r/canadaguns • u/Locojester16 • May 06 '26

Misc Carrying a SS-211 for Bear Defense

Recently purchased an ss-211 cos its hilarious, but my best option for something short enough/with enough punch to stop a Grizzly. I live in a fairly small town in BC, and we are lucky enough to be surrounded by crown land however, there are a shit ton of grizzlies and with the amount of close calls/time I spend outside I figured something besides bear spray would be a good investment. My question is this:

Is it safe to carry this thing loaded with safety on in a belt holster? If not, what are some other options/safe bets that allow reasonable deployment time as well as a safe carry option when hiking through rugged terrain.

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u/therowdyirishman May 06 '26

I've heard anecdotally that pretty much no shotgun is drop safe. Most folks carry their wilderness defense pump action in a cruiser ready condition (empty chamber, loaded tube) for this reason. I would make damn sure the safety actually blocks the firing pin (which I doubt) before carrying it loaded. I will also echo the other commentor in that I wouldn't trust a Turk cannon to keep me from becoming one with a grizz.

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u/fuckbitingflies May 07 '26

That’s exactly what you do, yep. Loaded tube, empty chamber.

Bear defense with firearms comes up all the time online and it’s mostly people talking through their fantasies. In reality, it kind of sucks. You end up lugging around this extra 7+ lbs that you will likely never need, that doesn’t handle the elements very well if you’re out for weeks at a time, is only maybe useful during daylight hours or if the bear is kind enough to let you turn on some lights and have your eyes adjust, etc.

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u/Locojester16 May 07 '26

Kind of why I went with the absolute smallest thing I can legally carry that isn't a giant pain in the ass to lug and doesn't cost an arm and a leg while still having enough punch. I can also load 12g bear bangers, which is pretty sweet! My philosophy is that it's only useful if you're actually willing to use it. Most places like where I live are surrounded by parks making this question mute but where I live it genuinely makes sense to have this when we are hunting/fishing in such remote griz country.

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u/fuckbitingflies May 07 '26

Bear bangers worked for me on a grizz in central BC (Vanderhoof-Fraser Lake area). Middle of the night. Firearm was out of the question because I didn’t have enough time and because I couldn’t be sure what was beyond the bear.