Alaska Bear Defense Pistol Help

[HelmCrusher]

I just want to thank everyone for taking your time to give me your advice and stories to help me decide on what to use to protect my self and my family on what I hope to be an awesome vacation.

After listening to everyone's advice and talking to the AK game officer, I decided to bring the 12 gauge and get a .44mag. Did some research and decided I'd get a 6.5" Smith & Wesson 629 and called my local gun shop first and he had a used one. Turns out it was his buddy's who used it for competition shooting. Custom trigger and hammer, S&W Performance Center trigger job, smooth cylinder, ported up top at the 6" mark, plus 150 rounds of ammo. Beyond awesome gun, and I got it for $800. Couldn't be happier or luckier ( probably should have bought a lottery ticket after that).

Thanks again

[Still Hunter]

make sure you take a grinder or a file and then smooth that front site down all the way flush on that pistol so that its nice and smooth,... that way when that grizzly takes that pistol away from you and shoves it up your rear end it won't hurt as bad!!

[Mike D]

make sure you take a grinder or a file and then smooth that front site down all the way flush on that pistol so that its nice and smooth,... that way when that grizzly takes that pistol away from you and shoves it up your rear end it won't hurt as bad!!

So you are saying you have experience with this?


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[forest-hunter]

44 mag.

[Still Hunter]

So you are saying you have experience with this?


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Texas hunting buddy was Moose Hunting up in Kenai area in the early 80's, he has family up there, and they stopped in a local hideaway bar in the middle of nowhere. He was showing off his Rugger 44 mag and my comment above was the response he got from the locals at the bar. I found the comment pretty humorous and have never forgot it... I have another friend that actually lives in North Pole Alaska and he takes a 12 gauge on a sling with buck shot & slugs as a constant companion when in the bush.

[Txfire409]

Txfire I really appreciate the offer. Not many people in the country would do that for a stranger and your only a few miles away. If you want we can go the range and shoot the bows and guns. I've never shot a Glock and I'd love to shoot a 10mm. Unfortunately I would have to decline your offer to borrow it as I already bought my bear pistol before I saw your post.

Youre welcome. Believe me when I say that tbh is the only site I would offer to do that on. There are some really great people on here.

[Mike D]

Texas hunting buddy was Moose Hunting up in Kenai area in the early 80's, he has family up there, and they stopped in a local hideaway bar in the middle of nowhere. He was showing off his Rugger 44 mag and my comment above was the response he got from the locals at the bar. I found the comment pretty humorous and have never forgot it... I have another friend that actually lives in North Pole Alaska and he takes a 12 gauge on a sling with buck shot & slugs as a constant companion when in the bush.

I knew you meant it as humor but some may not.

If I’m ever in bear country I’ll carry bear spray but you can bet I will still have the largest handgun I can comfortably control as well.


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[Still Hunter]

Statistically the bear spray is a far more effective repellent.

[TacticalCowboy]

I just want to thank everyone for taking your time to give me your advice and stories to help me decide on what to use to protect my self and my family on what I hope to be an awesome vacation.

After listening to everyone's advice and talking to the AK game officer, I decided to bring the 12 gauge and get a .44mag. Did some research and decided I'd get a 6.5" Smith & Wesson 629 and called my local gun shop first and he had a used one. Turns out it was his buddy's who used it for competition shooting. Custom trigger and hammer, S&W Performance Center trigger job, smooth cylinder, ported up top at the 6" mark, plus 150 rounds of ammo. Beyond awesome gun, and I got it for $800. Couldn't be happier or luckier ( probably should have bought a lottery ticket after that).

Thanks again

Awesome revolver!!

[Phillip Fields]

Statistically the bear spray is a far more effective repellent.

Those statistics are from a study done by Dr. Smith, I would take them with a grain of salt. This quote is from an article comparing the effectiveness of spray vs firearms
"In Tom Smith’s bear-spray research, just 10 of 72 bear-spray incidents involved charging bears. Most incidents involved curious or non-aggressive bears. In contrast, his gun study examined bear attacks only. Comparing the two studies is like comparing the injury rate for people picking up apples to the injury rate for people picking up live hand grenades."

This quote was taken directly from Dr. Smith's paper.
"In 62% (31 of 50) of brown bear incidents bears were either acting curious or searching for food or garbage before being sprayed. Of these bears, 13% (4 of 31) were acting aggressively with respect to obtaining food; 87% (27 of 31) were not acting aggressively. In 77% of incidents (24 of 31), one bear was involved, but in the remaining incidents females with cubs made up 10% (3 of 31), large males 7% (2 of 31), and a pair of siblings 7% (2 of 31) of bears involved. In 100% (29 of 29; G1¼32.8, P , 0.001) of these incidents, use of bear spray stopped the undesirable behavior of the bears involved. In 17% of incidents (5 of 29; G1 ¼ 13.5, P¼0.001), the bear returned after being sprayed. In 68% (13 of 19) of black bear incidents, bears were either acting curious or were searching for food or garbage. Of these bears, none acted aggressively toward people while in pursuit of human foods"

[wdtorque]

Practice with your new pistol and have fun. I don’t shoot a pump shotgun worth a toot so I’ll be the old guy in the tour bus [emoji590]


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[Tom]

you most likely will never need a gun but good to have none the less. I run a glock 40 with some hard cast lead hot bullets that are close to a 41 mag as far as ballistics. What I like about it as I can unload quickly and accurately. The brown bears in Alaska never made me nervous as they are generally well fed!

have fun on your adventure.

[gatorgrizz27]

I just want to thank everyone for taking your time to give me your advice and stories to help me decide on what to use to protect my self and my family on what I hope to be an awesome vacation.

After listening to everyone's advice and talking to the AK game officer, I decided to bring the 12 gauge and get a .44mag. Did some research and decided I'd get a 6.5" Smith & Wesson 629 and called my local gun shop first and he had a used one. Turns out it was his buddy's who used it for competition shooting. Custom trigger and hammer, S&W Performance Center trigger job, smooth cylinder, ported up top at the 6" mark, plus 150 rounds of ammo. Beyond awesome gun, and I got it for $800. Couldn't be happier or luckier ( probably should have bought a lottery ticket after that).

Thanks again

They are awesome guns. My dad gave me his 6.5” ported 629 last year and the thing is super easy to shoot accurately, the trigger in single action mode is truly a “hair trigger” that shames all of my 2 lb bolt guns, and with the weight and porting even full power loads aren’t bad.

It is still a pistol cartridge, but a .44 carries over 3x the energy of a 9mm.

[Bill]

Bear spray doesn’t work if the wind in swirling and in your face.

My son lives, hunts, hikes and shed hunts in griz country. Statistics go out the windiw when your mechanic had to shoot a sow in self defense and there’s at least 2 mauling victims gone to the liocal hospital in the past few years.

He always carries a Redhawk 454 Casul with Buffalo Bore loads in a chest holster. It’s not a plinking gun, for sure.


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[Stevotary]

What ever pistol you pick it is best to take off the front sight.



That way it won't hurt as bad when the bear shove that pistol up your ***.