This article discusses rifles to protect you from dangerous game including the great bears or the big cats of Africa. In places like Alaska, the bears grow to very large sizes. While normally avoiding confrontation with humans, they will attack if they feel provoked. People in Alaska hike and fish in bear country all the time and see many bears on any given day without incident. However, on that rare day when something goes all wrong, you will want to have a powerful weapon to end the attack quickly. These words also apply to places in the lower 48 where the brown bears live as well as other parts of the world with similar habitat. We will only briefly touch upon the large cats of Africa as very few people will ever be in a position of just walking around the African plains by themselves.
Other dangerous game, while not large, include wolves and the smaller cats such as mountain lions as well as smaller black bears. While a rifle is the most potent stopper in the event of an attack by a dangerous predator it is also a large and heavy solution to carry around on a day of hiking or fishing. One must decide what level of protection is adequate for their situation. Our corresponding article on handguns for dangerous game completes this equation and will help you consider your options. The other option, besides a rifle or handgun, is the short barreled shotgun with slugs.
When a rifle is used for this purpose, it must pack a large punch in a small package. While a .458 Lott in a 26 inch bolt action rifle will stop any animal on earth it will also be likely to stop the average hiker and fisherman -- with its bulk and weight after carrying it for a short period of time. To be practical, a 7 pound rifle with an 18 inch barrel would be ideal. Since these are purely self defense weapons to be used at close range, rifle scopes are not needed thereby further reducing weight and bulk.
Now that we have established our ideal sized rifle, let us see what is possible in this size. Any rifle one chooses needs to have enough power to stop a charging animal. How much power this is depends on where you will be and what animals you are protecting yourself from. Clearly a fisherman in a remote Alaskan stream with giant brown bears in the area has different power needs than someone in Colorado.
Bolt action rifles, while being superb for hunting and having amazing accuracy, are not the best choice for these situations. Knock down power for large animals is related to bullet size. Most bolt action rifles that fit our size requirements are offered in typical deer hunting calibers. While great for deer hunting and certainly better than nothing against a charging bear, they are not ideal. In addition, while you can get bolt action rifles with short barrels and iron sights, most offerings have long barrels and are designed for scope use.  The classic cowboy lever-action rifles actually work very well for these situations. They are offered in several calibers that can cover all situations. For off-the-shelf guns, Marlin offers several choices. Good calibers include the cowboy era .45-70 and its modern replacement the .450 Marlin, the 450 Alaskan as well as the slightly less powerful .444 Marlin. With state of the art 350-500 grain bullets in modern guns, these cartridges offer a huge amount of power in a small package. Garrett Cartridges even offers a 500 grain tungsten core solid loading for the .45.70 and Buffalo Bore offers their own 500 grain solid load. This load approaches the power level of the African dangerous game rifles of the past. Even the .444 Marlin when loaded with a 335 grain hard cast bullet from makers like Buffalo Bore and Corbon can be an effective stopper.
The Browning BLR is another lever action option that is chambered in .450 Marlin and weighs in at 7 pounds. Warning: Many factory loadings for the .45-70 are low power loads designed for turn of the century guns and work well on deer sized animals. If you are going to use a .45-70 for protection against large animals be sure to purchase full power ammunition as described above and use it in modern guns like recent production Marlins. The .444 Marlin is also often factory loaded with light weight pistol bullets designed for deer sized game. If using the .444 Marlin for dangerous game, be sure to purchase high powered specialty ammunition as described with heavy bullets.
While all of these rifles are fairly light and pack a huge load for their size there remains one problem. For example the Marlin 1895GS in .45-70 weighs in at 7 pounds. The recoil of a 500 grain bullet traveling at about 1500 fps or a 430 grain lead bullet at 1900 fps out of a 7 pound rifle is something quite substantial. Many people will not be able to shoot such a weapon effectively even at the range much less under the stress of a life or death situation. That’s not to say that it is impossible to shoot such a potent weapon. However, it takes a mind set that does not fear the recoil of the gun and it takes practice. The .444 Marlin has slightly less recoil in its heaving loading as compared to the other three .45 caliber cartridges under discussion. This may be a viable option for those who need a compromise weapon between recoil and controllability. If you can shoot the gun at the range you can shoot it in the field. However, if you flinch and can’t hit anything at the range the first thing that comes to mind as the bear is charging you is that you can’t hit anything with this gun and that is not a good position to be in with mere seconds to react.
If we add another pound to our maximum rifle weight, there is a new bolt action offering that is very effective. The .375 Ruger was recently introduced in a compact package. The rifles are available with 20 inch barrels and shoot a new cartridge designed by Hornady. This cartridge is essentially the modern day equivalent of the classic .375 Holland and Holland - a cartridge with a reputation of taking the most dangerous game on earth. While a heavier and longer option, this rifle and others like it will protect you from any game animal. Being the ballistic equivalent of the .375 H&H it is also all one needs to stop any of the great cats. The energy available from this cartridge is much higher than the lever action guns listed above. It still will take a lot of practice and determination to learn to shoot it well. However, being heavier, longer and more bulky than the lever guns above it probably isn’t the first choice.
If you are worried about the largest bears or big cats, these rifles in the right hands will quickly terminate the situation. If you are like most people looking at something to protect you in the lower 48 or other parts of the world where very large game is not present, then you have more options. However, the .45-70 and .444 Marlin lever guns listed above with less than maximum loads will also work well for this application. The traditional factory loads for these calibers are easy shooting yet are still powerful enough to stop smaller predators. The advantage of using one of these offerings is that with a simple change of ammunition you can upgrade your power level without having to buy a second gun. However, at seven pounds they still are a lot to carry around with you all day long. In places where you can carry a handgun it might make more sense to strap on a .44 Magnum or similar weapon and not have to deal with the logistics of carrying a rifle or shotgun with you on your fishing or hiking trip.
In summary, if you live in bear country one of these powerful yet small rifles could save your life. Just remember, while the weapon is capable of doing its job, without practice at the range, the odds are that you won’t be able to handle it under a stressful situation. |
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