moss 500 as bear protection

S

shanz3n5

Inactive
I'll be hiking and camping the great tundra of alaska w my 14yr old son next month. im looking for insight for gun protection from the starteled great grizzly. im not a hunter by any means. most of my shooting has been desert target practice for gun familiarisation for family and home/camping protection.
i resently obtain my utah and florida ccw which allows me to carry in alaska. can i carry in national parks yet?
what would be the best set up for my moss500?
what would be the best set up for my s&w 629-4 3" .44mag?
i normally carr the berreta 92f for family protection while out in nowhere land.
this wont cut it for the grizzlies?
any and all help would be great.
thanx a ton
 
Ive never shot a bear, but i can tell you it doesnt really matter what shotgun you use, its the ammo. I would say get slugs and buck shot, but that may not be enough.

personally i would carry a single high powered rifle. Its pointless to carry any more than one gun, its just going to weigh you down. You not going to have time to switch guns if a bear attacks you. the chances of being attacked by a bear it very slim, but it could happen. I'd be more worried about getting stuck by lightning.

To answer your question, a stock mossberg 500 will work if that's all you have, but I'd rather take my rifle. a shotgun is designed for birds and clays and a deer with the right ammo. a bear is anywhere from 3x to 5x as big as a deer. a big deer might be 300lbs. a big bear is over 1000lbs.

bears really aren't a very big threat. dont shoot one just because you see it. chances are it will just leave you alone. i'd only shoot one if is was truely coming at me, which in order for that to happen i'd really have to get it mad.
 
Mossberg 500 with Brenneke K.O. slug for ol' Smokey.+1 for Carne Frio. KO slugs are nasty shiz. I love to abuse Mossbergs because they love it and because they're priced right, so a 500 is my main utility/wilderness/camp gun. It is a superb firearm any way you slice it.
 
the mossberg 500 with any ol slug will do its shot placement thats key. Personally I would suggest a 45-70 lever action marlin, love my guide gun!
 
did you ask how your Beretta 92F would be?

a 9mm? You meant that as a joke right? or did I mis read something (it's late at night here on my end).
 
I don't know about other states, but in CO anyway you can carry as you please, CCW permit required for concealed carry, but open carry is fine (long guns must comply with relevant hunting laws). I would have assumed this was universal in national parks, but I honestly don't know.
 
A shotgun with slugs is better than a handgun when it comes to dealing with yogi... Other options would include a marlin guide gun or a bolt gun chambered in .375 H&H.... I'm talking grizzlies......
 
Here in Minnesoooota we only have the diminutive black bear. However even they can get gnarly sometimes. Did you know that the US Army designed the 45-70 as a defense against the Grizzly? I would use that or a shotgun with 00 buck.

So these two hippie hikers were in the mountains when coming around a corner they ran face to face into a very large grizzly. The bear roared and charged, whereupon the hippies hauled ..., well you know what I mean.

After running for some distance, with the bear closing the gap rapidly, the lead hippie suddenly stopped and sitting on a log removed his hiking boots and began lacing up some tennis shoes.

The second hippie, racing by him said, "those shoes aren't going to help you out run a grizzly you fool", whereupon his friend replied, "I don't have to outrun the grizzly, I only have to outrun you!"
 
So here's another story for you. Now most folks would call this a tale, but it was neighbor at the time and I saw the bear. It rode home sitting in his canoe on top of his car. They had it tied sitting up with a paddle in its paws. Okay. Yep, I actually saw this.

Now the story.
Seems he was deer hunting in northern Minnesoooota when he spied a large hole under a dead fall. Now thinking that it was indeed a bears den, he found a downed tree large enough to poke into the den with and commenced prodding the bottom of the hole to see if anything was in there.

Well, there was. A very large, male, black bear was sleeping contentedly at the back of the den. My neighbor, feeling something soft at the end of his pole, prodded harder, trying to figure out if was indeed a bear.

Now the bear is not in a good mood. Probably hung over from some party he had been to to celebrate the end of Summer, anyway, he swatted the offending pole.

The pole, levered against the entrance to the den, swung around and hit my neighbor in the leg, breaking it. He falls to the ground in front of the den in immense pain. His problems are just starting.

The bear, now enraged, starts to exit the den to deal with this offending intrusion to his slumber, where he finds my neighbor lying at his door step. He roars his disdain.

My neighbor is armed with a Winchester 94 in 30-30 caliber. He shoots the bear squarely between the eyes, which really makes the bear mad. As the bear roars even more menacingly and threateningly, he shoots him five more times between the eyes. The 30-30 bullets merely bounce off his skull. (We learned that when the bear was skinned out and we saw the indentations from the bullets).

Now the bear is towering over him, and as you know, a 30-30 holds seven rounds. He has now fired six, count em, and has one left. He fires upward under the bears chin and kills it instantly with a bullet to the brain. The bear falls on him.

That's how his friends found him a couple hours later.

Now this does smack of a really tall story, but he was my neighbor, and I saw the bear, and I guess I really believed it happened.
 
A 300gr .45-70 bullet typically has a muzzle velocity of 1810 fps and 2182 ft-lbs of muzzle energy.

A 12 gauge 3" 1 oz Rifled Slug comes out at around 1760 fps and has 3010 ft-lbs of muzzle energy.

I would say that the 12 gauge slug will give a bear a pretty good wallop.

For comparison, a 30-30 caliber 150gr bullet typically has a muzzle velocity of 2390 fps and 1902 ft-lbs of muzzle energy.

I would also load the .44 magnum with the most powerful ammo I could find.

Here is one choice:
Buffalo Bore .44 magnum +P+ 340grain -- Muzzle Velocity: 1475 fps & Muzzle Energy: 1642 ft-lbs.
 
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I've heard bear spray is the most effective against bears anyone with first hand knowledge? Not to say I wouldn't carry a gun as well or disparage anyone for doing so. Anyone ever hit a bear with spray?

I carry my 90TWO when hunting and hiking for 2 legged creatures. The Department of Game and Inland Fisheries states that unprovoked bear attacks are rare and have never been documented in VA. So I don't really give it much thought.
 
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If you want a mossberg 500 look for one with a rifled barrel.I have one and love it so much i even put a bsa red dot sighting system on it.I only paid $169.99 from walmart for it and it has served me well for the last 3 years.If you can get winchester super X 3 inch mag rifled slugs.they are a 1 oz slug that travels 1,760 fps.I've taken 100 yard shots with a 3 inch group on a bench rest.The only bad thing about mine is it's ported.The only thing the porting is good for is bust your ear drums.:eek:

I bought the shotgun belt from walmart,took the left side apart,added my holster,then sewed the belt clasp back on.You could add any holster you wanted.This is my h/d set btw and yes the shells in the belt are slugs.
pic001.jpg
 
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Both of my neighbors sons migrate to alaska every summer to work in the tourist trade. When they go, each of them brings their .44 blackhawks, a 12ga shotgun and some brennke black majic 3" slugs. Both of these young men are avid fishermen. They bring the shotgun along on fishing trips, but many times it get left on the bank, hence the need for a 2nd firearm.

This is what I would load my 629 with http://www.doubletapammo.com/php/ca...d=123&osCsid=6af467914c6c549357257c7182c3b4b4 This is a max std pressure load that will be safe in your S&W.

Here is a link to the 3" black majic slug http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/37896-5.html
 
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