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

[KodiakBeer]

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,

Sometimes what we "know" has no basis in reality. The old myth about bear skulls being bullet proof is because people insist on shooting them "between the eyes". There's no brain back there because the brain is actually behind the nose and mouth. At the level of the eyes and above is just a big cap of muscle attachments for the jaws and neck, so shooting him there just makes him mad.

If you want to kill a bear frontally, shoot through the nose. From the side, aim well below the ear.

 

[sltm1]

Interesting about the brain location. I used to shoot 3d bow and all the bear targets were standing on their hind feet with their mouth's open. Seemed to me at the time, a shot in the mouth would have lethal effects either going up through the palate into the brain or severing the spine.

 

[Harley Quinn]

I have always felt similar about the mouth shot if it was down to that and close...

Roaring and jamming it into mouth as a last ditch effort..

Two feet away and hitting in that area and power of a 50AE DE would also blind with powder burns to eyes...smote the nose...maybe...LOL

 

[Hellgate]

It would take exceptional coolness to be able to shoot a bear in the mouth when it is charging at you or in your face. Likely your hand would end up in his mouth and your shoulder dislocated in an instant. Maybe if you were up a tree and had the gun drawn and pointed before he got to you the stunt could be pulled off but I sure doubt I would be so composed.
Kodiakbeer, great illustration!

 

[OYE]

"Not with black powder revolvers, they weren't. And a goodly percentage of 'mountain men' were killed off by the grizzlies."

Agreed the 1858's are a bit overkill as a backup and I would prefer the old single shot
plains pistol as well. But one must figure most hunters these days don't have the grit
of the old mountain men, so the BP revolver must be considered. Wasn't aware that the mighty grizz had killed off a "goodly" percentage of the mountain men. If you could enlighten me as to what percentage "goodly" is, it would be much appreciated. Isn't
it amazing Native Americans survived at all in North America with stone age weapons !!!

 

[KodiakBeer]

You're going to aim at something, so why not the nose? It's dead center if he's coming at you so if you miss left or right you may take out a shoulder, miss low and you've got a chest shot.

 

[Harley Quinn]

Fear is a given, many can handle it and many can't read the hunting adventures of old some real brave folks in days of old...Place a tree in the way and fast movement is needed

Regards

 

[GENTLEMAN OF THE CHARCOAL]

wild bill hickok (I don't respect him enough to spell his name with capital letters when I think about it) was attacked by a young (young) grizzly on the Santa Fe Trail. He shot it 12 times with a pair of .36's which come to find out he'd stolen from a ranch house he broke into while they were in town. (The rancher almost killed him with a double barreled shotgun but hickok begged him not to so the rancher let him work off the stealing part. He got his guns back) Anyway, the .36 balls just pissed off the grizzly but hickok killed it with his knife. They found him laying there with his scalp all tore and ripped, one broken leg, several broken ribs, face all tore up and most of his guts hanging out. He was still alive (barely) and the young bear was dead with hickok's knife (If he didn't steal if to) sticking in her heart and hickok's hand still holding the knife....That was a year or so before he killed the McCandless brothers....(I'm not sure how the brothers spelled their name)....

 

[GENTLEMAN OF THE CHARCOAL]

My correction on the '7 inches thick'..I meant to say over several inches thick. All the same it is very unlikely that anyone will kill a grizzly by shooting it between the eyes. The round will ricochet off or glance off....

 

[oneiron]

The Remington 1858 was tested by the US Army before acceptance. The ball passed through 11 inches of pine. After all the ball was moving above the speed of sound: (1000ft per sec) The conical bullet was better than that, the problem is not the black powder. It is the bullet. It is made of soft lead. If you can use a cartridge by state law, get your self a conversion cylinder, and load your cartridges with with what ever the cartridge case will hold of bp, and cap it off with a solid 45 cal. copper bullet.
It is not a 44 Mag, but It would come in third behind 45cal with progressive powder.