ak 47 vs bruin?

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klover

klover

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Those who have followed my threads, have learned I am trying to increase reliabillity by redundancy (of firearms) in adding to my collection.

I am trying not to add too many new calibers, yet achieve multipurpose goals. One of the goals is defense from bruin in hiking AK.

Has anyone heard of using a 30 round clip of 7.62x39 in dealing with bears? It's just a wild thought in departing from the conventional wisdom of a big bore rifle.

My other thought is to use an 8mm semi-auto, but it is way heavy too. I'm trying to carry less weight and yet have some good firepower.:D
 
.30-30 and the 39mmR are pretty close powerwise. .30-30 is used for black bear hunting and I see no reason why the 39mmR with hollowpoints or -very- soft points wouldnt work just aswell. Any lack in accuracy and power made up for with the rapid fire methinks..
 
Black or brown bears? There was an interesting post on here a few months back where a guy asked a question about an AR15 vs. a brown bear. IIRC, a bunch of guys from Alaska said it wouldnt do much to a brown bear. But then again, from all I have read, just a few shots from an AK would completely smoke a black bear. This is all hear-say on my part...very interesting topic though sitting here in my living room in Texas with nothing more to worry about in the woods/bayous than javelinas and nutrias.
 
If it has claws and teeth bigger than mine, you shouldnt be even considering a boarderline case. I'd say Overkill is your best friend. If You've already got an AK then load up on alternating hollowpoint and FMJ. Hollowpoints may not have enough power to penetrate enough muscle and bone, and fat to make a huge difference in anything but the bear's temper. Which is why you're alternating, I'm pretty sure if FMJ 39mmR can punch through a US army kevlar vest it can punch through a bear's ribcage. You may just be stabbing him with a needle but it beats using a -totally- ineffective round.

I like AK's alot, I want to own 10 of the buggers down the way but I'm not sure this is a situation where I'd want an AK in my hands. To be perfectly honest .45-70government, .444 marlin or .50 Alaskan are probably a much better bet, the first two you can have chambered in a Marlin lever action. I will -not- try and sell you to getting a marlin, I just think anything with a good rapidity of fire from a reliable firearm with a big, heavy round should be concidered. I cant speak for the bigguns but I know personally I'd feel more comfortable with a .50 alaskan or a .45-70 strapped to my backpack than an AK. As far as I'm concerned, the AK's legendary reliability is kicked in the face by any lever action I've encountered and a good number of bolt actions. Its bound to be lighter aswell, Besides Lever actions are cooler.
 
Just get a .375 H&H or .338 Win------then you don't need anything smaller------the deer ain't gonna care what he's been shot with.
 
Poachers use AKs to kill African elephants. Unless I missed something, (like the rebirth of the T. Rex) the African elephant is the largest and most dangerous (if they choose to attack) mammal to walk the Earth. Considering that, it should be possible to kill a bear with one. On the other hand, perhaps it would be better to first learn how to avoid an attack rather than stop it.
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Not to give an opinion either way on bear calibers, as I have no personal experience there (I think many tend to reccomend something like a 20mm whenever a person is looking for a bear caliber :rolleyes: ), but I'd just like to point out that elephants, bears, and wooly mammoths have all been hunted by spears, obvioulsy with some degree of success. After all, we're still here :)
 
I just wrote a long post and then screwed it up. Don't have the energy to repeat it. I'll just say I think it's a poor idea to count on anything in 7.62x39 to defeat an attacking brown bear. You might kill it, but it will probably outlive you.
 
12ga w/slugs. AK's on elephants? Typical poacher approach on this and other continents is to shoot the animal once in the gut then wait for it to die from perotinitis. Less damage to fur/ivory/etc that way.
Tomac
 
As much as I like the AK............

It MOST definately is not a rifle I'd chose for large bear!!!
Humans, medium game(to 100 meters)...OK. But for large bear, a 308 or 30-06 is light. Yeah, any of the rounds will kill the critter. But the objective is to stop it before it radically alters your anatomy. That means power!!
The 4 years I spent in Alaska, most of the time I carried a Remy 870 loaded with Brenneke slugs. Never had to use it for defense though. The versatility of the pump 12 gauge with rifle sights in Alaska is hard to beat. Slugs, buckshot, birdshot, signal flares... effective range with the 'trombone' is very short. But as a stricly defensive weapon, you are mainly concerned with 50 yards or less.
If you are living in the Great Land and spend alot of time in the bush, a Marlin Guide Gun is the one to beat. If you plan on hunting alot in Alaska, I'd get a .338 or .375.
I'd have a large bore handgun capable of decent velocities as well, incase the critter came at very close range, was on top off you or happened to catch you when your rifle was not immediately available.
Much has been written about bear attacks. Yes it does happen, but like a Self Defense shooting, you are gonna have ALOT of paperwork after(though, the priority is first surviving the encounter).
I would probably carry OC(pepper spray), cause it is nasty stuff(experience)...not sure I'd want to be packing only that in bear country...but on some federal lands...that is what you can legally have.
Taking an AK for bear defense sounds alot like packing a .380 for self defense against aggressive humans....it might work, but it is very risky.
Jercamp45
 
A Marlin 336 in .35 would be a good ticket for anything short of a Kodiak. For something like that, I'd want an RPG.... but Brownies in the lower 48 a .35 will do it. Black bears are not a problem. A heavy .30-30 load will do it for the bears we have here in Utah.
 
There is a difference between a gun you can use to successfully harvest/kill a bear at various ranges and a gun that will STOP a charging bear before it chews your arm off.

Use enough gun.
 
A rhino was killed with a 9mm Sten on full auto so

I think given some distance (not claw's reach), a full auto AK fired in bursts can kill a bear. However, I wouldn't want to be the fellow to test it. If I was, I'd be in a Bradley with steaks hanging from the armored sides.
 
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