For some context, a decent fish-fed wild male Kodiak brown bear can top out at 1,500 lbs.
The record was a gargantuan example named Clyde who lived in the Dakota Zoo in Bismarck, North Dakota.
Clyde was about 10 tall and weighed 2,400 lbs.
In bear country, bigger is definitely better when it comes to stopping a grizzly attack. The author examines theSpringfield M1A SOCOM 16as a potential bear defense rifle.
Right behind polar bears, Alaskan brown bears are the worlds second-largest terrestrial carnivores.
Alaska plays home to some 140,000 bears of all flavors.
However, it is a really big place.
This bear was encountered by the author during his time in Alaska. Fish-fed Alaskan brown bears can grow to become absolutely enormous.
In fact, if you split Alaska in half, Texas would become the third-largest state.
Despite the fearsome nature of these predators, the chances of your being eaten by one remain quite small.
Between 1880 and 2015, there averaged 2.6 bear attacks on humans in Alaska per annum.
The Springfield Armory SOCOM 16 CQB is one of the more compact .308 semi-auto rifles available on the market today. As a result, it makes for a superlative bear gun.
From 2000 to 2017, that number was 3.8.
If the bear can get his mouth around your nugget, he will pop your head like a grape.
At least it wont hurt long.
For some, the SOCOM 16 may be ideally suited for Alaska’s grizzly bears as it is a shorter, more-compact package while still packing the potent .308 Win/7.62x51mm NATO cartridge.
If not, you just get scalped or have your face ripped off.
Either eventuality seems suboptimal to me.
Technological Solutions
I lived in the Alaskan interior for three years back in the 1990s.
When camping, a rifle like the Springfield Armory M1A SOCOM 16 can prove to be an ideal defensive weapon. It is capable of protecting against human threats as well as aggressive brown bears.
I spent every free moment wandering about the bush.
It pays to be prepared.
It also recommended carrying bear spray for close-in defense.
Outdoor recreation is unparalleled in the United States, but 911 will likely not be helpful if danger rears its head. You are responsible for your own safety when on the trail.
The fake PSA claimed that black bear scat typically featured partially-digested seeds and berries.
By contrast, the brown bear sort contained rusty bells and smelled strongly of pepper.
Needless to say, whenever I left the confines of civilization, I carried a gun.
The Springfield Armory SOCOM 16 CQB is powerful, compact and lightweight for its genre.
When first I arrived in Alaska I queried an older gentleman in my church about handgun selection for bears.
I figured this was to make the pistol fast in action, quick to aim, or something similar.
As a result, I opted for a homebuilt NFA-registered short-barreled slide-action 12-gauge stoked with sabot slugs.
This DIY counter-bear tool was both compact and powerful.
War Story
My buddy and I had planned the trip into the Alaskan hinterlands for months.
Part of that planning was ordnance.
I had my DIY sawed-off shotgun.
He packed a 12-gauge high-capacity riot gun.
We drove until the road quit then launched our boat.
We then cruised until the creek got too shallow to allow passage.
By the time we ran out of steam, we were deep inside the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park.
Every time we left the boat we found the riverbank covered in picked-over salmon remains.
This place was crawling with giant bears.
The whole area smelled like a zoo.
This was late summer, and it never really got dark.
We snatched up our shotguns and cowered in our flimsy little tent.
That made for a long night.
Thats the moment I realized that the ideal practical bear gun was possibly a rifle.
Particulars
The rub has always been about balancing firepower against portability.
By contrast, a Ma Deuce .50 cal.
I would assert that the ideal man-portable bear defense gun is the chopped Springfield Armory SOCOM 16 CQB.
The 7.62x51mm round offers ample penetration, the most critical performance metric in any big game encounter.
A full box of top-quality .308 social bullets will have the potential to stop anything that walks.
The SOCOM 16 CQB weighs 9 lbs., 2 oz.
empty and is 35.5 long with the collapsible stock retracted.
However, the gun is as reliable as the tides and easily accepts an optical sight.
It also can pack 20 high-performance rounds onboard with the optional 20-round magazine.
Managing a fly rod with that full-figured smoke pole over your shoulder would indeed be an undeniable chore.
Large-bore revolvers are probably the most common bear defense guns used by folks in Alaska.
However, these weapons make the cut not because they are effective but rather because they are convenient.
It would also bag most any game animal in North America.
The Springfield Armory SOCOM 16 CQB certainly would make me feel more secure in that kind of situation.
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