What cal. ???????
- Thread starter jphelps4
- Start date
Don't let the .41 fool you. It is a big bore magnum and if you are not used to them then it does have significant recoil. The ammo for a .41 is also not as commonly found as the other calibers.
As black bears seldom attack unless provoked you could use a .357 magnum since you don't have big bore experience. You can load up with 180 grainers for woods work and .38 Specials for around the home. If you want a big bore then the .44 magnum will allow you to have the most choices in ammo commonly found in most areas.
As black bears seldom attack unless provoked you could use a .357 magnum since you don't have big bore experience. You can load up with 180 grainers for woods work and .38 Specials for around the home. If you want a big bore then the .44 magnum will allow you to have the most choices in ammo commonly found in most areas.
CarbineCaleb
New member
On the bears - if you keep food away from the tent area (cooking, garbage and storage), you are unlikely to have any problems, especially in the backcountry, where bears are shy and haven't learned from idiots to think of campers as a food source.
I have been backpacking, alone and in groups, many times in black and grizzly bear territory, and have certainly seen them, but only once had a problem, with a young black bear who actually pursued and charged us, but I was able to scare him off with my voice.
I have been backpacking, alone and in groups, many times in black and grizzly bear territory, and have certainly seen them, but only once had a problem, with a young black bear who actually pursued and charged us, but I was able to scare him off with my voice.
Keep it Simple...
If you're looking for a big-bore snub for outdoor carry, purchase a .44 mag with 3" or 4" barrel. Lots of ammo choices, and significant punch if loaded with full-house factory loads.
My 629-4 3" 'Smith is awesome. I carry Winchester 210-gr Silvertips, which have a manageable recoil. They seem to be loaded somewhat less than other full-house factory loads. Not sure how they would handle a black bear, though. The hollow-point round might expand too much, not providing enough penetration. Should be excellent for home defense, as would many of the .44-Special rounds that are commercially loaded and would shoot excellent from a .44 mag handgun. If black bears were my main reason to carry (hard to imagine getting tangled up with one to begin with), I would probably use any quality .44-mag 240-gr soft-nose factory load.
I have shot full-house 240-gr loads from my 629 3", and while I wouldn't want to do that all day long...it isn't all THAT bad.
Jim
If you're looking for a big-bore snub for outdoor carry, purchase a .44 mag with 3" or 4" barrel. Lots of ammo choices, and significant punch if loaded with full-house factory loads.
My 629-4 3" 'Smith is awesome. I carry Winchester 210-gr Silvertips, which have a manageable recoil. They seem to be loaded somewhat less than other full-house factory loads. Not sure how they would handle a black bear, though. The hollow-point round might expand too much, not providing enough penetration. Should be excellent for home defense, as would many of the .44-Special rounds that are commercially loaded and would shoot excellent from a .44 mag handgun. If black bears were my main reason to carry (hard to imagine getting tangled up with one to begin with), I would probably use any quality .44-mag 240-gr soft-nose factory load.
I have shot full-house 240-gr loads from my 629 3", and while I wouldn't want to do that all day long...it isn't all THAT bad.
Jim
As stated by CarbineCaleb, just keep food away, and they won't approach.
Now, if you walk into a bad situation where you are inbetween momma and her cubs, you won't be undergunned with a .357. Blackies aren't nearly has hard to kill as others... and a .357 will take a brown bear as long as you are a good shot and can hit a vital area. Anything bigger, you'll want a .44 magnum or .45LC with heavier 300gr loads.
Now, if you walk into a bad situation where you are inbetween momma and her cubs, you won't be undergunned with a .357. Blackies aren't nearly has hard to kill as others... and a .357 will take a brown bear as long as you are a good shot and can hit a vital area. Anything bigger, you'll want a .44 magnum or .45LC with heavier 300gr loads.
The new Ruger Super Red Hawk Alaskan, .454 Casull/.45 Colt, 2 1/2" Brl, if you can find one. You will feel the recoil! 
I'm from Black Bear Country, and I agree with Carbine. The Black Bear is usually more afraid of you, then you are of him. Having said that, it's always better to have something along with you just in case one doesn't scare off easily.
I'm from Black Bear Country, and I agree with Carbine. The Black Bear is usually more afraid of you, then you are of him. Having said that, it's always better to have something along with you just in case one doesn't scare off easily.
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I think everyone is assuming that Mr/Mrs Bear is going to just stand there while you assume a classic stance and place a well aimed shot. Use a LARGE caliber handgun. Like the caveman said big rock works better- A 44Mag with hardcast 240GR lead bullets will smash a bear from any angle.
CarbineCaleb
New member
If you can handle the gun comfortably, I am sure the .44magnum would provide a greater margin of safety.
I will say though, that a couple of years ago in National Geographic there was an article on two Norwegian explorers, cross-country skiing to the North Pole. They brought along a revolver in case of polar bear attack - these guys are huge, and *are* known to be dangerous!
Well, at a certain point at one of their camps, a large bear began to approach them - and these guys have balls, one took a photo of the other holding the revolver pointed skyward and calmly smiling, with the approaching bear in the background, snow blowing, maybe 20 yards away. I just kept staring at that photo, thinking to myself, "....you have got to be kidding me - these guys are crazy!". The next photo was of one huge, dead polar bear. If I recall correctly, they brought a .357magnum - I remember being very surprised, because it wasn't what you'd think of for anything that big and dangerous.
If you can shoot it well, a .44magnum would have to offer an extra margin... but if you can't, all I can say is, if a .357 will work on a polar bear, it will certainly work on a black bear.
They said it tasted awful, by the way :barf:
I will say though, that a couple of years ago in National Geographic there was an article on two Norwegian explorers, cross-country skiing to the North Pole. They brought along a revolver in case of polar bear attack - these guys are huge, and *are* known to be dangerous!
Well, at a certain point at one of their camps, a large bear began to approach them - and these guys have balls, one took a photo of the other holding the revolver pointed skyward and calmly smiling, with the approaching bear in the background, snow blowing, maybe 20 yards away. I just kept staring at that photo, thinking to myself, "....you have got to be kidding me - these guys are crazy!". The next photo was of one huge, dead polar bear. If I recall correctly, they brought a .357magnum - I remember being very surprised, because it wasn't what you'd think of for anything that big and dangerous.
If you can shoot it well, a .44magnum would have to offer an extra margin... but if you can't, all I can say is, if a .357 will work on a polar bear, it will certainly work on a black bear.
They said it tasted awful, by the way :barf:I'm laughing at some of the recommendations.
Some of these say things like the .41's recoil will be severe and then recommend either .357's with 180gr bullets (ouch!) or .45 Colt +P loads.
The recoil on the .41 Mag is not that severe. For home defense, the 175gr Winchester Silvertip will work well at 1250fps/607ft-lbs.
Speer's new 210gr Gold Dot JHP runs about 1280fps/764ft-lbs (IIRC).
Winchester's 240gr Platinum JHP flies at 1250fps/833ft-lbs.
Federal's 250gr Cast-Core flat point at 1250fps/867ft-lbs.
Federal's 210gr JHP duplicates the Remington 210gr JSP load at 1300fps/788ft-lbs.
For comparison:
(W-W 180gr .357 Partition Gold - 1180fps/557 ft-lbs)
(Federal 180gr .357 Vital*Shok - 1250fps/624 ft-lbs)
The 175gr Silvertips are fairly nice to shoot out of a Model 57 4". And the Remington 210gr @1300fps is pretty stout with 788ft-lbs of gee-whiz at the muzzle.
On bear, I'd probably opt for the Federal CastCore 250's with the Remington 210gr JSP as #2 choice simply because I think it will penetrate further than a JHP round.
The .41 Mag ammo is slightly harder to find, but it can also be ordered on-line from places like Midway, Sportsmansguide.com and others. I'd suggest buying 2 boxes of whatever you plan to use and test fire it first. Not only firing to determine point of impact but how it recoils in your gun.
There is a commercial reloader fairly near to me that I buy his "range ammo" in .41 mag. It's generally a 210gr LSWC at about 950fps and it will suffice for personal defense ammo too.
Some of these say things like the .41's recoil will be severe and then recommend either .357's with 180gr bullets (ouch!) or .45 Colt +P loads.
The recoil on the .41 Mag is not that severe. For home defense, the 175gr Winchester Silvertip will work well at 1250fps/607ft-lbs.
Speer's new 210gr Gold Dot JHP runs about 1280fps/764ft-lbs (IIRC).
Winchester's 240gr Platinum JHP flies at 1250fps/833ft-lbs.
Federal's 250gr Cast-Core flat point at 1250fps/867ft-lbs.
Federal's 210gr JHP duplicates the Remington 210gr JSP load at 1300fps/788ft-lbs.
For comparison:
(W-W 180gr .357 Partition Gold - 1180fps/557 ft-lbs)
(Federal 180gr .357 Vital*Shok - 1250fps/624 ft-lbs)
The 175gr Silvertips are fairly nice to shoot out of a Model 57 4". And the Remington 210gr @1300fps is pretty stout with 788ft-lbs of gee-whiz at the muzzle.
On bear, I'd probably opt for the Federal CastCore 250's with the Remington 210gr JSP as #2 choice simply because I think it will penetrate further than a JHP round.
The .41 Mag ammo is slightly harder to find, but it can also be ordered on-line from places like Midway, Sportsmansguide.com and others. I'd suggest buying 2 boxes of whatever you plan to use and test fire it first. Not only firing to determine point of impact but how it recoils in your gun.
There is a commercial reloader fairly near to me that I buy his "range ammo" in .41 mag. It's generally a 210gr LSWC at about 950fps and it will suffice for personal defense ammo too.
The following is meant for the nay-sayers of the .41 Magnum. I will give my oppinion to jphelps4 at the conclusion.
The only incidents that I know of, where Polar Bears were taken with the .357 Magnum, intentionally, were in a totally different era and the handgunner was backed up by a professional guide and the bullet did not come from a 4" barrel. The original load for the .357 magnum was a 158 gr. SWC at around 1550 FPS from a 6" barrel (843 ft/lbs of energy) and you ain't gonna find it today at wally world in a whitebox. If you get 1250 FPS (548 ft/lbs) from a 6" barrel today with any factory ammo, consider yourself lucky and you will need a chronograph to find out. Current ammo is held to 35,000 PSI. Yesterdays was loaded to nearly 50,000 PSI. If you have a chronograph, it is about a 95% sure bet that you are a handloader anyway and everything changes if you are. So go ahead and get that .41 Magnum. Ammo can be found except maybe by the hopelessly lazy. Handloading will be where you need to go in time and the truly serious handgunners that I know for the most part, are also handloaders.
First, lets make sure we are talking about black bear and not Griz. There's several hundred pounds of difference and all of them are best avoided. Black Bear will fall to the .41 or .44 magnum about as quick from one as the other. Shooting a Griz with a handgun better be a deliberate idea with a high powered rifle backing you up. The suggestion of a small carbine is a better idea than a handgun in Grizzly country, the carbine would be better in .444 Marlin, .45-70 Springfield or .450 Marlin. Sure you can take a Black Bear with a heavy handload in .357 Magnum and it's been done... Usually from a tree stand!
For excitement that may not be as lethal, go out to your local bar or wherever and take a punch at a 400 lb. man standing about 6'-6"if you can find one and remember, he doesn't have claws that will rip through your flesh and right through your rib cage. He most likely won't have canines about 2" long and power in his jaws to bite through bone. He will also not be nearly as quick as a large male Black Bear.
Why is the .41 Magnum not as popular as it should be. Well, bad advice ranks right up there! .019" more diameter surely makes the .44 more powerful doesn't it? Lets find out! When I started handloading over 20 years ago this myth was addressed and I don't think it has changed vastly since then in common bullet weights and loads for both. Factory 240 gr. .44 Magnum more often than not was actually coming out of the barrel at 1250 FPS and not the factory rated velocity, that's 833 ft/lbs of energy. Less than that of the .357 Magnum fired into a Polar Bear by Daniel B. Wesson. The 210 gr. .41 magnum would yield usually slightly better than 1350, but we'll use 1350. That's 850 ft/Lbs and considering that the 210 gr. .41 Magnum bullet has a higher sectional density than a 240 in .44 Magnum, with equal energy the .41 will penetrate deeper than the .44. Of course you can handload either of these loads with the right powder to over 1500 FPS, but not from a 4" revolver. If you tell me you can, provide the data from a 4" Barrel.
The advice given about heavy recoil in 4" barrelled revolvers was real world advice, not internet machismo from Rambotito! There are always a good number of Smith Mountain Revolvers on the used market immediately following a release of new guns. It would appear some don't know what Mountain Gun actually means. It has nothing to do with plinking at the gun range, unless you had the sense to load it with specials. The least likely of the Mountain Guns to be bought and sold the same week is probably the .45 LC, because it is not designed for pressure above the standard level, which happens to be 14,000 PSI and S&W is not going to tell you that it's okay to load +P. If you want a Magnum .45 LC at around 30,000 CUP, better think Ruger Redhawk or Blackhawk.
From a 4" revolver, when you reach the tolerable level of recoil and I don't mean by firing one cylinder. Lets say 50 rounds. My personal minimum. At the same level of perceived recoil the .41 will be delivering a higher level of kinetic energy and better penetration than the .44 because of the physical aspects of recoil in guns of identical weight. Higher sectional density because of it's length to weight ratio. The other factors are velocity, bullet weight and to a lesser extent, the powder charge. All being greater in the .44 except for velocity that is the major factor in kinetic energy and uses the square of it's velocity along with bullet weight in the ballistic kinetic energy formula V2 x BW in grs./450436= KE in Ft/lbs. This works the same way in all cases where you are comparing the two calibers in identical guns including the Ruger Redhawk, if you can find one used in .41 Magnum. The limiting factor for the .41 Magnum will be design pressure of the cartridge. You can load both to the same pressure and when you do, the .44 will be superior, but at that level, more than likely, you ain't gonna shoot 50 of them. And, if you don't get adequate practice, better go with the carbine. You can get 210 gr. bullets for the .44, but they will have to be loaded to a higher velocity and greater kinetic energy to obtain the same depth of penetration because of the lower sectional density of the .44 mag.
Wrong ppinions have led almost to a demise of the .41, but not for me. If you know your gonna pack a 4" revolver, might as well pack some logic with it. The .41 Magnum will kill a Black Bear just as dead as a .44, or any other animal within sound logical reasoning for that matter, of course it goes without saying that it depends on the man behind the trigger!
jphelps4, my recommendation to you will be a little different than what you might want to hear, but I promise you it is based on experience and a thorough understanding of ballistics. The only available 4" revolver in .41 magnum that I know of is the current blue steel Mountain Gun and it will serve you well, but with full power loads, it will kick like a mule. Handloading is the solution or getting someone to load you 210 gr. bullets at no more than 1200 FPS and preferably less, would give you a manageable gun to practice with and when on the trail, load it up with full power loads and block that mule from your mind. Easier said than done.
Ruger has a limited run of the Stainless Bisley Super Blackhawk in .41 magnum with a 5.5" barrel and if it were me, I would buy one before they're gone, even though I prefer a DA revolver over an SA for this purpose. If you can find an older 4" model 57 Smith, God Bless you, they're scarcer than hen's teeth. If you choose a SA Ruger, the Blackhawk is still listed in the catalogue, you should develop as much skill as you can in rapidly cocking that single action hammer and firing. A Standard 4 5/8" Blackhawk in .41 is a valued field gun with experienced big bore hands in the field. The 6.5" is not a bad option, just not as handy as the 4 5/8" if you can, have a steel Bisley gripframe mounted on either and they will be imminently more shootable. Why Ruger can't keep the standard Bisley in production chambered in .41 Magnum is beyond me, but they will bring out a Super Redhawk in .480 or .454 Casull with a 2.5" barrel. Idiotic~! Unless you do live in Alaska and even then, I'm not so sure. The last two options are also slightly different from your goal, but you may like the last one. Taurus, as far as I know still makes the Raging Bull in .41 magnum with a 6" barrel. 1" of which is occupied by the ported area. It is a heavy revover, but a very solid one. I don't always endorse Taurus products, but in this case I would. Cylinder is locked in front and back and I believe on the ejector rod like the old S&W Triple lock which was the forerunner of the N-Frame magnums.
Last and hopefully best, call Dan Wesson if you are as serious as I am about someone possibly going to deadly combat with a Bear! They make one of the finest revolvers known to man, but I don't know if they offer the .41 Magnum with a 4" barrel. My guess is that they do and it would be a little heavier than a Mountain Gun, but not too heavy to pack on the trail with Bears, Danger Close. One final thought; Ruger Redhawk, Blackhawk, N-Frame Smith, Dan Wesson, the true .41 Magnum Fans and not the closet variety that tell you that they have one, but you should buy a .44, and if the shoe fits....The .41 Magnum is a more accurate round than the .44 and the serious .41 men know it and won't be without one for that reason. Not because it has Less recoil. Put them in aransom rest and I will stack my best handload in with my .41 Magnum against someone elses .44 Magnum. I have honestly never fired a .41 that wasn't a tackdriver. I have fired .44s that were also tackdrivers and I have fired .44s that weren't.
BillCA, thanks for the current data on factory ammo. Like I said, I haven't bought factory in a number of years and I failed to mention the importance of selecting a good bullet for the task and if a handloader is available, the Sierra 22o gr. Tournament Master is a great choice. Even though it was designed for silhouette, it will expand on large game. Not a lot but with the penetration it will also provide, it will get the job done effectively!
The only incidents that I know of, where Polar Bears were taken with the .357 Magnum, intentionally, were in a totally different era and the handgunner was backed up by a professional guide and the bullet did not come from a 4" barrel. The original load for the .357 magnum was a 158 gr. SWC at around 1550 FPS from a 6" barrel (843 ft/lbs of energy) and you ain't gonna find it today at wally world in a whitebox. If you get 1250 FPS (548 ft/lbs) from a 6" barrel today with any factory ammo, consider yourself lucky and you will need a chronograph to find out. Current ammo is held to 35,000 PSI. Yesterdays was loaded to nearly 50,000 PSI. If you have a chronograph, it is about a 95% sure bet that you are a handloader anyway and everything changes if you are. So go ahead and get that .41 Magnum. Ammo can be found except maybe by the hopelessly lazy. Handloading will be where you need to go in time and the truly serious handgunners that I know for the most part, are also handloaders.
First, lets make sure we are talking about black bear and not Griz. There's several hundred pounds of difference and all of them are best avoided. Black Bear will fall to the .41 or .44 magnum about as quick from one as the other. Shooting a Griz with a handgun better be a deliberate idea with a high powered rifle backing you up. The suggestion of a small carbine is a better idea than a handgun in Grizzly country, the carbine would be better in .444 Marlin, .45-70 Springfield or .450 Marlin. Sure you can take a Black Bear with a heavy handload in .357 Magnum and it's been done... Usually from a tree stand!
For excitement that may not be as lethal, go out to your local bar or wherever and take a punch at a 400 lb. man standing about 6'-6"if you can find one and remember, he doesn't have claws that will rip through your flesh and right through your rib cage. He most likely won't have canines about 2" long and power in his jaws to bite through bone. He will also not be nearly as quick as a large male Black Bear.
Why is the .41 Magnum not as popular as it should be. Well, bad advice ranks right up there! .019" more diameter surely makes the .44 more powerful doesn't it? Lets find out! When I started handloading over 20 years ago this myth was addressed and I don't think it has changed vastly since then in common bullet weights and loads for both. Factory 240 gr. .44 Magnum more often than not was actually coming out of the barrel at 1250 FPS and not the factory rated velocity, that's 833 ft/lbs of energy. Less than that of the .357 Magnum fired into a Polar Bear by Daniel B. Wesson. The 210 gr. .41 magnum would yield usually slightly better than 1350, but we'll use 1350. That's 850 ft/Lbs and considering that the 210 gr. .41 Magnum bullet has a higher sectional density than a 240 in .44 Magnum, with equal energy the .41 will penetrate deeper than the .44. Of course you can handload either of these loads with the right powder to over 1500 FPS, but not from a 4" revolver. If you tell me you can, provide the data from a 4" Barrel.
The advice given about heavy recoil in 4" barrelled revolvers was real world advice, not internet machismo from Rambotito! There are always a good number of Smith Mountain Revolvers on the used market immediately following a release of new guns. It would appear some don't know what Mountain Gun actually means. It has nothing to do with plinking at the gun range, unless you had the sense to load it with specials. The least likely of the Mountain Guns to be bought and sold the same week is probably the .45 LC, because it is not designed for pressure above the standard level, which happens to be 14,000 PSI and S&W is not going to tell you that it's okay to load +P. If you want a Magnum .45 LC at around 30,000 CUP, better think Ruger Redhawk or Blackhawk.
From a 4" revolver, when you reach the tolerable level of recoil and I don't mean by firing one cylinder. Lets say 50 rounds. My personal minimum. At the same level of perceived recoil the .41 will be delivering a higher level of kinetic energy and better penetration than the .44 because of the physical aspects of recoil in guns of identical weight. Higher sectional density because of it's length to weight ratio. The other factors are velocity, bullet weight and to a lesser extent, the powder charge. All being greater in the .44 except for velocity that is the major factor in kinetic energy and uses the square of it's velocity along with bullet weight in the ballistic kinetic energy formula V2 x BW in grs./450436= KE in Ft/lbs. This works the same way in all cases where you are comparing the two calibers in identical guns including the Ruger Redhawk, if you can find one used in .41 Magnum. The limiting factor for the .41 Magnum will be design pressure of the cartridge. You can load both to the same pressure and when you do, the .44 will be superior, but at that level, more than likely, you ain't gonna shoot 50 of them. And, if you don't get adequate practice, better go with the carbine. You can get 210 gr. bullets for the .44, but they will have to be loaded to a higher velocity and greater kinetic energy to obtain the same depth of penetration because of the lower sectional density of the .44 mag.
Wrong ppinions have led almost to a demise of the .41, but not for me. If you know your gonna pack a 4" revolver, might as well pack some logic with it. The .41 Magnum will kill a Black Bear just as dead as a .44, or any other animal within sound logical reasoning for that matter, of course it goes without saying that it depends on the man behind the trigger!
jphelps4, my recommendation to you will be a little different than what you might want to hear, but I promise you it is based on experience and a thorough understanding of ballistics. The only available 4" revolver in .41 magnum that I know of is the current blue steel Mountain Gun and it will serve you well, but with full power loads, it will kick like a mule. Handloading is the solution or getting someone to load you 210 gr. bullets at no more than 1200 FPS and preferably less, would give you a manageable gun to practice with and when on the trail, load it up with full power loads and block that mule from your mind. Easier said than done.
Ruger has a limited run of the Stainless Bisley Super Blackhawk in .41 magnum with a 5.5" barrel and if it were me, I would buy one before they're gone, even though I prefer a DA revolver over an SA for this purpose. If you can find an older 4" model 57 Smith, God Bless you, they're scarcer than hen's teeth. If you choose a SA Ruger, the Blackhawk is still listed in the catalogue, you should develop as much skill as you can in rapidly cocking that single action hammer and firing. A Standard 4 5/8" Blackhawk in .41 is a valued field gun with experienced big bore hands in the field. The 6.5" is not a bad option, just not as handy as the 4 5/8" if you can, have a steel Bisley gripframe mounted on either and they will be imminently more shootable. Why Ruger can't keep the standard Bisley in production chambered in .41 Magnum is beyond me, but they will bring out a Super Redhawk in .480 or .454 Casull with a 2.5" barrel. Idiotic~! Unless you do live in Alaska and even then, I'm not so sure. The last two options are also slightly different from your goal, but you may like the last one. Taurus, as far as I know still makes the Raging Bull in .41 magnum with a 6" barrel. 1" of which is occupied by the ported area. It is a heavy revover, but a very solid one. I don't always endorse Taurus products, but in this case I would. Cylinder is locked in front and back and I believe on the ejector rod like the old S&W Triple lock which was the forerunner of the N-Frame magnums.
Last and hopefully best, call Dan Wesson if you are as serious as I am about someone possibly going to deadly combat with a Bear! They make one of the finest revolvers known to man, but I don't know if they offer the .41 Magnum with a 4" barrel. My guess is that they do and it would be a little heavier than a Mountain Gun, but not too heavy to pack on the trail with Bears, Danger Close. One final thought; Ruger Redhawk, Blackhawk, N-Frame Smith, Dan Wesson, the true .41 Magnum Fans and not the closet variety that tell you that they have one, but you should buy a .44, and if the shoe fits....The .41 Magnum is a more accurate round than the .44 and the serious .41 men know it and won't be without one for that reason. Not because it has Less recoil. Put them in aransom rest and I will stack my best handload in with my .41 Magnum against someone elses .44 Magnum. I have honestly never fired a .41 that wasn't a tackdriver. I have fired .44s that were also tackdrivers and I have fired .44s that weren't.
BillCA, thanks for the current data on factory ammo. Like I said, I haven't bought factory in a number of years and I failed to mention the importance of selecting a good bullet for the task and if a handloader is available, the Sierra 22o gr. Tournament Master is a great choice. Even though it was designed for silhouette, it will expand on large game. Not a lot but with the penetration it will also provide, it will get the job done effectively!
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CarbineCaleb
New member
Sturm - It's possible that I recall the caliber incorrectly, but I don't think so. There was no guide, no backup rifle, and nowhere to go, and these guys were not even scared. If I recall correctly, they got him with one or two shots.
It wasn't Outdoor Life, either, it was National Geographic, and since these two guys skiied to the North Pole without support, machines or even dogs, I think they have better things to do than make up bear stories. The during/after photos of the attack are right in the article, which mostly of course focuses on the expedition and the accomplishment of reaching the North Pole without dogs. So they didn't mention what loads they were using - it wouldn't be of interest to readers of Geographic. If you think I am making it up, I am sure a visit to the local library would clear it up - the article is within the last 5 years.
It wasn't Outdoor Life, either, it was National Geographic, and since these two guys skiied to the North Pole without support, machines or even dogs, I think they have better things to do than make up bear stories. The during/after photos of the attack are right in the article, which mostly of course focuses on the expedition and the accomplishment of reaching the North Pole without dogs. So they didn't mention what loads they were using - it wouldn't be of interest to readers of Geographic. If you think I am making it up, I am sure a visit to the local library would clear it up - the article is within the last 5 years.
CarbineCaleb
New member
I have been trying to find this article by a search on the web, but National Geographic doesn't archive their magazine articles online.
I do believe though, that these are the two guys, Rune Gjeldnes and Torry Larsen, for partial CVs, see:
http://www.extreme-planet.com/explorers.asp?expl_id=1
http://www.extreme-planet.com/explorers.asp?expl_id=2
... you will note that the junior member of the expedition spent part of his career instructing British SAS and US Navy SEALs in winter warfare - I don't recall if he was the one who did the shooting, but I am guessing he knows how to use a handgun.
In 2000, the two skiied from Russia, to Canada, across the North Pole, including the Arctic Ocean in what has to be the most remarkable expedition accomplishment of all time. These guys do not make up bear stories.
The photos are right there to prove it as well. With all due respect to hunters, if you have any concept of what these guys have done in crossing the Arctic, shooting a polar bear with a .357magnum is a minor incident for them.
You can read about their next "fish story" here:
http://www.extreme-planet.com/exp/seal/
I do believe though, that these are the two guys, Rune Gjeldnes and Torry Larsen, for partial CVs, see:
http://www.extreme-planet.com/explorers.asp?expl_id=1
http://www.extreme-planet.com/explorers.asp?expl_id=2
... you will note that the junior member of the expedition spent part of his career instructing British SAS and US Navy SEALs in winter warfare - I don't recall if he was the one who did the shooting, but I am guessing he knows how to use a handgun.
In 2000, the two skiied from Russia, to Canada, across the North Pole, including the Arctic Ocean in what has to be the most remarkable expedition accomplishment of all time. These guys do not make up bear stories.
The photos are right there to prove it as well. With all due respect to hunters, if you have any concept of what these guys have done in crossing the Arctic, shooting a polar bear with a .357magnum is a minor incident for them.You can read about their next "fish story" here:
http://www.extreme-planet.com/exp/seal/
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No thanks! I don't need any more fish stories. That reminds me of the Newsweek story about the flushing of the Koran. All that does is gets people killed. And I meet more than enough ex-seals, mercenerys, FBI agents, Hit men,SOF, and superheroes here on the internet. The 357 is a poor choice against even a black bear as a Winchester 94 chambered for 357 is considered marginal under a 100 yards. As for the pictures I wonder what was off camera that really killed the bear. When I hear claims like this it reminds me of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty(look it up). Or how about Burt Hall? To the author of this thread a 44 magnum is in order.
CarbineCaleb
New member
Yep, you're right jv - them guys probably made it all up... probably never left their living room, and probably instruct boy scouts, not SAS and SEALs - the wimps! Hell, they're foreigners too! How can we believe 'em???
Hell, they're foreigners too! How can we believe 'em???