.44 black powder revolver load for black bear

You sir, have much bigger stones than I - I could not conceive of hunting bear with a black powder revolver.

the most u can fit id have a spare cylinder loaded to if u got one more

Personally, I would not hunt bear with a black powder revolver.

Did it once long ago. Not bear, but feral pig. Used Pyrodex P and the Lee cast conical in a Ruger Old Army. Won't do it again.

Not enough gun!

Think I would see how much 3f Hodgdon 777 will fit into the chambers compressed under a ball.
Have a buddy along with a 12ga loaded with slugs or another large caliber rifle - 300wm, 45-70, etc.

I've taken some "odd" guns deer hunting (M1A, AK47, 54 cal Lyman Great Plains) - haven't killed anything yet...

Good morning,
If I had to go Black Bear Hunting using a black powder revolver, it would have to be a Goonerized Walker stuffed to the gills with a potent 3F powder and the heaviest lead ball I could use. Even then, that is a 'Horse' revolver, not a 'Bear' sidearm. Be extremely careful if you do take your Remington Model 1858 on such a hunt.
regards!

I've hunted with handguns all my life but this is not something I'd do with the soft round ball out of a percussion revolver. The things that make the swaged roundball out of a revolver a bad choice for black bear are only made worse with more velocity. Make it a .45Colt conversion with a 250-275gr hardcast SWC or WFN at 900fps and you can kill black bears all day long with it.

guys our ancestors did it back then so whats the difference now??

I’d skip the ball for a wide meplat and a bit of weight, and I’d use 3F Olde Eynsford, Swiss, or Triple 7.

From the few chronographed results online these pistols can achieve or surpass standard .45 ACP performance with the right powders. With a weighed 33 grns of 3F Olde E, which is my more accurate load for hunting (it will certainly take another 7-9 grns) and my 195 grn WFN bullet I’m likely getting about 400 ft/lbs of energy.

http://accuratemolds.com/bullet_detail.php?bullet=45-195C-D.png

I wouldn’t feel very comfortable using a lighter bullet like that though. I’d want more, and I’d also prefer a bit more powder capacity. But if I had a suitable backup of some sort I’d possibly try it.

come to think of it they at one time only had 51' navy's in 36 caliber and I bet some hogs and bears met their match against one!

They had the Dragoon as well, and there’s historical writing of one used to kill a grizzly (smaller one IIRC). The .36 cals were used by other soldiers and when the thing was skinned they found the .36 couldn’t penetrate through the fat layer. They were extremely ineffective.

Something I wanted to add was that I would also want a little alloy to harden this bullet. You want all the penetration you can get. I’m not sure how hard it can be made before it effects the loading lever assembly, but Kaido cast his bullets at something like 7-9 BHN IIRC whereas soft lead is 5.

Bear hunting with a black powder revolver is not a good idea. Bring a rifle for god's sake!

midland man said:

guys our ancestors did it back then so whats the difference now??

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Our ancestors did it because they needed to eat and had nothing better available. This sounds too much like the story my late uncle used to tell of when he lived on the Reservation and this city people decided he was going to kill a bison with a spear "like his ancestors did." Luckily for him he was followed by Lakota that used a weapon his ancestors used. A rifle stolen from the US Army.

maint1517 said:

Thanks for all the information and opinions. This was what I was looking for. I believe I will just use my .357 that first week. It's dropped them before.
Thanks guys

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tell you what maint1517 I would take the bp revolver with backup like that 357m and try the bp revolver but if you see you need more firepower then use the modern pistol as a finisher...

Drobs, a Lyman Great Plains rifle is not a odd weapon to take hunting. I've killed deer with my own 54 Hawken flinter [ yea I know a Hawken flintlock has never been found ], my 12ga [ 715 RB] Matchlock, my 12ga Tradegun, a couple of other caplock rifles I made, and a 50 cal SS pistol I made. Now I would consider a AK-47 odd for deer hunting. Actually, the only deer I've taken are with MLers or long bows. Anything else would be odd.

maint1517 said:

Thanks for all the information and opinions. This was what I was looking for. I believe I will just use my .357 that first week. It's dropped them before.
Thanks guys

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Just borrow the .44 Mag and get it done.

Jim

paul harm said:

Now I would consider a AK-47 odd for deer hunting.

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Why would a 7.62 x 39mm be odd for deer hunting? Just because it is a newer weapon and not admired like a 94 lever in deer camp? People have been killing deer with a 30-30 for decades, and it is a much less efficient cartridge.

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rodwha said:

I’d skip the ball for a wide meplat and a bit of weight, and I’d use 3F Olde Eynsford, Swiss, or Triple 7.

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Yep.

I hike and walk and shoot off the forest trails around here and use the conical below. We have black bear and puma around here a'plenty. With 30 grains of T7 and that conical a mountain lion would be dead but not so sure about a bear. It would at least dissuade an attack. Regarding bear - my own purposes are purely defensive and I feel safe but I don't think I'd be hunting no bear with just my pistols. A intriguing notion though and they do work on pigs, after all - but bear are tough as old cobs;

From Accurate Molds.

paul harm said:

Drobs, a Lyman Great Plains rifle is not a odd weapon to take hunting. I've killed deer with my own 54 Hawken flinter [ yea I know a Hawken flintlock has never been found ], my 12ga [ 715 RB] Matchlock, my 12ga Tradegun, a couple of other caplock rifles I made, and a 50 cal SS pistol I made. Now I would consider a AK-47 odd for deer hunting. Actually, the only deer I've taken are with MLers or long bows. Anything else would be odd.

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The deer thought is was odd, when I cocked the hammer and they both ran into the woods in 2 different directions...

midland man said:

guys our ancestors did it back then so whats the difference now??

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Our ancestors did what, exactly? We have 100yrs of handgun hunting with cartridge firearms to draw from. We don't have to guess what works and what doesn't. What is effective and what is a stunt. There are plenty of blackpowder handguns that would be effective on bear but a .44 cap `n ball revolver is not one of them.

expat_alaska said:

Why would a 7.62 x 39mm be odd for deer hunting? Just because it is a newer weapon and not admired like a 94 lever in deer camp? People have been killing deer with a 30-30 for decades, and it is a much less efficient cartridge.

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The .30-30 is "less" than the 7.62x39 in what way, exactly???

He didn't say the 7.62x39 is an odd cartridge but that the AK is an odd rifle. It has a short barrel, very short sight radius, less than wonderful accuracy, a terrible trigger and a 30rd magazine. All that makes it "odd" for hunting, unless you're an elephant poacher.