Heeled bullets for cap and ball revolvers

[Bad Karma]

Not me, even when I was a youngster and really good with a hand gun. I have read too many cases of a guy not getting a shot off even when ready in close quarters. One guy could not even get his pepper spray out of its holster and he had a bit of warning.

You really need to see one in person to get how wickedly fast those can move. I left them alone and they left me alone.

I carried a 41 magnum when fishing and it was mostly to scare a bear away. Mostly the plan was to climb a tree and then only shoot a Grizzly from up in the tree if it would not go away. Plenty of spare ammo carried to fill one full of holes. I figured a couple of rounds fired to see if it would leave first.

My brother and I got a moose at Dusk one year. Wound up skinning it out with our back side to a creek in a swamp. That was one scary night of gutting and skinning. We put all the rounds we have left in my gun as it had a raised scope with iron sights under (just for that purpose). Getting the moose was a tale of bad hunting on our part, but we really had no place to go and we planned on fighting it out. Next morning when we got back to the boat the CB radio had a guy reporting he shot his moose about 1-2 miles away from where we were and a Grizzly took it away from him.

Sans our sucky position, we would have backed out as well but with a Grizzly you never know. I know of a couple of cases where people camping did it all right and a Grizzly came in and tore them up and killed people.

These days pepper spray is the preferred tool of choice.

A friend of mine was attacked by a lion in Colorado. Archery season and he was cow calling and occasionally bugling. He said he had no clue she was there until he was sailing butt over teacups and when he landed her yearling kit hit him from the side while she continued mauling the hood of his hunting coat. He finally recovered his wits enough to start yelling at the cats whereupon they broke off, circled him a time or two and then ran away. He always carried a revolver and was that day too but had no chance to use it. what saved his bacon was the fact that it’d been unseasonably cold and he was wearing his daypack and an insulated coat with a hood.

 

[M. De Land]

I’m wondering if “right mind” truly applies to anyone wanting to shake hands with a brownie in the alders and willows in any case? I understand, and if I were a young man, I’d be interested in that game, sometimes you have to spit in the devils eye, just to see which way he’ll jump…

The trouble with the spray is most folks employ it far to soon and if the wind is wrong it comes back to blind the user rather than the bear. I've read of folks discribing pictures of bears rolling in deployed spray on brush or the ground. The other thing is it takes as long or longer to draw and deploy the spray than it does a heavy revolver with adequate loads.
It is incumbent on the pistolero that they can hit what they're shooting at though! If your a lousy shot then get the spray or carry an ally sweeper with 00 buck shot and slugs !