I have a number of choices in firearms to take with me and that I can carry comfortably: Ar10/308, 7600P-308; 700-300UM, Marlin XLR 450, Marlin XLR 444 or a 4" Redhwk/44mag.

Which one?
What load is preferable...

Thanks a bunch in advance for your wisdom..

I would definately carry the 44 revolver. Federal 300gr Cast Core will work as good as anything.

With the revolver you can have it with you all the time. A rifle is a pain to carry while fishing...

However if I was camping, or hiking a long way, I would also take the 450 Marlin.

Have to agree with the 44 Mag handgun.

A long gun just gets in the way and finds itself leaning against a tree. Hence I find a large bore revolver is preferrable as it's always with you and properly holtstered easy to get to.

More important than what you carry is how you act in bear country.

quote:

Originally posted by Paul H:
A long gun just gets in the way and finds itself leaning against a tree. Hence I find a large bore revolver is preferrable as it's always with you and properly holtstered easy to get to.

More important than what you carry is how you act in bear country.

I've never been in Bear Country...

When I was up there just about all the salmon fishermen had stainless 44 mag revolvers (4' barrels). Also while I was there one fisherman got very badly chewed up by a bear. Understand that you may not have much time to react. The "twlight" for want of a better term is not very bright and one has to be alert.
Peter

In the Redhawk you can safely shoot the heavy 340gr Garrett loads, which pack the most power in a small package. Whatever you use, make sure it is a heavy hard cast bullet to break the bear down if you have a bad day.

The easiest way to answer that question is.
A bear encounter is a stressful situation (SS) a SS will make it harder to hit what you are shooting at, therefor a bullet, cartridge/gun combination has to make up the difference which ....MEANS USE MORE GUN!.....wounding a bear only causes bigger problems or take a bluff charge and turn it into an all out charge
To test yourself put a target at 10 yards, a charge from that distamce will allow one well place shot to be made, go for 100 yard run full out to get the heart rate up then do a quick draw and a 2 count to fire at a 4 to 6 inch target...then judge the shot that will tell you what you need to carry...buck shot 12 gauge rarely misses, followed by slug

I asked the same question before spending some time canoing on the Yukon in 2000. Folks as live there say a long gun is better if it comes to a fight but "a rifle is always at the wrong end of the canoe when you need it". I carried a S&W M629 Mtn Gun loaded with Federal Castcores in a Sparks AW rig and all but but forget I was wearing it.

If I was going out and buy a new hand gun for bears. I woudl buy one of the new light weight 44's. And load it with a heavy for cailber hard cast.

Take what you want but consider a jumbo can of spray and learn how to use it. If you never have been in close to them, their is no telling how you will react, but not being able to even hit a charging bear is a very likely result. Also, you make the wrong choice get flustered and shoot a brownie through the leg when he had no real desire to maul you and guess what happens next? I have never had to spray or shoot one yet so take that into account when you read this. Maybe someone on the board has had to do it and and can give us first hand information.

I was in yellowstone NP a couple years ago when they had two bear attack one was against a german couple who inadvertently walked up on one and the bear attacked the man. The other was against a veteran hiker who sprayed the bear with one of those huge bear defense spray cans they sell in the park and is professed by park rangers needless to say the hiker stated it had no effect on the bear and he would have been better off trying to outrun the bear (which he knew he couldn't have done anyway)
If you are in bear country and you think you stand a good case of a bear encounter why would you take a handgun? Only on TV do cops use handgun in an offensive situation, handguns are only trusted as a time buyer to either get out of a situation or to get to the bigger guns. When I was in Alaska I had a 44 in side the sleeping bag because I am a heavy sleeper and I was zippered into a sleeping bag and a tent so I had no method of escape and the rifle would be an uncomfortable bed partner in a mummy style bag....I considered it a plan B, plan A was use more gun

Under the category of why I wouldn't trust my life solely to pepper spray.

1) A bear has to be close for pepper spray to be effective, IMHO, if a bear is charging and close enough for the spray to be effective, I want the bear dead. If it isn't that close or agressive, then it isn't a threat.

2) Pepper spray is affected by the wind, and in a headwind, you to will be effected by the spray and potentially incapacitated. I really don't want my eyes burning when a bear is charging me.

3) Some bears show absolutely no effect to pepper spray. Back to #1, if a bear is close enough to be a threat and in range of pepper spray, I want something that is guranteed effective, and something I'd put on my food ain't it.

Pepper spray isn't useless, but folks need to be well aware of it's limitations.

i agree Paul, 100%. I just suggest that hitting him with something is better than nothing and the spray is easier to hit with. If everyone is as good a shot under that pressure as they think they are then you would be foolish not to use an appropriate gun.

I've been charged a few times. Only once did the bear not allready have at least one bullet in him.
Each time I had a rifle with me because I was hunting and it got me out of the situation.
When your fishing you not going to hang onto a rifle the same way you do while hunting. Like others before on this post have said it's just a matter of time before you get careless about where that rifle is.
One more thing to consider is that a big bore revolver is a lot easier to use with your right hand when the left hand is in the bears mouth.
I love my single action revolvers and most of them are big bores but it's an advantage to stick with a double action. My main sidearm for fishing is a really hot loaded .45 redhawk. 375 gr. hard cast @ 1400 fps.

.44 Magnum handgun will gives u all the manuverbility to defend against any bear threat though the trend r moving towards S&W 500 magnum.But a long gun will get u killed!Goodluck.

quote:

Originally posted by beltloop:
I have a number of choices in firearms to take with me and that I can carry comfortably: Ar10/308, 7600P-308; 700-300UM, Marlin XLR 450, Marlin XLR 444 or a 4" Redhwk/44mag.

Which one?
What load is preferable...
Thanks a bunch in advance for your wisdom..

At the risk of being in the minority here, I carry the one that is light & compact. The one that will always be there, under my armpit when I'm fishing, picking blueberries, gathering firewood, shaving etc. etc.
It's a Charter 4" target bulldog .357 mag. Loaded with 160 gr solids as fast as I can push them safely. It weighs @ 20 OZ, IIRC. I figure it's placement that counts, as with anything, and penetration is needed for that to even work. This gun is downright unpleasant to shoot with those loads, but I doubt I'll complain if it's ever needed. The noise is also a factor. I've never HAD to use it, but have fired it to run off a couple griz in AK that seemed a little less wary than I liked.
Just my dos centavos

The old rule of thumb is something is better than nothing, that being said, you need to evaluate your skill under a stressed situation. Look at some of these Professional hunters on DG, they do it all the time, they are the plan B and have no one to fall back on and although an Elephant can be taken cleanly with smaller guns they all shoot big big guns like the 500's and up, why, it seems that the gun bullet cartridge combination has to make up the difference than what they experience in desirable shooting situations.
I have watched some bear fights and attacks on video and they do it with purpose with nothing other than success in their minds, I hate to face that with a lesser gun no matter how good I thought I am, that is why they call them stoppers. Again a gun that is left behind or out of reach is of liitle good.

Beltloop:
Several years back my dad, brothers and I spent several days fishing a small creek that feeds into the Stikine River near Wrangell. I carried a Redhawk .44 with 325-grain bullets under a big dose of H-110. But the guide and his Tlingkit father-in-law thought that was pretty funny. Their bear protection consisted of 1) a dog to sound the alarm, and 2) a short barreled 12-gauge pump alternating buckshot and slugs. After fishing up and down that stream for several days, finding fresh paw prints and half-eaten salmon every few yards and noticing the bear holes in the brush often merely a few feet from the creek banks, I concluded that a bear encounter would be so fast in that country that I would hardly have time to soil my pants before it was all over. I was very glad to have the Redhawk, but it was absolutely no substitute for extreme vigilence.

me and a buddy were fishin the head of a bay near a falls. he went back to the skiff, which was beached on the other side of a little point about 100 ft from us tru the woods. while he was gone i spotted a bear on the other side of the bay. when he got back i asked if he saw the bear . he said " yeah the other people near us were laughing at him cause the bear had been standing about 20 ft behind us watching us for a while".
where i live there are no black bears, only brown . i prefer a rifle around like the45-70 guide gun, but the the tendancy to wander away from it happens . i dont carry 2 guns, like rifle and pistol, just too much junk.when i carry a pistol its a tarus 4in ported stainless 44 mag w/ corbon 300 cast in a spring loaded cop style holster. if your holster dosent have a foolproof retention devise you will loose your pistol going thru blueberry patches and another thing that could be a problem with a revolver is getting the holster and cylinder area packed full of wet leaves, which means stick to trails and beaches . although im not a shotgun fan a riot type with full stock and slugs is probably the most practical.
and nomatter what anybody tells you forget buckshot if you dont believe me get some and test it on a realistic object it just doesnt penetrate. then read the story of old groaner. a rock will make a big hole in a paper target.