Great pictures & gun question

Posted: Fri Aug 06, 2004 8:17 pm

I'm enjoying the great pictures, and really appreciating the explanatory captions you are providing for the pictures. Sure is great to be able to experience Svalbard virtually in such photographic detail!

I look forward to the revelations from the research, and the curriculum materials you will be developing following your field experience. I know that all of you have plenty to manage right now with your research, hiking to your research sites, etc. so I won't ask any long involved questions at this point. I do have one question that I have been wondering about that I hope won't take much time to answer.

I have a question about the guns that you carry to protect yourselves from polar bears. I notice in the pictures that the guns seem to have plastic coverings over the end of the barrel. Not knowing much about guns, or gun use, I'm wondering ... if you should need to use the gun, if you would shoot through the plastic covering, not taking precious time to remove it? I figure that you probably wouldn't be taking the time to take off the plastic covering in an encounter with a polar bear. I've never seen pictures of guns with plastic coverings over the barrels though, so was wondering if plastic coverings over guns is a usual practice in climates like Svalbard, AND if you would just shoot through the plastic if you needed to shoot to protect yourselves.

Thanks for the great photos and for taking us along to Svalbard virtually!

Kayt

Joined: 23 Mar 2004 Posts: 64

Hi Kayt!

Great to hear from you! That is a question I am sure others have had, as well. As you may know from the postings, KappLinne is a coastal area with Isfjord Radio sitting right at the cape. This time of year it is most often foggy and wet with saltwater in the air. We hike way across a valley to get to the lake each day, then cross the lake and often go up the stream and occassionally on to the glacier, depending on the data being collected on any given day.

During the course of the day we can end up changing what we are wearing several times to accommodate rain, sleet, snow, fog, wind, mud, dirt, etc. We protect ourselves from the elements and we need to protect our rifles, as well. The rifles are most often carried barrel up (regardless of weather), often transported in a sloppy, wet, and bumpy Zodiac, laid in the dirt, splashed on river crossings, rained and snowed on, and generally handled rather roughly in the field. The stocks are of hard rubber and the barrels are stainless steel, but even with this sturdy composition they are not going to fire well with dirt or water in the barrel. We tape a plastic bag over the end of the barrel to keep the dirt and water out. If we needed to fire in a hurry, we would fire right through the baggie. It probably would have only a minor effect on the first round coming out of the barrel, if any at all. If there were time to prepare, the baggie would be removed before firing.

We also carry the flare pistols in a holster (no baggie for them!). We have been trained as to how to aim the flares to scare the bears away as a first resort, rather than have to shoot them which would be a last resort. This can be tricky, because if you overshoot the flare and it lands behind the bear it will be more inclined to run faster and right towards you!

Whenever we leave the base camp we prepare the rifle at half load. This is safe, yet practical, because their are four rounds loaded in the clip but none in the chamber until you pull back the bolt and push it forward to engage one. In this mode, you are at less risk of misfiring into a member of the team if you fall on the rough terrain, yet you can prepare and fire a round within a second or two, as needed.

Hope this answers your question!