What if??

If this was you holding the flashlight in your left hand... what handgun would you be aiming in your right???

480 SRH. It's what I've been carrying as my bear defense for the past ~15 years.

I also have a greater appreciation for cabins than tents, more of an aging thing than a bear fear thing.

My 44 mag 5.5 inch Redhawk.

BAZOOKA

A 1911, that?s usually what I carry.

MY PERSONAL DEFENSE UP CLOSE BEAR GUN IS MY LINEBAUGH 5 1/2 INCH RUGER REDHAWK 45 COLT. THIS SPRING I AM GOING TO USE SOME CUSTOM FURY 260gr FP FMJ's OR SOME SWIFT 265gr A-FRAMES. WILL PROBABLY LOAD THEM TO THE 1,300 - 1,400 fps RANGE (MAYBE LESS), LOOKING FOR GOOD ACCURACY AND CONTROLABILITY AS I HOPE TO BRAIN THE BRUIN BEFORE IT GETS ON ME.

Kimber 1911 .45 because it is always with me.

Flashlight would be in my right hand ... Smith 69 in the left ... lefties just gotta screw things up!!

Most likely my 629 Mountain Gun.

Ruger Alaskan 44 mag or custom 5" SRH 44 mag.

Bear Spray

480R SRH in my left hand, one of my 1000 lumen LED lights in my right and probably a gigantic pile of something else in my sleeping bag.

Do you really want to fill your tent with bear spray? :-)

One of my .500s...

Since we're 'what iffn' I'd used my 5" .457GNR Ruger Bisley Blackhawk by Reeder.

I'd rather fill my tent with bear spray(which has been proven more effective than a gun) than have my tent turned into toilet paper by the bear after he reduces me to bear poop.

Bear spray has mixed results of effectiveness. The problem is by the time you discover you have a bear that it's not effective on, it's too late. A good handgun properly used is very effective. With a bear at bad breath distance, I'm launching lead.

If you are intent on something and very enraged, a spray will not stop your advance at close distance. Lead, on the other hand, is very effective at close distance when launched at a fast velocity, in thwarting an advancing predator. Both the animal kind and the human kind.
I would use my 460 S&W or 500 S&W revolvers with hard cast bullets.

It has not proven more effective than a gun. There have been a number of studies about bear spray effectiveness, but I suspect the results depend on who is paying for the study (traditionally). Also it is very dependent on environmental circumstances, including wind. Even when the circumstances are perfect, it's still hit or miss. Guns are hit or miss as well -- you hit or you miss, but when you hit, I personally like my chances better than relying on what amounts to a condiment. Sorry, but in a tent (or outside) I'm going to rely on one of my .50 caliber handguns to get the job done. JMHO.

Hahahahaha! That's great!

Normally no wind in a tent. You are right that guns @ 3 feet have mixed results. I m not able to hit the central nervous system in the middle of the night even @ that distance. I've seen spray work and guns fail. I still believe if in a tent and awakened in the middle of the night your best chance of being coherent and effectively finding any device you would be best served with spray, but then again you may sleep lighter than I do and are a better marksman. Thanks for your reply though.

An interesting and all too real scenario.

At my stage of life I'm not too interested in the "Tacticool" look. However one thing law enforcement and the military have learnt over the last couple of decades, is the critical value of weapon mounted lights. Apart from filling sleeping bag, stress and shock will cause loss of fine visual acuity and all sorts of other bad reactions. Its nice to know you have both hands on your weapon and that the center of your light beam is close enough to your point of impact. Many modern semi-autos already feature an accessory rail but only a few revolvers. This is something we should start experimenting with and possibly make standard practice were dangerous game may be encountered.

As for bear spray, most studies I've read indicate a lower effectiveness than a firearm. A Canadian guide I met detailed how several of his colleagues over the years had been hospitalized from inhaling the stuff when the conditions weren't ideal. In his opinion they were hospitalized longer than those actually mauled.

And in the confines of a tent, I don?t want to spray that stuff.....

I would be holding my Freedom Arms .475 Linebaugh full of Buffalo Bore 420 grain Hard Cast. After I pulled the trigger I would be holding a bandage against my forehead where the front sight just found it's usual mark !

I am a fan of bear spray, but I have to agree, in this situation I would be shooting.

About 30yrs ago I met Larry Kelly @ a handgun hunt in AL. It was a 3day hunt and during the course of time I asked him about the story of a bear trying to break into a cabin in which his guide and he were riding out a storm. Anyway he said the guide(using a 375 rifle) and he using a 44mag fired numerous shots into the determined bear. This was about the time bear spray was getting more commonly used. I asked if he thought spray would have made a difference. His reply was " I wished we had it and I think it would have been a better result, but I don't know." Max, you make my point for me when you say you don't want to be in the tent with bear spray. Guess what? Neither does the bear.

That was also the incident that made Larry realize that 240 grain JHPs weren?t getting it done and switched his focus on heavier bullets for the .44 that would penetrate. Had his revolver been stoked with more effective loads, that bear would have died in the cabin.

Trust me when I say that you don?t want to be in a confined space the size of a closet and touch that off.

I DO NOT KNOW MUCH ABOUT BEAR SPRAY, BUT IN AN ENCLOSED AREA THERE IS NO GUARANTEE THE BRUIN WILL JUST EXIT THE WAY HE CAME IN, AND WHEN HE OR SHE STARTS REACTING TO THE SPRAY, AND THRASHING AROUND IN A SMALL TENT AREA, WILL YOU BE IN THE WAY? MANY HUMAN DEATHS BY ANIMALS RESULT, NOT FROM ATTACKS, BUT FROM JUST BEING IN THE WAY. AS WAS STATED EARLIER BY ANOTHER POSTER, "LAUNCHING LEAD" WOULD BE MY CHOICE.

Yea, well then when we discussed it he NEVER mentioned heavier bullets. Puzzling. Besides its speculative.

Actually not speculative. I interviewed Ken Kelly a number of years ago and he said that his dad experienced core separation and only a few inches of penetration from that load and it was the catalyst for exploring heavier/better bullets for a handgun.

Ive been hit with OC Spray when in Law Enforcement... There is NO WAY ON GODS GREEN EARTH I would spray bear spray in an enclosed tent!!! Regardless the circumstances I would absolutely chose bleeding ear drums and swollen wrist over spray!!!

Larry Kelly and JD Jones responded to a need for heavier bullets with the 300gr and 320gr SSK truncated cone designs. That's not speculation. A 240gr JHP design of 30yrs ago is not a proper bear bullet and that ain't speculation either. We heard similar stories of the 265gr Hornady failure on bears. Both are cases of the wrong bullet for the job. Not evidence that handguns are inadequate.

I used to have to carry dog spray as part of my job and I used it several times. Same chemical used as bear spray, just in much smaller quantities. Not only did I have critters that did not even respond to the stuff but I also got a few whiffs myself. There is no way in hell that I would discharge bear spray, with the volume of chemicals released and the degree of atomization, inside a friggin' tent. No sir, gimme a big sixgun. Reminds me of this...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8IGDIujijQ

Had a coworker coming back from fishing that had his pepper spray go off when he was getting into his truck, somehow the safety tab got knocked off and when he sat down and started buckling up he launched the can. We laugh about it now, but it was not funny.

Pepper spray in a tent and you'll be completely incapacitated. Don't know about anyone else, but in a up close nasty encounter with a bear, I don't want to be completely incapacitated.

Bear spray has it's place, primarily areas where you aren't allowed to carry a firearm.

There are no guarantees, but given the choice between something that might not work even in an ideal situation, i.e. bear spray, and a large bore revolver with heavy for caliber bullets that will work I'll take the second choice.

One time in the ER i treated 6 cops and the perp with a bad pepper spray wind situation. It was bad. A few cops had bad pulmonary reactions to it. The perp was high on meth and was mildly annoyed. You would be high to fire that off in a tent. When it comes to protection i use guns that work, not have nice lines. I have srh both regular and alaskans with night sights and swift aframes or copper solids. This i have confidence in and have no questions of power and efficacy. More and more evidence coming out that bear spray recommendations are due to biologists not wanting dead bears and anecdotal evidence bc most people cant shoot let alone shoot in a stressful situation. Practice practice practice and ise reliable good bullets of an ample caliber and a handgun becomes your best friend in that tent.

If you don't shoot the same bear in the same places with the "heavier" bullets then it is speculation. I would want bear spray because it sprays a field and probable results would be better. FYI I don't care if the bear survives or not. Also the effectiveness of the spray on the Kelly bear is speculative too. I didn't talk to the son I talked to the man.

Ruger SRH Toklat in .454 casull w/ 350gr WFN Matt?s Bullets

Seems he left a lot out of the story - you know, vital stuff like the performance of his bullets. Yet, no one thought to ask him about that? I would think that is the first question, like why a .375 H&H and a .44 Mag at point blank range didn?t produce a more definitive result. Call me crazy.

Careful Whit, you?re starting to sound like me. You?ll be thinking scientific next.

😁

:joke:

Well in all honesty I'm recalling a brief conversation from 30yrs ago, but I remember it pretty clearly. Really don't want to seem argumentative but most responses kind confirm my point in that nobody wants to be in a confined area with spray even a bear. I know you have written several books so you have concrete opinions on some matters but I believe I've shot as many bears in a tent in the middle of the night as you have. I pretty much know I can survive exposure to bear spray but a mauling not so much. In my second response I stated UNLESS the CNS was hit the outcome might not be so assured but believe based on documented accounts that spray would work better. There is a reason they call it repellent.

I'm not trying to be argumentative either. Please don't read it as such. Shooting a bear in the middle of the night in a tent is an experience I am pretty much sure I can live without, as I think is the case with most of us. That said, at point blank range I like my chances better with a properly loaded revolver than something that will probably incapacitate me before the bear even takes notice. If it was designed to incapacitate a bear, I think it will probably be exponentially overwhelming to a man in an enclosed area. But that is also an experience I am willing to forego.

I do have concrete opinions but they are born of lots of testing and experimentation on flesh. I have asked questions and then sought answers through blood letting. I take none of this lightly.

Discharging bear spray, at a bear, inside your tent has a chance of working and repelling the bear. However, it is GUARANTEED to incapacitate the person who sprayed it, regardless of how the bear reacts. Now you're inside a tent, with an angry bear, in the middle of Alaska and you're incapacitated. I wouldn't get drunk in camp in Alaska, let alone spray myself with bear spray. No, I'm taking my chances with lead. In fact, I find it absurd to even consider anything else.

Fellow South Paw here.... yep, we always get left out LOL

If I were in bear country I?d be a 480srh. Most of the time I camp I?ve got a G20 (because I can drive tent stakes with it and not worry) and I?m more in swine country that big bears

Black bear S&W 44 mag - Brown bear SRH 480

James
In all honesty it would be my 4 5/8 .45 Colt,no matter what else I was hunting with. When in the woods after pants it is the first thing on, last off at end of day.It is a TRUSTED FRIEND and is always close at hand.

Not to hijack the thread but assuming we had some wits about us where do you put the first round? In the end of the nose hoping it would follow the nasal passage to the brain, open mouth trying to break the spine.Center of chest,chose wrong and you are going to have a tent full of very pissed off bear in a hurry.

JUNEBUG: MY PLAN IN ALSAKA, IF I HAVE TO SHOOT A BEAR UP CLOSE WITH MY PERSONAL PROTECTION REVOLVER, IS TO SHOOT FOR THE HEAD AND HOPE I BRAIN'EM, OR GET SOME KO FROM A CLOSE TO THE BRAIN SHOT.

If this was you holding the flashlight in your left hand... what handgun would you aiming in your right???

THIS (Video Link)

Stoked with Underwood 340gr +P+

Hi Brasfo311. That's very much the sort of rig I had in mind. It just makes sense Do you have a video of using the light and firing in dark conditions? Your original video was in 2016, how has the light and mount stood up to use over time?

45man
What i was going by was James's picture and that angle. The head is raised too high for a brain shot to my way of thinking unless you go thru the center of the nose, or go thru the mouth to break the spine. I would dang sure shoot more than once, no matter what the outcome of the first shot.

Probably my Redhawk 44 Mag or perhaps my Super Blackhawk 44 Mag. Maybe a 460XVR since we are what iffing. Definitely lead based spraying - not bear spray.

Sorry, I don't have any recent videos, or any shooting in the dark, for the SRH, but I like the idea.

I rarely shoot it with the light on it, but the light and picitinny rail has held up very well.

I used it this year to take a couple dear.

Looking at the magazine cover in the original post, my first thought was get a better flashlight. I don't think that 1.99 plastic beauty will make it through a bear attack.

Sawfish - LOL. That flashlight on the cover was state of the art in 1983.

460 With skull busters.

That'll do it!

Yep. Totaly controllable and every squeeze of the trigger is nearly 1100ftlbs. 12 shots. The comp keeps it from hair jamming.

Even with that it is hard to overwhelm a brown bear.

While in bear camp I took a photo of the guides handguns. All were 44 mag and the only load that seemed interesting was the Speer 270gr JFP... The other three held 240gr JHP...They all carried rifles...

Hi Reflex. Pardon my ignorance, but what are "skull busters'?

solid copper loaded by 460 Rowland Co. There is a video on youtube showing them being used on a bear skull. Someone gave them the nick name skull buster after that video came out.

Some years ago, when bear hunting was legal with dogs in California, I took an informal poll of the handguns used by the bear guides I ran across during one particular year. Every one of them carried a .44 Magnum revolver, and they all used 240 gr. JHP bullets. They also all carried rifles. The interesting part was that all of the rifles used were lever actions with 20% being 30/30 Winchester Model 94s and the rest were Savage 99s in .300 Savage.

Ive been sprayed twice with pepper spray while a LEO. I lived for many years in bush Alaska, and Ive killed grizzly bear. I currently work summers in Montana riding horseback in the back country, and I wont let people around me or my horses with pepper spray. If you set off a can of that stuff inside of a tent without ventilation, it could very well kill you if you have any respiratory / heart issues. Human OC spray that incapacitated those 6 cops mentioned above is 5% pepper. Bear spray is 10%, and the canister holds a whole lot more. I now carry a full size 1911 .460 Rowland loaded with BB hardcast with a Surefire slung from the bottom to back up my Winchester 1886 saddle gun in .45/70. You cant shoot pepper spray into the wind, you can a gun. Pepper spray is mostly useless in a torrential downpour, a firearm isnt. You cant reload a can of pepper spray, you can your firearm. These are just my own observations from my own experiences. Yours may be different, and Im sure just as worthy of consideration

VERY well said!

I can echo the above. I havent used bear spray on a bear but i have worked patients that have been pepper sprayed. Some mild burning, some with acute respiratory distress. The time to find out you have a problem is in a tent miles from a road miles from a hospital. Ill take my ruger alaskan with full on night sights in 454 casull thank you very much.

I would be holding my knife in my left hand cutting an exit door out the back while pushing my hunting partner with my right towards the bear.

Hunting humor.

BH, several years ago my kids and I picked some peppers from our garden. I cant remember what peppers they were but there were 3 different varieties. I set to making our own salsa with them, about 5 mins into cooking the oils from the peppers became vaporized. Ran all of us including the dog out of the house. Ive been pepper sprayed for work years ago and it wasn't even close to the vapors released in my kitchen that day. My daughter still talks about it to this day.

What were you growing, Carolina Reapers?

I am sure most of you know the old joke that you do not need to be faster than the bear...Just faster than your hunting buddy. Ouch!

I'm late to the party here. Haven't been on the site in months. But I sold my custom revolvers a few years back to pay some unexpected bills. But if I'm ever in this situation, I hope it's after I have been able to replace the Ruger Super Blackhawk in 500JRH that I had.

Other than firepower, a large caliber gun also has the element of percussion / noise as a deterrent. Pffffft... from a can of spray won't wake a freakin baby. But If you don't think the noise from a 500JRH is significant enough to add at least some effect in this tent situation, you've obviously never experienced it.

I'm not saying the noise will be the most effective part, but it sure will be an added bonus.

Great to see you posting again! I'd been worrying about you. Hate to read about you losing your revolvers, though.

Thanks Chance. Well, life happens. Looks like I'll be replacing at least one of those revolvers this summer. Hopefully both by the end of the year.