380 for Self Defense?

Appears nobody here has heard of a Flame Thrower?

Has anyone actually heard of an incident where someone fired any firearm in the general direction or vicinity of a black bear, that did not end with the bear just taking off? We have them in our neighborhood and all over the area, but never hear of any real problems. They are big though, so - it is something to keep a check on.

film495 said:

Has anyone actually heard of an incident where someone fired any firearm in the general direction or vicinity of a black bear, that did not end with the bear just taking off? We have them in our neighborhood and all over the area, but never hear of any real problems. They are big though, so - it is something to keep a check on.

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We lived in black bear (and occasional grizzly) country for 19 years. We were living in a tent camper while we were building. One night when we first got there my wife heard the lid come off the galvanized garbage can we had dog food in. She thought it was a porcupine and went out to shoo it away. She came back in, woke me up and said there was a bear out there, a BIG bear. I went out and sure enough there was a 500+ bear munching dog food. His head pretty well filled the garbage can. I shone a flash light on him and talked him back away, he backed up about 10 feet. I got a 357 Ruger security six out of the car and went back to bed. He immediately pinged off the lid again and resumed eating. Went back out, talked to him again, he sat up on his haunches and looked at me. We were about the same height. I put a shot right near his ear and he went back into the woods and I put the lid back on. Well this was repeated 3 more times and we thought he was gone for good. About 10 or 15 minutes later we heard him coming back from the east, so I put a shot near him and that was the end of it. I didn't want to shoot him with the loads I had in the gun, a 146 gr Speer half jacket, not a good bear bullet, and he was right next to the camper where my wife was sleeping. This bear had bothered a neighbor, killing one of his German Shepard dogs and maiming the other. I told the story in town and the grocery store owners son wanted to shoot a bear, and asked if he could come on our land, I said ok. He and another young man brought up some bait and set it up about 200 yards from our camp. They came up in the evening in an open jeep with a German Shepard. They stayed about 15 or 20 minutes and left. Later we heard that they were hearing bears coming from all directions, got scared and left. Never came back. Our dog shared the bait with ravens, leaving only the apples. I checked the bait site for about a month until one day the apples were gone and there was a nice pile of bear scat nearby. That wily old boar never did get shot, I presume he finally died of natural causes. He cruised pretty much every night and always beat us to the best berry bushes etc.

So what does this story tell us? Black bears don't like to have guns shot near their ears.

Good story. I was at my Mom's house and she had found this show - and the guy basically was bear patrol for this area, not sure where - but, basically he would scare off bears that came into the housing areas of this place. He had all sorts of stuff to scare off black bears - he would shoot them with rubber pellets from a firearm. Kind of wonder if you have a smaller caliber handgun, even a .22 - if you just rattled several rubber loads at a black bear how quickly it would turn and exit.

Armored farmer said:

Not in my opinion.
I have spent about 6 weeks in the black bear mecca of central Ontario. Five of those weeks were totally unarmed except for my fillet knife and trusty tomahawk. My wife and kids on trails after dark carrying stringers of fish. Believe me I would have felt better with any kind of gun, even an lcp....but it ain't happening in Canada. I didnt want to try to cross the border with a carbine in the off season either, so nothing but my 'hawk.
The only actual bears we saw was at the dump (now that i think about it, the big ol' boar was sort of a local hero because he had survived being wounded by a city cop who shot him with his 9mm)
Bear tracks at every Portage, bear poop on the trails. Claw marks on fuel cans and chewed up ATV seats.
We survived.

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If I do something like that, my plan was a cheap 12 gauge loaded with slugs. Apparently from what I've read it's the best and easiest to get over the border for bear defence

film495 said:

Good story. I was at my Mom's house and she had found this show - and the guy basically was bear patrol for this area, not sure where - but, basically he would scare off bears that came into the housing areas of this place. He had all sorts of stuff to scare off black bears - he would shoot them with rubber pellets from a firearm. Kind of wonder if you have a smaller caliber handgun, even a .22 - if you just rattled several rubber loads at a black bear how quickly it would turn and exit.

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It would probably work.....til it didn't.

Personally if I have a bear acting at all agressive I would rather have the nuclear fatal option. Bear are wild animals and unpredictable

I in the shoot your friend in the leg with your .380 and run like hell camp.

As always, shot placement is paramount. Here is a link to an Ammoland article about an Indian woman who killed a grizzly with a .22: https://www.ammoland.com/2017/06/be...-world-record-grizzly-and-more/#axzz699EWLveR. The incident is well documented and the article includes a photo of the bear's skull. Note that she did not shoot the bear in the forehead in mid charge.

I spend summers camping in bear country. I saw a couple, one over 400 lbs. A smaller one tipped over my garbage. I walk down trails in the woods and unless I am hunting I am unarmed usually. People have been killed by black bears in my state but it is so rare I don't worry about it. A .380 is better than nothing as most bears are under 400 lbs., I had to wonder about shooting a bear under the jaw. Most bears on all fours are not much taller than a big dog and the jaw is tilted down. If carrying a .380 makes you feel better do it. Stray dogs are more common and dangerous anyway. I would be more concerned about wolves, cougars, rabid critters and outlaws near where I camp.

Trey Veston said:

A guy I know ran across a Muslim terrorist cell while camping in the woods. All he had was a Ruger 10/22 in the tent. I was the middleman between him and the area FBI agent that he reported the incident to back when I was with Department of Homeland Security. Scary stuff. One in a million encounter and no shots fired, obviously. But he now packs an AR-15 when camping, lol.

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Great!
Probably won't be long before we're dealing with Muslim terrorist/ meth head hybrids.

You have to shoot him in his toothless head to avoid touching off his suicide vest!

I'm not sure a .380 is good for that either,...

I can't bear this thread anymore as it descended into silliness. Time to throw it under the rug. Bear with me on this bare exercise of mod discretion.

Closed.