Quote:
Originally Posted by wittic
I laugh at them all the time, actually. they are quite inferior to a 20 ga autoloader, using slugs, for stopping bear charges. 100 lb deer run off with 12 ga slugs thru their chests, and you expect a much weaker, smaller diameter 454 to the chest to stop a much larger animal, that lives by being a predator? :-) "That's funny.
|
Actually,
wittic, laugh all you want! WRONG. I did most of my first Master's degree in Biology on problem bears, mostly
polar, who had been killing and eating off-shore oil workers up in Canada's Mackenzie River Delta. The polar bears, esp. a sub-adult male (i.e.: teen-ager) are a dang-sight more aggressive (hungry?) than a coastal fish-fed grizz. I carried, most of the time, a Rem. Mdl. 870 with Canadian-only sold SSG buckshot, which are a slightly larger buckshot format than 000.
Later, when I worked on the Alaska oil pipeline and also at a large mine sight in NE BC, I carried a Marlin 1895 with handloaded 400 gr solids, @ about 2000 fps, which is sorta ballistically like the Casull you laughed at. But it does have a bit more authority, and more importantly, in Canada, you can't just carry handguns around anyhow... (though in Churchill, MN, I did get a permit from the RCMP to carry that somewhat impotent Mdl 29/44 Mag..)
I eventually did buy a FA .454 Casull, with a 9" Magna-ported bbl. That was because my 4" Mdl 29 in .44 Mag (240gr bullets @ ≈ 1400 fps) did NOT do the trick with three shots, two into the neck of, and one just under the gullet, of an (approx...) 500 lb polar bear male that was after myself and my tech. No time to be arguing relative ballistics, let me tell you!
(Eventually, my bear biology career score was a total of 31 bears; one pb, two grizz and the rest all unhappy and aggressive blacks. All shot because of the gross idiocy of man and his ideas about the "lesser" animals; a decidedly Christian misguided idea! I do not
ever want to shoot another bear; my spiritual soul "owes" them!)
Fortunately for me, that 3 hit .44 Mag barrage
did hurt enough to scare him off, and later, from the safety of a Hughes 500E, I finished him off with one hit from my decidedly more authoritative .340 Weatherby rifle (250 gr @ 3100 fps... Then, when I landed, I shot him one more time:
never shoot a bear only once!)
But...factually, the .454 Casull round has considerably
more penetration than
any 20 ga slug (which is only nominally max bore diam. of 0.615", but the projectile is always smaller when you factor in the thickness of the fully-enclosing plastic patch.
Typical 20 ga slug weight is about (typically) 250 gr max, ahead of ≈ 15,000 psi breech pressure, whereas my Casull propels a 250 - 320 gr slug ahead of
65,000 psi of cylinder pressure! Wow, huh?
.454 Casull velocity is about 1750+ fps for the .454 280 gr bullet, and if it's a Belt Mountain solid bronze projectile, it has a HELL OF A LOT MORE PENETRATION and thus carry-through energy than
any 20 ga slug! BTEW, the Casull chambered in a FA single-action revolver, has taken Cape buffalo, Bison, bull elk, Elephants, lions and so on. It's all in your ability to place the round in the right place, coupled with the huge penetration that the right bullet can achieve!
Just thought you might like to know!
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Are you listening S&W?? Make the calls you need to to make it happen. The clever man thought it was a good idea.
I remember boyhood in the Scouts very well. "Boys...lay down, shut up, don't move!" "If you're really lucky he'll move on." 
The Facts, ma'am; just the Facts!
