ShotGun Camping?

I'd load with slugs. Winchester makes a personal defense slug that is a JHP. You didn't say their ages; kids are naturally curious. With kids in the tent, consider loaded without one chambered. Practice clambering as you pick it up. Only a second or two slower and a lot safer. 10/22 is no bear gun. I'd also consider a .44 mag handgun and a speed loader . More maneuverable in close spaces. Regardless, fire the shotgun or pistol within the confines of a tent with kids you can rest assured there will be short term hearing loss and chaos unless everyone is awake and protecting their ears. Consider stringing bells/tin cans with rocks around the camp site for early warning. What's wrong with bear spray? Anyone can use it, no aiming per A&E and studies show it is 90% effective as a deterrent.

Personally, keep your food away from your campsite and get some bear spray -one snootful and he is hauling it; save your 9mm for the two legged critters
You do NOT want to "maneuver" with a shotgun inside a tent, nor do you want to fire one there

Tough one here. Kids make it difficult. The other is that how to secure the shotgun if you leave for a hike or fishing and what not without freaking the neighbors out.

We camp in grizzly country, keeping food separate is the first step. Washing dishes right away is another. Little things like a lantern, keep fire going are others. Be noisy helps too.

That said, idiots feed bears and that tends to attract them to us as the bears acclimate to that. I keep a 870 tactical in camp for that reason as well as 357 loaded heavy. The 12 is fed alternating slug/buck. A competent adult always has control if it or it is locked/hidden in a vehicle if we are away.

4. Keep gun ready with one in chamber and safety on?

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No.
Mag tube loaded.
Chamber empty.
Safety on.

You can pump it and take the safety off while bringing it to your shoulder.

A fully loaded shotgun in a tent full of kids scares the bejesus out of me just thinking about it.

rc

You want slugs, not buckshot for bear. Buckshot if you are concerned about human threats. It is a very poor performer on bear. Lots of good advice. I'd go with an empty chamber too.

A) no round in the chamber; 00 followed by slugs or just slugs.
B) definitely string your food up off the ground downhill and downwind of camp. Black bears are not aggressive; they just have a weakness for bacon and oreos and stuff.
C) for the love of Pete, do NOT set off bear spray in your tent :banghead:
D) if a black bear DID stick his nose in the tent, loud girlish screaming is likely to scare him into the next county, poor thing.

Definitely an empty chamber, however if black bears are the problem, I'd go with slugs, and explain to the children about the dangers of such a gun. If you became incapacitated I would teach the 12 year old the fundamentals of using your 9MM before hand.

I have a 12ga for H/D also a .38 Snubbie S&W.
For Bears I'd go 12 ga Buckshot or slugs. Depending on the size of the bears to decide on the shotgun load. Buck will deter most any bear if not kill it on the spot.
Never wound a dangerous animal! If you have to shoot, shoot to kill!
Hopefully, with common Bear sense,you will go on unmolested and the 12 ga will be like a soft pillow for your family to rest on...
Much sound advice in this string!

ZVP

I'd be hesitant for keeping a shotgun in a tent. My advice would be to get a camper if you want to be safer. Black bears are not grizzlies or polar bears. They usually run when wounded and scare relatively easily. I've spent time in the Boundry Waters where you have to bring in everything on you back and black bears abound in almost unhunted numbers. We never had any spray or guns with us do to weight concerns but we did hang our food high off the ground away from the main truck of a tree, downwind (when possible) 25 yards from the tents. We never saw one near our tents. Also the implications of shooting a bear out of season without a tag scare me a little. Having said all that, a shotgun would be hard to maneuver in a tent, especially a fully occupied one.

If you are not a shotgun person I would consider some training. Mossberg makes a 500 combo. It has a 18.5" security barrel and a 28" barrel with screw in chokes. You can use the 28" barrel to shoot skeet or trap to get used to the gun. The 18.5" barrel is for SD.

Once you are used to the gun which barrel is in it doesn't really matter. The mechanics are the same. The 28" barrel just opens up a lot of options that are enjoyable and will prepare you for real life situations. If you can hit a doubles in skeet you can shoot a bad guy twice with the pump gun twice before he can blink.

I have been shooting various handguns and 10/22's for years now and decided to get a shotty.

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Step 1: Don't call it a shotty.

Listen to what breakingcontact says.......................chris3

Quote:
I have been shooting various handguns and 10/22's for years now and decided to get a shotty.

Click to expand...

Step 1: Don't call it a shotty.

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Thank you, and Amen.

When i was a kid we carcamped in an isolated lake in the Sierras. At night a bear came through and people got up and beat on trash cans and and pots and pans and scared it away. Or so I was told as I had slept through the whole thing. I did see the tracks the following morning. Dang, sleepy head, you missed it!

Penetration is an issue, go with slugs. They work dandy on 2 legged preditors, too. Number 1 buck might be a very good alternative. If you have to shoot, you want to shoot for effect. Like HD, time and distance are not on your side.

My inclination with kids in the tent would be to have the mag full, chamber empty, and safety on safe when you went to bed and the the gun locked up the rest of the time in a vehicle.

Shotguns with short barrels are ok in a tent, just as they are ok in a house, but they do present storage problems. As a very minimum have a place to conceal and lock them up, such as a car trunk. That is why many people will opt for the 3rd place winner, a handgun, but if you go for a hangun .357 and .44 mag are your choices--it`s the old power and penetration issue.

If you do shoot a bear, plan on having a chat afterwords with the man with the badge to determine if it was a justifiable shoot.

For big predators like bears, I would go with "HP slugs".

A mounted flashlight is probably going to serve you better, considering handling a shotgun is a two handed operation.

And definitely the short barrel is most appropriate for close quarter defense, such as a tent.

As for children, don't alienate them from the firearms. That only creates curiosity, which leads to them wanting to look at them, pick them up, all the more. Let them experience the loud report, obviously not in such a manner that their hearing is in danger of being damaged, but enough that they can identify with them, as not being a toy. And take a water melon, or something else that demonstrates what the weapon does to things when they are shot with it. I taught my kids early on by letting them see what happens to an animal when it is shot, rabbits work well for this demonstration. I know many states these days have made it law that firearms must remain locked up when children are present, unless in the hands of an adult. I don't like this type of thinking at all! The three best deterrents to curious children playing with firearms is education, education, and education!

FYI, I have had numerous encounters with black bears over the years. I have yet to shoot one in self defense, but it has been close. I've had them fall out of a trees several feet in front of me, I had them chase me to my truck, and I have had them raid my camp more than once, destroying ice chests, and have had them try to get into my vehicle to get to food. Once I had a bear and cub come running out of a tree line, and then stop just a few feet of my 3 yr. old Son and I while locating turkey.

GS

Both slugs and buckshot are available in low recoil loads that may actually work better than the standard velocity as they tend to deform the soft lead projectiles less. Makes a 12 ga much more pleasant to shoot for anyone, not just kids & women.

Also it might be worth upgrading to a better recoil pad or possibly looking at the recoil absorbing butt stocks.

Lastly, I'm a big fan of weapon mounted lights, especially on long guns as they need two hands for proper manipulation anyway.

First things first, check PA state regs on shotgun barrel length....if you by chance use it hunting, I believe it has to have 20" minimum barrel length (this may have changed, been a while since I checked). Also consider using 3" loads of buckshot or slugs....PA bears can be on the large side....you can check the PA Game News to verify that....they kill a few 700 pounders there every year, and a bunch over 500. They may not have the demeanor of a grizzly, but they still have the potential to be a very large animal.
Anyway, just a few things to consider.