THE Alaskan bear defense rifle

[Diggers]

Heh Heh best bear gun heh heh.

Some thing you can hit the bear with? I'm just guessing here.

No really, I love seeing those pics of the chopped down lever actions in enormous calibers. Pretty cool looking, but I really question the practicality of having a scope on the thing.

If its really for defensive bear use the bear is going to be pretty close any how and moving fast, finding it in a scope would just slow you down. Seems like more of a detriment to me.
Fun guns to own though.

I think the 12 ga slug is used mostly because it works as a close range defensive round on bear. I read a post a while back where a woman in N. California shot a black bear that was breaking into a building on her property. The slug went through the bear and broke the leg on the opposite side and kept going. Seems like plenty of power there.
Also a 12 ga is cheap, and if the environment gets to it….well its easy to replace.

 

[MCgunner]

My Hakim battle rifle would be pretty decent, 8x57 mauser semi auto box fed 10 rounds on tap. Got a bayonet for it, but it's about like hauling around a telephone pole....

Nothing wrong with a 12 gauge and slugs. Alternatively, there's the BAR in .338 win mag, but my favorite idea for an Alaskan rifle is this in .325 WSM. A very handy, quick firing MAGNUM rifle with around 4000 ft lbs of muzzle energy. Keep yer marlins....

http://www.browning.com/products/catalog/firearms/detail.asp?value=003B&cat_id=034&type_id=009

 

[MCgunner]

BTW, I'm faster on target with a low power scope than I am with irons, nothing to line up, just put the crosshairs on target and....BANG. But, I'm talkin' 2 power or less here preferably.

 

[Old Trapper]

fast handling and muscle memories

I'm faster on target

I'm sure not an expert on this topic, but let me offer an idea from some of the old Africa sporting literature that would seem to apply very well to a charging bear in thick alder brush in Alaska.

Many of the old professional African hunters used to followup wounded lions with their double barrel shotguns rather than their double rifles simply because the shotguns were much faster handling and plenty lethal at nearly point blank range.

A big male lion weighs as much as the average grizzly. I don't need to debate the size difference between the species. They are both fast, powerful, and superlative athletes.

I also have a lust for those cool compact Marlins, but I won't rationalize getting one because it's a superior bear gun. It's not superior for me primarily because I haven't used a lever gun much in over 40 years, and I dont' think I'll ever get in enough practice with one to make handling intuitive and automatic under stress.

If a guy shoots hundreds or maybe even thousands of rounds a year with his favorite shotgun at clays and birds -- chances are that a shotgun with the same handling characteristics is going to point pretty fast and natural at a charging carnivoire. A guy isn't going to have to think about the safety because it will come off as fast and instinctively as about anything else he does with a firearm. His finger muscles will have that safety memorized.

So, let's all buy Guide guns to reward Marlin for for their good behavior, but for self defense against 800 pound carivoires that run faster than race horses let's carry the powerful long arm that we can handle the fastest and most instintively under stress.

The last time I was in the Alaskan bush, I was unintentionally and invigoratingly close to a number of big bears. A few were just a hop or two away and fortunately showed no interest in charging. Had they changed their minds the time difference would have been no more than a second or two -- no time to fumble with gun handling.

Under those circumstances your body language and your attitude are more important than your gun. For me personally, having the right gun helps me be cool and calm becasue I know I'm the one at the top of the food chain. Avoiding and preventing human bear conflicts is a good bear conservation strategy.

I surely love those big beautiful bears. I'm not against hunting them and I'm certainly not against self defense -- but intelligent sportsman will be just as knowledgable and skilled at how not to shoot bears as how to kill them.

It's lots of fun to discuss bear self defense, but if we ever have to defend ourselves against a charging bear more than likely it will be because we did something stupid.

Sorry for the rant.

 

[SpeedAKL]

Meh, I'll just no-scope them with a Barrett M82CQ

Besides, the fireball from that thing would probably cook it for dinner.

 

[Ash]

Ah, but the bear would already have killed you and wandered off by the time you swung that beast around for the shot!

Ash