308 enough for brown/polar bear?

[Arken7mm]

I concur.

It's visiting time in my part of alaksa, salmon over and the earlier hunting seasons wrapped. Ended up in a diner with a newly retired guide yesterday and the bear fear phenomenon topic came up. While he doesn't go afield he's still in camp and had some funny stories. This year a group of guys of some derivative of .mil types showed up for a black tail bow hunt. Said they brought an armament of rifles that were all just shy of howitzers, literally several per guy. Guess the most senior had a fairly significant phobia of an attack even though he hadn't had a previous issue. For 8 days he packed around an assortment of fire power, and never even saw a bear...

Whatever it is, it drives a tremendous amount of interest. Girls in the village had an equal fascination with various farm animals. Guess we are enamored by big powerful critters that aren't common to us.


We had a weather window last week and the wife talked my into a trip that involved planes, boats and packrafts. At some point we floated down some salmon system like two big sushi rolls in a sushi conveyor restaurant for some dumbfounded bears. Not my preference but they left us be, as did even the sows with Cubs I bumped into this summer. My honest opinion, I'm more likely to die of a nuke caused by the abysmal policy of the last 30 years of neocon failed policy than a big bear attack. The bears at least are fairly predictable....

Pick up a rifle, practice with it. On the 375 you can't buy ammo that won't work "good enough" for defense. Then go focus on not being an idiot in the woods and you'll be fine.


On the polar bears I'm not familiar, last trip to the higher artic my goal was to at least see one. Heck we looked so much for one, had it been warmer I was ready to don bacon grease and some honey and run around naked with a fox pro to try and get one to come in... haven't felt the need to stick around where they are enough to need self defense.

For a sidearm/backup against large brown bears and polar bears what do you prefer?

 

[memtb]

For a sidearm/backup against large brown bears and polar bears what do you prefer?

Big Bore (45 cal or greater), heavy for caliber hard cast wide metplat, @ around 1000 to 1100 fps mv! JMO

Bur a serious question……how are you gonna carry all of this gear?

Assuming that you're talking about hunting….unless guided, you are going to be carrying quite a load!

I once tried carrying a large framed handgun, for hunting purposes if a close-up shot presented itself and a rifle. Hunting at elevation, in moderately steep country, while putting on several miles a day…..I decided that it was one or the other! This was when I was relatively young (late 30's) and not that many years from being a sub 3 hr. marathoner.

The weight of gear that one "SHOULD " carry in the field, plus a firearm can add up quickly. memtb

If you are on horseback or travel by vehicle……anything you want to have is on the table!

 

[Arken7mm]

Big Bore (45 cal or greater), heavy for caliber hard cast wide metplat, @ around 1000 to 1100 fps mv! JMO

Bur a serious question……how are you gonna carry all of this gear?

Assuming that you're talking about hunting….unless guided, you are going to be carrying quite a load!

I once tried carrying a large framed handgun, for hunting purposes if a close-up shot presented itself and a rifle. Hunting at elevation, in moderately steep country, while putting on several miles a day…..I decided that it was one or the other! This was when I was relatively young (late 30's) and not that many years from being a sub 3 hr. marathoner.

The weight of gear that one "SHOULD " carry in the field, plus a firearm can add up quickly. memtb

If you are on horseback or travel by vehicle……anything you want to have is on the table!

I've had no problem carrying around my friend's Howa 375 Ruger with a 20" inch barrel while also having on a chest holster with a Ruger Super Redhawk Alaskan 44.

 

[Critter Picker]

I don't understand why, but the 270gr Speer are nearly one hole and the 270gr interlock are 5" (no joke). Same load, same seating depth. I played with load and depth on the interlock and never got them to come in.

Long ago and far away,I had a good friend with the same exact problem with a .375 H&H . People will call me nuts,so I should probably shut up,but we found some bullets that were caught in a snow bank. These were pristine, looked like you caught them at the muzzle. And when we dissected them,we found that it looked like the core had slipped inside the jacket. I know it sounds far fetched, but we couldn't come up with another explanation.

 

[comfisherman]

Whatever I have on me at the time, wife opted for a Smith and wesson 10mm. I'd prefer something more substantial, but her hippie dippie friends traverse this state infinitely more than hunters do with little more than a can of spray and "good vibes" with no appreciable increase in incidence.

My somewhat blunt belief is carry whatever makes you feel confident, Dumbo didn't care what species feather made him fly... Outside of very specific years that occur only rarely, bears mostly mind themselves. If your confident and calm, outside of a heavy drought on a truly dismal salmon year after a few mild winters, they aren't exactly aggressive. But squeak like a scared teenager mid puberty and all of a sudden you tap into its primal pursuit of easy picking food.

So carry whatever makes you feel confident enough to de escalate the other way down the path. Don't think energy/capacity etc of 45/10/44 really matters all that significantly.

Heck, my buddy who spends more time afield than me likes a stubby 9 or 380 because of the noise they make if he needs to add a little spook to a situation... and it's cheaper than scaring them off with 375.

 

[memtb]

I've had no problem carrying around my friend's Howa 375 Ruger with a 20" inch barrel while also having on a chest holster with a Ruger Super Redhawk Alaskan 44.

And…….a day pack or fairly large fanny pack with all the essentials needed for an unexpected emergency or night out? memtb

 

[Arken7mm]

Big Bore (45 cal or greater), heavy for caliber hard cast wide metplat, @ around 1000 to 1100 fps mv! JMO

Bur a serious question……how are you gonna carry all of this gear?

Assuming that you're talking about hunting….unless guided, you are going to be carrying quite a load!

I once tried carrying a large framed handgun, for hunting purposes if a close-up shot presented itself and a rifle. Hunting at elevation, in moderately steep country, while putting on several miles a day…..I decided that it was one or the other! This was when I was relatively young (late 30's) and not that many years from being a sub 3 hr. marathoner.

The weight of gear that one "SHOULD " carry in the field, plus a firearm can add up quickly. memtb

If you are on horseback or travel by vehicle……anything you want to have is on the table!

A Howa with a 20" inch barrel and a Ruger Alaskan revolver in a chest holster is not too much for me at all for the day in the mountains. I've had no problem with the Zastava M77 on a front sling with a Ruger Alaskan in a Kenai chest holster for 3 days camping and hiking in Montana.

 

[memtb]

A Howa with a 20" inch barrel and a Ruger Alaskan revolver in a chest holster is too much for you for the day in the mountains? I've had no problem with the M77 on a front sling with a Ruger Alaskan in a Kenai holster for 3 days camping and hiking in Montana.

Sorry, my hunts used to consist of 14 to 20 days in the mountains…..most anyone, in fair shape, can do do a few days. But, many days in a row can take their toll!

Clearly…….we're not on the same page! I wish you luck in your quest! memtb

 

[marksman1941]

Long ago and far away,I had a good friend with the same exact problem with a .375 H&H . People will call me nuts,so I should probably shut up,but we found some bullets that were caught in a snow bank. These were pristine, looked like you caught them at the muzzle. And when we dissected them,we found that it looked like the core had slipped inside the jacket. I know it sounds far fetched, but we couldn't come up with another explanation.

You know…. The interlocks I tried were old old stock. I bought a box of new but never tried them, considering how poorly the old bullets shot. Maybe I should have tested the new run to see if they functioned better.

 

[Arken7mm]

Sorry, my hunts used to consist of 14 to 20 days in the mountains…..most anyone, in fair shape, can do do a few days. But, many days in a row can take their toll!

Clearly…….we're not on the same page! I wish you luck in your quest! memtb

No problem, a misunderstanding. My hiking and camping is 3 to 4 days in a row max.

 

[memtb]

You know…. The interlocks I tried were old old stock. I bought a box of new but never tried them, considering how poorly the old bullets shot. Maybe I should have tested the new run to see if they functioned better.

Wishing you success with the new stuff. But I, like some others had nothing but great accuracy from the old stuff ……as in late '80's "old"!

In fact, about 15 years ago, I bought 1K blems from the long gone Lock, Stock, & Barrel. When fire-forming for my AI……a large ragged hole @ 100 yards! memtb

 

[Critter Picker]

You know…. The interlocks I tried were old old stock. I bought a box of new but never tried them, considering how poorly the old bullets shot. Maybe I should have tested the new run to see if they functioned better.

I would be interested, if you try them, to know how well they shoot. He switched to Speer and we lost touch with each other.

 

[Doghunter23]

I've seen semi auto shotguns freeze up or get sluggish duck hunting in Texas....I can only imagine how bad it could get in polar bear country. Usually happens from way too much remoil or hoppes dumped in the action and usually it was a Benelli

Very true, I have seen the same thing, only caveat is I have seen every duck gun I have hunted with or around fail to fire or get a jammed shell that won't extract at some point pumps just as often as semiautomatic. Only failure my browning has had was bad ammo-probably got wet. I have even short stroked my ol 870.

 

[DUCKMAN11]

Very true, I have seen the same thing, only caveat is I have seen every duck gun I have hunted with or around fail to fire or get a jammed shell that won't extract at some point pumps just as often as semiautomatic. Only failure my browning has had was bad ammo-probably got wet. I have even short stroked my ol 870.

Anything man made can and will fail.