Shiloh Rifle Forums

I'd hazard a guess that most of our free ranging Woods Buffalo are taken with a .338 Mag or larger up here as they can run up to 2200 lbs. I've killed 8 moose with it and one with a .375 H&H and with good bullets both will reliably go through both shoulder blades and out the other side.
I've never hunted our Bison so can't say if they would do the same on them . Moose are not hard to kill with any good shot and a mature bull can run 1600 lbs so one can see a buffalo can be substantially larger and probably more tough.
Then on the other hand plains Indians regularly took them with flint or brisket bone pointed arrows out of a 35-40 lbs bow. They were able to do this on horse back shooting down through the top side of there chest cavities driving the arrow diagonally and penetrating both lungs.
In my copy of (Encyclopedia of Buffalo Hunters and Skinners) it appears that the .44 caliber rifles were very popular in the various shooting areas.

Thank you Ken, I've often wondered what the odg had. Mike.

Do you think the barrel length would matter much on a hunting rifle using the 45/110?

Here is some data from the Conrad resupply store in Ft Griffin Texas . This was one of the biggest resupply stores any where selling over 500 Sharps rifles in all calibers in the mid 1870's. Rifle sales for one order to Bridgeport was 1. 40 cal. Barrel lengths were 1. 26 in. Gun weights 1. 9#
53. 44 cal 2. 28 in. 1. 11#
125. 45 cal 171. 30 in. 22 12#
3 50 cal. 8 32 i9n. 10 13#
33 14#
49 15 #
74 16#

Conrad's also sold Remington and Winchester rifles along with Smith& Wesson and Colt revolvers. Conrad's keep 30 tons of bullet lead and 5 tons of Black powder in supply magazines at the Fort Griffin store.

Oh the puter scrambled up all the columns I had laid out in the posting.
In the one order there was.
1. 40 cal rifle
53 .44 cal "
125 .45 cal "
3 .50 cal "
Barrel lengths
1. 26 "
2. 28 "
171. 30 "
3. 32 "
whole rifle weights
1. 9#
1. 11#
22. 12#
10. 13#
33. 14#
49. 15#
74. 16#

I was shocked when I saw the numbers of 16 # rifles that were sold. Now you know why the forearms were usually almost worn through from carrying them across the saddle cantle in front of them.

Bella Twin shot a World Class Grizzly with a .22 Short single shot rifle in the Swan Hills northwest of Slave Lake, Alberta, Canada in 1953.

She demonstrated you do not need a 500 grain bullet.

It must have been caught in a leg trap?

I hadn't heard about that either, so I did some online looking. It's actually an interesting story.

https://www.ammoland.com/2017/06/bella ... d-more/

Griff

THX Griff.
More information than was provided to me by a relative who was my Cook on a wildfire near Slave lake.

The Plains Grizzly is now extinct with the demise of the Buffalo.
http://westernwildlife.org/grizzly-bear ... t/history/

They were much larger than the Rocky Mountain Grizzly that survives today.
The Grizzly bears found in the Swan Hills south of Slave Lake are considered to be a hybrid of the Rocky Mountain and Plains Grizzly.
So they are somewhat larger in size than any other Rocky Mountain Grizzly.

SchuetzenDave...

Brings back memories of when my Uncle and cousins used to hunt up there (mid to late '70's).
We never hunted alone, my favorite way to hunt, because of those monsters.
Uncle George had a bum leg and couldn't run. When ever we stopped for a rest, he would always tell me; his first of 3 shots would be my leg, 'cause he couldn't run. He had a 308, and said at least I had 10 rounds in my Enfield!

I did see a couple at long distance, and they looked bigger than trucks, especially compared to the blacks at Wabasca where I worked.

I had one of those grizzlies chase a moose and drop it 50 yards in front of my tree planters just south of Kinuso.
It then dragged the moose into the tree outside the cut block.
For some reason the planters quit on me.

You should get a look at some of these coastal black bear down around Valdez and South East AK. Some square over 7+ feet and can go over 600lbs.
Truth is bear size is pretty irrelevant as far as danger to humans goes. There attitude is what counts as a 200lbs black can kill you just as quickly as a 1200 lbs brown if it decides to and a black will often as not eat you after your down.
Killing them with an under powered cartridge or a hunting knife can on occasion be accomplished but the truth is the chances for a successful out come in such an encounter without being maimed and scared for life are almost nil for the human even if one does survive.

Dave Hyde (one of my employees doing work on the side for Daishowa-Marubeni) also encountered a Swan Hills Grizzly.
It had killed two black bears and Dave happened on the scene.
He had a loaded shotgun with slugs but could not raise it in time.
I will not tell you the rest of the details.

Same bear had charged me two months earlier when I was standing beside my Forestry Truck.
Jumped in the truck and it had it's paws up against my door's window helping me close the door.
Luckily I had not locked the door.