MTMilitiaman
Member
So many people are so concerned about bears. Taking care of your food and being aware of your surroundings while in the back forty is prudent. But in my experience, bears do their best to avoid you. If you can avoid certain situations, like ending up between a sow and cubs, or startling a bear on carrion, or tempting them into your site with unsecured food, you likely won't have to worry about bears much. Respect the power, give them distance, but understand, they are not roving blood-thirsty boogy men. I've been in bear country pretty much my entire life. With as much time as I have spent growing up in and working in the woods, I've had numerous encounters with black bears. Usually, you see the south end of a north bound bear. On a couple of occasions, juvenile bears have approached out of curiosity. One time in particular, my trail crew and I had a ~120 pound black bear juvenile follow us for about half a mile. It was a precarious situation because the bear seemed un-phased by the running chainsaw or four adults waving arms aggressively. It eventually wondered off, only to reappear about twenty feet behind me as I rested against a stump an hour later. A guy sitting directly across the trail from me saw him and warned me. I jumped up, spun around, and pitched my hardhat at him. He jumped backwards, sniffed the helmet for a couple seconds, then left for good. That was the most dangerous encounter I've had with a black bear.
I've seen grizzlies on a couple of occasions in NW MT. The first was 40 yards uphill during my first summer working Trails and Rec for the USDA Forest Service during summers when I was going to college. It wondered across the bear grass, barely paying any mind at all to us, and sauntered off with his casual gangster lean, leaving us all cowering behind the guy with the chainsaw. The second was with my brother about two miles from our parents house. I was sighting in a rifle at a power line maintenance road and my brother noticed a stump along the left tree line was moving about a quarter mile away. Grizzly had decided to vacate the area as soon as my 7 Mag had disturbed his silence. We never shot at him and never saw him any closer.
Now mountain lions, those scare me. Seen a few of those, but generally, they are secretive enough you only see them when they want you too. A friend told me about a friend of his who got a nice bull elk outside Lolo with his bow. He set a camera up on a stump on a timer, knelt down behind the bull, and took a picture, then proceeded to field dress his bull and begin the arduous process of getting it out of the woods. The next day he goes to show this picture to his friends and notices that barely ten feet behind him as he knelt down behind his bull, there is this large mountain lion crouched, ready to pounce before the flash of the camera apparently disoriented him. Dude never knew cougar was there until he saw it on the camera the day after...
That explains a lot.
Really? I wouldn't use Buffalo Bore ammunition if it was the last ammunition on earth. It is overpriced gun show reloads. Anyone who markets "+P .40 S&W" is reckless and stupid. Designating something "+P" has meaning. There are specifications adhered to that provide a margin of safety. Industry maximum chamber pressure is set at 35,000 PSI, which is the same as the 9x19. There is no industry standard for +P .40 S&W. According to SAAMI, it doesn't exist. You can't just dump extra powder in the case, snap your suspenders, and declare "those er a lil hot," as you scribble "+P" on the box. Indeed, the .40 S&W is already loaded to as much pressure as any handgun on the market is designed to take. Marketing ammunition loaded beyond industry specs and then blaming any accidents on the handgun is beyond irresponsible and dangerous. It is not a matter of chamber support. The Glock chamber is within SAAMI spec. It is a matter of staying within industry regulated pressure limits. Screw Tim Sundles and Buffalo Bore. Plenty of legitimate ammunition manufactures allow you to achieve as much performance from the .40 as the case will handle without exceeding safe operating pressures. If you download a PDF of "American National Standard Voluntary Industry Performance Standards for Pressure and Velocity of Centerfire Pistol and Revolver Ammunition for the Use of Commercial Manufacturers" you find that Glock is a member, as is pretty much every single ammunition manufacture from Winchester and Federal, to Double Tap. No Buffalo Bore.
I've seen grizzlies on a couple of occasions in NW MT. The first was 40 yards uphill during my first summer working Trails and Rec for the USDA Forest Service during summers when I was going to college. It wondered across the bear grass, barely paying any mind at all to us, and sauntered off with his casual gangster lean, leaving us all cowering behind the guy with the chainsaw. The second was with my brother about two miles from our parents house. I was sighting in a rifle at a power line maintenance road and my brother noticed a stump along the left tree line was moving about a quarter mile away. Grizzly had decided to vacate the area as soon as my 7 Mag had disturbed his silence. We never shot at him and never saw him any closer.
Now mountain lions, those scare me. Seen a few of those, but generally, they are secretive enough you only see them when they want you too. A friend told me about a friend of his who got a nice bull elk outside Lolo with his bow. He set a camera up on a stump on a timer, knelt down behind the bull, and took a picture, then proceeded to field dress his bull and begin the arduous process of getting it out of the woods. The next day he goes to show this picture to his friends and notices that barely ten feet behind him as he knelt down behind his bull, there is this large mountain lion crouched, ready to pounce before the flash of the camera apparently disoriented him. Dude never knew cougar was there until he saw it on the camera the day after...
Wow. That was penned by Tim Sundles, proprietor of Buffalo Bore Ammunition.
That explains a lot.
He also produces some of the finest ammunition you can purchase. His handgun ammo is superb, but I digress.
Really? I wouldn't use Buffalo Bore ammunition if it was the last ammunition on earth. It is overpriced gun show reloads. Anyone who markets "+P .40 S&W" is reckless and stupid. Designating something "+P" has meaning. There are specifications adhered to that provide a margin of safety. Industry maximum chamber pressure is set at 35,000 PSI, which is the same as the 9x19. There is no industry standard for +P .40 S&W. According to SAAMI, it doesn't exist. You can't just dump extra powder in the case, snap your suspenders, and declare "those er a lil hot," as you scribble "+P" on the box. Indeed, the .40 S&W is already loaded to as much pressure as any handgun on the market is designed to take. Marketing ammunition loaded beyond industry specs and then blaming any accidents on the handgun is beyond irresponsible and dangerous. It is not a matter of chamber support. The Glock chamber is within SAAMI spec. It is a matter of staying within industry regulated pressure limits. Screw Tim Sundles and Buffalo Bore. Plenty of legitimate ammunition manufactures allow you to achieve as much performance from the .40 as the case will handle without exceeding safe operating pressures. If you download a PDF of "American National Standard Voluntary Industry Performance Standards for Pressure and Velocity of Centerfire Pistol and Revolver Ammunition for the Use of Commercial Manufacturers" you find that Glock is a member, as is pretty much every single ammunition manufacture from Winchester and Federal, to Double Tap. No Buffalo Bore.