bear hunt...'58 remingtion as back up...?

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Well, I was going to pass on this but what the hell..Okay, you want a good warm load; something about like 30 grains of Triple Seven 3fff. Get close to him (her) and stick it close to their face. (give's you the advantage of smoke, noise, heat, and concussion) You MIGHT have 1/3rd of a chance but even that would be stretching the odds; all depending on the type and size of the bear. When I got through using 6 shots out of a Walker on a bear one time the bear was stone dead. One ear all burned and shriveled up, the other ear burned so bad it was dry and crumbly and shot half off, both eyes burned out, nose burned real bad, all the facial hair burned off, jawbone broken in 2 places and about half of his teeth were knocked out..I wasn't looking for it either and had no idea it was anywhere around or my Marlin lever action 4 shot .45-70 (with rounds hand loaded to the equivelent of .45-140) would have been in my hand. All I was trying to do was take a peaceful piss....'58? It might can be done but it wouldn't be fun....
 
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BP revolver on a bear on purpose? If I want to exit this world pills are easier, in bear country the rifle is glued to my hand, and if I had to pick a BP revolver it would be the most powerful I own, the Walker, even if I had to have a shoulder rig custom made for it.
 
Good advise, a bp revolver would be a poor choice to shoot at bear with, but if forced into the situation, I think I would opt for a Walker, or maybe one of the Dragoon pistols that were of similar size, then "load it for bear".
 
When I read the title of this thread, I first thought, "he needs a Walker". Looks like that is the most common answer. I concur with Gentleman of the Charcoal. I've read several of his posts and he's very knowledgeable and seems to have used bp on bear. With that Remmies have killed many a man, but I remember seeing pics of civil war soldiers alive and well with roundballs stuck in their heads too. If conical gives better penetration, I'd do that and shoot it until the gun was empty. I'd personally do some penetration tests of my own on rb and conicals before even going out. If you use it for a finishing shot try shooting straight into the skull rather than glancing.
 
Well, I'm not a professional bear hunter but I'vd tangled with them a few times over the years. (alway's tried to give them plenty of breathing room). First and only time I ever got caught up with one of them in the manner I just described and he sure as hell was NOT a 250 pound black bear. BUT, even so, if you're using a '58 you better call your shot mighty damn good and you better not get that sonofab**** cornered up or I can guarantee you things will get real exciting. Personally, and I assure you I mean no disrespect here, I think you're thinking like a damn idiot. I don't know who you'vd been listening to but you need to find yourself a new set of advisors. I don't know much of anything about an Arkansas black bear but I do know that the skull between the eyes of a full grown grizzly can easily be up to seven inches thick, and I do know of a couple of people who hunted them (guess it was black bear, don't know for sure) in Tennessee and down in Louisiana and they found out in a hurry that their little Winchester .30-.30's they were so proud of wouldn't even go through the fat...Well, do as you wish sir. A Remington (Pietta) 1858 New Model Army is a fine handgun. I own 5 of them and have had extensive work performed on each one of them but it was never in my mind and neither is it my intention to hunt a God****** bear with one of them....
 
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I think you'd be better served with a modern production .357 Mag or higher revolver or a .45ACP or more powerful semi-auto. Because I don't know about you, but personally I'd rather have more than 6 shots at my disposal if I gotta pull my handgun. And honestly in a charging bear situation I feel there is no such thing as "overkill" when my life is on the line.
 
C'mon guys. The OP asked a simple question which of the two loads would give better penetration. End of question.
I don't think he was asking for all of this speculation regarding weapons he would not be allowed to carry or what it takes to stop a charging Griz or Brownie.
Personnaly on a muzzleloading deer/bear hunt in Arkansas I wouldn't bother weighing myself down with a pistol.
FWITW the 30/30 with bullet weight over 150gr is plenty of medicine for even the large Maine black bears. You just don't shoot all over the bear you are supposed to aim.
 
Lets go back to yesteryear (Lone Ranger)...Hmmm

Don't believe it would be something I would do...:what:

Heat, fire and brimstone is a DE in 50 AE or 440 Corbon multiple times...
Semi Auto, "quick and deadly" comes to mind...
;)
Regards
 
Playing Dead for the Bear

rugeralaskancylindersbi.jpg
I've never been too fond of playing dead for the bear so my personal selection for a handgun, is a Ruger Super Redhawk Alaskan, in .44 Mag.


Just in case you really don't feel like playing dead or the bear decides to eat your horse, while you're on it. I lived in North Dakota for 6 years, up in that part of the world a 250 lb bear is a cub.

I love BP weapons but I'd be a bit more selective about my choice of weapons, just in case.
 
thanks for the replies. i am NOT hunting the bear with the '58 rem, just using it for back up to my flintlock. during muzzleloader season in arkansas only blackpowder revolvers are allowed as back up(or you could take two rifles i guess).
Gentleman of the charcoal- thanks for sharing your experiences, well noted and taken to heart. i did not mean to come across as a fool going after bear with a bp revolver.
i should also mention, my older sons will be along and we will hunt in pairs, and i might add...we will be loaded for bear... as we have read they are nothing to play around with.
thanks again for all the replies.
 
Well, I do know for a fact that Eskimo's hunt bear pretty regular (not grizzly although that's probably been done a few times to) with a .22LR..They shoot the bear through the ear..My Grandpa was squirrel hunting one time there in North Alabama (we're talking years and years ago) and a black bear put him up a tree. The bear shook the tree and then tried to dig it up and when none of that worked it started climbing the tree. My Grandpa shot it right through the mouth with his .32 caliber squirrel rifle. The ball went into the brain and killed it instantly. My sister still has that rifle hanging on the wall in her bedroom. (all of this happened years and years before either she or I were borned. Grandpa had been dead and gone to his rest many a long year before she and I were hatched)..I'vd squirrel hunted with that rifle myself..Just be careful and have fun and don't let yourself or one of your children get cornered up with one of them even though they don't sound much like what I normally refer to as a bear....
 
So you are hunting, black bear???

With a Black Powder rifle... So it is a special season???

Best to carry the one you have mentioned then...

Regards
 
back in the 60s before anybody else did it, a gunwriter named Al Georg used to weld riflescopes on top of all kinds of handguns. One was an original 58 remington. He said that he shot a black bear with it and had to wait for the smoke to clear to confirm that he had killed the bear. Georg also made up a bunch of rifle caliber handguns by cutting down remington rolling block rifles and putting scopes on them. Apparently the treasury department read his articles and they came and took away all of his rifle/pistol conversions.
 
With the blackpowder season being the limiting factor, I'd go with 35 grains Pyrodex P
behind the 200 grain conical, for the 1858 backup. As a side note, the vast majority
of grizzlies in the lower 48 were killed off before smokeless powder made the scene.
 
As a side note, the vast majority
of grizzlies in the lower 48 were killed off before smokeless powder made the scene.
Click to expand...
Not with black powder revolvers, they weren't. And a goodly percentage of 'mountain men' were killed off by the grizzlies.
 
The conical will probably give more penetration. The 44 c&b is about equal to a +P 38 Special, so keep that in mind. Still better than nothing. I recently saw some pics of a black bear that attacked a deer that had been hit by a car. The bear started eating the buck alive. Im thinking of switching to a 44 Mag. from my present 9mm carry gun. You might want to get that Walker. You can also get the chambers of a Ruger Old Army bored out for more velocity. Or the Old army can be made into a 50 cal. That might be the way to go. Just mt .02.
 
Maybe it's me, but I have a different terminology for hunting bear, especially grizzly, with a black powder revolver. I call it suicide.

Now somebody like Tred Barta might try it, but he seemed to indulge in insanity on his shows. :what:

Me, I would want a rifle and a cartridge handgun of at least .44 Mag caliber if I was anywhere near a bear.

Who knows though? It might succeed. Or we might just be discussing a nomination for the DARWIN AWARDS. We've talked about the Darwin Awards here before.

The Doc is out now. :cool:
 
Once again guys. The OP expressed no intent of going bear hunting with a C&B revolver. He is going black bear/deer hunting in Arkansas with muzzleloading rifles during primitive season with no modern firearms allowed and asked simply if he carried a 1858 remington for backup which offereed the best penetration rb or conical. The simple answer is conical, end of story. We can presume that he has enough sense to reload his rifle before approaching wounded game and they are going to be hunting in pairs as he stated. My personal opinion is a backup handgun would just be extra useless weight but he didn't ask that.
 
I've hunted bears, both black and brown, for many years and I'm telling you that you're picking the wrong tool for the job. Unless you've got a death wish that is.
 
Water-Man...

He has picked it because it is the season for his rifle, and he wants to use:confused:

The idea of a backup is always good IMHO...Plus a good knife of fair size, for skinning and possible life saving...
Good knife has shown to have done life saving in the past days, of Mountain men, with grit...

Most dangerous time is approaching the dead deer or bear...An extra round placed in it at 25' would not be a bad idea imho;)
 
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