YES! According to AmmoLand News: Bella Twin, the .22 Used to Take the 1953 World Record Grizzly.

Would you use a .22 on a Grizzly?

I don't trust the ignition reliability of the 22LR. I'd much rather use a 9mm for big bears.

American Hunter | Alaska Outfitter Defends Fishermen from Raging Grizzly with 9mm Pistol

Only if the bear chokes on it during dessert...

Only if the alternative was a pointed stick and harsh words.

It's a well known fact, which I've stated before, that it ain't sport in taking a grizz until you can smell its breath. Basically, that's what the lady did.

No thanks

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk

A .22 L.R. has killed pretty much any animal you can think of at one time or another. It not the best choice or recommended but when that's all you have and you have no other choice you use what you have and hope for the best.

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Sceva
OGCA SWCA NRA

Was the .22 LR +P, or CTG? Maybe OMG?

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Recycled Bricklayer

It was not a long rifle. It was a long. Well, if my memory is working (I didn't go to the link) it was actually nine longs. Single shot rifle, nine shells.

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I always take precautions

Your choice but you better "Run Forest Run".

Hiked the Avalanche Trail, in Glacier couple years ago and saw on the Park site the today that the trail is closed due to >>>> BEAR<<<<. Don't think I would push my luck.

Yes, but it would be to shoot my hiking partner in the leg.

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Isaiah 41:10

Yes, a 22 can kill a Griz as a last resort. If the bear has swallowed you AND the gun, shoot him in the heart as you pass on your way to the stomach. It's an easy shot.

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Bob.
SWCA 1821

Something I hope to never experience; killing a griz with a .22 long.

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Mike
S&WCA #3065

the back story....the bear gave himself a heart attack....laughing so hard

I was thinking the same thing except as he swallows, shoot up into the brain from the inside.

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μολὼν λαβέ

Yeah yeah, shoot your buddy in the knee cap so the bear "stops"... to eat your buddy. Heard this one before.

Well this sort of hits the killing vs stopping power debate.

It might kill the grizz but doubt it would stop the grizz from doing anything it wanted to do for along time. So in that case the little .22 would be a double killer, the bear and the previous owner of said 22 weapon.

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14 S&W Revs none with locks!

Why use ANY weapon when it's just not necessary ??????????

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Hipcocked & Locked

Just played "Dancing Queen" on his IPOD...works every time.

If I shot a bear with a .22 I'd expect to the bear to say to me, in bear language, "you shouldn't have done that ..."

Bears are really polite animals (as shown in this vid) and once they understand you don't have time for an exchange they politely leave the area when asked..so you really don't need to shoot them.......

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Hipcocked & Locked

I remember reading a story about a .22 rifle being used to kill an elephant in Africa. I think an eye shot that went into the elephant's brain. For sure, the .308 has been used to kill many elephants, normally multiple shots are required.

It was mentioned that Bella shot the bear 9 times to kill the largest grizzly ever taken and this is not the case. She killed it with the first shot from her 22 single shot rifle using 29 grain long ammunition. She shot the remainder of her cartridges to make sure he was dead. I have heard that and elephant was killed with a 22 as well but I doubt the eye shot. The eyes are not fatal shots and the pathway to the brain is directly behind the eye so the elephant would have to be eye to eye with the shooter. I heard it was killed with a shot directly behind the shoulder as the elephant had its front leg stretched forward. The skin is very thin there and if no rib is hit a clear path to an artery is open. But I do not know for sure which shot killed the jumbo or if it is all legend. As to the 308 Win killing a jumbo, many have been killed with a single cartridge. Bullet placement and construction are the necessary requirements. Never underestimate any projectile being launched at you. I know of 1 bull elk, 1 cow elk, and one mule deer that each was dropped with a single 22 lr cartridge fired from a Colt Woodsman. Some was say this is unethical but it is hard to argue that point when at the sound of the shots all were dead before they hit the ground. An old African saying goes, "Hunting has twin brothers. One brother is shot placement and the other brother is penetration".

"Where's my pic-a-nic basket?"

I have understood that Canadian Indians use .22 LR on Moose - doesn't spoil any meat. My father killed (poached) deer back in the Depression era using a single shot .22 rifle. Of course, his success was mainly due to his ability to get close. Poachers always favored the .22 for deer - not much noise, big enough with proper bullet placement.

African elephants have been sucessfully taken by archers with one arrow. And the Maasai hunted lion with a long sharp stick. No animal is a Terminator that's invulnerable, and that includes bears. Of course there are paths to a bear's vitals that a well-placed .22 can penetrate.

But would I like the odds? Or chance them voluntarily? Hell no.

I remember reading some yarn or another about an elk killed with a .22 revolver at 600 yards. Oh, wait a minute...

When I was a youngster we lived on a remote Colorado ranch 40 miles from the small town of Meeker. There were 3 families living on this ranch and was dads job required him to drive the backroads daily. He shot 17 mule deer that one winter to feed the 3 families and killed all 17 using a K-22. He said he does not recall having to shoot any more than 1 time.

Some guy killed a black bear with a pellet rifle on the southern Oregon coast a couple of years back, the bear was rooting through his garbage and he was just trying to scare it off, and it worked except it didn't get far and he ended up charged with animal cruelty...

I'm thinking the degree of difficulty is high... getting the earbuds into place on the bear's gotta be dicey.

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50 Years of Wish You Were Here

Nothing makes me happier than a bear thread

If it was the only thing I had, maybe. The main take-away from this story is Ms. Twin's steely nerves and unerring accuracy with her life and the life of her companion riding on The One Shot. That and the fact that they were small game hunting, and ended up with a metric ton of bear meat. How the heck'd they even pack it out of there?

Whenever the "But it will kill" thing comes up, usually when people are defending carrying mouseguns for self defense, I remember the words of the good Colonel, in response to the statement that the 9mm had killed more men than the .45: "So has overeating, but it's not to be counted on in a fight."

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TEAM DNF

Works better than Sominex, Ambien, or listening to old Perry Como albums.

Give me a 22 or a switch......all the same to me.


I've done worse.......... LOL




.

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"IN GOD WE TRUST"

Yes, it can....

Will it............?

That story of a grizzly being taken down in 1953... I think that was the same year as the Kingman, AZ UFO crash. Maybe it was shot down with a .22?

I remember butchering one of the largest mule deer I had ever taken. As we were cutting it up, we found a .22 bullet lodged in one its vertebrae. The bone had grown around it. It must have been shot when it was fairly young.

Yes: EVERY danged time we have a bear vs. handgun thread!

I wish I had a dollar for every time someone posts that on a gun board. Taylor Swift would still out-earn me at a stated $380 million, but I'd sure be a lot better off than I am now. And I wouldn't even have to sing for my money...

In later life, W.D.M. Bell actually suggested the .308 for elephant. He liked that the action could be shorter than for his legendary .275 (7X57mm) Rigby. He was quite serious.

Considering that he'd killed well over 1,000 elephants, he was entitled to his opinion.

Yes, but Bell hunted elephant as a business and to make a living, not for sport or in self-defense. He conducted extensive studies of the anatomy of dead specimen to figure out exactly where to shoot, and for him it wasn't a matter of manliness or daring, but good economic sense since small-bore ammo cost a fraction per round of the price of the big-bore calibers.

In other words, he REALLY knew what he was doing. Unlike most other people, including us.

I'm sure it will - if you stick the muzzle in the bear's eye, ear, or up his nose before pulling the trigger....
Wanna try it just to see?

With any luck at all, he or she will swallow you whole and poop you out before you die!!!

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"You're messin' up my Zen"

I've saw LARGE cows shot with a .22 to the brain........Dead when they fell...Its all about bullet placement.........

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S&W Accumulator

I would save one round for myself.

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Oh well, what the hell.

If you are out with your buddies never try to shoot a charging bear. A charging bear does not present an optimal site picture to kill him...and it's a bad idea as he is charging towards you and you are standing still trying to get a kill shot site picture....Good Luck!!

Best thing to do is run in the opposite direction...you don't even have to run faster than the bear.......just faster than one of your buddies.......

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Hipcocked & Locked

You made reference to big and small bores. You probably know that in his day, supporters of each were labeled in camps of "big bores and "small bores."

Bell quipped that he hoped that he "was not a bore at all.'

The also well qualified John A. Hunter favored heavy double rifles on rhino and elephant.

Hmmm... just remembered that both men were Scots. Probably coincidence.

BTW, Hunter began his career by shooting lions for the hides, using a M-95 Mauser that a relative had brought back from the Boer War. When he could afford better, he changed rifles.
It says a lot about his marksmanship and luck that he lived to buy better rifles. Hunting lions routinely is a very hazardous profession. They charge 100 yards in about six seconds.