Lasiter
Well-Known Member
Here are some thoughts on the handgun/shotgun issue:
A handgun, if both powerful enough and not too big/heavy, is a great thing to have on your belt or chest, anytime. And when you are in camp, in your tent and/or sleeping bag, do you want to be handling a long gun if surprised by Mr./Mrs. Bear? At bedtime, I'd have that handgun under my pillow.
If you like the shotgun:
Two long guns? What do you do with your rifle while deploying the shotgun? Sling it, drop it? (Same for deploying your handgun.)
Buck shot first round? If buck shot in the dirt will scare a bear off, a slug will do the same, and what if you don't have the time and that first shot has to be a stopper? Buck won't penetrate enough.
I say start loaded with the slug you like. IF there is time, you can swap in a round of scary buck shot (#4 or?).
Inventors -- here is where we need a special 12ga round. Kimber makes a personal defense device that squirts a pepper spray gel that sticks to the perp. How about a 12ga round that is bear spray gel? You could fire it from 20-30 yards away.
I have experience with three shotgun classes at Gunsite, each a week long. Two were with Mossberg 500s and the other with a Benelli Super 90. The lightest and easiest to handle was my Mossberg 500 with the 18" barrel & 5-round tube. Shot 600+ rounds slug & buck each week. Shoulder was okay, but after a 100 rounds full load/short barrel I got concussion headaches.
A pump shotgun requires enough training that you will not SHORT-STROKE it on a following shot (assuming you carry it, like I would, with a round in the chamber, safety on). If you want to carry empty chamber, you better not short-stroke that first round.
As other have said here, you have to think about what might happen, have a plan to deal with that, and train for it.
Hope you all live to tell your bear stories. I love reading them.
A handgun, if both powerful enough and not too big/heavy, is a great thing to have on your belt or chest, anytime. And when you are in camp, in your tent and/or sleeping bag, do you want to be handling a long gun if surprised by Mr./Mrs. Bear? At bedtime, I'd have that handgun under my pillow.
If you like the shotgun:
Two long guns? What do you do with your rifle while deploying the shotgun? Sling it, drop it? (Same for deploying your handgun.)
Buck shot first round? If buck shot in the dirt will scare a bear off, a slug will do the same, and what if you don't have the time and that first shot has to be a stopper? Buck won't penetrate enough.
I say start loaded with the slug you like. IF there is time, you can swap in a round of scary buck shot (#4 or?).
Inventors -- here is where we need a special 12ga round. Kimber makes a personal defense device that squirts a pepper spray gel that sticks to the perp. How about a 12ga round that is bear spray gel? You could fire it from 20-30 yards away.
I have experience with three shotgun classes at Gunsite, each a week long. Two were with Mossberg 500s and the other with a Benelli Super 90. The lightest and easiest to handle was my Mossberg 500 with the 18" barrel & 5-round tube. Shot 600+ rounds slug & buck each week. Shoulder was okay, but after a 100 rounds full load/short barrel I got concussion headaches.
A pump shotgun requires enough training that you will not SHORT-STROKE it on a following shot (assuming you carry it, like I would, with a round in the chamber, safety on). If you want to carry empty chamber, you better not short-stroke that first round.
As other have said here, you have to think about what might happen, have a plan to deal with that, and train for it.
Hope you all live to tell your bear stories. I love reading them.
