Yea Professor. Ya know, some time time it. even 2 sec is quite a bit of time. I would have a hard time believing that your not gonna have a lot more time than that unless your after one you wounded. I think that the damage that grizzly/ brown bears can do and the size the brown's can get has a lot of people believing thet are in dire straight's everytime they walk out the door in bear country. I really doubt that all that many attacks started form 40 yds off as some like to say either. Much more myth than fact about bears.

I lived in Alaska for several years in a fairly out of they way cabin. Never saw the first bear. They were around, I just never saw them. Guess they just weren't that hungry. Of course the first 5 or 6 mos, I carried a rifle everywhere I went just in case. Got tired of lugging it around. I'm not really a bear hunter.

The reason for the alternating ammo(slug,buckshot,slug buckshot) is because you never know what situation will occor in a bear attack.While I agree that buckshot cannot be fatal to an attacking bear,it is a proven detterant,apparantly a load of buckshot in a bear's face really discourages them.I almost pleaded with my son to go for the 24" slug barrel/waterfoul 28" barrel combo,but he insists that the 'chopper will not allow that long of a gun aboard due to space limitations...Sigh...
And yes,he told me he prefers 000 in the buckshot loads,you were right.
He has had 2 grizzly encounters already,one time the chopper buzzing between him and the griz to scare it off....(because he had no weapon)

Trappermike, I was just on the ATK Federal Fusion web site and saw that they have a shotgun slug in their Fusion line. The Fusion bullet is a bonded core bullet with great penetration and weight retention. They offer both a 3" & 2 3/4" loading but the bullet weight (3/4 oz) and velocity (1900 fps) are the same. This might be a load for your son to consider for bear protection. Check it out.

Thanks for the info,I checked it out.That load seems similar to Remington's "Core-lokt" sabot load. Interesting to note Federal's loads are determined with a 30" barrel.. Hence my obsession in finding a Marlin model 55 goose gun with the 36" barrel to build a hot smoothbore slug gun.
I'm still shopping for the Combo gun for my son,it seems some of the Mossberg guns and accessories are not imported into Western Canada.Now I'm looking at a Remington 870 pump combo; 20" smoothbore barrel w/ rifle sights,and a 28" waterfoul barrel. I just have to confirm the price and availability of a 23" or 24" rifled slug barrel(Available with rifle sights,cantlever scope mount,or with 3x9 scope installed and ported barrel) and it will be a complete package...
In the past I've shot lots of Federal's Magnun 11/4 oz. rifled slugs(Over 3000 ft. lbs. of muzzle energy),now that's a kickin' load,if you like heavy recoil! Not a good long range load though,unlike the new sabot loads which are claimed to be accurate and carry energy to 150 yards.

If you ever have to fire those Federal 1 1/4 oz slugs at a charging bear, you won't even feel the recoil! I like the Remington 870 much better than the Mossberg - fits me much better - comes up naturally to aline with where I am looking. I used to be able to fire three AIMED shots quicker that a semi-auto shotgum could. The 870 would be my choice for bear defense.