It may be a great idea to actually shoot and pattern the gun if you use buckshot so you know exactly how large of a pattern you have, if there are two of you.  Is it 1' wide or 10' wide, at 30 yards and at a reasonably close range.  As Calgary chef points out, if it ain't close when you shoot it, you may have to face the wardens.

Good luck whatever you use.
ChuckC

Rifle 7mm or better

If I was in an area where I truly feared bears I would choose a shotgun with slugs or OO over bear spray everytime, I'd even prefer a revolver over the pepper spray. What if the wind is blowing hard into your face? And sometimes it just pisses the bear off. Unless pepper spray was the only legal bear defense I'd carry a firearm.

I guess that I come from a different school. Most of my experience has been with brown bears rather than blacks. My prefered weapon was a short barreled .375 H&H. On the rare occasion I carried a shotgun, the first round was a magnum load of 7 1/2 birdshot. If the bear was close enough for me to feel the need to shoot it, the birdshot did great for a first shot, it was followed by a full magazine of slugs.

I've only had a black bear charge once and had no guns or pepper spray. Luckily he wasn't too insistant on eating me and 1 arrow into him made him turn and run off into the woods.


   If I were carrying a shotgun I'd opt for the slug but that's just my opinion. Some shotgun areas and states don't allow buckshot for deer because of the lack of accuracy and imediate killing power. For that reason I don't trust em.


   If you decide on pepper spray make sure you get good pepper spray. Not all of those are created equal and some are not as strong as others.

QuoteOriginally posted by Ragnarok Forge:



When I hunt and fish Alaska I carry a 12 guage riot gun with a smooth bore.  Never load buckshot into a slug barrel.  It messes up the rifling and screws up the shot pattern.  Loadings are slug - slug - buckshot - buckshot - buckshot.  

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shooting shot out of a rifled barrel will result in a wide circle shaped pattern, not good bear medicine.

Maine black bear, on ground w/longbow, no back up. That was the whole point for me.

Slug guns today pack an amazing amount of kinetic energy and are extremely accurate to boot you can easily hold a 2 inch group at 100 yards with one so 15 feet should be a chip shot deff use slugs I personally wouldn't alternate rounds ie buckshot slug buckshot slug plus in most states your limited on how many rounds your gun can hold while afield my advice would be to train train train and what I mean by that is don't just assume you can pick up that weapon and put rounds on target in rapid succession most people in a shtf scenario lock up and it usually ends bad train your mind practice trigger control and if these bears are this aggressive I would have my back up locked and loaded and on target before I ever took a shot with a bow stay safe out there n remember they make specific rounds for specific animals God bless let us know what you decide

Something to think about. The lead used in buckshot is of a very soft antimony. Low antimony, soft lead, has a bad habit of splattering upon striking a hard surface such as the thick skull of a bear, grizzly in particular. With a black bear this is less of an issue but still present in the big Cannuck bears. The .38 cal 00 buck was designed for thin skinned deer and humans. It also has very little weight thus penetration is limited.

While this is true also for most lead slugs, a slug does have the advantage of mass. Add in a hardened slug or solid and it's your best bet.

If you aren't planning on going out with anyone and I would recommend a 44 Magnum or a 454 Kassul. Those are about the most realistic options you've got for a handgun that won't get in the way like a shotgun will or a huge revolver like a .500 S&W