http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-e...d-wiltshire-28210084

Sounds like the firearms training was lacking.

A defensive weapon and the shooter doesn't know how to operated it? Hard to believe he would go out with an unfamiliar gun.

IIRC some years ago there was a case in Svalbard where the armed man had a 22 pistol , with only a few rounds in the gun !! Just what you need to take out a polar bear !
Does anyone remember that case ?

http://www.spitsbergen-svalbar...tempelfjord-iii.html

Sounds like the safety was still on...

A few years ago, I was asked to provide some training to a local man who acted as a guide on cruises along the Norwegian coast.

It was successful in that he released he couldn't shoot, enjoyed himself and joined the local rifle club.

Alas on the ship he was supplied with one of those Ruger 44mag rifles, which I suggested might make enough noise to deter a bear, but was unlikely do what he needed.

quote:

Originally posted by mete:
IIRC some years ago there was a case in Svalbard where the armed man had a 22 pistol , with only a few rounds in the gun !! Just what you need to take out a polar bear !
Does anyone remember that case ?

It can be done.

Bella Twin, an Indian girl, and her friend Dave Auger were hunting grouse near Lesser Slave Lake in northern Alberta. The only gun they had was Bella’s single-shot bolt-action .22 Rimfire rifle. They were walking a cutline that had been made for oil exploration when they saw a large grizzly following the same survey line toward them. If they ran, the bear would probably notice them and might chase, so they quietly sat down on a brush pile and hoped that the bear would pass by without trouble. But the bear came much too close, and when the big boar was only a few yards away, Bella Twin shot him in the side of the head with a .22 Long cartridge. The bear dropped, kicked and then lay still. Taking no chances, Bella went up close and fired all of the cartridges she had, seven or eight .22 Longs, into the bear’s head. That bear, killed in 1953, was the world-record grizzly for several years and is still high in the records today. Which only goes to show that in an emergency, strange things are possible, but who wants that kind of emergency?


Grizz

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new...ear-base-Alaska.html

What's happened to reality ?? Here's a case where a National Guard soldier used a whistle to get help ? No rifle ??