Hunting Grizzly Bear with a handgun

[bobby68]

I just read a thread speculating about handgun cartridges for grizzly bear defense. I know there are even more threads on the subject, but the discussion made me wonder of the need for hands on testing of handguns to kill grizzly bear.

I'm not promoting the indescriminate slaughter of the grizzly population, but it does seem that some hunting of Grizzlies might be done from time to time, at least to destroy problem bears. Can anyone tell me if this is so? Are Grizzly bears ever hunted?

Also, one person suggested that the Alaskan grizzly attacks were different than the Grizzly in the lower 48's. Why would that be?

 

[justnuts]

Here's a very interesting article/account of hunting an Alaskan brown bear with the 500 Smith...

http://www.biggamehunt.net/sections/Alaska/Handgun_Hunting_the_Alaskan_Brown_Bear_02050401.html

 

[munk]

A Costal Brown can weigh more than a 1000 pounds. A mountain grizzly in Montana, is likely to weigh half that. (give or take a few pounds)

People do hunt Grizzlies with a handgun. They usually have back up with a guide who likes a 375 or 416 rifle. There is a difference between what can dispatch an unarroused Bear and what is appropriate if he's wounded, enraged, and coming your way.

munk

 

[happy old sailor]

yep, lots of dangerous difference in a mad charging bear and one eating berries. these things are far bigger than lions and meaner and tougher. who would purposely hunt lion with a handgun? if i hunt either i want a GUN and i dont trust my life to a backup guide. do it the first shot, the only way for any game. even a rabbit deserves to be killed humanely.

 

[4v50 Gary]

Thanks for the link JustNuts. In that article, the first bear took 10 hits from the .50 S&W and two hits from a 45-70 before going down. The 2nd (and smaller) bear took 3 hits.

Sure I'd use a .50 S&W and only a .50 S&W - provided I was 50 feet up in air in the relativel safety of a hovering helicopter where his paws with claws and jaws with flesh ripping teeth are far away from this coward.

 

[Standing Wolf]

I knew a fellow in northern Michigan quite a few years ago who brought down a brown bear with a six-shot .22 magnum. That most emphatically was not a grizzly bear—but big and scary enough, thanks all the same.

 

[Paul "Fitz" Jones]

41 mag mold customers eat deer bear and moose

I have been selling my 1970's California Saeco 4 cavity Mold collection since I was associated with the Saeco company and designed some bullets. I have lower 48 customers use the 220 grain bullets for deer and Alaskan customer would't step outside his cabin for firewood with out his .41 on his hip. He regularly shoots bear and moose for his winter meat supply and says the 41 is a sweet shooting pistol and he would never use a 44 because of the excessive recoil and blast when his 41 does the job nicely.

I have been selling my collection off to friends and elsewhere and they won't last long and I have two not spoken for I thought to sell with my pair of Smith model 58's but the buyers may not reload so I can let them go.

The Alaskan does not have a problem freezing his winter meat supply at all. And it does attract more meat to his table.

Thanks Paul

 

[munk]

I like the 41, my favorite calibre, though cannot vouch for it's effectiveness on Grizzly. It seems from reading this thread and countless like it, that two things occur:

The bear is dispatched fairly quickly.
The bear is not dispatched quickly, and then whatever firepower you have in hand is suddenly not adequate.

I guess the 500 Smith is not the miracle answer to that.






munk

 

[PowderBurn]

I just don't like the act of going after a grizzly on purpose with a handgun. It's one thing to have one on you in case a bear attacks, but to stalk one with such a marginal weapon seems to reek of machismo more than sportsmanship. Two guys blazing away from 15 yards at this doomed animal is just sad. And I'm not particularly sentimental.

 

[bad LT]

Almost as crazy as hunting Grizzly Bears with a knife... A pistol is used to fight your way to a real gun (in this case the biggest, baddest rifle you can shoot straight).

 

[Vern Humphrey]

As I recall, the president of Smith and Wesson killed all sorts of critters with the then-new .357 Magnum before WWII.

If I wanted to hunt griz with a handgun, my Ruger Blackhawk in .45 Colt -- loaded to the gills with a max charge of Li'l Gun and a hard 300 grain wide flat nose would be what I would pick.

I would want to be backed up by someone with a big rifle -- but I'd want that if I were using a .458 Lott, too.

 

[Preacherman]

So where can I get a full-auto S&W 500?

 

[CoolRide]

There is not a gun that I can think of that I would feel safer with for a griz than my 500 mag. Good clean shot, or two ,or three (as with most any gun) and it will go down.....I think

 

[unspellable]

Bears & helicopters

Going after a bear with a helicopter does not ensure safety.

In a past life I was in the doodle bugging business. (geo-physical survey) Up in the north the guys were cruising from point A to point B in a chopper when they saw a polar bear. They started chasing the bear. After enough of this they went their way and parked the chopper. Left it and took a hike over the hill.

Seems the bear resented the harassment. They returned to find the bear methodically ripping everything out of the instrument panel. Funny as h**l from this perspective, but when you are sitting miles from nowhere in the artic with a dead chopper it's no joke.

 

[Mad Man]

Hunting Grizzly Bear with a handgun

Grizzly bears are dangerous.

A Grizzly bear with a handgun is even more so. Don't even think about hunting him.

[Insert "keep and arm bears" joke here]

 

[Nitram68]

My father felt safe enough to log in 'bear country' carrying a black hawk loaded with .357. Glad he didn't have to test it out.

Personally, I'd carry a Marlin Guide with 405 gr. Buffalo Bore.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

Quote:
-------------------------------
My father felt safe enough to log in 'bear country' carrying a black hawk loaded with .357. Glad he didn't have to test it out.

Personally, I'd carry a Marlin Guide with 405 gr. Buffalo Bore.
--------------------------------

Phil Shoemaker, who lives in biiiiiig bear country, and has killed many a bear and guided many a hunter, says the .357 with a heavy, hardcast bullet is the best choice.

 

[Cosmoline]

I've also settled on a .357 with hardcast for my sidearm up here. The big boomers are like bricks on your hip, and not too fast on the draw or rapid fire either. If I need something in an emergency and my long gun is sitting on the bank or in the car, I want to be able to drive multiple aimed shots into the bear VERY quickly. The .357 200 grain hardcasts aren't as massive or powerful as the big boomers, but they have a very high sectional density for handgun rounds and will easily penetrate through the front end of any bruin. Plus, I can do rapid fire with them without flinching or breaking my finger bones. This means I can practice doing rapid fire drills, and that's the key. I'm not a big believer in the oft-repeated maxim that you only need to drill with light rounds on the Casulls and .500's because you won't have a problem with recoil in a pinch. I think you will have a problem with it, because frankly it's enormous. You'll be lucky to get a single shot off. With a .357 or .41 Mag you can do speed drills all day.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

If I were HUNTING a bear, I'd carry my Ruger Blackhawk in .45 Colt -- stuffed to the gills with Li'l Gun and a 300 grain cast bullet.

But I carried a Colt M357 during my entire tour as and adviser in Viet Nam, and when I needed it, it did the job. I feel very confident in that gun, with the appropriate loads.

 

[cookekdjr]

I've also settled on a .357 with hardcast for my sidearm up here. The big boomers are like bricks on your hip, and not too fast on the draw or rapid fire either. If I need something in an emergency and my long gun is sitting on the bank or in the car, I want to be able to drive multiple aimed shots into the bear VERY quickly. The .357 200 grain hardcasts aren't as massive or powerful as the big boomers, but they have a very high sectional density for handgun rounds and will easily penetrate through the front end of any bruin. Plus, I can do rapid fire with them without flinching or breaking my finger bones. This means I can practice doing rapid fire drills, and that's the key. I'm not a big believer in the oft-repeated maxim that you only need to drill with light rounds on the Casulls and .500's because you won't have a problem with recoil in a pinch. I think you will have a problem with it, because frankly it's enormous. You'll be lucky to get a single shot off. With a .357 or .41 Mag you can do speed drills all day.
Very smart. Very, very smart.
-David

 

[Paul "Fitz" Jones]

I have converted 1892 Winchesters to .357 Mag

From their original .32/20 calibers. They are light, easy to handle, and a beautiful weapon. I have made some loads for 2,000 fps with 158 Gr California Saeco bullets that I hand cast and have colores all the cases black so my adult kids know not to use them in their revolvers.

On my high altitude Northern California Ranch I have a bear or two wander by every year and we have looked at each other. My dog knew enough to keep his mouth shut and they have gone their way and we went ours and I and my family have not shot one yet.. We hear a number of them also walking through the dry oak leaves in our forest on their way to our creek.

We have left ours alone and they have done the same.