Ran into a couple on a forum I mostly hang on and the question was Bear Spray(In a holster) or a Big Bore pistol(In a holster).Which is quicker and which would you pick?

Know comment yet.....

Jayco.

A big bore pistol gives you a big bang, muzzle falsh, and muzzle concuscion to scare the bear with if there is time to fire over his head or at his feet. It also gives you the ability to kill the s.o.b. if you need to.

Pepper spray or grizz spray might be good to season your buddies camp food with, but that is all I would want it for.



I will choose the gun every time.



David

After years of shooting I would have to see first-hand that pepper spray will stop a bear.

I'd have a lot more faith in six 300 grain hardcasts and a knowledge of bear sence.

Yeah, I'll take a pistol. If it all goes south, you can at least shoot yourself with the last round. I don't think you can do that with Pepper Spray.

Pecos-That reminds me of an aticle I read a year or two ago when I took Hunting Magazine for many years.I think the question was what do the guides use on different game?

Then an answer came up about pistols and grizzlies and the answer was from Clarke Engele(Never forget it)If your going to take on a wounded grizz with a handgun--You better save the last one for yourself.....

But it went on to say how two Moose hunters went back for there moose the next day on horses who spooked and the guy killed a "Charging Grizz" point blank with the 300 Soft point from Cassull with the .454 Casull.I believe it...

Pepper spray keeps skunks away from a green chain but I'll take the Big Bore myself for protection.

Jayco.

Pepper spray is not to season camp food! The bear uses it on you.

There are a lot of people that have had good luck with the pepper spray but I feel a lot more confortable with a big revolver. Six 300-320gr hardcasts at 1300fps seems a lot more practical than a blast of pepper spray. I would also be afraid of wind blowing that pepper spray back into my face and decreasing my already low odds of getting out of a bear attack in one piece.

It is the BIG pistol for me.

You're spoz'da throw the spray can into the bears mouth, THEN shoot it. Didn't you ever see Jaws?!?

Hello;
What are you supposed to do if the pepper spray doesn't work?
Grizz

"what are you supposed to do if the pepper spray doesn't work?"



Die

The thing with pepper spray is, you have to let the bear get uncomfortably close before you can shoot a healthy squirt in their snout. I'd expect that some failures of pepper spray are from folks shooting their juice before the bear gets close enough.

My thinking is, if a bear is both close enough and aggressive enough to use pepper spray, it is close enough and aggressive enough to be killed.

My holster holds a 480 Ruger loaded with hardcast 400 gr bullets @ 1200 fps, not pepper spray.

We use pepper spray at work on inmates, some of them arn't affected by it at all. If it fails we rely on batons and overwelming manpower. Not options with bears. If it can't put down every man each time then I would not rely on it for bears. Oh I realize that a revolver doesn't work every time either, but it seems to be a surer option than oc since it has proven to be uneffective on mere men.
just my 2 cents worth, Drakeslayer