I've seen rangers in Yosemite driving a bear off with a paintball gun.

I think it really depends on the type of bear and its objective.

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Originally posted by 4MUL8R:

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Originally posted by tatortodd:

When I lived in Alaska, I modified the Navy Seal motto to "never shoot a large caliber bear with a small caliber bullet." I originally carried a .44 mag and upgraded to .454 Casull carried in chest holster. I picked it as right before I moved there a brown bear on Kenai Peninsula (i.e. coastal bear which tend to be larger due to the access to salmon) charged a guy walking his dog and he dropped it in his tracks with a .454 Casull from a Ruger Super Redhawk Alaskan (i.e. the 2.5" snubbie version for clearing holster quickly). The .454 Casull was on a 7 month back order and .44 mag was available on the spot so I bought the Ruger snubbie in .44 mag and when the .454 Casull arrived I sold the .44 mag.

I love the Alaskan. I have owned .480 Ruger and .454 Casull variants. The .480 Ruger was returned to Ruger under warranty. They finally communicated that it had to be completely replaced, and a .480 Ruger would not be made for months, if ever. So, I chose the .454 Casull.

I miss that revolver. I still have the leather for it. I always felt safer with DA than SA.

As I recall, the .454 Casull cylinder is in a special Carpenter Steel stainless, to handle the pressures. I had a custom ammo maker create heavy for caliber .45 Colt loads with .454 Casull brass, just subsonic, and IIRC 300 grains or so. I didn't want the in-cylinder smoke ring of a .45 Colt case length in a .454 Casull cylinder bore.

What a fantastic solution to avoid the ring.

I’ve done quite a few trips around the sun and have read lots of stories with a similar theme. “Anything works on a bear”, ”.22lr is fine for self defense”, “just a display without even firing will dissuade most attackers”, etc.

These articles will note that “The odds are always in your favor if you have something, and it really doesn’t matter what” then there is usually some qualifier about precise shot placement, means to evade/escape, animal being more scared of you than you of it, criminal looking for an easy mark, or some other “luck” that turns things to your advantage.

As SpinZone noted though, ”That 2% is a bitch…”.


At the point I am in fear of my life from a 2 or 4 legged beast, I really don’t feel comfortable with a “in the right circumstances” solution. Clearly, at that point, I am unquestionably experiencing the wrong circumstances and I’d prefer to have every advantage available. Sufficiently large bore, heavy or fast bullet, lots of rounds, and effective from a comfortable stand off distance.

I’ve had my fill of adrenaline rushes, I’m ok finishing out the time I have left without any more.