9-Ft. Grizzly vs. Pistol

From the Peninsula Clarion, via the Alaska Dispatch:

A Sterling man killed a 9-foot brown bear with a pistol after the bear attempted to break into his home multiple times in the early morning of July 7.

... After going back to bed, Landess received an early morning wake-up call from the bear. At about 6 a.m. he heard more banging in front of the house as the bear attempted to get inside.
“I couldn’t believe that it came back,” he said.

Landess grabbed his .45 pistol, stepped out onto his upper deck, took aim and fired seven rounds toward the bear’s vitals. He said the bear “got crazy” and ran about 50 feet before it collapsed and died.

Jim Landess and his 17-year-old son Montana Landess awoke at about 3:30 a.m. to the sound of a brown bear knocking on his house on Bunno Road on the east edge of Sterling, Alaska. Ultimately, Landess was forced to kill the bear, July 7, 2014. | Photo courtesy of Jim Landess

Read the whole story here.

At Home, On the Range

J and I met at the Wet Bunny range this morning, and proceeded to expend a goodly amount of ammunition. I'll allow her to describe her own experience and outcome on her blog.

The handgun range, taken from the range office door.

J's weapons du jour: nearly-identical revolvers in .357 and .22.

My Taurus 1911 and S&W J-frame in .38 Spcl +P.

My accuracy, at first, was about like always when I've been away from the range too long: poor-to-gosh-awful. Happily, it was cloudy enough for me to use the Crimson Trace laser to reacquire my point of aim, and then I turned it off. I do not want to become dependent on the red dot.

After a couple dozen rounds, I managed to get almost all the shots into my standard 2 1/2" grouping. That's not fantastic shooting, but I'll take it after not having fired the 1911 in a couple of months.

I tried J's Ruger Blackhawk, and the first shot went 6" high, because I'd forgotten how light the single-action trigger on that thing is. My second shot got the little gnome right between the eyes:

G-nome's a goner!

Also as usual, I neglected to bring along my good camera, so the cell phone is responsible for these photos. Okay, I'm responsible, but used the cell ... oh, never mind.

My last magazine went a bit better, as described above:

Clickable, but that may not make much difference.

You can see - barely, but it's there - a bit better accuracy. I'm still anticipating the recoil, due to lack of practice, but overall accuracy was better by the time my bag o' rounds was used up.

Everything back in the bag. But why does J keep calling me "Owen"?

I still shoot a revolver better than the semi-auto - maybe it's a mental thing, but the wheelguns always feel more natural in my hand for some reason. Having said that, after our usual post-range coffee & snacks, we went to Sportsman's Warehouse where I bought not only ammo to replace what I'd just shot, but a one-piece Hogue Monogrip for the little J-frame. It's long enough to wrap all three non-trigger-pulling fingers around, and extends higher up the backstrap. Older daughter, who'd had trouble with the snubbie in the past, likes the new "feel" much better, and is now willing to give it another go, next time we visit the Wet Bunny.

It was a good outing, and lots of fun. But then, what's not to like?

Today

...while the blossom still clings to the vine ...

Not that one.


This one: Shooting Buddy and I are heading to the Wet Bunny range for some long-overdue practice. Since Buddy's rifle isn't here yet, it will be pistols again. (Wet Bunny has separate ranges for pistol and rifle; not much point in scheduling a joint visit to the range if we'd be 80 yards apart, on different firing lines.)

Calibers not very divergent, but lots of fun: .38 Spcl, .357 Mag, and .45.

Later, dudes.

Choices, of a Sort

The day started out cloudy, grey, and 39 degrees, but without yesterday's strong winds, so not bad. Since then, it has become partly sunny and is warming nicely - it's already 48, and heading into the low 50s (or so AccuHunch opines).

My plans for the day are modest. I've made a run to Sportsman's Warehouse. I was looking for a left-handed holster for the S&W J-frame, and had choices between $12 for an Uncle Mike's IWB nylon job (hold your comments till the end, please), or $50+ for leather OWB concealment holsters from Galco et al. Since I belt-carry the snubbie VERY infrequently, I decided to go cheap ... and yes, I'll probably be sorry down the line.

They didn't have any speed strips for the 442, and would have to special-order those or a round speedloader in the diminutive size, I'll go back to Amazon for the Bianchi strips. I can get a pair for $13.50 including shipping through that venue, so what the hey ...

I looked at ammo (I admit it: I always look at ammo) and found WWB hardball rounds for the .45 at the rate of $48.99 per 100 rds. That's considerably cheaper than the 50-round boxes, also WWB, for $34.something.

I also picked up an extra box of .38 Spcl for the snubbie. Older Daughter will be glad I bought my own, instead of dipping into her supply. While I can foresee a day where she will voluntarily hand the 442 back to me, in exchange for a small or medium-frame semi-auto, it's best that her cache remains undiminished until then.

The sun is shining, and the great outdoors is calling me. Have a great weekend.

Ammo Update

Okay. So ammunition comes into Anchorage, via cargo ship from the States, on Sunday. On Monday, the goods move from the Port of Anchorage to the retailers in town, and is placed on their shelves for sale. Keeping this in mind, I went back to Sportsmans' Warehouse today after work, knowing that they'd have the supplies freshly re-stocked.

They had plenty of most common handgun calibers - but only two boxes of .45ACP, in the lightweight 185gr. FMJ which I decried yesterday.

Oh well, one takes what one can get. I purchased those two boxes and will use them at the range, saving the 230gr. rounds for our walks bear country*.




*That means pretty much any place that's outdoors. Have I mentioned I love Alaska?

Uh-Oh - Not Again

I've been to the range several times since the first of the year, and have only picked up one box of replacement ammo for my 1911 during that time.

A quick visit to Wally World yesterday revealed they only had 6 or 7 boxes of Blazer ammo, at $29.95 per. That seemed a bit steep, so I moved on.

Sportsman's Warehouse was closed for Easter. The counter guy at The Sports Authority told me he not only had no .45 auto, but had sold his last two 1911 handguns the night before.

I was beginning to sense a trend here, but persevered.

After work, and after changing the oil in my wife's car, I gave it a post-oil-change shakedown drive (one always does that, doesn't one?) and zipped back to the Warehouse. Alas, they had only 5 boxes of Winchester white box in .45 ACP - 185 gr FMJ at $29.99. No 230 gr. hardball at all.

So when did the price jump from $22/box to $30?

They did have a few boxes of .357 Magnum, dozens of boxes of .40 S&W, .38 Spcl, .380 auto, 44 mag., and even .40 Sig. But no .45 ACP in the most common weight. Have I missed a memo, or is it just up here that my caliber-of-choice is suddenly non-existent?

When You Care Enough to Send the Very Best

National Park Service Says Man Who Killed Bear Won't Be Charged

Gee, that's big of them. In a copyright AP story:

FAIRBANKS -- The National Parks Service will not pursue charges against a hiker who fatally shot a grizzly bear while hiking in Denali National Park and Preserve two months ago, saying his actions were justified.

The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports the North Pole man told authorities he shot the bear after it charged his girlfriend while the two were hiking up Tattler Creek on May 28.

* * * * *

It's still against the law to actually fire a gun in the part of the park where the bear was shot, but Fister said park officials determined "this was a legitimate defense of life" and decided not to press charges.

Fister said the area where the shooting took place is known to have a lot of bears. She said the couple was hiking when the man heard a noise in the brush. He turned, drawing his .45-caliber, semi-automatic handgun from a holster on his waist moments before a large grizzly bear emerged and charged the woman.

The man fired seven to nine rounds, stopping the bear. The couple then notified park officials.

Read the rest at the link.

5/17/10: Ammo, Taxes, and Weather

Mr. AccuHunch says we'll have fair skies & climb close to 60 degrees today, without the chilly winds that have kept the temps below normal for the last week. I don't think anyone in Anchorage wants him to be wrong.

* * * * *

Look what I found at Sportsman's Warehouse. It's the first .45 ACP I've seen* in Anchorage since Feb. 2009.

* * * * *

I've alluded to my interim career as a commercial property manager, while on sabbatical from the church.

Today I was alerted to yet another tax being considered by our Congress-critters. They propose to double the tax on "carried interest", which is a tax on the profits of a partnership ... such as the group that owns the medical plaza I manage.

Such a tax will inhibit development, as well as revenue generation - because, like any new tax on real estate, it will tend to reduce the number of transactions.

Like most taxes considered by the D.C. crowd, it's a really bad idea.



*That doesn't include the tiny, over-priced palm-sized boxes of "self-defense" ammo at $2/bullet. Pah.

Playing with the Camera

Just mucking about with the close-up feature.

When I saw the enlarged photo, I realized how much lint was on the pistol, so I cleaned & oiled it again.

Oops. Keep a closer eye on that, I must.

The Holy Gospel of John (Moses Browning)

1 In the beginning was the 1911, and the 1911 was THE pistol, and it was good. And behold the Lord said, "Thou shalt not muck with my disciple John's design for it is good and it worketh. For John made the 1911, and lo all of his weapons, from the designs which I, the Lord, gave him upon the mountain."

2 "And shouldst thou muck with it, and hang all manner of foul implements upon it, and profane its internal parts, thou shalt surely have malfunctions, and in the midst of battle thou shalt surely come to harm."

3 And as the ages passed men in their ignorance and arrogance didst forget the word of the Lord and began to profane the 1911. The tribe of the gamesman did place recoil spring guides and extended slide releases upon the 1911 and their metal smiths didst tighten the tolerances and alter parts to their liking, their clearness of mind being clouded by lust.

4 Their artisans did hang all manner of foul implements upon the 1911 and did so alter it that it became impractical to purchase. For lo, the artisans didst charge a great tax upon the purchasers of the 1911 so that the lowly field worker could not afford one. And the profaning of the internal parts didst render it unworkable when the dust of the land fell upon it.

5 And lo, they didst install adjustable sights, which are an abomination unto the Lord. For they doth break and lose their zero when thou dost need true aim. And those who have done so will be slain in great numbers by their enemies in the great battle. And they didst chamber it for cartridges who's calibers starteth with numbers less than the Holy Number 4. And lo the Lord did cause great grief amongst these men when their enemies who were struck in battle with these lesser numbers didst not fall but did continue to cause great harm.

6 And it came to pass that the Lord didst see the abomination wrought by man and didst cause, as he had warned, fearful malfunctions to come upon the abominations and upon the artisans who thought they could do no wrong.

7 Seeing the malfunctions and the confusion of men, the lord of the underworld did see an opportunity to further ensnare man and didst bring forth pistols made of plastic, whose form was such that they looked and felt like a brick, yet the eyes of man being clouded, they were consumed by the plastic pistol and did buy vast quantities of them.

8 And being a deceitful spirit the lord of the underworld did make these plastic pistols unamenable to the artisans of earth and they were unable to muck much with the design, and lo these pistols did appear to function.

9 And the evil one also brought forth pistols in which the trigger didst both cock and fire them and which require a "dingus" to make them appear safe.

10 But man being stupid did not understand these new pistols and didst proceed to shoot themselves with the plastic pistol and with the trigger cocking pistols for lo their manual of arms required great intelligence which man had long since forsaken. Yet man continue to gloat over these new pistols blaming evil forces for the negligent discharges which they themselves had committed.

11 And when man had been totally ensnared with the plastic pistol, the lord of the underworld didst cause a plague of the terrible Ka-Boom to descend upon man and the plastic pistols delivered their retribution upon men. And there was a great wailing and gnashing of teeth in the land.

12 Then seeing that the eyes of man were slowly being opened and that man was truly sorrowful for his sinful deeds, the Lord did send his messengers in the form of artisans who did hear and obey the teachings of the prophet and who didst restore the profaned 1911s to their proper configuration, and lo, to the amazement of men they didst begin to work as the prophet had intended.

13 And the men of the land didst drive out the charlatans and profaners from the land, and there was joy and peace in the land, except for the evil spirits which tried occasionally to prey on the men and women of the land and who were sent to the place of eternal damnation or hell by the followers of John.


Shamelessly 'borrowed' from Theo

Saturday Afternoon - Range Report

I spent a productive hour or so at the range, pushing another 100 rounds through the pistol. It was only 2 degrees above zero, but without any wind, so the conditions in the unheated firing line were tolerable ... at least for awhile. I did notice that very few people were there today.

Another guy & I arrived at opening time, and set up about 20' apart, to aid in communications. This particular range rule is that the first to arrive is the range officer, and being somewhat close just made things easier.

I neglected to take along a new target, so I wound up making more holes in a used one. The other fella finally said, "I can't see what you're hitting, but it's throwing up snow on the backstop in the same place each time."

I couldn't really tell, either; I know that the majority of my shots were within a 6" circle at 40 feet. I did see a couple of flyers hit outside the circle, but not too many. I also noticed that I was grouping many shots in a fairly tight pattern, with each clip, but the patterns tended to move around.

That probably had more to do with my grip than anything else. As I've mentioned, I carried a revolver for years. After the slide or beaver-tail on the 1911 whacked me on the knuckle of my weak-hand thumb, this morning, I changed my grip. I may be a trifle slow, but I'm not that dumb.

After 45 minutes of shooting, my hands suddenly got cold - it had gone up to 3 degrees; I can't understand what happened - so I fired the last 8 rounds in the current box and called it a morning.

Note to self: put some fresh targets in the range bag.

I also discovered that the Remington ammo I used today is WAY cleaner than the CCI Blazer (aluminum casing) rounds that I fired last time. That time, the pistol innards looked like they'd been dunked in muddy water. This time, there was just normal powder residue. Clean-up, once I got home, didn't take nearly as long.

One thing struck me as odd: I've been using the 230-gr. hardball ammo for the range. I've been reading Massad Ayoob's books, though, and he cautions that because of the tendency of those rounds to over-penetrate and/or ricochet, it's not considered particularly defensible in court.

He recommended 185-gr. JHP instead, so I got some. I checked out what the ballistics of each round are reported to be, and then tried an experiment.

I put both the FMJ and JHP rounds in the same magazine, two of one, then two of the other, and so on, just to see how they compared in terms of my perception when firing them.

The part that puzzles me is that I could barely tell the difference. I expected that the lighter rounds would produce a noticeably lighter recoil, but that didn't really happen. It was a very slight difference, but only just. Anyone else have this experience?

That's about it for now. It remains sunny with blue skies, and has rocketed up to 8.4 degrees - just about what AccuHunch predicted.