bdg146
Member
A few months ago I bought my first handgun, a Ruger P90 (.45 caliber for those that aren't familiar). My primary reason for buying a handgun was to have something to carry while hunting/hiking, and also to get more familiar with handguns so that I can someday carry on a regular basis. Admittedly, I didn't inform myself as much as I probably should have, and went with a .45 basically because it was the biggest number there. So onto my question:
What semi-auto caliber do you think would be best for self-defense against animals, particularly black bears? I know that they tend to be more scared of you than you are of them, but I always worried about walking up on a mama bear while hiking, in which case there's a good chance she could become aggressive. After learning what I've learned since then, I'm kind of leaning towards a better penetrating caliber, such as .357sig or .40. Obviously .44 mag would be optimal, but I was looking for an semi-auto at the time.
Financially, I'm kind of stuck with the .45 at the moment. So another question I have is what ammo would you carry if you were me? I have some .45 JHP +P rounds, which would offer a higher velocity and therefore higher penetration. But then again, a standard-pressure FMJ round would probably penetrate better than any JHP, right?
I guess it's worth mentioning that I'm located in Pennsylvania, and most of the time I spend in the woods is in the South Central part of the state. Some bears get pretty big around there, but the typical adult black bear is probably somewhere in the 300-400 lb range, so nothing enormous.
Just looking for some opinions to better-educate myself on what I should load up with next time I take a trip out in the woods. Thanks!
What semi-auto caliber do you think would be best for self-defense against animals, particularly black bears? I know that they tend to be more scared of you than you are of them, but I always worried about walking up on a mama bear while hiking, in which case there's a good chance she could become aggressive. After learning what I've learned since then, I'm kind of leaning towards a better penetrating caliber, such as .357sig or .40. Obviously .44 mag would be optimal, but I was looking for an semi-auto at the time.
Financially, I'm kind of stuck with the .45 at the moment. So another question I have is what ammo would you carry if you were me? I have some .45 JHP +P rounds, which would offer a higher velocity and therefore higher penetration. But then again, a standard-pressure FMJ round would probably penetrate better than any JHP, right?
I guess it's worth mentioning that I'm located in Pennsylvania, and most of the time I spend in the woods is in the South Central part of the state. Some bears get pretty big around there, but the typical adult black bear is probably somewhere in the 300-400 lb range, so nothing enormous.
Just looking for some opinions to better-educate myself on what I should load up with next time I take a trip out in the woods. Thanks!