.44 Mags and Grizzly Bears

[Radar]

I worked the Alaska bush for 7 years on an FAA contract. I always carried a Ruger Redhawk .44 loaded with 240 hardcast, and nearby was a Mossberg 500 loaded 00, slug, 00 ,slug, 00. There were always at least 2 of us, and most carried a similar combo. There was usually a .338mag or 45-70 around also, just in case a moose wandered by when in season.
Never had the occasion to need them against a brownie, but we did see a few.
We always made enough noise so they stayed away.

 

[RickE]

I'll go for a 12guage with 500gr slugs. Auto or pump.

 

[Grandpatime]

19" benelli m2 with black magic slug's .

 

[whitedogone]

hard to beat a 12 gauge slug

 

[kwikrnu]

What kind of .44 magnum firearm are you talking about? A 2" revolver? A 12" pistol? An 18" rifle?

Chart by ballistics by the inch

At around 1600 fps a 12" or 18" rifle should do the trick. I'm not sure about the little snub nose doing <1000 fps.

I don't hunt so...


Here are my .44 magnums, a 16" rifle and 12" pistol.

 

[grubbylabs]

is that your daily ccw?

 

[darkgael]

SBR?

I was thinking about lever guns in this context. Interesting. Having to get a tax stamp for that short barreled rifle kinda limits the idea for a lot of folks, I'll bet.
How's it shoot or, better, how do you shoot it?
Pete

 

[kwikrnu]

there isw no tax stamp needed for either the rifle or pistol i posted pictures of.

 

[Old Grump]

I disagree.

.357 with hardcast 158 to 180 grain bullets will out-penetrate a 240gr jacketed bullet, be it a JHP, JSP or whatever jacketed/swaged variant you want to point out.

A 240gr hardcast .44 will out-penetrate its .357 brethren, though. No disagreement there.

No argument there, (9mm will out penetrate the 45 ACP but can't dump the same amount of energy into the target), my favorite bullet is the Keith style hard cast bullet, but sometimes I have to buy store bought flavors and with the SP or FP I do get some expansion and I will not use HP. I want the bullet to go in for a little ways and I want to dump energy into the target.

The .357 was my primary deer hunting weapon for nearly 25 years but I knew the power was minimal for a 100 yard shot, I don't feel the same constraint with the 44 mag. Mostly us dinosaurs just like bigger holes and heavier bullets and the 44 mag in the right gun isn't bad to shoot.

 

[sourdough44]

There is a difference between 'killing a bear' & 'stopping a charge'.

 

[grubbylabs]

I carried a 629 with a 8" barrel when I had horses and is was nice to shoot. The only bad thing was some monkey before me did a lousy trigger job on it. But it was really nice with packmyar grips I put a set of Hoage in it and it was not as nice to shoot.

 

[darkgael]

no stamp

Kwik: No stamp? Sweet. It just looked short.
How is the accuracy? How do you hold it when firing? Hip? Out front, arms extended. Makes me think of Steve McQueen in the Bounty Hunter. Gotta have a bit more velocity than a standard pistol.
Pete

 

[riddleofsteel]

Several years ago I read a story about Larry Kelly, owner of Magna-Port and hundgun hunter Hall
of Famer, has told a story about having to share a hunting cabin
with his guide and temporarily with a not overly-large grizzly
near an Alaskan river. The bear apparently decided to get out of
the rain and like the hunters choose to use the 10' by 12' cabin.
When it entered, Kelly shot it 6 times with a .44 Mag loaded with
Remington's 240 SJHP's as he back-pedalled onto the stove. All six
shots flattened out on the breast-bone, since the bear was on its
hind legs at the time. Not one of his shots made it into the body
cavity much less damaged the vital organs. While Kelly was doing
this his guide was busy with his .375 H&H mag. The guide short stroked his
rifle and it jammed. I always thought that scene was from a nightmare. A big brownie stuck in the doorway, men hollering, a .44 Mag going off six times in the dark with no ear protection, muzzle flash, the bear popping his teeth and growling.
Well in the long run the bear decided he did not want to come inside and lumbered off before they got the rifle un-jammed. Later one the guides killed the bear nearby as he attempted yet another break in.

Kelly reported that it taught him the value of penetration and that
HP's are way over touted for hunting heavy game. I might add that Larry has since killed coastal brown bears with the same revolver using hard cast solids over 300 grains.