Man kills charging bear with 1911

Bears always run away

Published: June 4, 2008

Joshua McKim of Halfway shot and killed this approximately 400-pound black bear on May 28 when it ran at him while he was picking mushrooms in the mountains north of Halfway.
Submitted photo

By JAYSON JACOBY

Baker City Herald

When the bear just up the hill roared, Joshua McKim's first thought was that he had never heard a bear make a sound like that.

His second thought, almost instantaneous with the first, was that he was awfully glad he had brought his pistol on this mushroom-picking trip.

When he first glimpsed the bear through the thick brush, McKim had cocked the hammer on the .45 caliber semi-automatic Taurus, a copy of the famous 1911-model Colt.

The bear didn't move.

McKim, 22, who has picked mushrooms and hunted deer and elk in the Wallowa Mountains above his hometown of Halfway since he was a boy, has seen maybe 20 bears.

And every one had fled, rumbling away from him in that awkward but oddly efficient gait peculiar to bears.

But this bear just stood there, no more than 35 yard away, staring down at McKim.

"I was saying, why isn't he running away — the wind's blowing right at him so he must be able to smell me," McKim said, recounting what happened a week ago today, on the evening of May 28.

"This is really weird. Bears always run away. Maybe I should holler at him."

The bear hollered first.

Then, finally, the bear started moving.

Right at McKim.

McKim yelled.

"He kind of hesitated for a second," McKim said.

"Then he came on. Faster."

McKim fired the first of the eight bullets in the .45's clip.

"The first shot hit him in the shoulder."

The bear tumbled, rolling for about 10 feet until it came to a flat place.

The bear righted itself and kept moving, not directly at McKim but in his direction.

The bear was closer now, 15 yards or so.

McKim pulled the trigger until the clip was empty.

"I knew I was hitting him; I didn't know where," he said. "I wasn't about to let him get any closer."

The bear careened into a patch of brush and McKim couldn't see the animal.

"I wasn't about to go into the brush with a wounded bear in there," he said. "I couldn't see much."

Besides, he was out of bullets.

Read the entire article here: http://bakercityherald.com/news/story.cfm?story_no=6690

And with a Taurus no less. <g>

why didnt he just have it locked and cocked?? o well lucky hes still alive

"And I'm really glad I had that gun."

Best line of the article!

Does this solve the question "what caliber for Bear"? :p

I'd say not, as only one slug was found to have penetrated into a vital (if I read the article correctly).

And with a Taurus no less.
Funny - that's the first thing I thought to myself, verbatim.

There was an article posted where two guys killed a griz with 9mms a while back. I'd say the 9 has the edge. I might file that article for future Taurus bashing threads. :D

What, nobody has chimed in on how stupid the reporter is for calling the magazine a clip?

Nobody has said "that settles it .45acp for bear"?

Who are you and what have you done with The High Road?

Sorta makes the case for that spare magazine full, doesn't it ?

:cool:

though it was a pretty "pro-gun" article, myself.

What, nobody has chimed in on how stupid the reporter is for calling the magazine a clip?

It's a common mistake, what I wonder is why everyone's always so picky about it, or so quick to jump down somone's throat because they call a Mag a clip. Specially if it's someone uninitiated.

Is there a thread where they break down the main differences between a "magazine" and a "clip"? I'd like to read it. When I was new to guns I had always thought of Magazines as clips, and I was gently corrected by a friend. But most people, even many gun owners and hunters, don't know the difference.

one of .45 slugs, which travel much slower than, say, a rifle bullet, penetrated the bear's thick hide and lodged in a lung, Hawkins said.

From the full article.....:uhoh:

Not my idea of a reliable bear stopper!! One out of 8 rounds penetrated to the vitals!!

At least he was armed.

Yeap, atleast he was armed. Maybe he should have had another magazine or larger caliber handgun. 8 shots from a .45 was better than nothing I guess. Lesson in point always carry unless prohibited to so then I guess its up to you.

It's A Magazine!

It's Not A Clip!!!!!!!!!

:D

C'mon McGunner! A Rose by any other name 'd smell as sweet!

Same differance......or as the old black fellow that used to work for my dad'd say "all samey, same!".

It was a dam good thing it was a blackie and not a brownie becuse that 45ACP would not do nothing except may be piss the brownie off, then he would need to save the last round for him self.

whoa...there's a difference between a mag and a clip??? Why hasn't anyone told me that? Good thing I stumbled on this thread or else I would of made the same mistake. Growing up around here that's just the common verbage we used interchangeably. Can someone tell me the difference before I get yelled at by mcgunner.

Oh brother - this ain't gonna do nothin to quell the inflated egos of the 1911 worshipers. After all, if it'll spin a man around and knock him down for good just by hitting him in the little finger, then surely a 1911 will smoke a 400 pound ferocious charging bear, with a direct hit! :p

They All Fall to .45 ACP Hard Ball!!

[disclaimer: I like and own 1911s]

Clip - A strip of metal to hold cartridges or shells in proper sequence for feeding into a specific firearm, usually by way of gripping the rim to the rear of the case. Sometimes also used, wrongly, as alternative for Magazine.

...

Magazine - The container holding the ammunition in readiness for chambering in a repeating arm. Usually box-like ( either detachable or built into the receiver ) in which the cartridges are stacked vertically or spirally ( rotary magazine ), sometimes a tube in which they lie nose to tail. In all types, the first cartridge rests on or against a platform or magazine follower which progressively compresses a spring within the magazine as the rounds are loaded into it, the outermost one being held in place by the lips at the mouth. In return, the magazine spring forces the cartridges towards the mouth as each outermost one is scooped off and chambered by the bolt or breech block mechanism. Sometimes also used, wrongly, as alternative for Clip.
http://www.snipercountry.com/Comp.htm

In other words, a clip holds ammunition; a magazine feeds ammunition. Stripper clips (often called chargers) bind the rounds together until they are inserted into the magazine. The Garand's en bloc clip holds the ammunition together until the entire package (including the clip) is inserted into the magazine.

The big defining factor is the spring that feeds the firearm with ammunition.

Now I know why I got a Taurus pt1911. But when out in the woods I carry a 357. No Griz yet in Utah, I hope.

Whatever this is, it works on lion.

http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd7/rkba2da/trivia/liongun.jpg

Run a youtube search for:
attack lion wild animal circus fun iraq gulf desi india gujarati nature
if you are interested in the details.

O.K. nobody has said it yet, so I will.

It's not the caliber that matters, it's where you put the bullet that counts!

Sounds like spray & pray shooting to me!

rcmodel

Sounds like everything came out fine, except he may have wasted some ammo. Shouldn't have taken more than two or three shots. But then, he should've carried at least one spare mag.

I know my Glock 29 will stop a Bear. Good to know that one of my .45's will also. TOGGLELOCK

And every one had fled, rumbling away from him in that awkward but oddly efficient gait peculiar to bears.

But this bear just stood there, no more than 35 yard away, staring down at McKim.

"I was saying, why isn't he running away — the wind's blowing right at him so he must be able to smell me," McKim said, recounting what happened a week ago today, on the evening of May 28.

"This is really weird. Bears always run away. Maybe I should holler at him."

McKim's perceptions are the kind of perceptions that get people killed. Assuming a bear would flee because it smelled or saw him is amazingly naive for a person who claims lifelong outdoors experience.

From the article...
The bear's stomach was empty, and his teeth had been ground to nubs.

"I guess he was really hungry and he thought I looked like an easy meal," McKim said. "Or maybe I was right in the middle of his mushroom patch."

Sounds like he was dealing with a bear that likely was in poorer health and was obviously in need of food. Aside from sows with cubs, bear rut, injured bears, taunted bears, and bears overly accustomed to humans, health-stressed bears are often involved in attacks on humans as well. Black bears in the wild can live to 30 years, but the article said the bear was estimated at 10 years of age. If the bear was 10 years of age and had teeth worn to nubs, then that bear had significant health troubles.

Simply put, highly stressed bears, like people, don't act and react in stereotypically normal manners.

It is believed that a similar older, health stressed bear is what killed and partially consumed Timothy Treadwell and his girlfriend.

Very well said DNS.

You can never assume a certain behavior from any large or small animal. Environmental and biological factors always effect their lives.

Glad the guy lived, and he probably did the bear population a favor by killing that one, but he could have avoided trouble by not trusting his assumptions- 1911 death ray or not.