load slugs and finish them off.
I don't want to be a hero, I want to be uninjured.

Shooting a brown bear in the face with birdshot is a brilliant strategy. 

Then you'll have a wounded bear that somebody is going to have to track down and finish off.

[oneezreiter]

Go with the bear spray, It works and wont get in the way while fishing. 

[thinkingman]

I'd load #6 birdshot in the chamber and another behind it, then buckshot.
Remember, you're not trying to kill the bear, just deter it from chomping you or someone in your party.
If I can hit a bear in the face with birdshot, disable it's sense of sight, I have a pretty good chance of not getting injured.
If you want to be a hero after that, load slugs and finish them off.
I don't want to be a hero, I want to be uninjured.

Shooting a brown bear in the face with birdshot is a brilliant strategy. 

Then you'll have a wounded bear that somebody is going to have to track down and finish off.

Yup...pretty pragmatic, isn't it.
That's what survival is....

[MP123]

I dunno, shooting an 800 lb. Griz with #6 sounds like a real bad idea.  Unless you get really lucky and take out both eyes you're just going to piss him off.

I'd stick with the .45-70 or slugs...

[TheHunt]

I gave him the link to this thread.  Here is his response:

I read the material from the reference you provided. Besides the usual humor, which was nice but not helpful,  I am still stuck either going with something manageable in size and perhaps something more accurate but bulky to deal with.  In thinking about this situation, I recall that I was the only guy on the Russian River than was unprotected.

My guess is that whatever the result, I lot of practice will be necessary to feel comfortable.

Spray is certainly part of the equation, but bear charging has been a real problem that I think the audience under appreciates.

[Woodchuck]

Well, i would like to answer your friends response like this....no i have never been charged by a grizzly. i have however been in situations where i have had multiple people shooting at me with bad intentions. both situations i would call "under duress". i know that when the time came for engagement i would have much preffered to have something that covered as much area as humanly possible. when it is about self preservation milliseconds count  

[NWBREW]

I would agree with the shotgun idea, however....
Slugs offer you one projectile and you aren't likely to make your best shot under the circumstances.
I'd load #6 birdshot in the chamber and another behind it, then buckshot.
Remember, you're not trying to kill the bear, just deter it from chomping you or someone in your party.
If I can hit a bear in the face with birdshot, disable it's sense of sight, I have a pretty good chance of not getting injured.
If you want to be a hero after that, load slugs and finish them off.
I don't want to be a hero, I want to be uninjured.

m  



WOW...really. I can see no instance where shooting a bear in the face with birdshot is a good idea.   thinkingman.....you may want to think about that a little more. It doesn't have anything to do with being a hero....just surviving a potentiel bad outcome.

Pepper spray and gun.  

[jackelope]

I gave him the link to this thread.  Here is his response:

I read the material from the reference you provided. Besides the usual humor, which was nice but not helpful,  I am still stuck either going with something manageable in size and perhaps something more accurate but bulky to deal with.  In thinking about this situation, I recall that I was the only guy on the Russian River than was unprotected.

My guess is that whatever the result, I lot of practice will be necessary to feel comfortable.

Spray is certainly part of the equation, but bear charging has been a real problem that I think the audience under appreciates.

I'd like to know how to practice shooting at a charging brown bear.

I stick to my initial theory in that the spray is gonna be your best defense. A big coverage area, a non-wounded bear that is not going to kill or injure someone else also, and no random bullets flying around the hoards of fishermen on the river. I suspect if you do some internet searching, you'll find that to be the best and most reliable option as well.

 

[jackelope]

You can shoot the bear in the face with 6 shot all you want, just remember as was mentioned earlier, remove the bead off the front of the barrel before hand so as to reduce the pain when the bear shoves the barrel directly up your assssss.

[thinkingman]

You can shoot the bear in the face with 6 shot all you want, just remember as was mentioned earlier, remove the bead off the front of the barrel before hand so as to reduce the pain when the bear shoves the barrel directly up your assssss.

If the bear can't find me, how's it going to shove it?
Seriously.
I fully realize this isn't the common sentiment, using birdshot.
In re practice...I heard it described as 'load your handgun or shotgun and have someone roll pumpkins down a mountain toward you at 30mph and see how many you can hit'
That's 44 feet per second.

Maybe some of you can.
I'll spray (shotgun) and pray.
I can see that I'm not going to change anyone's opinion.
But I will try to eliminate the animal's ability to find me, rather than kill it.

[Alchase]

I was watching a show on bear attacks awhile back. Basically what they concluded was if you get charged, unless you can break the bear down by hitting shoulders, back, hips and vitals you will get hit. Even the cases where the bear was hit in the heart or vitals alone and is a "dead bear" for all practical purposes, they still had enough forward energy and time before death to maul the shooter significantly and even kill them before they actually died.

So obviously the gun is for shooting your partner so you can get the heck out of there, lol