If you were to go out hunting a large shark like in Jaws would you take a firearm?

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freenokia

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I was watching Jaws with my 9yo daughter the other day and thought it would make an interesting thread to ask what firearm(s) people would take on the boat if in the same situation.

To keep it interesting let's keep it to guns that you currently own.
 
If I remember the movie correctly (old timers disease sometimes :) ) the kill shot is made at close range next to the boat.

With that in mind I would use my 1911 in .45 acp or my Ruger in .357 mag.
 
Ha! That's a good discussion. Haven't seen jaws in a while. I recall the crusty old sailor deeming the beast to be 25 feet long and 3 tons in weight. That's big alright...elephants get bigger (as far as weight goes)...so I'd bring an elephant gun if I owned such a weapon. The .460 weatherby magnum is actually authorized by the whaling commission (whatever that is) as a round capable of taking whales (though I'm sure this simply means finishing them off). So lets go with that, a weatherby mark 5 in 460 magnum caliber.
 
Well now I feel like a dummy. Didnt read the part about sticking with guns you own. In that case I don't have anything especially suitable, either my pump 12 guage with buckshot (I don't believe slugs would penetrate very deep at all with the hide a shark has on it - try to use the buckshot to damage the gills as much as possible - or a birdshot load and take out the eyes). Biggest rifle I have is a 300 win mag so I'd bring that
 
If I remember correctly, the kill shot was actually on a SCUBA tank and not the shark. I guess for shark shooting my Hakim 8mm mauser would do fine.
 
I guess this is all the more reason for me to get an elephant gun...I live in Saskatchewan but still you never know when you're going to find yourself fighting a killer great white shark...either the weatherby I mentioned or a cz550 in .505 Gibbs. Both guns have an incredible cool factor for me.
 
reynolds357 said:
If I remember correctly, the kill shot was actually on a SCUBA tank and not the shark.
Click to expand...

Yeppers, shot the tank with an M1 Garand. Blew the shark right up.

Mythbusters notwithstanding, I guess I'd take my M1. And a case of apricot brandy.
 
Glock 20 for me. I have seen plenty of sharks over the years growing up as a surfer. I like the Glock because it will fire under water(even if I have to rack the slide to fire another) and it is dull in color. Fish like shiny things so no reason to get bit for your gun.
 
Anything I own would work.

But if I was heading out on salt water ...it would be the M38 Mosin. There's no point in douching a better firearm in salt water, when I have a Mosin for that type of work. ;)
 
I used a stainless steel Snake Charmer in 20g a when I was doing a lot of fishing. Like Chuck, the more I learned about sharks, the fewer I killled. Except Thresher or Bonito(Mako) sharks. They end up on the grill. As good as Swordfish.
 
Road kill is right on the .460, but I'd take 10 round .50 BMG semi auto. Many more ammo options and the ammo is substantially less.
 
Hmmm...

I don't know the anatomy of a shark very well. The Great White has a brain the size of a golf ball. I'd have to guess where the vitals and heart are, somewhere in the chest cavity, head, gills, spinal column, brain of course....

Thick, solid muscle. I don't think they have much skeletal bone though. Mostly cartilage. I think you'd just have to get really lucky, or do a massive amount of damage to muscles and organs to scare it off.

I'd want something in the .30 caliber semi-auto variety with a lot of bullets. Probably an AK47 with HP rounds and 30 round mags. Or perhaps a semi-auto 12 gauge with at least 8 round mag tube, stoked with 1 oz slugs or buck shot.

Then again... huge bears are like 10' tall and 1,500 pounds of muscle and bone. And they are quite resistant to smaller calibers. I've read stories of bears taking multiple 7mm magnum hits before dying.

A Great White can grow to 20+ feet, and weigh 7,000 pounds. And the bullets may need to travel through a foot of water, which will bleed off energy quickly. A bullet may need to be able to reliably travel through some water, and several feet of muscle and fat to hit a vital organ!

So, maybe even step up to a .308 semi-auto like my M1A or FAL and 20 round mags.

It would have to be in the 16-18" barrel variety, for quick mobility.
 
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Nope, I carry a gun for pirates.:cool: Got an F300 on the back of the boat and plenty of gear to fight a fish. Besides, what you going to do with a 20' shark if you do catch it. Very few sharks are worth eating.

Also catching sharks sucks, they tear up tackle and aren't all that fun to fight. I remember last year catching 4 200lb+ sandbars in one morning on jigging tackle, my arms were a lot longer than when I woke up. Then there was the 12-13' Tiger that decided to use the boat prop for a back scratcher, we did catch a nice cobia off his shadow though. Had to pop him in the head a few times with the gaff to get him off the boat.

One thing about stepping out on the ocean, you aren't the top of the food chain out there.
 
Weapons of choice on my Sportfisherman were a 12 ga and Mini-14...
Both stainless, and more for personal protection against air-breathing, two-legged mammals.

Can't dial 911 for help 60 miles out in the Gulf of Mexico.
 
Since this is about defense against imaginary giant sharks with their mind set on destroying all humans and not pirates or smugglers on the open seas and requires that one uses a firearm they own, I'll take my venerable ought six with 220 grain Core-locs with my .460 X-frame with 300 gr Deep-Curls as a BG.
 
If you were going to go out hunting Great Whites, you'll need to carry a lawyer. They are protected in most jurisdictions.
 
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