"Best for Bears" caliber poll

[DM~]

As a LAST RESORT, because you said i couldn't take a long gun, i voted 44mag. Why? Because that's the handgun/cartridge that i'm most familiar with!

DM

 

[Loosedhorse]

So at the moment. .44 has the most votes...and .22LR is second.

Either we have a lot of jokesters here, or bears are a lot more fragile than I thought.

 

[CraigC]

Either we have a lot of jokesters here, or bears are a lot more fragile than I thought.

Probably, hopefully, we have a dozen or so voters who are not as paranoid about bears as your average internet gun nut. Judging by how prolific bear threads are, you'd think they were eating people like popcorn, to the tune of several hundred a week. Lions tote people off all the time but Africans don't worry about them as much as Americans worry about bears.......and they see them every day.

 

[woad_yurt]

I said .45 ACP, since that is the biggest caliber I have....

If I was limited to handguns, it'd be the Redhawk (.44 Magnum) for the above reason.

 

[Unistat]

Probably, hopefully, we have a dozen or so voters who are not as paranoid about bears as your average internet gun nut. Judging by how prolific bear threads are, you'd think they were eating people like popcorn, to the tune of several hundred a week. Lions tote people off all the time but Africans don't worry about them as much as Americans worry about bears.......and they see them every day.

I think the amount of bear threads are more about the fact that if you are ready for a bear, you are ready for everything. Hence, "Loaded for bear."

Sort of like the zombie threads. Nobody actually thinks zombies are going to attack them, but if you prepare for zombocalypse, you are prepared for anything.

I'll say it first: "Bear are the new Zombies."

 

[InkEd]

I am the 44th person to vote for the .44magnum. Kinda cool.

Honestly, if I'm ever in bear country...my .44mag Redhawk would be my first choice of pistol BUT a rifle would be much more comforting at my side.

 

[Loosedhorse]

Probably, hopefully, we have a dozen or so voters who are not as paranoid...

Well, just so long as a lack of paranoia will save a person's a-- once a bear starts a-chewin' it.

The .22 choice then perhaps reflects paranoia about...squirrel attacks?

 

[CraigC]

Odds are greater that you will get struck by lightning several times before you get attacked by a bear. Don't see anybody wearing tinfoil hats.

 

[KodiakBeer]

Odds are greater that you will get struck by lightning several times before you get attacked by a bear.

It depends on your zip code. In 25 years I've seen one thunderstorm. Been attacked by bears twice.

 

[Cosmoline]

Because that's the handgun/cartridge that i'm most familiar with!

IMHO this is the most important factor with handguns. Caliber is second.

 

[rcmodel]

I had to vote .44 Mag.
S&W 629 Mountain Gun to be exact.

The .500 & .460 S&W guns are just too dang big & heavy to be constantly carried all the time.
Using one of them you might as well carry a 12 ga slug gun and be done with it.

Some of the others, like the .454, kick so dang hard a lot of folks can't shoot them well, or make fast follow-up shots, whether they would like to admit it or not.

rc

 

[Ranger30-06]

Because that's the handgun/cartridge that i'm most familiar with!

Bingo! You have picked up the exact meaning of prepared! A .500 S&W does you absolutely no good if you have only shot it once and can't hit the paper with it!

 

[Loosedhorse]

Odds are greater that you will get struck by lightning several times before you get attacked by a bear. Don't see anybody wearing tinfoil hats.

Sigh.

1. Tinfoil hats won't protect you from lightning; a proper handgun might protect you from a bear.
2. If the odds are so small of getting attacked by a bear, why carry a gun at all?

Hey, if these same folks who pack .22 for bear also pack .22 (or nothing) for SD, because of the low odds they'll need it, fine with me. Whatever your low risk of meeting a bear, I guess your risk of meeting a criminal is even lower ('cause they don't hike, do they?).

On the other hand, I probably won't need a whole lot of the stuff I bring hiking, but I bring it. I guess the Boy Scouts should change their motto: "Don't be so paranoid."

 

[CMC]

Here in Florida we have Bears but usually they are more afraid of you .
They are soft skin so a 45 acp or 45 colt will do and that is what I usually carry.
For handgun hunting I have a super redhawk in 454 Casull and that would be my choice if I lived in big bear country, for rifle my Rossi 454 copy of the Winchester 92 lever action set up with a scout scope would be my choice, loaded with Corbon 335 gr penetrator bullets.

 

[CraigC]

Sigh.

1. Tinfoil hats won't protect you from lightning; a proper handgun might protect you from a bear.
2. If the odds are so small of getting attacked by a bear, why carry a gun at all?

Hey, if these same folks who pack .22 for bear also pack .22 (or nothing) for SD, because of the low odds they'll need it, fine with me. Whatever you're low risk of meeting a bear, I guess your risk of meeting a criminal is even lower ('cause they don't hike, do they?).

On the other hand, I probably won't need a whole lot of the stuff I bring hiking, but I bring it. I guess the Boy Scouts should change their motto: "Don't be so paranoid."

Hey, I don't go get the mail without a pistol of some sort. I voted .44Mag because it is what I own the most of and am the most proficient with. My only point is that there just seems to be a hugely disproportionate number of people worried about bear attacks. Hell, I could more easily be confronted by an angry range bull at the mailbox but I'm not gonna tote the .405 to the street every morning, just in case.

 

[cochise]

I might have mentioned one of my bear enconters, I was hunting in the Ocala NF with my wife. We stopped to eat lunch and started setting up with paper plates and heating up some chow. Just about ready to eat when all of a sudden, crashing out of the brush was a big black blurr. All I had handy was my Colt Andaconda. Just as I was about to let a round fly the bear did a 180 turn and was gone. Everything happened in less than 10 seconds. I was happy I didn't have to shoot. My wife didn't even have time to get scared, she did not realize what was going down. I know it shook me up!

When and if a bear comes your way you need a weapon handy and experience how to use it very quickly !!

Maybe I can remember some more

 

[Kiln]

I think the amount of bear threads are more about the fact that if you are ready for a bear, you are ready for everything. Hence, "Loaded for bear."

Sort of like the zombie threads. Nobody actually thinks zombies are going to attack them, but if you prepare for zombocalypse, you are prepared for anything.

I'll say it first: "Bear are the new Zombies."

I'm just waiting for a "Best Defense Against Zombie Bears" thread.

 

[tipoc]

Another bear thread. Too bad there is not an emoticom for boring.

Lions tote people off all the time but Africans don't worry about them as much as Americans worry about bears.......

Same in India with tigers. Folks occasionally get carted off by tigers.

Not all Americans worry about bears most likely the overwhelming majority do not. We can all be thankful for that as someone has to do some work. But on some internet gun boards it is a favorite topic right up there with what caliber to carry when TSHIF (whenever that is), what to carry to fight off hordes of zombies (whenever they get here) and about 5 other topics.

tipoc

 

[Loosedhorse]

Lions tote people off all the time but Africans don't worry about them as much as Americans worry about bears

Four good reasons for that:

1. Lion kill fewer people than crocodile or hippos.
2. Most Africans have no possibility of owning a gun, so they tend to be fatalistic about animal attack.
3. Those Africans who do have guns have big rifles.
4. There's less internet access in Africa.

I could be wrong about the last one.

 

[ForumSurfer]

I might have mentioned one of my bear encounters, I was hunting in the Ocala NF with my wife. We stopped to eat lunch and started setting up with paper plates and heating up some chow. Just about ready to eat when all of a sudden, crashing out of the brush was a big black blurr. All I had handy was my Colt Andaconda. Just as I was about to let a round fly the bear did a 180 turn and was gone. Everything happened in less than 10 seconds. I was happy I didn't have to shoot. My wife didn't even have time to get scared, she did not realize what was going down. I know it shook me up!

My black bear encounters have mirrored yours. Each time the bears were just as startled as I was. The first one spooked me, the rest never alarmed me too bad. I even encountered one while doing some cross country running at about 50 feet. I stopped running, we looked at each other and then returned to our business. Black bears will pretty much keep to themselves. The only time I was ever scared was when I was hiking a trail in the mountains and my kids and I encounter a very, very young cub playing. I never saw momma, but I didn't want to stick around and look. I huddled the kids together and we back tracked on out of there.

For black bear country...I guess I vote "no gun at all." I'm not too worried. I'll just pack accordingly for those 2 legged predators.

I guess your risk of meeting a criminal is even lower ('cause they don't hike, do they?).

Depends on where you are. I once had a stand up about 3-4 miles from the interstate, right along a river bank. I was out one morning and a "traveler" came walking through. He never saw me and I was pretty young so I didn't know what to do. So I did nothing except watch him. He slowly meandered on through. He was paralleling the interstate and the river along the same trail most of the local animals did there.

 

[OregonJohnny]

Odds are greater that you will get struck by lightning several times before you get attacked by a bear.

This same logic is used for almost all "odds" discussions - more likely to get in a car accident than...more likely to get struck by lightning than...

People drive cars and walk around outside under an open sky every day of their lives. That's why the odds of car accidents and lightning strikes are so great compared to say, a bear or shark attack. I always laugh at the end of TV show on sharks, when they say something like, "...but your odds of ever being attacked by are a shark are 100 times less than your odds of being struck by lightning." Yes, but to someone who surfs off the coast of Central California or Australia or South Africa multiple times a week in a black wetsuit that makes them look like a seal...the odds of shark attack versus lightning strike shift dramatically. Just like the odds of bear attack go up for someone living/working/playing on the edge of the Alaska or Montana wilderness than someone living/working/playing in Miami Beach.

It depends on your zip code. In 25 years I've seen one thunderstorm. Been attacked by bears twice.

See?

there just seems to be a hugely disproportionate number of people worried about bear attacks.

We agree there.

I voted .44Mag

And there.

 

[Zaydok Allen]

5" bbl 460 Mag loaded with 325 gr hard cast bulllets, and some hearing protection that can be thrown on in a hurry, cuz God d&#^, that thing is loud!!!!!

 

[conrad427]

just got to vote on the pole. interesting! I voted for the .500 mainly because a recoiless rifle does not fit in my hand bag. I do not own a .500 but i doubt very much that controllability would be an issue. If i have to be armed with a pistol, the bear is most likely to be eating my leg after I had fallen over a log while trying to escape, and at that distance I could hit it with a .500 sw.

 

[conrad427]

we lost a hunter in Montana this year to a bear, not sure if it was a black or griz

 

[Deaf Smith]

I vote .25 acp!

Why you ask?

Cause if you pack that for your handgun you will pack a 12 gauge for the real gun and not kid yourself.

Sure I'll a six shooter in bear country. But if really worried I'll pack a 12.

Deaf