9mm, .45acp, or .357 mag

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If I lived in BC non of those pistols. They would probably make the bear madder at you.
Get a 454 casull or 500sw caliber pistol or do not shoot at the bear in the first place. I shoot all these caliber pistols and the 9, 45, and 357 are pretty weeny. 357 being the best of those three if you load it up hot with good bullets.
 
Of the three you mentioned, the .357 would out penetrate the others with the proper load, like a 180 or 200 grain hard cast SWC or FP.
 
If you are talking Home Defense and bear defense, I would say get a 12GA, but what do I know. As far as a carry pistol to protect you from people, all of them :) I'm sorry but the only think I know about bears is that a few friends hunt them sucessfully with a 30-06.
 
I'd have two guns. The second would work for either animal, and the first would work where there are no bear.
 
sureshot said:
For general defense and bear defense what would be a good choice?
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Against a Brownie? Get some kind of noisemaker quality bear spray and pray there is climbable tree when one takes special interest in you.
 
For general defense - what ever you can shoot accuratley. Bear - Get bear mace....shooting it might piss it off.
 
I use .45 for general defense. I also have a .357 I use for backpacking, camping because I dont want to carry a hand cannon. Buffalo Bore makes an anti-bear load for the .357. I carry that and hope I dont have to use it. I live in Black Bear land though, which is not the same as Grizzlyville, Canada.
 
Lots of the Alaska hunters I know feel comfortable with a .357 for dealing with black bears - especially given the advice of some Buffalo Bore rounds. As for bear spray - the tourists use that - Alaskans use firearms.

Also, there was the guy who took a brown at Denali National Park last spring with a .45
 
The defence rounds you would use aginst two legged predators are totaly different then the ones you would use on a large dangerous anamal. I would use a flat point heavy FMJ on a bear to ensure that I could hit the vitals even it I grazed a bone on the way through. 230gr .45 ACPs 180gr .40 S&Ws and 115gr 9mm FMJs all penatrate about 27" of ballistics gel with standard loads. That is about twice what a defence hollowpoint will penatrate.
 
@ AKpastor is there a link to an article on that? Be an interesting read.
@ Kachok so a .45 acp with flat point fmj's would be sufficient to down a black bear and the occasional griz.
Im don't want to have to use a gun I'd be buying it as a just in case.
 
Not many griz where I am mostly blacks. I was looking at the glock that comes in a .357 think it's a g32
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Despite marketing claims, the .357 Mag and the .357 Sig are not the same beast. You would be hard pressed to find Sig loads that will work as well as Mag for bear. You need heavy hardcast 180g-200g @ 1300-1200 fps for bear, and the Sig loads just won't do that.
 
you could try buffalo bore jsp +p 330gr in a 45lc. but 44 magnum much cheaper with same performance.
 
For general defense any of the mentioned calibers would be fine with a good JHP load. For bear defense I don't know that anything in the normal service calibers would be great. Have bears been killed by these calibers? Sure. But for a bear I wouldn't want a pistol. A shotgun with slugs or a rifle. If you need a handgun for bear I have a friend that has a ranch in Wyoming. I guess their are some nasty bears out there. He carries a 454 revolver. Barring my first choice of a shotgun or large caliber rifle a 454, 460, or 500 S&W might be good choices.
I hike quite a bit. Usually have my G30 with me. For two and four legged predators. Run Winchester Rangers 230gr. +P's in the first mag. Have 13 rounds of harball in a back up G21 mag. The bears here in Tennessee are smaller than th ones out West. But about a year ago one killed a lady in East Tennessee. Might want to condsider a Glock 29. Small gun with a big 10mm bite. You can get a conversion kit to shoot .40 out of it. You could use .40 for general carry and the 10mm where you might come into contact with a bear. I've seen bears 4 times in all my years of hiking. We both went our seperate ways thank God!
 
Of the three you mention here's my choice and why, 357 is sort-a hard to find and 45 is too pricey for me so I would do the 9mm for SD. As far a bear I know nothing so can't offer an opinion.
 
357 is fine for black bear, 9mm would be ok. They are not anything close to a grizzly and you do want to fight them if they come after you (grizzlies mostly not) .

41 magnum is a better choice in place of a 44 magnum for grizzly (better penetration).

Like any gun its a tool, use it in the wrong situation and you are toast. Trees are your first best friend.

We had a guy take a grizzly down with a 9mm, lucky, so.....
 
General defense? Any of them, as long as you can put rounds on target

Bears? Something more powerful. .44mag if it has to be a pistol (obviously a long gun would be best, but may not be an option)
 
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