Killt him a bar when he was only eleven.

[ray1970]

Man, I'm surprised that first round of bird shot didn't stop that bear dead in its tracks.

You know, since some idiots swear bird shot is a great defensive round.

[68Charger]

We never subscribed to the bird shot philosophy... since we weren't hunting birds, it was a bear defense shotgun-alternating 00 buck and slugs was the load.

And no plugs... only reason for that would be to comply with bird hunting laws, and we never hunted birds

Looks like they trained and prepared him well...

[Gman]

I was baffled how he killed a bear with bird shot.

At close range, the shot column is still packed together and acts like a slug.

[DenverGP]

At close range, the shot column is still packed together and acts like a slug.

In this case the birdshot did nothing, as expected... it was the follow-up rounds of slugs that actually stopped the bear.

[68Charger]

At close range, the shot column is still packed together and acts like a slug.

Only if bound with wax... if you hit plywood or drywall it will look the same, but flesh or ballistic gel and you get no penetration... and on an angry critter that large, you MUST have penetration.

As I understand it, many have switched from 12ga shotguns to Marlin guide guns with 450-500gr flat points... because the bullets will go thru, and an entry and exit hole with .50 cal is better than just an entry with .73 cal slug, plus hydrostatic shock is better with 45-70 (or 450 marlin, etc) velocities, especially with 300gr bullets mixed in.

[BushMasterBoy]

Birdshot is devastating if you can cut the plastic shell so the whole shebang goes with it. Only really good for close range though.

[Zundfolge]

Man, I'm surprised that first round of bird shot didn't stop that bear dead in its tracks.

You know, since some idiots swear bird shot is a great defensive round.

Yeah but that's only from a Taurus Judge. In a regular shotgun the longer barrel causes the bird-shot to disperse from front to back (as opposed to just spread outward) thus making it less dense. That's how the stubby barrel of a Judge actually increases the power of the .410 when a longer barreled shotgun just makes it weaker.