I wonder if....

[Jeremiah/Az]

No handgun is a death ray. Remember the law of physics? There is an opposite & equal force. Anything that would knock a bear down would knock the shooter down too!

I have several iron skillets & dutch ovens that I use a lot. If you lose the seasoning in your's from washing or some acidic foods, just fry a pound of bacon, to the smoking point, & it will be as good as it was before.

[OldLincoln]

Depends on who you ask. Don't remember where I read it now, but a good bear spray is said to be many times more effective.

I like the notion of the spray unit with the loud squeal and strobe light but the spray may be okay for dogs, not so a 1,000lb brown charging at you.

Hey, how about wearing an auto air bag that explodes out in a zilionth of a second when it's swiping your brains out. Now lets see Myth Busters try on THAT one!

[wyntrout]

Unless a bear has had a bad experience with the sprays, it thinks the smell is something new to try. Remember that they are curious and have an extremely sensitive nose. It can be an attractant.

People still go into bear country with hair products and such that make them very attractive to bears... as in smelling like their favorite snack foods!

And anyone cooking something like bacon in bear country is CRAZY!

I can see all of that stuff on my big screen TV with no danger!

I have enough adventure going to the local convenience stores to invest in lottery tickets!

Wynn

[O'Dell]

Mr Brown Bear is a tough critter.... black bears much easier to deal with.

Take a look at what griz do to each other, and survive, then think on what you need to put him down reliably.

I think my choice would be something more like a ma'deuce and the whole 9 yards....

Seriously though, the shotgun is the backup for lion. Maybe lion are fast and determined, but not as tough as grizzly? Maybe they're "smarter" than griz, knowing when to retreat? Dunno.

About thirty years ago I was on a trip through the Smokies with my ,then, wife. We stopped at an overlook near Clingman's Dome, and there was a man with his family in another car. Although, there are signs all over not to do it, he was feeding a black bear through his open window. Everything was fine UNTIL he ran out of food. The bear didn't understand, reached through the window, and with one swipe, took half the man's face off. This was before the day's of cells, so my wife stayed to help, and I beat it down the mountain to call for help. I don't know the final outcome, but if he lived, he would have needed extensive reconstruction, and definitely lost an eye.

[wyntrout]

A lot of this stuff... stupidly thinking that all animals are friendly and pet-like, goes back to Disney and their characterization of animals.
In the 14+ years I've lived here in Florida this time, several people have jumped into the water to "play with the dolphins" or the manatees... I saw this in the park behind my house. A guy went down the ramp into murky water to touch or be near a young manatee AND others! It's against all kinds of laws to do so, AND the mother manatee might get defensive... weighing almost as much as walruses!

I heard of one guy seeing big "fish" in the ocean and jumping in to play with the dolphins! They were sharks! I don't know how he fared... anecdotal story, anyhow.

Bears can open cars like kracker* boxes... and that's pretty much what they think they are... yummy... snacks inside!


*had to change the c to k. Censor/editor doesn't like a LOT of words!

Wynn

[CJB]

As Gary Larson put in "The Far Side"..... two basking polar bears next to igloos that have their tops ripped open. The text (paraphrased) "Dang Fred, those things are great! Crunchy on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside!"

[JimBianchi]

Well I never got to shoot the cast iron pan before I went in for hip replacement surgery.

Recovery has taken a set back too, so I won't be at the range for some time, maybe three months. (I have either strained or torn my quadriceps in the same leg as the hip replacement, the hip feels fine, in fact, better than I ever hoped, the quad pain is so bad at times I have blacked out)

I am glad someone found the answer and posted it. I still have a few pans I want to blast with a variety of SD ammo, and when I do, I'll post a vid.

[wyntrout]

Dang, Jim, take it easy. Godspeed and get well.

Wynn

[OldLincoln]

I have enough adventure going to the local convenience stores to invest in lottery tickets!

Sounds like we have the same retirement plan.

[tv_racin_fan]

ok...what was it????

According to everything I can find it was steel...

I heard many times that one never washes a cast iron skillet and always wondered why my mom always washed hers.. on the off chance the something did stick and needed some real scrubbin she was never averse to scrubbin away with comet or whatever but that was generally because someone had mistreated her skillet. The secret is to wash it and dry it then immediately season it as far as I can tell.

[OldLincoln]

Yup, once messed up always messed up. When new break in right and maintain and you have the best and usually pretty much non-stick. These days it's not such a big deal as you can't really use them in a microwave - well, maybe once.

[wyntrout]

The neatest thing I ever put in the microwave was my radiometer... the light-bulb looking thing that's a vacuum tube with a little 4-sided vane with black on one side and white on the other so that one side absorbs light radiation and spins... or is it the white side that reflects the radiation...? Hmm... just gonna stick it in the light and see which direction it spins.... The former is true, it spins in the direction of the white sides.

This is the process used in the giant solar wind sails for propelling spacecraft... very slow acceleration, though.

Mine is all clear glass. Anyhow, I put that sucker in the microwave and fired it up... WOW! Like a FLASHBULB... scared the sh!t out of me! I couldn't get the darned thing off fast enough!

It was like a small explosion... like a big flashbulb... instant brilliance! I don't know if it spun or not! But I got the MW off immediately... only a second or so passed, but it seemed longer!

You could see that the needle had turned bluish from the heat, but it still works fine. I'm just glad it didn't explode!

YMMV, though!

Wynn

[Bawanna]

I bet you had some really neat personal science projects in your youth Wynn.

Had a young guy at a local gun shop I hung out at years ago, he was always thinking up stuff.

He's the one that decided to see what a paint ball did in a microwave when paintball first came out. The result of course was go buy a new microwave.

He's the same fella that insisted they didn't hurt and had me shoot him in the back from about 10 feet. He found out they do indeed hurt. Really bad.

[wyntrout]

Yeah, it's a wonder I still have all of my digits and appendages! I did take a bit of my left thumbprint off with a power saw... lucked out there... had gloves on and just felt tugging... no pain!

Adventurous... or foolhardy... something like that!

Wynn

[OldLincoln]

When I was a pup, I was showing off for my cousin in the washhouse (okay STOP IT, this is not one of "those" stories!) by sticking my thumb in the washing machine wringer rollers teasing the nibble but always getting it away. Except for the last time when the rollers grabbed my thumb, took it all the way to the hand and peeled off the tissue, muscle and tendons, in other words to the bone and broke that. (That was before roller release mechanisms).

My cousin ran to the house screaming and mom & grandma came a running. The docs insisted on amputation but my mother absolutely refused. They said it would only be a useless piece of meat with no movement. Well it took a very long time but it works pretty well now considering. No strength in some motions and pops out of joint easily but it is a thumb I'm lucky to have.

So like Wynn, it wasn't smart but luck prevailed.