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Old 06-08-2011, 10:36 AM
off road off road is offline
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Default Bear Defense-Mixing Ammunition!

There seems to be two camps when it comes to dangerous game handgun ammunition. One is relying on the deep penetration of cast solids, and the other prefers a well constructed jacketed bullet that can expand and create massive tissue damage.

Our revolvers have 6 chambers, so why not mix it up and get the best of both worlds? From my way of thinking, a solid is excellent if you can manage to make a CNS shot (brain or spine) or by chance hit a major blood vessel (feeling lucky?)....otherwise, all you are doing is making a small hole. On the other hand if you miss the CNS (highly likely!), you are best off using a hollowpoint to create massive tissue damage, to disrupt organs and the circulatory system, and cause great blood loss.

A solution (.44 Mag in black bear country) I have been considering, is to load the first two chambers with Hornady 240 gr XTP, followed by four Federal 300 gr CastCore. Create lots of tissue damage with the hollow point, then if necessary finish him off with a hopefully well placed cast bullet, to the CNS.

A must read (JJHack posts)! http://forums.accuratereloading.com/...10798#43810798

Last edited by off road; 06-08-2011 at 03:18 PM.
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Old 06-10-2011, 04:58 PM
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I prefer heavy solids all the time...not sure an XTP would penetrate a brown bear's hide enough and they pose the greater threat in my neck of the woods. Hope I never have to find out!
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Old 06-10-2011, 08:18 PM
old curmudgeon old curmudgeon is offline
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Check Cor-Bon. For the .45 Colt, they have a 300 gr. jacketed lead soft nose that is supposed to penetrate like a solid ball before it begins to expand.

It is loaded pretty hot for the .45 Colt and is recommended for very few pistols other than Rugers.

However, I suspect they have a similar load for the .44.

It is said that it will kill any game animal found on the North American Continent.
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Old 06-11-2011, 11:07 AM
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I would use and recommend nothing but a heavy hard cast solid if you are talking about bears, either brown or black. You HAVE to have penetration to break bones, penetrate the skull and reach the vitals, especially with a handgun. Some heavy Buffalo Bore solids would get the job done as a HP or JSP might not reach them due to expansion, especially when the fall bears are full of salmon and have 4 inches of fat on them.

Them 240's might not penetrate the skull or bust a shoulder on a charging brownie and them bears run at 30 mph. I never relied on a handgun as my primary weapon for bear protection while outdoors when I lived on Kodiak and Baranof Islands in Alaska for 7 years. Neither did my Fish and Game friends. Always had my .338 Winchester or Remington 870 with me and my .41 loaded with hard cast solids as a last ditch effort revolver to protect myself from them big guys. Saw a 8' Kodiak take 3 .300 Win Mags to bring it down. First shot was a double lunger as it missed the left shoulder, second a gut and the thing ran 80 measure paces before it dropped and it was still breathing when we carefully approached it from uphill. My bud finished it off with a head shot.

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