Posted on 11/13/2019 7:19:13 AM PST by marktwain
Details of .22 Pistol Defense Failure against Polar Bear in Norway; iStock-940461304
I suspect much of the mythology about the difficulty of penetrating bear skulls with bullets is based on the position of a bear's brain inside of those skulls. The volume of a large bear's brain is a little more or less than a pint (473 ml). The volume of a large bear's head is about 2 1/2 gallons (9.46 l) or more. The brain, to many, is unexpectedly low and narrow. It is easy to shoot a bear in the head and miss the brain. It is easy to shoot a bear in the eye and miss the brain. It is easy to shoot a bear between the eyes and miss the brain if you are a little bit above the mark.
There is quite a bit of fur, skin, muscle, and fat surrounding a bear's skull.
Some detailed pictures of a carved polar bear skull from Nunavut have been posted on facebook. The pictures make it relatively easy to show where a polar bear's brain lies, and how to aim to hit it.
In this photograph of the skull, taken from above, you can see how narrow the brain case is. It lies entirely in back of the eye sockets. It is narrow enough, that viewed from above, you can see it does not extend to the area directly behind each eye socket.
Carved Polar Bear Skull Shows Where to Aim
(Excerpt) Read more at ammoland.com ...
Bella Twin,,,,
Yup,
Right there with
Annie Oakley!
Fighting a polar bear? I’m having nunavut.
shot placement is everything since their heart rate is ~12BPM
you can put one straight through their pump and not even slow em down for the next minute or so
Not worried.
The difference is you'll be expecting the horse to stand there and take it. Polar bear, not so much. It's brain is about the size of an apple, and when it's on the charge that 'apple' is bouncing up-and-down 3-4 feet with every stride, two strides a second. Which is why you carry a YUGE caliber handgun. Not because that's what's needed to penetrate the skull but because the bear's boiler room is protected by three feet of bone, sinew and muscle, and it'll take all that to drill down to it. And it takes a lot less luck to hit the boiler room.
Because if you shoot at that bobbing apple and don't strike lucky, best save the next bullet for yourself.
Actually, polar bears seem less difficult to stop than grizzly bears. Most polar bear attacks are predatory, starting as curious, because the bears have never seen humans before.
So they tend to approach somewhat cautiously, giving plenty of time for defensive action.
An all-out "charge" by a polar bear is very unusual. See post #20.
No shoot until your firearm is empty always trying to kill the bear with each shot.
Even body hits have shown to be a good at stopping attacking bears.
Saving the last bullet for your self is just another myth of the anti firearm crowd.
And not very smart thinking.
Handguns have proven to be very effective for defense against bears.
The biggest reason for failure is the users unwillingness to kill the bear.
I’d just give him a bottle of Coca-Cola and then get the bro hug for it!
Saw it on tv...
A .223 in the right place will bring down a bear. A 30-06 in the wrong place will not, or at least will not put him down fast enough for you to survive the experience.
With a moving target, your odds of hitting the right place are improved by an ability to shoot the bear multiple times before he closes the distance.
That is an alien skull!
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