Thread: Guns to scare off grizzleys

Having shuffled down this mortal coil to the point that I need to discuss the disposal of my junk, I took a poll of my family to see how many had an interest in my guns. One who lives in Colorado said he wanted a handgun that would make enough noise to scare off a grizzly. All I know about grizzlies is what I read, having never had a confrontation with one, but I would have some doubts about scaring one off. It seems to me that sometimes the bear might be annoyed by the noise and try to eliminate it. The most powerful handgun I have is a Trooper model S&W .357, a formidable piece of artillery, but I would not be comfortable using it to stop a mad bear.

Does anyone here have more experience in this area?

Bill

Your relative needs one of these: Sledge Hammer's invention, a loudener - YouTube

More seriously, hope you have quite a while to go before such dispersals of stuff becomes necessary. I know I pity my relatives if I kick off too early...

Did you ever read books by Peter Capstick? He was a pro hunter in Africa and wrote about a dozen good books. Peter Hathaway Capstick - Wikipedia

Anyhow, they used 4 gauge slug guns (and sometimes a .577 Nitro Express) to hunt elephants at close range. A 4 oz. ball of lead packs a LOT of punch in two directions...

For lions (which would be closer to a grizzly) they sometimes used 4 ga. buckshot. A big bang and a very dead cat if properly applied.

P.S. Don't know if you can still get a 4 gauge shotgun, but it would be fun to lay my hands on one.

A black powder 45 revolver would be my choice to scare a creature. Lots of fire, bang and smoke.

Revolvers

nb

Might not work, ;-)

Originally Posted by ChipSplitter

Did you ever read books by Peter Capstick? He was a pro hunter in Africa and wrote about a dozen good books. Peter Hathaway Capstick - Wikipedia

Anyhow, they used 4 gauge slug guns (and sometimes a .577 Nitro Express) to hunt elephants at close range. A 4 oz. ball of lead packs a LOT of punch in two directions...

For lions (which would be closer to a grizzly) they sometimes used 4 ga. buckshot. A big bang and a very dead cat if properly applied.

P.S. Don't know if you can still get a 4 gauge shotgun, but it would be fun to lay my hands on one.

Dear old dad was a safari hunter, one year he was asked by the government of Kenya to kill a real man-eating lion, seems it was helping itself to the natives at the watering hole inside one of the wildlife refuges. When he finally found it, it took 9 shots with a .475 nitro express to drop it at a full charge, it crumpled at his feet. The villagers celebrated that night!

For a grizzly, I would not want anything less than a .41 or .44 mag.

Originally Posted by dalmatiangirl61

Dear old dad was a safari hunter, one year he was asked by the government of Kenya to kill a real man-eating lion, seems it was helping itself to the natives at the watering hole inside one of the wildlife refuges. When he finally found it, it took 9 shots with a .475 nitro express to drop it at a full charge, it crumpled at his feet. The villagers celebrated that night!

For a grizzly, I would not want anything less than a .41 or .44 mag.

kilt is different than run off, two differing needs...

Choose wisely my friend

MEN STEALING MEAT FROM LIONS [MASAI TRIBE] - YouTube

45acp will not do it, use a 44mag...Phil

Suitable iron for such a job - another July, 57 years ago (we were newly weds!)

You know of course many of such monsters were RIFLES

My fishing buddy Wayne who is a elk hunter said that sme grizz come when they hear a shot with hopes to be first to a gut pile.

There were four Delta Airlines pilots who planned for years to make a fishing trip to the wilds of Alaska. At long last, their schedules meshed, as a result of retirement, sick leave, vacation, and complex financial arrangements. They struggled to deplane in Anchorage with all their stuff, then they really struggled to load it all into DHC-3 Beaver for the long flight to the remote lake in the Interior. Just as the entire load was deposited on the floating dock, and the Beaver roared off down the lake, the fishing guide drove up in an ancient Jeep. He helped to pile all the gear into the Jeep, and find a seat for each fisherman. As they drove up a steep hill, the guide commented on the long-barreled revolver on ones belt. "Yep, he said, "this is a 44 Magnum. I carry it in case a grizzly wants to take my fish." "That's a good idea," stated the fishing guide. "When we get to the cabin, you will find a bench and a vise on the back porch, there is a flat bastard file in the drawer that you can use to file the front sight down smooth." Puzzled, the pilot asked, "Why should I do that?" With a serious stare over his glasses, the guide answered, "After you shoot that grizzly six times with that Magnum, he will jam the barrel up your a$$, and that will make it a lot easier to pull it out again. Those guys may have been American Airlines pilots.

Whatever you use to scare a grizzly had better be able to kill said grizzly in case he does not scare easily.

Originally Posted by sealark37

There were four Delta Airlines pilots who planned for years to make a fishing trip to the wilds of Alaska. At long last, their schedules meshed, as a result of retirement, sick leave, vacation, and complex financial arrangements. They struggled to deplane in Anchorage with all their stuff, then they really struggled to load it all into DHC-3 Beaver for the long flight to the remote lake in the Interior. Just as the entire load was deposited on the floating dock, and the Beaver roared off down the lake, the fishing guide drove up in an ancient Jeep. He helped to pile all the gear into the Jeep, and find a seat for each fisherman. As they drove up a steep hill, the guide commented on the long-barreled revolver on ones belt. "Yep, he said, "this is a 44 Magnum. I carry it in case a grizzly wants to take my fish." "That's a good idea," stated the fishing guide. "When we get to the cabin, you will find a bench and a vise on the back porch, there is a flat bastard file in the drawer that you can use to file the front sight down smooth." Puzzled, the pilot asked, "Why should I do that?" With a serious stare over his glasses, the guide answered, "After you shoot that grizzly six times with that Magnum, he will jam the barrel up your a$$, and that will make it a lot easier to pull it out again. Those guys may have been American Airlines pilots.

"Untied", even.

ALCAN highway pioneer road location party, one Sgt DID have to take down a charging brown with his service .45, std GI ball ammo.

Had no choice. His horse had reared, dropped him spraddle-legged on his ass, beat hooves.

Bear was coming for him across a clearing. Rest of the party fumbling to get their own horses under control, and get rifles out of scabbards.

The guy was Regimental champion pistol shot, thankfully. Something like nine solid hits in "face" and into the brain out of not a lot more rounds fired, magazine having been swapped as if he meant it.

Bear's brain was bone shard and bloody jello, so he had kept coming on muscle-memory or sumthin'

Not stupid. Apex predator. Territorial. They know what they are. They are proud of that. Black bear are curious, wary, aware of humans as not necessarly enemies, but bad news to mess with.

Browns, Grizz and Ohmigods (Ursus maritimus - the big white "HYPERcarnivorous" ones..) react to "intimidate" about the same as a recon Marine or a Gurkha would.

No matter how many there are of YOU there is the ONE of them. Therefore YOU, not they, be the one outnumbered!

Only thing likely to "scare" a Bear like that is a forest fire. Can't say as I recommend one.

" In the event of an altercation between man and the beasts, I believe I should side with the bears" ;-)

Originally Posted by moonlight machine

Whatever you use to scare a grizzly had better be able to kill said grizzly in case he does not scare easily.

Do you feel that six rounds of .470 round ball at 1100fps would be sufficient? There would be a lot of smoke with the high speed lead poisoning. ;-)

Hey, Bill, a Trooper is a Colt, not a S&W.

12 gauge with slugs

Originally Posted by Steven-Canada

12 gauge with slugs

Are grizzlies scared of slugs? they do make quite a whizzing sound as they pass by.

Bill, i think scaring a grizzly and stopping an angry grizzly are two different things.

I have no experience with grizzlies, but if i had a grizzly charging me, and i only had a handgun, it would have to be my 44Mag.

Any one of the other mentioned noisy toys would make a noise to hopefully scare off a grizzly and not make him angry

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

Originally Posted by Steven-Canada

12 gauge with slugs

This is the best answer on large bears. A 12 gauge with Brenneke slugs can offer up the same sort of kinetic energy as a .375 H&H. To make an impression on a grizz, especially a big brown bear, you need mass.

When I've been in Alaska, the hunting guides and F&G officers with whom I've talked said they take a 12 gauge with slugs for their "bear gun." No handguns need apply.

I spent a couple years in Alaska. The M-16 was the issue rifle but on major field exercises with field kitchens set up we had at least one M-14 along for bears and moose. I never thought we were over gunned.

I you're depending on noise alone there's not much difference between a .357 Magnum and a .44 Magnum. I didn't find a decibel chart directly comparing the .357 and the .44 but the .41 won't be much different.

.357 Magnum 164.3 dB
.41 Magnum 163.2 dB