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Old 06-28-2015, 04:33 PM   #33
Marin
Scraping Paint
 
City: -
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 13,745
Regarding stopping a charging bear penetration is exactly what you don't want. Because a shot that would kill a bear if it was just walking around likely won't phase it at all if it's charging and all hopped up on adrenalin. It will die eventually but a dying bear on top of you will still take you apart before it expires.

If one has to stop a charging bear what is needed is tremendous shock energy that will physically overcome the bear's inertia. A rifle bullet will not do this because it's simply too small. A 12-gauge slug at very close range will. The only thing that would be better is a 10-gauge but they don't make those much or at all and so far as I know they don't make extremely powerful slug ammunition for them.

Unfortunately I've had to stop a charging brown and the advice we were given by the Fish & Game folks we talked to way back when was right on the money. The 12-gauge physically stopped the bear before it got to us and disabled it to the point where it could not move toward us anymore even though it was still trying.

After these experiences I would never rely on a rifle of any caliber to stop a charging bear. These encounters are always at very close range because there is always the hope that the bear will stop the charge and leave.

This is not hunting, this is purely protection. Our number one objective is to give both the bear and us every chance to survive. They are magnificent animals and we have zero desire to deprive one of its life. We do not believe in hunting bears. We had a brown break off a charge and dash off a split second before I was going to pull the trigger. So if an encounter does come down to a bear-or-us situation it is always at extremely close range because we wait to the very last possible second. At that point the requirement becomes simply to physically stop the bear. In this situation, a rifle is all but worthless, to say nothing of a handgun.

I suspect this is a situation the original poster will not have to worry about too much cruising the east coast.

PS-- Another tip from the Fish & Game folks: the best bear protection is not a firearm of any kind. It's the cheap, handheld compressed gas boat horns you can buy at places like West Marine. We carry and use these all the time when we're in bear country.
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