Groo here
A dog that has not run off after the pain or the noise of a shot
is going to be a lot harder to stop than some might think..
Range will be short [point contact] so hitting will not be a problem,
like in a knife fight..
I would think that a good hard bullet,jacket.plated,or cast 158gr would
go deep enough at 1000 or so without beating you up much.
The biggest thing with HP's is that they slow down quickly
when they expand and are less than a threat to others.
Unlike people, animals do not decide to give up, so a hit to the brain
or spine is the only real " stop" everything else is just a bleed out.
Look at where you live [how many people ,how close]
The threat [how big, how heavy the skull, how far away-how much time you have]
And how much kick [pain] you can take,,, and chose..
Like Bear-- body shots are too slow to take effect
range will be short [ as you are being chewed on]
reloads are not important [ will be over by the time your empty]
you will not feel the gun go off and you will shoot fast as you can,
Kick is not a factor in speed when shooting inches instead of yards.
Ok Any 158 gr hp sp or cast magnum will work,
and you will get bit..