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Brown bear and grizzly are the same species.
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This made me curious, so I looked it up, on the Internet. It appears today, that they are the same species, sort of, by current classification.
I know, time marches on, science marches on, but sometimes I wish it wouldn't. Because sometimes, in stead of going in a straight line it seems to make sudden left turns.
When I was a boy, believing and trusting in the science I was taught in school, Pluto was still a planet (and a Disney dog), rabbits were still rodents, and Brown bears and Grizzly bears were different species. We were taught that the Brown bear and the Kodiak bear were the same species, and the dividing line was a coastal mountain range in Alaska. Brown bears living on the coast side were Kodiaks those living inland were Brown.
The Brown bear was
Ursus Arctos. The Grizzly bear was
Ursus Horribilis. This made them different species.
Today, on the infallible Wiki, the brown bear is still
Ursus arctos. The Grizzly bear is now
Ursus arctos horribilis.
50 years ago they were different species, today, apparently, they aren't. I guess that's like how I went from being just being "overweight" to being "obese" without gaining a single pound.
Changing how you define something does not change what you are defining, it only changes what list you put it on.
As to 9mm killing "grizzly"?? so? SOME people have killed grizzly with pointed sticks. "Karamojo" Bell killed a number of elephants with a 6.5mm rifle. Does this mean it is a good idea for the rest of us?
TO be sure what he thought, you'd have to ask the guide, but my guess would be the 9mm wasn't there with the primary intent being bear defense. The fact that it was used, and used successfully doesn't prove he carried it intending to use it on grizzly.