Alaska Guide Takes out Charging Grissly with a 9mm.

[Fletch]

https://www.americanhunter.org/arti...ishermen-from-raging-grizzly-with-9mm-pistol/

Anybody see this? Pretty impressive that he got good hits under such extreme pressure on an angry fast moving Grizzly. Lot of criticism about his choice of caliber but at the end of the day it's about putting penetrating bullets through vital areas is it not?

What would misses or 1/10th inch bigger holes in non-vital areas from a .454 Casull accomplish? Not like any of them are going to blow an 800 pound Grizzly off it's feet anyhow. It would appear 147 Hardcast 9mm will effectively penetrate to a Grizzly's vitals. Buffalo Bore's website has a picture of the skinned bear showing where 4 of the bullets penetrated and were recovered. Kind of proving more and more to me that advances in modern ammo are marking choice of caliber kind of irrelevant.

 

[fishingjean]

Wow, thankful for guides calm nerves an good shooting, could have been bad for these people !!!

 

[Welldoya]

I can remember reading a story probably 35 years ago in Field and Stream. It was a story praising the Ruger MK .22 pistols. Back then, it was probably the MK1.
Part of the story was about a guy who lived in Alaska who wore his Ruger .22 everywhere he went.
One night he was asleep when he heard a noise out in his meat room. He hung meat in a shed just out from his cabin. He thought somebody was stealing it so he strapped on his Ruger and stepped outside.
Just when he was a few feet from the door of the shed, a charging grizzly came running out. He emptied that Ruger right into his open mouth and it fell at his feet.
So, I guess if you get lucky, just about any caliber will do it.

 

[FrankT]

even though a 22 or 9mm may do the job I would feel more comfortable with a larger caliber when shooting a large animal like a bear. Now humans I feel very comfortable with a 9mm.

 

[flyandscuba]

I'll stick with a 12 ga. And Brenneke slugs for bear protection...

 

[Welldoya]

I'll stick with a 12 ga. And Brenneke slugs for bear protection...

But the Ruger Mk1 is a proven bear killer.

 

[Fletch]

Funny comment I read in some of the discussions about it:

"Imagine the crap that bear is taking in bear heaven from the other bears...Hey 9mm, get me a fish"....lol

 

[Jerry]

I agree with the caliber snobs on this one. I wouldn't take a knife to a gunfight or a .22/9mm to a bear fight.
Not everyone is as skilled as this guy is, or possibly as lucky IMHO.
Sometimes vital shots will only slow him down or make him mad as Hellary is at Bill.
I've dropped many deer in their tracks with one well placed shot, and had to track others for many yards with the same shot placement, same caliber.
You just never know, so err on the side of a big caliber. Just my opinion.
Waiting for SAWMAN to settle this argument. He was the professional guide, not me. Bill?

 

[SAWMAN]

Was guiding two older gentlemen that had a moose tag. Was calling down on the edge of a cedar bog when from out of nowhere came a 920lb,59 inch bull at full speed. I was carrying my Ruger #1 that was chambered origionally in 45-70 but had it reamed to 45-90Express. I side stepped the gentlemen and shot. By then the moose was only about 30yds from us.
The bullet (a 405gr,WFNGC,hardcast at 2150fps) hit the charging moose square on the brisket. He made a hard right and continued thru the swamp to the other side. Things got quiet and I heard him flop. He went about 60yds or so.
When we took a look at him,the bullet had traveled the full lenght of his body and exited out thru the right side ham.
The bullet went thru the right side lung and rib fragments had fragged the heart almost beyond recognition. The bullet traveled thru about 9ft of moose.
When tracking wounded black bear,stuck with a broadhead I used a Rem870 with soft lead slugs then later on Benelli M1 Super 90 with slugs or Tri Ball from Dixie Slugs in S Fla.
No expierance with the bigger bear. ---SAWMAN