This thread has to contain some of the funniest statements I've ever read about bears and firearms. I've shot one black and one brown, from "ambush", black bear from ground blind over bait and brown bear across a canyon at 215 yards. The calibers were no less than .366 (9.3x62mm) and .416 Taylor. No one wanted to try my heavy rifle but the guide was quite glad at the bang-flop brown bear. I carred a .45 Colt Redhawk 5.5" on the first hunt with Buffalo Bore 325 grain hard cast bullets at 1250fps and I carried a S&W Mountain Gun 4" 44 Mag with 325 grain Garret hard cast at around 1250 fps. 40 S&W wasn't even remotely in my thinking. I have downsized to a 10mm Glock 20 with 200 grain hardcast Double Tap bullets at 1200 fps for one moose hunt, not expecting any trouble except humans I guess.

Bears should never be allowed to carry Glocks.

I was talking to a Navajo game ranger a while back, and he had killed several sheep-killing bears already for the year. He used his issued AR-15 with 55 grain FMJs. He'd just shoot 'em until they tipped over.

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“What you got, ain’t new.”

and how fast and how far can the different types of bears run? The claws was scary funny!

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Hue 68 noli me tangere

I met a big old Grizz once up on the High Line Mt. Ask him what he thought the best defense for bears was? He said "pepper spray". I said "don't you think a gun is better". He said "Na guns hurt a bit but the pepper spray makes um spicy, and I like spicy. I go 3 inch 629, 280gr Horny jacketed and 22.5gr 2400. Never killed a griz yet but I feel better in the steep and deep.

I don't know about you, but I'm carrying a picnic basket just in case!

Lions and tigers and bears, oh my! Now that I've brought up lions, I can tell one of my favorite hunting stories. A town guy and I were hunting elk in Colorado, and while hiking a mountain trail to get to a semi-flat area, we found a really nice cat track. He got real nervous until I explained to him that cougars hunted a large area, and usually made the rounds about every 7 days. He said "Oh. How old is that track?" When I told him "A week.", I thought I had lost a partner for that hunt!

Isn't .40 an almost exact ballistic equal of .38/40? Never heard .38/40 described as weak. Dean

You'd certainly have had me looking over my shoulder!

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James L. "Jim" Rhiner

While I carry a Freedom Arms Model 97 45 Colt (300-grain Saeco SWC-GC @ 1150 fps), it is mostly so I won't be saying, If only . . ." as the grizzly was doing his thing to me.

Four years ago on the first day of "shed" season at the game refuge three miles from my home, a man was attacked by a grizzly sow. He hit three of his shots with his 44 Magnum. The sow ran off. Approximately nine hours later, she was killed by two forest rangers using large bore rifles.

As a grizzly defense mechanism when woods wandering, a LARGE handgun is superior to not having one. As a grizzly defense mechanism when field dressing and/or quartering your elk, it is useless. Greasy, bloody hands, squatting, kneeling, or stooping, with your attention on the job at hand, you have zero chance of using your weapon. The only reasonable grizzly defense mechanism is your hunting partner standing watch while you do the work.

Hope this helps.

If I have my choice when facing a Grizzly, I will take an M-79, with a 7 ½ inch .44 Mag for a backup.

If you must use a semi auto for this, the 10 mm Glock 20 or 40 would be my choice. The semi autos chambered in magnum revolver cartridges are too cumbersome and not particularly reliable.

In 1973 my cousin took me (22yo)to Vermont where my uncle's were hunting for decades. Upon arrival we had lunch and headed up into the mountains after getting our licenses. There was three different Apple orchards on the side of the mountain. I never been big game hunting.
There was a bird hunter in the lower orchard. We went up the mountain to the farthest orchard and sat on both sides of the orchard we split up. There was 6'+ high grass on one side. The bird hunter left I heard his truck leave. Things got quiet. All of a sudden a bear was coming up towards me in the high grass. I'm hearing the bear grunt while breaking trail towards me. I looked at my Remington semi auto 30-06 and just waited. I signaled my cousin and he made his way to me very quietly. We sat listening to the bear. He came up through the orchards and was 25 feet from us when a little bird in the tree near me sang it's heart out telling the bear we were there. He went down around the orchard and up behind us. We never seen him to get a shot. Now tell me your going to sit that close with a 40cal?
I hope your a good wrestler?

The first time in Vermont, the first time bear hunting. We weren't in the forest an hour and we found a bear. I love stalking its a rush to be so close.

I have only hunted bears with a camera the last few years. First you have to tree them around here.

Now, is he hollering, "Hey y'all, come on down!!"?

Or is he licking his fingers?

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I always take precautions

My dad was doing a wilderness survival training exercise in FL a few decades ago and they took out a gator with a 223 to the head. They ate him for dinner over an open fire. Hah, one of his great stories of his life he'd like to tell us.

In Pennsylvania it is illegal to trade anything for three six packs of beers.

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Vote Responsibly

.40 S&W for bear??? Why all the overkill??

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Well.....there you have it!!! The .25 is the best bear round

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James L. "Jim" Rhiner

Nope, that's more than is needed.

Bella Twin killed a much bigger bear. Grizzle Bear. 1953. Held the world's record for several years. Used a single-shot 22 Long. Not a repeater. Not a Long Rifle. A Long.



What .22 Rifle did Bella Twin use to Kill a World Record Grizzly in 1953?

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I always take precautions

Yeah, but she used a rifle.

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Just remember to lubricate gun with bacon grease.....

The way I heard it...she shot out the tire on a semi and the tractor killed the bear...