Browning Auto 5 trade/sale? Grizzly Shot Gun.

[Brent62Beck]

I am going up to the Yukon for 3 months to canoe with my family (3 little ones) starting in prime grumpy grizzly season. I need a gun to haul around with me in the canoe that is a reliable short barreled 12 gauge. I just bought a Browning Belgian Auto 5 Magnum. It is a 1965 model in excellent condition with a Belgian slug barrel and a Mod choke vent rib Japanese shot barrel. I have a couple of concerns. Although this is a beautiful gun with a history I am just becoming aware of, I am reluctant to beat it up in a canoe for 4 months. On the other hand it would likely be a reliable defender. Downside is perhaps as a semi it would jam (not likely if I use magnum loads and keep it clean), It is not that compact - I can't find a folding stock for it, and it is a bit pretty. I am used to having plain cheaper firearms. I am looking for opinions. Should I try to trade this for something newer and perhaps more appropriate, or should I haul it up there and use it. I looked at cheap options such as the Norinco Ithaca 37 or Remington 870 copies .(I live in Canada so they are more available), Mossberg Maverick 88's, and just buying an old Winchester model 2200 and cutting the barrel. Would a 2 3/4 12 gauge with slugs be adequate. What is this gun worth anyway? Are there any trades out there that I would want to entertain. I don't have a survival 22 or a 22 mag, or a varmint gun of anysort right now either. I am open to suggestions and looking for advice. Up here the easiest suppliers of guns are SIR mail order, Marstar Norinco, as well as a few other online sales shops and some local dealers. If you where in a campsite and had a grumpy grizzly around what would you want in a 12 gauge if you where in my scenario? What are the logistics to trading or selling a gun to someone in the US from Canada anyway?

Cheers
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[Preacherman]

I'll move this to the Shotgun forum, where you're more likely to attract the expert answers you seek.

I'm not an expert, but there are numerous reports of 12ga. pump-action shotguns with Brenneke slugs doing a number on inquisitive/hungry bears (for an excellent example, see this thread). I'd suggest keeping your very nice Browning in good condition, at home, and investing in a Remington 870 with a rifle-sighted barrel for slug use in Alaska.