doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Don Zutz

Re O'Connor, I have his "Shotgun Book" and refer to it on occasion. I will say that Jack and his copy editor made one pretty glaring goof in the text, where it stated that there were never any LC Smith .410's. Jack was around when they were still making Elsies and should have known better. And speaking from personal experience--both books and magazine articles--it's great to have an editor who knows your subject. But with guns, you can't always count on that.

Drew, thank you for deleting and posting the link.

Back on page 7 of this thread, there's a bit about anyone ever nailing a grizzly bear with a .44 pistol(??).
Don't know about the grizzly bit, but I clearly recall an article in Guns & Ammo in the early/mid 1960s, wherein its publisher Robert Peterson nailed a polar bear with his .44 S&W - complete with standard G&A gorgeous photography. Can't recall any comment about professional back-up for Peterson, but y'all can bet your booty.....

Ian, I don't doubt that the 44 will kill a bear. But you are not talking about stopping a charging bear. Just like Mr Bell shot a lot of elephants with small bore rifles he picked his shots. And a lot of men got killed trying to do what he did. Light rifles or hand guns like the .44 are

Take a decent shot at a bear it(44) should do the job given enough time. Better yet if you have a second shooter as backup if it goes square. But to stop a charging bear it is a choice of desperation. I would have used a .22 , a bow, or a big rock. I was desperate and dumb to have gotten into my situation. I had a far greater chance of wounding my bear and either loosing him or having to track a wounded bear assuming he did not kill me. Even with my friend and his much larger bore rifle I'd rather not need to track a mad, hurt and desperate bear.

I have seen several stories of big game taken with small bore or pistols and can only say that's your choice. I am also sure the many stories of lost game never get published.

Robert Peterson's .44
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVW8MpaAwK0

RevDoc Drew - Thanks for that link - enjoyed it beaucoup.
I've just added the NRA Museum to my list of US 1861-65 historical sites that I'll visit late April on my way down to "The Southern Spring Classic" or on my way back "back north" in early May.
Also, I do appreciate your quality posts on this BBS.

In the 1970�s I spent some time living and working in Alaska. I did field work on scientific instruments in remote areas. We carried a 375 H&H for bear protection and I also carried a .44 mag pistol. When we were working the 375 was generally leaned up against a tree but the 44 was always on my person. Thankfully I never had a close encounter with a bear as we made a lot of noise as we landed the helicopter. There was one large bear on the Alaska Peninsula that stood up and waved at us as we flew about 100 feet off the deck. I think he was just inviting us to dinner. The pilot told me he did not want to develop engine trouble anywhere around that bear.

My brother lives in Juneau and his deer rifle is a .416 Remington Magnum. He hunted Brown bear once with a 300 Win Magnum. He told me that when he saw how big they were he backed off and bought a 375. We hunted Dall Sheep 11 years ago north of Tok and my sheep rifle was a .338 Win Magnum. My sheep loads were 200 grain Nosler Ballistic Tips and they did a fine job on the ram I shot. I also had a few 250 grain Nosler partition�s on hand just in case. The one bear we saw left the area when she winded us.