Bear/woods pistol

Usually one of these .45 Colt revolvers:


Or may be one of these .44 magnum revolvers:



Or perhaps a .41 magnum:



Any one of these will have heavy-for-caliber hard cast handloads.

I carry a 45 acp or 9mm depending on my pack weight and distance I am planning on hiking. I've never had to use it yet and hope I don't. I've had more bear encounters at night at or near camp then I have in the field

10mm Glock 20SF and if I was willing to forgo some of my favorite summer shirts, I'd carry it whenever, wherever.
In deference to wearing my favorite shirts a Glock 23/32 is carried whenever, wherever, but a 1911 is doable too.
These 1911's are all 10mm

This Model 65 was built as my woods walking gun. It is Stainless to prevent rusting, the Standard barrel for the 4" length providing more velocity, target trigger and hammer for a better grip to pull the trigger or cock the hammer if my hands were slippery or wet or muddy. It was a 3" bull barrel and a round butt, this longer barrel gives a bit more velocity and a longer sight radius.
This was done by Mark Hartshorne at Pinnacle High Performance. He also cut the cylinder for moonclips and made the barrel gap nice and even and tight.

I know a lot of people like it, for varying reasons but I'd hate to know I had to face a sizable brown bear with a 10mm. If I'm going into brown bear country, it will be with a .44Mag with +300gr bullets at a minimum. Better still would be a .475, .480 or .500.



Big, heavy bullets for big, scary critters.

S&W 329PD. If you own one, you know it's only for emergency purposes.

When we hike in the White Mountains in NH, I always carry a S&W 45 Shield with Buffalo Bore bullets. We've kicked up a few black bear and all we've seen are their back ends.
-mike
EDIT: We also carry bear spray!

Broccolis said:

I carry a 45 acp or 9mm depending on my pack weight and distance I am planning on hiking. I've never had to use it yet and hope I don't. I've had more bear encounters at night at or near camp then I have in the field

Click to expand...

Do you pack a shotgun or rifle for camp?
Or are you backpacking?

The real question is how many people train with their hand cannons for the type of challenging target a charging bear would present?

WisBorn said:

Do you pack a shotgun or rifle for camp?
Or are you backpacking?

Click to expand...

Backpacking.

shafter said:

The real question is how many people train with their hand cannons for the type of challenging target a charging bear would present?

Click to expand...

I usually carry a 40sw with hardcast ammo. From what I understand if the spray doesn't work that's good enough to persuade the bear to leave. I do practice with the 40 and that's one reason I choose it.

Hunting for a bear I'd use a rifle.

Broccolis said:

Backpacking.

Click to expand...

Little harder to pack in versus wheeling in.

In Fl., my Glock 23 (40) is adequate for any hogs, coyotes, or the small (and rare, and illegal to kill except in defense) bears I could possibly run across. When going anywhere that bears are larger and more common, my Glock 21 (45).

I practice at 50 yards with my woods guns

Martin248 said:

I usually carry a 40sw with hardcast ammo. From what I understand if the spray doesn't work that's good enough to persuade the bear to leave. I do practice with the 40 and that's one reason I choose it.

Hunting for a bear I'd use a rifle.

Click to expand...

I think your choice makes a lot of sense. I'd rather go with something less powerful with the best ammunition I can get than something that will never get shot enough to develop mastery.

For the woods either my RIA M200 or RIA 1911 .45 ACP. For bears? Hmmm, hadn't really thought about that one. There have been sightings of black bears in Ohio. Maybe I should up the 'carry' ante.

One downside of a using hardcast ammo in a woods gun, like underwood, is that the jacket coating over the lead round rubs off.

I use it as a woods self defense carry gun, which means that I load a round into the chamber when I take it out, and I unload it when I bring it back. So that top round gets unloaded and reloaded many times.

I've noticed that the coating gets completely scratched off by this process. Not sure it's a big deal, but it's making me think I should either switch to FMJFN, to get a more durable jacket, or leave a round in the chamber when I store it, which makes me a bit nervous.

DR505 said:

Usually one of these .45 Colt revolvers:
View attachment 987693

Or may be one of these .44 magnum revolvers:
View attachment 987694
View attachment 987695

Or perhaps a .41 magnum:
View attachment 987696
View attachment 987697

Any one of these will have heavy-for-caliber hard cast handloads.

Click to expand...

That's a very good idea. Pull any one of those and brother bear is going stop in his tracks, cease all hostile intent and beg to look at it. You may end up with a little drool on your revolver, but a good result anyway.

Been carrying 10mm since the late 80s for woods/hiking. Glock 29 with DT 200 gr XTPs is the combo I settled on, ever since my 29, in the early 2000s, replaced my old Delta Elite shooting Winchester Silver-tips or PMC 170 gr HPs. The Delta is still a beautiful gun that served me well for nearly 20 years, and I wanted to keep it that way. Blackies are the only bear threat we have here. That and maybe Witchy Wolves, but I'm an Indian, so they likely won't hurt me.

Stevie-Ray

Like the Delta Elite, especially with those grips! Something about ivory colored grips on a blued gun that looks so refined and elegant!

Martin248 said:

One downside of a using hardcast ammo in a woods gun, like underwood, is that the jacket coating over the lead round rubs off.

I use it as a woods self defense carry gun, which means that I load a round into the chamber when I take it out, and I unload it when I bring it back. So that top round gets unloaded and reloaded many times.

I've noticed that the coating gets completely scratched off by this process. Not sure it's a big deal, but it's making me think I should either switch to FMJFN, to get a more durable jacket, or leave a round in the chamber when I store it, which makes me a bit nervous.

Click to expand...

Bullet lube on the nose is inconsequential. Where it is needed is where it contacts the rifling and that is protected by the cartridge case.

Hardball pistol ammo is not the penetrator people think it is. It is usually a soft, pure lead core with a thin jacket. They deform and often even separate. A good cast bullet is infinitely better than hardball.

A gun isn't the best protection from bears. The absolute best is to go to your State fish and game department and get yourself a bear tag. With that in hand you will be guaranteed to never even see a bear!

Martin248 said:

A gun isn't the best protection from bears. The absolute best is to go to your State fish and game department and get yourself a bear tag. With that in hand you will be guaranteed to never even see a bear!

Click to expand...

This man, he is wise.

I am not saying I couldn't but I have never encountered a bear around here. I did once encounter a wild hog when hunting a friends place in South Georgia. I had seen it earlier while sitting on the stand but couldn't get a shot on it. When it was getting close to dark it occurred to me I wouldn't want to walk across it in the dark so I decided to leave. I no sooner climbed down & got my feet on the ground than it came around a tree headed towards me about 30 yards away. I shouldered my rifle but it ran off the other way oinking like crazy before I could get on it with the scope. At the time I was carrying a XD-40. When I went back & hunted there after that I carried a Dan Wesson .357 with a 4" barrel. Maybe I should invest in some of the hotter ammo. I was just carrying 158 grain semi-jacketed soft point ammunition

My Smith & Wesson Mountain Gun in .45 Colt.