Thank you for so many good replies. Great ideas. Very interesting thinking about the options.
I just want to reiterate, my son would NOT be
hunting Grizzly bear with the sidearm.
My son also would NOT use the sidearm as his
primary bear defense weapon.
The long arm would be for his primary defense, but there are situations where the long arm is impractical. The most obvious being when it is not in your hand ready to go. I can think of lots of these situations.
Cleaning a Moose, and having a skinning knife in one hand and part of the Moose entrails in the other hand. Your long arm is off to the side; your hands are wet with Moose blood. All of a sudden a bear rushes seemingly out of nowhere. Someone from Cooper Firearms told me of this exact story occurring in Montana except the guy was cleaning an Elk (not a Moose). He didn’t survive the Grizzly attack.
As one post said, he was grouse hunting in Montana. Well you can’t hold a .375 H&H in one arm and shoulder a 20 gauge over and under with #6 birdshot for grouse in the other. While grouse hunting, all of a sudden a bear rushes seemingly out of nowhere.
If you are setting up a tent or going to the bathroom you are separated between you and your long arm. Again all of a sudden a bear rushes seemingly out of nowhere.
You are following a moose blood trail through thick alders and you couldn’t wheel a long gun around quickly if you had to (they’d bump into too many trees). You hear a deep guttural “wuuf” from about 20 yards behind you. All of a sudden sticks are cracking underfoot of this “wuuf” and he is rushing at you like a freight train on a mission.
These attacks are incredibly fast and come seemingly out of nowhere (see this!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMbnmLLnsfw). This guy had the proverbial warning siren by first seeing cubs, but a lot of these guys that have been in bear attacks never get such a forewarning.
As I said in an earlier post, according to documentation by Larry Kaniut, a lot of these attack victims get NO SHOTS off with anything!
paul105, thanks for this link
http://www.go2gbo.com/forums//index.php/topic,89450.0.html . Assuming the guy posting this is being honest (and I have no reason to think he is not being honest) these may be most informative 2 posts I’ve ever seen on this subject. Certainly the most experienced I have read on a net post with dangerous bears in the field. Thanks again.
I am leaning to the .454 Casull in a Ruger Super Redhawk. 6 shots, plenty of power, very versatile, ammo available anywhere in Alaska I would think. In Black Bear country (a separate issue I guess) I am leaning toward the 10mm - lots of shots and pretty good power. Add a compensated barrel and follow up shots are relatively quick too.
Another thing (and I’ll probably begin a different thread on this) is the primary long arm. Which shotgun? A pump (870) or a semi auto (Benelli SBE II) is what I would likely recommend but again I will begin a different thread for that discussion (I don’t want to hijack the thread) in a few days I think.