What caliber for grizzly?
9mm, apparently. Scroll down.
It growled and started wildly thrashing around, still basically on the feet of my clients. My next shot hit it in the shoulder and it began twisting and biting at the hits and I continued firing as fast as I could see vitals. Five shots later it turned into the brush and I hit it again and it twisted and fell 20 feet from us!
Shot placement and lots of them.
June 20th, 2018 at 6:50 pm
I wouldn’t pretend to know a fraction of what this guy has forgotten, but i’ve always heard that if you have to shoot a grizzly with a 9 mm that you should save one for yourself.
June 20th, 2018 at 7:04 pm
When I was in the Air Force in the mid 70s I knew another Airman who’d been stationed at Galena Alaska. One day he overheard some locals talking about a guy who’d downed a Grizzly with a .30-30. My friend asked those guys why the local had used a .30-30 to down a Grizzly. The reply; “It was what he had when he encountered ‘ol Griz!” I wonder how many shots it took to down that Grizzly.
June 20th, 2018 at 7:11 pm
An old colleague of mine was tasked with surveying salmon spawning streams in AK back in the day. They gave him a Winchester .458 bolt action rifle for protection. His back story on that was, that, you might have just enough time to put the barrel in your mouth and pull the trigger. If you didn’t like prolonged pain before death.
June 20th, 2018 at 8:33 pm
or .22?
https://www.ammoland.com/2017/06/bella-twin-the-22-used-to-take-the-1953-world-record-grizzly-and-more/#axzz5J10qKLfw
June 20th, 2018 at 8:55 pm
Original story is 2 years old but worth retelling for certain.
June 21st, 2018 at 10:27 am
While I’m a believer in the .44 and above (actually the .12 gauge and 45/70 is more like it) it is still comforting I can get some good ammo in my carry 9mm and have it as a backup. Sure don’t want to mess with a bear with only say, my Glock 43, but it could still have some use!
Folks, if you watch ‘Alaskan Troopers’ over the years you will see the troopers called out to find dead Moose or bait stations and such. They NEVER CARRY PEPPER SPRAY. It’s either a 12 gauge with Brenneke ‘Black Magic’ slugs or a .45/70 (as one Trooper used when he checked out a bait station miles in the bush.) Makes you wonder who to listen to, yuppie internet flower children or Troopers that actually deal with these deadly critters year after year.
Oh and about the 30/30. Largest griz killed in Canada was killed charging the resident. He had a 30/30 and shot him dead with one shot (head shot at maybe 2 yards while it was coming at him.)
First.. have a gun! And then shot placement and penetration are the the two major points to remember. Still power has it’s place to shock the critter.
June 21st, 2018 at 3:29 pm
“9×57 is a little uncommon, but I’m sure it’d work, yeah…”
June 21st, 2018 at 4:49 pm
“Makes you wonder who to listen to, yuppie internet flower children”
Why would any intelligent people even pay any attention to those retards, let alone do what they suggest?
June 21st, 2018 at 5:22 pm
30-30; 170 grains at 2000 = 1510 ft lbs.
9mm; 147 grains at 950 = 295 ft lbs.
And let’s look at the puny little “ineffective” 30 Carbine;
110 grains at 2000 = 977 ft lbs.
Its energy exceeds the 9mm pistol by a factor of three+, and modern expanding bullets are now readily available for it (but they’re lighter, so penetration will be limited).
Don’t knock the 30-30. 170 grain bullets are good penetrators, and with the 150 grain loads from a 20 inch barrel, the impact velocity for close shots well exceeds that 2000 fps threshold for developing significant shock damage to tissue.
I’ve observed that some people, even some “hunters”, have no concept, or no real “working concept”, of anatomy, or what I refer to as “the anatomy of killing”. Others have developed an innate sense, or “instinct” for proper shot placement, with a three-dimensional perception of the locations of vital areas. Marksmanship is of course another, entirely different subject.
June 21st, 2018 at 7:43 pm
“Don’t knock the 30-30. 170 grain bullets are good penetrators, and with the 150 grain loads from a 20 inch barrel, the impact velocity for close shots well exceeds that 2000 fps threshold for developing significant shock damage to tissue.”
In my post about the guy in Alaska who downed a Griz with a .30-30, I wasn’t knocking the round. I have a Marlin model 30AS (a variant of the 336) that I use 150 grain core-lokt and it’s a very reliable rifle. That .30-30 Marlin is on loan to my Nephew who wanted a good boondocks rifle. I picked up a Ruger Gunsite Scout in .308 last year and that Ruger is now my truck rifle.