gary reeder
that is a hard one Alcorn. None of those will stop a
Sunday, August 01, 2021, 14:25

pissed off bear with one shot unless you hit him in the brain or spine. And if you wound him, he will have the adrenalin pumping and won't feel that next shot all. You will have to break him down and then kill him. That is what your 416 is for. Break that front shoulder down. If you are lucky the bullet will break the shoulder bone and go on thru and break the off shoulder. Maybe even blowing up both lungs at the same time. But first break him down. Then kill him.

With my Cape Buffalo hunt recently there was nothing between my PH and me and a pissed off Cape Buffalo but a lot of tall grass. At 60 yards John, the PH, talked me into walking up to 25 yards of the buffalo to where I could see the front shoulder. At 60 yards the tall grass covered up the entire front quarter. So there was nothing to do but walk slowly straight toward the buffalo, up to 25 yards.

I was using a borrowed 454 Casull and if you believed all the Cape Buffalo stories that claim they needed 4 or 5 shots with a 458 Win Mag or bigger to put him down, then that 454 began to look awful small. At about 20 yards the buffalo had moved broadside and thru the tall grass I could make out the point of shoulder. Putting that 300 grain JSP into that shoulder pretty much stopped the buffalo. He staggered a few steps and John said 'hit him again," I did a bit higher and that shot blew up both lungs.



Ten seconds after that it was all over. Two shots with a pissant 454 and a 1900 lb Cape Buffalo was down. So like John Taffin always says, it's shot placement that counts.
Forget a heart shot. A big bear has 30 seconds or more after his heart is blown up. And he can cover a lot of ground in 30 seconds. I would go with the caliber that has the most blunt force trauma to break that bear down. Go with the 475 if you are comfortable and accurate with it. If you don't feel quite warm and fuzzy with the 475, send your 44 mag to me and let me run it out to 429 GNR. Power equal to the 454 but less violent recoil. For my cat hunt coming up the 429 GNR will be there with me. Alcorn, just go with the flow. Try not to get hyper and stay as calm as you can with a 1400 lb teddy bear thinking of having you for lunch. Make that first shot with the 416 count. You can do it Alcorn, we have been on a lot of hunts together, so I have no doubts that you will get that bear. Just pick a spot on that bear and put the bullet in that spot.

But go with your gut feeling. That is what will get you thru.