Bad Bear Attitude Adjustment

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Any grizzley or kodiak can survive the .500 if it isn't a perfect skull or heart hit.
I've never been to Alaska and never seen a Kodiak. But there are Grizzlies up here where I live. I've seen many from a distance, and I don't desire to see any up close.
I'm much more worried about the cougars, and that's mostly why I carry the .357.

No matter what you have to shoot it with you had better be able to manage it for more than 1 shot. So with that in mind the .460 is the gun for you.
Like Girodin said before, it seems that you want a new gun more than the post suggests.
I didn't catch where you are going to run into these bears. I can't find "under here" on my map.

UP here in the great american north I carry a .44 like you, but I also have my .357 hot loaded 125 gr. supersonic skull buster ammo. I carry the .44 in a shoulder holster and a belt holster for the .357. My wife carries the 3rd .357 revolver.

My plan is to make one hell of a lot of noise, hope the bear retreats, and I walk away intact.
If not, there will be one very bloody rug on the trail shortly there after. It will be listed in the obituaries as dying from a sudden case of lead poisoning.

I tried a .454 Casull 4" but it was unruly.
I don't plan to impress the bear with my choice of weapons.
I plan to impress it with about 540 grains of lead if I need to.
 
I purposely did not reveal were I was intending to be.
A 600lb. torqued off brown or grizzle bear is just that, be it in Washington state, Alaska or the upper plains of Canada.

I was trying to avoid the...' bears around hear are much more vicious than bears around there', type scenario.

Like a customer, that is a good friend actually, said..."a 250lb. whitetail in Iowa is much easier to kill than a 250lb. whitetail in Pennsylvania"....All parameters the same.

Now, for the good of mankind, I can't figure that one out. lol hehehe

In truth, the 44 is all one would need...but as i said, any excuse to buy anew...well, is a good excuse. And I don't reside in Grizzle or Brown territory yet, so it is the comfort factor.
 
Man, this is getting heavy. For the life of me, I don't think a hot loaded 460 is going to be that much faster on recovery than a 500. BUT, a 500 is ALWAYS going to be cutting a bigger hole starting out. Given SIMILAR weight bullets at SIMILAR velocities, the 500 is going to be cutting a better wound channel. The 460 might punch deeper, but at the level of power we are talking about, that probably is't going to be a problem with either. Both of those cartridges far outclass the .454, and the honorably mentioned .357 & .44, so those cartridges are really reserved for those that do not want to, or cannot, take on the wristbreakers. As I stated before, the .500 can be loaded DOWN to wherever your comfort level will stand it, or to what level you want to compromise when gunning for bear. I have found my load. It is better than a .357 or .44. It WILL fall below a full load from a 460, but the 460 is going to have to pass through a few inches before it becomes .500 or bigger. In the meantime, my .500 is either punching deep, or becoming bigger than .500. When recounting the horrors of victims encountering large bears (grizzly, brown, etc), a deep pentrating, powerful round is about the best hope one has. Both the .460 and .500 are at least equivalent to a .45-70 from a rifle, and that is nothing to scoff at. As a few have stated, shot placement is very important, and brain shots are quickest. I ask again, is a full load 460 gonna be that much faster to recover from (for repeat shots) than a similar 500?
 
Not to make this "another bear thread," but have y'all seen a brown bear moving around in the scrub? They're not like the trained bear that let Anthony Hopkins poke him. They're really fast and have these tunnels they zoom around in like hairy torpedoes. If you're talking serious bear defense you need something you can hit it with VERY FAST and with ACCURACY. That is actually a lot more important than the size or weight of the projectile. There may be some guys who can whip out an X Frame and fire multiple rounds with no ear protection and no flinching in time to get good placement and grounding on a charging bear. I know I'm not one of them. And if you're serious about this you need to practice shooting with great speed and accuracy. You should be at least as fast and accurate with a bear gun--firing bear loads--as you would be with a CCW handgun. It should be a weapon you've fired thousands of rounds out of and are totally familiar with.
 
Cosmo...your totally correct! ;)

Shooting the 500 tomorrow if all things orbital come together!
That is one of my stipulations, to be able to keep a mag full on target as fast as they can be loosed accurately.

If this cannon takes several seconds to re-acquire and fire, then it is of no use for a defensive weapon. We'll see.

You got to admit...it registers 9 on the fun scale just to shoot one.:D
 
Registers a 9?

I haven't fired a .500 yet but it sure is a 10 watching somebody shoot it.
One of the guys where I work has all the big cannons He loves them and has been bought them over a couple years. He has a .454, .460 & the .500.
The .454 is a 3" Alaskan bear gun, and it climbs like a bear cub up a tree being chasied by the sow. I think the .460 is a 6" and is amazing at the power behind it.
The .500 is a 6" barrel is incredible to watch it being fired off. The dust plume when the bullet hits the background is huge. He wouldn't let any of us there shoot it, because he was nearly out of ammo and it costs so much to just pull the trigger. .460 & .500 ammo is impossible to find up here in the Spokane area even still. He said when ammo is a bit more plentiful we can get to the range and fire them all up again.

Uncle Mike, whatever you get, enjoy it to it's fullest and don't worry about the bears in your neighborhood. I'd say you'll have em' covered
 
".460 & .500 ammo is impossible to find up here". Sorry, but it is getting harder and harder to feel sorry for people who disregard reloading and say ammo is hard to get. Come on guys! It may even turn out to be interesting and fun.
 
heres my two favorites both 4 inch 500 linebaughs the stainless one built by john and the blued one by dustin. Handy compact and relitively light. There easy to carry all day in a hip holster and are both very accurate. They would make great protection guns in bear country if you have the money but i still wouldnt feel undergunned with a good 4 inch 29 or a 4 5/8s super blackhawk using a good hard cast 300 grain bullet at about 1100 fps.
 

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I strap a claymore mine to my chest. If I'm going down, he's coming with me
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LMAO! That's right, you bite me Mr.Bear and they wont be able to tell where you start and I stop!

Uncle Mike, whatever you get, enjoy it to it's fullest and don't worry about the bears in your neighborhood. I'd say you'll have em' covered
Click to expand...

Yes Sir...I'll have to agree with you... either, or any for that fact, of the 'big' bores will do the trick, as I was telling a friend of mine... if it comes down to a defensive situation.... I think anything I have access to will be of great comfort.

....we'll just save the last shot for us!

The 500 shoot didn't pan out this past weekend, so..... waiting, waiting....
 
Carry a couple spare salmon, and throw the bears the salmon...Carry a big can of bear spray.
As for both your calibers: they are SAAMI speced WAY too high.

Buy a .500 S&W, and shoot .500 JRH ammo out of it. A shortened .500 S&W, the 440's at 950 fps will go side to side on most bears,
and, the 430's at 1350 fps will go pretty much end to end. First round recoils like a medium .44 magnum, second like a easy .475 Linebaugh,
but, it's in a gun a pound or two heavier then most, so it comes out like a .44 magnum.
 
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