The age-old discussion over which handgun is best for bear defense is finally settled

[Vern Humphrey]

Who lives in Alaska and doesn't own a rifle?

Well, I was gonna say Petaluma P. Prissypants, head of the Alaska chapter of PETA -- but she was eaten by a bear last week.

 

[Big Shrek]

Who lives in Alaska and doesn't own a rifle?

Usually those referred to in past tense...as in, They Lived in Alaska before a bear ate them...

 

[Cee Zee]

All I have to do is out run you! She didn't see the humor.

Did you tell her it wasn't supposed to be funny?

BTW Karamojo Bell killed just over one thousand elephants and not one of them was charging him at the time. He was a smart hunter that knew how to position himself to avoid any problems. For example he was known to shoot one elephant then climb up on it and shoot more knowing the other elephants wouldn't come at him on top of the dead one. H was a really wild character that made a ton of money selling ivory before WWI mostly. Think Buffalo Bill but with elephants.

Africa was largely unexplored by Europeans at the time but Bell knew how to play politics with the tribal chiefs. He was known to bribe them and also anyone that could direct him to find elephants to shoot. He would give a cow to anyone that found him 5 elephants to kill. He also shot a mountain of game animals for food for his safaris. He was a smart guy who knew just where to shoot elephants to kill them too and he could put his bullets where he wanted. It wouldn't even be legal now to hunt with the rifles he used. Amazing stuff. He was one of the great white hunters we heard about in the Tarzan movies long ago. I'm just glad he didn't kill all of them.

 

[burk]

The reality is he was damn lucky. On those big costal Brownies many feel under gunned with 44. I carry a 29 4" with 320 grain +P+ pushing 1400 fps in Bear country. I have met a couple of state hunters in AK, most of their shots are inside of 75 yards and they both carry 375 H&H rifles. One told me of a bear he shot that had 5 .38 special rounds in his chest area, none of which had penetrated deeply enough to do any damage. The bear had put the shooter in ICU the day before, and didn't let him reload his pocket pistol. Sure you could kill a bear with a .45, 9mm, or 40. But if I'm trying to stop an 800 pound plus animal that can move almost 40 mph at a short distance with rounds that don't consistently stop humans, that would make me a Darwin nominee for sure.

I will say this much, after making the switch to Glock as my one platform for SD guns I am intrigued by the 10mm. But that's still a whole different level of stopper, especially in hot loads, than common SD pistol calibers. The recoil from a non-ported 29 shooting those big loads is brutal.

 

[obx-shooter]

We are swamped with black bears around my neck of the woods ... and after a couple of stand-offs where large bears wouldn't yield the path while I was coming from bow hunting stands at night I began carrying a Glock 29 stuffed with Underwood loads.

I wouldn't feel cocky with my Glock 20 in brown bear country but would feel I had a fighting chance with Underwood's 220 gr flatpoints clocking around 1270 fps ... Seriously more powerful than any .45 acp ...

 

[Hurryin' Hoosier]

The only defense which you need against bears comes from Lambeau Field.

 

[Cee Zee]

I carry a 629 for the black bears in my neck of the woods. Well actually I don't live in my house now but I hope to go back some day soon. We had a bunch of black bears hanging around when my brilliant neighbor decided he wanted photos of deer eating the corn he put out. I bet he was surprised to see something a little darker in his game camera shots.

I also have black bears on my farm so I don't go there without taking something serious just in case. No way I would count on a .38. I carried a .45 while riding my ATV for years but I had that mostly for 2 legged skunks. When the bears started showing up I moved up the food chain a caliber or two.

I don't know much about brown bears except what I read. I know the black bears around my home aren't exactly scared by humans that much. They get more brave all the time too. I want something that will give them a serious headache. BTW I only shoot the hard cast 255 gr. "Keith" cartridges made by Buffalo Bore in my 629. Those revolvers are known to not tolerate the heavier loads well. They will get out of timing from the heavy recoil. They just were never designed to shoot loads that hot. Those hot +P+ loads were made for cast metal guns like the Rugers. I suppose if I only needed one shot I wouldn't mind using the heavier rounds but I might miss and I'd hate to have my gun fail to operate on my second try.

 

[JohnKSa]

If you ask Garen Brenner, he'll tell you that you don't need a .45 to stop a grizzly charge. He used a 9mm on the one he killed.

http://peninsulaclarion.com/stories/081902/ala_081602ala0040001.shtml

Brenner fired twice at the center of the hulking shape closing to four or five feet away. The sow, estimated at 400 to 450 pounds, went down. Brenner then put three more bullets into her head.

He used a 9 mm semiautomatic pistol.​

 

[jimbo555]

Shot placement and adequate penetration!

 

[627PCFan]

The moral of the story is when the chips are down, you run-what-you-brung and hope it works out.

 

[Hunter2011]

Suddenly I feel very well armed with my 9mm.
Just shows you, any caliber can work if you use it right. His mate with a much more powerfull shotgun, did not even use the shotgun. The old saying ''its the indian, not the arrow'' makes much more sense now...

 

[Big Shrek]

Suddenly I feel very well armed with my 9mm.
Just shows you, any caliber can work if you use it right. His mate with a much more powerfull shotgun, did not even use the shotgun. The old saying ''its the indian, not the arrow'' makes much more sense now...

Correct...however, if I'm facing any bear, I wanna full-auto belt-fed party machine in 7.62 or higher.
Bears don't always move predictable...and they are deceptively fast.

In a pinch, my 10mm is comfortable...I've had to scare off a black bear who got curious
while I was cleaning an arrowed hog...3 rapid shots into the dirt got him running away...
glad that's all that happened, but if the shots had failed, 14 more rounds ready to go (+2 extensions on my mags)

 

[Hunter2011]

All I can say is I am glad there are no bears in my country! I will sh$t myself so much that the bear would not want to eat me
Seriously though. I will rather face a bear than the serious crime we are having here. One bear, or 6 guys storming your house, armed with automatic rifles. I'll take the bear every time.

 

[gun_with_a_view]

Lewis said such a low-caliber gun (9mm) ordinarily doesn't pack enough punch to kill a bear. But Brenner loaded the pistol with full-metal-jacket bullets that penetrated to the bear's vital organs, he said

The story in the Clarion destroyed the myth of the hollow point bullet. The FBI SOP expouses that penetration is more important than expansion. This event proves it. Now to translate the bear kill data in to the ideal caliber of round ball and wadcutter ammo against the human body.