Hah!Just check this out!


"I was in the local range one Sunday,busy spouting off about bear hunting,and my 45-70 and
how powerful it was.One of the members,a seemingly quite guy who had a gimpy right arm
came up to me and said:'If you want power come
round to my place some time,I`ll show you something and tell you a story'.
My interest piqued,I took him up on his offer.
This is his tale.
He had hunted all his life and like me wanted to
shoot a bear.After bagging a brown he was bitten by the bug and wanted the ultimate - a grizzly.
Now the spieces(any model) are immensely strong,
belligerent and basically have no enemies apart
from man.They are lords of the woods and don`t suffer fools gladly.
With this in mind,my new friend opted for,you
guessed it,a .458 Win Mag in a Winchester M70 bolt
action rifle.It was strong medicine for bears and he successfully hunted old grizz for a number of years.But after a time paranoia set in.What if the gun jammed,or the round failed to fire? So he
envisioned some form of back-up weapon.
I assumed that it would be a 44 Magnum revolver,as
this gun/cartridge combination is popular among
American handgun hunters and has been successfully
used on bears.Not so.He pulled a box from his gun cabinet and invited me to open it.Inside was a
stainless steel four barreled pistol without sights,about a foot long and weighing around 4 lbs
The Behemoth was similar in appearance to the old
Lancaster guns and used a DAO trigger and a ring striker system.Basically you pulled the trigger
and the pin rotated round for each shot.It opened
by a top lever and on breaking it I looked at the
chambers expecting them to be in some hi-power
handgun round.The beast was chambered for .458
Win Mag!It was no production gun and he`d had it
specially made for just one purpose.His reasoning
was that if .458 was good enough for a rifle it
would be equally effective in a handgun,and in his mind the ultimate back-up should things go wrong.I asked him what it was like to shoot and he replied that he`d only ever tested it with primed cases,apart from once.Well,his paranoia eventually paid off and one day while confronting
a grizz at 50 yds the M70 failed him.The bear came at him at a dead run and reared up to strike,he threw the rifle at it and pulled out the back up.The next thing he remembers is waking
up with severe pain in his right side and a very dead bear laying over his legs.The pistol had worked and he`d dumped all four rounds into the grizz.The payback was equally expensive;two fingers and a thumb broken,as was his wrist and forearm,his elbow was severely damaged and his shoulder dislocated.After that experience he never went hunting again and kept the hand cannon
as a reminder of his obsession.I only wish I had
taken a picture of it."

WOW! The poor guy must have been looking like hit
by a truck!
Aside from the guy`s choice of chambering I like
the idea.I wonder if such a pistol chambered for
12 gauge shells would be hard to shoot with slug
loads.
Yeaah,I`m a nut too,perhaps I watched "The Ghost & The Darkness too many times.

That is some scary ass bear. Maybe you could post a pic of this monster handgun? As you stated, the big Browns/Kodiaks are kings of their domain and this guy is lucky to get out of this alive.

You got me wondering.
Was the gimpy right arm because of the bear, or the handgun?

The text is part of an article I found in
"Shooting Sports Magazine" Nov.`97 issue.
Unfortunately,there`s no pic of that handcannon,
but I`d love to see it too.With special attention
to its lockup system.

"..because of the bear,or the handgun?"
Well...let`s see
"..a very dead bear laying over his legs"
If it was because of the bear,the guy would have
his right or(more probably)both legs gimpy.
I vote the handgun.

475Guy,if you like monster guns,visit
thefiringline.com It`s very good but currently
unactive forum.Go to "Art of the rifle" forum,then
find thread "WOOHOO!It`s a gun show in the forum"
(IIRC),see posts with pics by 50shooter.
You`ll like them.

Can Do! Soon as I get off this forum. Thanks.

Irony is, that current 475's or 500 Linebaughs
approach that level of recoil.

Heck, my 45 Linebaugh runs 345's at 1550. That's 48 ft-bs of recoil. Shootem all day? No way.

The 458 win mag is pretty darn close to the 45-70, or 475 or 500 linebaugh in recoil.
Course the extra leverage given on your wrists and fingers, firing a revolver, makes a big difference, and this guy never practiced with his gun...

s

So he fired all four rounds in succession or was there a malfunction causing all four to fire at once?

add two more barrels and you have a .458 pepperbox... try that in 500 S&W....

[ 09-07-2003, 05:04: Message edited by: 45LCshooter ]

I had a chat today with a guy that used to work in Alaska.

He had the chance to talk, barely, to a guy that didn't have a 458 backup gun. Try to get the image with a guy with half a face, and so ugly you want to throw up, and perhaps one can understand why Alaskans have problems with their
"bad neighbors".
s

"So he fired all four rounds in succession or was there a
malfunction causing all four to fire at once?"

Good question,I`ve wondered myself `bout it but
IMO the Lancaster lockwork doesn`t allow "doubling"(in this case-fourling )
because of its rotating firing pin.

"..a .458 pepperbox ..try that in 500 S&W.."
Given the choice I`d rather fire a .500 S&W
pepperbox.Hmmm...several broken fingers less,
I take it.
Seriously I`d prefer a .60 caliber Rigby pepperbox
with BP loads.
If the bear is not dead after six head shots....
well..then I`m dead

Regards

"I wonder if such a pistol chambered for
12 gauge shells would be hard to shoot with slug
loads."

I've done it with a cut down single shot shotgun. Maybe a 6" or 8" barrel, pistol grip stock. It kicked...alot. It didn't damage my hand. Problem is the psycological factor and the flinch associated. That will cause poor shot placement negating any big power advantage, you need to hit something the bear needs.

How about a 700 Nitro express 6 shot pistol?

THAT should do the job...

gs