filmbeargun
Inactive
I live in Canada’s far north-west where I work with international film crews out on the land. It is now impossible to get pepper spray and crack flares on many aircraft. It is not a big deal to get an unloaded 12 gauge, and a separate box of shells, on any aircraft here. Given this, and the workplace safety requirement that one person has to have a firearm for bears, I am looking at getting a folding stock, recoil-compensated (Cop-stock) 12 gauge pump-action shotgun, to fire slugs, 00 buckshot, and 12 gauge flares and bear-cracker noise shells. Non-lethal rounds are illegal here, and the permitting and training process is lengthy, while winter activities are much more limited, so I may have until May to get this together.
Cost and light weight and compactness are critical considerations. To avoid theft and raised eyebrows it has to be carried discretely in boats, on ATV’s and in light helicopters and bush aircraft without looking like a gun in a gun-case. Unlike what I read about HD guns here, it has to be as un-threatening looking as possible. Also, so far, bears don’t shoot back!
While I keep a clean camp, keep a bear-resistant (Kevlar sacs) food cache 200m/yds from the tents and use a bike-pump refillable air horn, and have had considerable training through the national parks (Parks Canada) I may still have to accurately deliver bear cracker noise shells just in front of a Grizzly or Black Bear, and, during the fall nights and maybe winter, fire off 12g white flares for night-time illumination for bear location. In the worst possible case, if all else fails, I might have to shoot slugs at the feet of the bear, or (gulp!) shoot the bear. I would really try to avoid that...
Past experiences show that I am a rotten shot. So, I will have to train to be able to hit a bear-size target at a maximum range of 25M/yds, preferably closer. Hence an 8 shot magazine tube.
I am a slightly-built chap, so recoil has to be tamed, and the arm itself must be lightweight but reliable. I cannot be taking it apart every time it gets covered in rain or condensation. I can sometimes wipe it off. In the field I will carry it “cruiser ready” with the magazine tube loaded but with an empty chamber. I can also rotate shells out of it every night for a second set of shells, so that the shells don’t get deformed by the magazine spring. For ten months of the year it will likely be locked-up, unloaded and dis-assembled.
Anyways, I am interested in suggestions for my strategy, which is:
1) take the course and get the permitting process started
2)-buy 9 12 gauge snap caps for checking the function of 2nd hand arms and practising pumping the action with or breaking in any new action
3)-find a source of reduced-recoil slugs, and 00 buckshot
3) over the winter, buy 2nd hand, locally available:
-Remington 870 and have gunsmith cut barrel put on sights, 8 shot tube
or:
-Mossberg 500 have gunsmith put on steel safety tab, trigger guard, sights, 8 shot tube
if that doesn’t pan out,
Buy New by mail order:
-Mossberg 590A1
And if a film crew arrives with little notice and they are in a Big Hurry (!)
Buy New, locally: (ouch! $800 Canadian!)
-Remington Marine Magnum (quickly paint front bead with red nail polish)
Note: I will fit whatever I get with a Cop-Stock.
Questions:
Moving shotguns inside heated shelters after being cold-soaked outside to even fall temperatures of -10C/+10F means condensation inside of everything metallic, ice actually forms on metals when they come inside from winter -40C/-40F, what arm is best to avoid rust in these circumstances? I cannot always wipe off the outside, nor can I be run ragged dis-assembling the thing to get the moisture off the inside...
What shotguns are most easy to handle wearing gloves, or contact gloves worn inside of mittens? No tiny fiddly buttons please!
What lubricant works best in cold conditions, such as -40C, as winter work is growing here?
(I will be replacing plastic safeties and trigger guards with metal to avoid cold breakage problems...)
I am right-handed but with a left master eye. I probably won’t get a great cheek-weld on the wire stock. Forearm lights are banned here as they are considered to be poaching equipment. I will have a hands-free LED headlamp, so what inexpensive light-gathering, (ie: fibre optic) sights are rugged enough to survive being dragged through the bush on a bear gun?
How can I mount a cracker shell and a flare shell on a Cop-Stock equipped over-the-top folding stock shot gun? Is there anything better than rubber-banding the shells to the outside of the wire stock with dead bike inner tubes?
Again, if I do my job right, I should never have to shoot a bear; at worst, fire off crack flares, still....
Let me know what you think!
Cost and light weight and compactness are critical considerations. To avoid theft and raised eyebrows it has to be carried discretely in boats, on ATV’s and in light helicopters and bush aircraft without looking like a gun in a gun-case. Unlike what I read about HD guns here, it has to be as un-threatening looking as possible. Also, so far, bears don’t shoot back!
While I keep a clean camp, keep a bear-resistant (Kevlar sacs) food cache 200m/yds from the tents and use a bike-pump refillable air horn, and have had considerable training through the national parks (Parks Canada) I may still have to accurately deliver bear cracker noise shells just in front of a Grizzly or Black Bear, and, during the fall nights and maybe winter, fire off 12g white flares for night-time illumination for bear location. In the worst possible case, if all else fails, I might have to shoot slugs at the feet of the bear, or (gulp!) shoot the bear. I would really try to avoid that...
Past experiences show that I am a rotten shot. So, I will have to train to be able to hit a bear-size target at a maximum range of 25M/yds, preferably closer. Hence an 8 shot magazine tube.
I am a slightly-built chap, so recoil has to be tamed, and the arm itself must be lightweight but reliable. I cannot be taking it apart every time it gets covered in rain or condensation. I can sometimes wipe it off. In the field I will carry it “cruiser ready” with the magazine tube loaded but with an empty chamber. I can also rotate shells out of it every night for a second set of shells, so that the shells don’t get deformed by the magazine spring. For ten months of the year it will likely be locked-up, unloaded and dis-assembled.
Anyways, I am interested in suggestions for my strategy, which is:
1) take the course and get the permitting process started
2)-buy 9 12 gauge snap caps for checking the function of 2nd hand arms and practising pumping the action with or breaking in any new action
3)-find a source of reduced-recoil slugs, and 00 buckshot
3) over the winter, buy 2nd hand, locally available:
-Remington 870 and have gunsmith cut barrel put on sights, 8 shot tube
or:
-Mossberg 500 have gunsmith put on steel safety tab, trigger guard, sights, 8 shot tube
if that doesn’t pan out,
Buy New by mail order:
-Mossberg 590A1
And if a film crew arrives with little notice and they are in a Big Hurry (!)
Buy New, locally: (ouch! $800 Canadian!)
-Remington Marine Magnum (quickly paint front bead with red nail polish)
Note: I will fit whatever I get with a Cop-Stock.
Questions:
Moving shotguns inside heated shelters after being cold-soaked outside to even fall temperatures of -10C/+10F means condensation inside of everything metallic, ice actually forms on metals when they come inside from winter -40C/-40F, what arm is best to avoid rust in these circumstances? I cannot always wipe off the outside, nor can I be run ragged dis-assembling the thing to get the moisture off the inside...
What shotguns are most easy to handle wearing gloves, or contact gloves worn inside of mittens? No tiny fiddly buttons please!
What lubricant works best in cold conditions, such as -40C, as winter work is growing here?
(I will be replacing plastic safeties and trigger guards with metal to avoid cold breakage problems...)
I am right-handed but with a left master eye. I probably won’t get a great cheek-weld on the wire stock. Forearm lights are banned here as they are considered to be poaching equipment. I will have a hands-free LED headlamp, so what inexpensive light-gathering, (ie: fibre optic) sights are rugged enough to survive being dragged through the bush on a bear gun?
How can I mount a cracker shell and a flare shell on a Cop-Stock equipped over-the-top folding stock shot gun? Is there anything better than rubber-banding the shells to the outside of the wire stock with dead bike inner tubes?
Again, if I do my job right, I should never have to shoot a bear; at worst, fire off crack flares, still....
Let me know what you think!
Use a light coat of hoppes gun grease or Gunslick graphite lube. I've had this thing soaked and it looks as new as the day I bought it.
) 
