My Alaskan friends use to joke about lower "48's", that would be me(us) and their .357 and .44's. Told me if I wanted to pack a .44 it was fine. But suggested that I might want to file the front sights down. Seems using one on a big bear was not to be encouraged and the lack of front sight made insertion easier on the hunter's bum if the bear gets grouchy after being shot a few times with it.
I think their real message was not to think a .44 was going to save my bacon and the best thing to do was to avoid bears in the first palace which I had learned already the hard way. This was after my bear scare. They might also have known most people, who think they are crack shots against paper targets, can not hit squat against moving targets who might be dangerous or moving targets at all.
And charging, dangerous game, is almost impossible to bring down without massive over kill which the .44 does not have. I've killed one charging animal in my life and do not pretend to be any type of expert. But think about it. The brain is smaller than you'd think and it is on a neck which is moving in three directions at once. Spine is long thin line and the heart is never where we expect it to be. Heart and lung shot will kill but not that quickly. Shock and awe or hit something that turns out the lights at once. Otherwise a charge is going to reach an end. 99% of all four legged game is not harvested in a charge. Charges are moments of desperation and I was.
Mr. Bell was a world class shot, who spent hours learning where vital organs were in his "targets" so he knew exactly where his bullet placement would result in fast kills or kills with little chance of the target eating him. He preferred to shoot his game from slightly behind, using brain shots to dispatch them or have them run away from him. He was not a matador playing chicken with them and willing to give them equal chance to kill him.
A well place .375-.458-.500 is used on dangerous game to stop a charge. Not a .44 or worse yet a .270. Think about your target area. I am a very good bench rest shooter, a fair shooter from a decent rest and a poor shot off hand. We all are. Off hand shooting is something we don't do with rifles very much.
As to Eightbore and his .270, it was a fun round but not one I'd try at flying targets. But then again I did learn how to shoot aspirin with a .22 on the farm. At first the aspirin lasted a long time but by the end of the box it was nearly one per shot. The joys of growing up on a large farm many years ago. When PC was just two letters, guns were allowed to be taken to school for the rifle team, safe sex involved moving the bed and I still thought a .270 was a big bore, high power rifle.
