SmallCaliberCentral

This was shamelessly taken from another forum, but I thought you guys would get a kick out of some stunts of years past. I had read about this for years, but only this week actually heard the real story and saw the photo of the incident. The wide-spread version told the story that the rifle in question was a .17 Mach IV, not true.

Vern O'Brian, the originator of the .17 Mach IV of Las Vegas fame in the mid-60's, built a rifle for a fellow varminter who took the rifle to Alaska during that time frame. P.O. Ackley wrote about this in an early issue of Handloader Magazine. This fellow somehow encountered a large grizzly bear, shot it between the eye and the ear at 40 yards twice with his O'Brian .17-222 Remington Magnum varmint rifle, and slayed the bruin. This was one lucky fellow, as we all know how tough and tenacious big bears are, but he killed the critter nonetheless and lived to even take the below picture.



"We don't need no stinkin' big bores for bears".........Kids, don't try this at home!

As an added bonus, there was no hole in the hide to repair when he tanned it.

Mike, that guy is lucky he didn't have multiple holes.....in HIM!

Any one of that old boys teeth would have left a bigger hole than .172"!!! This brings new meaning to the word "stunt"!

Rick: That is undoubtedly a very, very lucky man. You could run that scenario a dozen more times and the bear would probably win most, if not all, of them.

Sidebar: Do you think he changed his pants out before or after that picture was taken?

Mike wrote:Rick: That is undoubtedly a very, very lucky man. You could run that scenario a dozen more times and the bear would probably win most, if not all, of them.

Sidebar: Do you think he changed his pants out before or after that picture was taken?

Mike,

Probably after and I bet it was a mess...

Jim

Jim White wrote: Sidebar: Do you think he changed his pants out before or after that picture was taken?

Mike,

Probably after and I bet it was a mess...

Jim

I'm guessing that they used those pants to start the evening campfire after that incident (and sat upwind of course..... ) There's reported to be a more "PC" version of that picture, sans the cigarette. He probably smoked the entire pack when he realized how lucky (stupid) he really had been that day.

Back then many "varmint" bullets were lathe turned out of solid brass, as shooting .17's was just coming into vogue. Imagine if he had used a modern thin jacket V-Max or Ballistic Tip, and the bullet had just splashed on Yogi's skull......yikes!

I'll tell ya' back on one of my SSBN patrols we had some hunting videos along, one of which was bow & arrow hunting...polar bears.

This dude had a lot of confidence in his guide. Now picture this; its knee-deep snow and there isn't a tree or nothing to be seen, for 360 degrees. This dude shoots this polar bear (maybe 50 yards away) hitting it just behind its left front leg. The polar bear just turns his head, grabs the arrow with his mouth and literly rips it out and spits it at the archer. This, adventureous soul, loads up another arrow, draws back and launches another arrow, hitting it above the left shoulder. The bear takes off after him, and at the same time, the archer turns away and starts running (probably singing Kumbayah...) and then (because of the deep snow) falls flat on his face. The bear was within' say, 20-25 yards when the guide/safety valve nailed him with one shot, deader than Julius Caeser. I'm sure he laoded his britches too.

Jim

I used my 17/223 Sako once to kill a doe jackalope (the ones without the antlers). It was a 300 yard shot, so I wasn't scared--well, not too much.

jwc41 wrote:I used my 17/223 Sako once to kill a doe jackalope (the ones without the antlers). It was a 300 yard shot, so I wasn't scared--well, not too much.

Jackalopes WILL charge you if cubs are near.

Cool dude. You think the cigerette was to calm the nerves?