JMOfartO:
I don't have an answer to the thread question, but I have an answer for ME..
I'm scared to death of Grizzly bears, I don't intend to go anywhere around them, and the ONE time I did (Yellowstone Nat'l Park) I was convinced there was one just over the crest of the boardwalk waiting for dinner, and my son and I were on the menu..
My fear is irrational because I live in S.E. Ga., and the last time a Grizzly bear was sighted around here was... Well, never. I'm still afraid of them.
IF I were in a situation like some of you folks and lived in an area where there was the possibility of running into one of those suckers I wouldn't be lining up the different calibers trying to decide which one I preferred.
I already know it would be the biggest caliber man has designed to shoot out of a pistol small enough to actually be carried by man without the aid of a wheelbarrow, or personal servant.
When I was a little boy I developed a fear of:
1. Frankenstein
2. Alligators
3. Gorillas
4. Grizzlys
Now I'm an old senior citizen over the years I have come to understand that:
A. Frankenstein was a figment of Ms.Kelly's imagination.
B. Alligators while dangerous do not look for trouble and if you get eaten by an alligator you've probably gone swimming in the Okefenokee Swamp or similar body of water while on pcp or some other mind altering drug.. (I was raised in Waycross, Ga, located just at the edge of the swamp, so alligators I know about pretty well.)
C. Gorilla's? Seeing all the Tarzan/Jungle Jim movies as a youth created a great fear of these gentle creatures, and only as an adult did I come to realize they are vegetarians, and wonderful creations of God.. If one got lost and knocked on my door I'd welcome him/her in and offer it a salad.
D. Grizzly's? Just an unreasonable, unexplainable, overriding fear of them.. I'm convinced that unless you are brain dead and or just plain old stupid (as was the "Grizzly Man") the chances of your being killed and providing a meal for a rogue Grizzly are extremely low, even where they do roam the countryside. Probably if you see Grizzly cubs and run for the hills at the first sighting of those lovely little critters you reduce whatever chances you might have had of offending a Mama bear, and if you happen to run up on a big male Grizzly then finish your unintended bowel movement and "hasta la vista" the crap over the horizon.
Nope, Frank, Alligators and Gorillas don't cause me to break a sweat anymore, but the mention of the word "GRIZZLY"
still strikes fear in my old heart and starts my innerd's to churning...
So, IF I had a suggest as to what pistol to carry in Griz country, it would be BIG, BIG, BIG, and shoot MANY, BIG, BIG, BIG projectiles..
Yeah, I'm a woose.
Good luck tho to all you good folks who might actually run up on one of those critters in the woods one day.. Keep a salt and pepper shaker in your britches, because if you're gonna feed the bears you might has well make yourself tasty as possible.
Jesse