Back on topic --

When I was stationed in Alaska, we had Kodiak bears on the island. Alaska Fish, Fur, and Feather gave us a lecture one day about protecting ourselves from them if we were out in the wild.

As I remember, the bear's head is sloped and bullets tend to deflect off of the skull rather than penetrate. The only truly effective method of shooting a Kodiak bear in the head is through the mouth/nose and back into the brain.

Shooting a bear in the chest (heart) can be effective, but in the time it takes for the bear to realize it's fatally wounded, it can still maim you if it's close enough.

We had Springfield 30.06 rifles that we'd cary when we went out hiking, and someone asked the FF&F guy if he thought that would stop a bear, and I remember his reply to this day, which was "If five bullets from that don't stop him, put the 6th one into yourself!" -- and he wasn't smiling when he said it.

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"Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana." - Groucho Marx

In alaska bears tend to leave humans alone as long as they dont try to rape their baby bears. Mother bears dont like that. Not too long ago the bear ate a photographer. He just didnt respect the bears "space".

I agree that when the bear is pissed off at you, hell kill you despite how many bullets you let go.

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America once stood tall, but now americans prefer grid-lock to good government.

The "great communicator" entered the Oval Office wanting to reduce government spending and left Washington as a deficit spending Liberal, thank-you "Ronnie"

Most of the rounds that are effective against bears are going to come from revolvers.
None of them are going to be pleasant to shoot, and you want to have a lot of practice before you trust your life to one. Especially when it's a big, honkin' round coming out of a featherweight backpacker's gun.
The ammunition is not cheap, so that practice will cost ya.

Semiautos: 10MM, .50AE.
Revolvers: .44 Mag, .454 Casull, .500 S&W

Have you considered a cruiser 12G pump action? They're pretty darn compact. A couple slugs will ruin a bear's whole day.

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"Our liberties we prize and our rights we will maintain"- Iowa state motto
-Squidward
Ventura/ Paul '12

-Retro Fit

I've got access to a Rem 870.

And the unit you've pictured is a cute gun, sometimes recommended for home defense.

It's just too much to lug around for a 0.0x% chance of a rabid bear attack.

It seems Alaska's FF&F has the right idea. I should carry a box-cutter.

If a bear attacks, I can just slit my own throat with it; problem solved.

I probably wouldn't carry a revolver.
I suspect the more likely attack here is either from a wild cat, or pack canids.

It doesn't happen often. But every once in a while I hear a pack of them, often at night. Sometimes far away, but sometimes fairly close.
Their tracks in the snow are unmistakable. Their highway goes right past my house.
Repelling a canid pack attack with a 6 shooter is a little more excitement than I care for.
Having 13 or more rounds in the handle would impart greater peace of mind.

My original point was, if "packin'" for that, why not go dual purpose, with a cart. that could handle both canids, and bear.

I've heard New York State imposes a 10 round limit on firearm capacity.
BUMMER!!

None the less, I suppose ten rounds of 10mm in a small frame, well built auto-loader could mean the difference from living and dying, in certain scenarios.

If any would like to recommend a nice compact, reliable 10mm handgun, I welcome suggestions.
I like the M1911-A1 style handguns best.
I don't want a gun without an exposed hammer. I won't carry a DAO autoloader. I don't need gadgets (safety* levers, etc) on the slide.

But a nice tidy handgun with an uncluttered slide would be an excellent candidate.

* What a jack-assinine misnomer!
Many devices declared a gun "safety" simply make the gun more dangerous.
The most important safety on any firearm is a well trained, fully qualified gun handler.
Keep your stick on the ice!

I just watched "Public Enemies" with Johnny Depp this afternoon - I really think you should get one of these --



Who cares if it's as accurate as a zip gun? The noise and the flash from the barrel will scare off every animal within a 25 sq. mile area!

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"Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana." - Groucho Marx

If you want to see a bear visit a zoo. Bring along your water gun.

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America once stood tall, but now americans prefer grid-lock to good government.

The "great communicator" entered the Oval Office wanting to reduce government spending and left Washington as a deficit spending Liberal, thank-you "Ronnie"

Based on your criteria, I'd say the Glock 20 is ideal for you.

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"Our liberties we prize and our rights we will maintain"- Iowa state motto
-Squidward
Ventura/ Paul '12

-Retro Fit

Sadistic Savior's talking a lot of sense when he advocates the bearspray. There's a thread covering a lot of this already

Coyotes kill Toronto singer in Cape Breton

The spray works with surprising reliability. Consider the use of any handgun on a bear and it doesn't leave you with a very warm feeling. A bear moving at a good clip is going to cover 25 yrds in about two seconds. That's not a lot of time to draw, aim, and hit with any kind of accuracy, esp with a big bore handgun. Consider you'll probably need to hit more than once, and the odds of getting back to your car/house under your own steam are dwindling fast. Some individuals (CDP) can pull it off, most would be toast. I do a lot of backpacking in the Adirondacks, the combination I carry most is a .38 snubby airweight, the first two chambers loaded with snakeshot for use mostly as a noisemaker (the remaining three chambers loaded with JHPs for two legged critters), and a can of bearspray in case they decide to keep coming, or if I run into aggressive coyotes. These days I mostly just carry the spray cause as I get older I'm always trying to cut weight off my load.

Another thing to consider, lots of bears and coyote are plenty active at night. Unless you're planning on putting a tactical light on your handgun you'll have to use one hand to hold the light, leaving you only one hand to control a hard-kicking handgun while half asleep.

The spray is a better choice overall IMHO.

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Boy...If you're gonna ride dirty in O-town, you'd better have a bell on your bike.

The Adirondack "Park" is technically a forest preserve, not a State park. It's perfectly legal to carry concealed and to transport firearms into and out of the park border just as if it were any other town/county line.

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Boy...If you're gonna ride dirty in O-town, you'd better have a bell on your bike.

I gather several Feds. groups use Sig Arms; the FBI, and SEALS perhaps.
If Sig is good enough for them, I suppose it's good enough for me.

SC,
I admit it, the Tommy Gun is cute. I don't think it'll fit in a holster though.
Any idea how many rounds one of those drum mags holds? 50 or so, I'm guessing?
Thanks.
Yes, I know.
I was curious about the broader (interState) picture.
Inside New York State, I've pretty well got it figured out.