What would be an adequate calibre for a handgun in bear country???

CAJUNLAWYER

CAJUNLAWYER

Member
Joined
Feb 4, 2005
Messages
19,103
Reaction score
63,063
Location
On da Bayou Teche
That "If food was no longer available how long would you last?" thread got me to thinking about bears. What would be the minimum calibre for a bear gun that would be strong enough to stop a charging bear while at the same time fit in a gun light enough to carry all day on my hip?
 
Register to hide this ad
A black bear, .44 and up.

A Grizzly? Before or after he kills you?

.44 Mag up will stop him, but not before he eats you. I've talked to too many guides and grizzly hunters to ever believe any pistol is a high percentage stopper on a Griz. It takes then roughly 3 whole seconds to cover 60 yards. So you figure in a typical brush country encounter you get one, maybe 2 shots....carry a 12 GA w/ 3 inch copper slugs or a 300 up rifle or be Bear poo. Yes, the bear will die from your pistol, after he's cleaned your clock, small victory. JMO.
 
CAJUNLAWYER said:
That "If food was no longer available how long would you last?" thread got me to thinking about bears. What would be the minimum calibre for a bear gun that would be strong enough to stop a charging bear while at the same time fit in a gun light enough to carry all day on my hip?

JMHO no calibre. Charging bear at close range. There is nothing to stop it. 50 BMG might! +3" 12ga 00 buck might with a head shot.

We have all heard the stories of someone, some where another killing a bear with a pistol. Killing a bear; and killing a charging bear are two thery different things.

At close range shot placement tops all. I live in NC so bear, means Black bear. I don't hunt anymore, but when I did I carried a 6" N frame .41 magum. I still have it, and it is a shooter. I can hit what I aim at ~ 25 yards.
Could this kill a bear? Sure
Could this kill a charging bear?. Maybe if I did my part. First round was always "rat shot". Far more likely to run up on a snake, than a bear.
In bear country I myself would not carry less than .357 S&W.

JMHO
Guy22
Click to expand...
 
I'm new to guns, and an armchair hunter, but my brother's father in law hunted bear in Oregon with dogs for most of his life, and I have sat in on a number of bull sessions which makes me a expert if sorts in this field. :D

As far as I know, other than the off hunter who happens to stumble across a bear while hunting and also has a bear tag, the only guys who succeed in hunting bears use a pack of mean dogs, a big hunting rifle and a handgun.

Generally the hunt goes like this, the dogs run off and hopefully find a bear, the bear runs for a bit then, mildly annoyed, climbs a tree.

Then the hunter shows up an shoots the bear in the tree with said rifle. At this point the bear either drops dead out of the tree, or drops really, really annoyed out of the tree, and starts to attack the dogs.

Now the hunter very quickly needs to dispatch the bear before he loses the dogs he's been training for years, and often ends with the handgun at near point blank, so as not to hit the dog.

He killed many with one shot, but has a lot of stories of bears that took many rounds and kept right in fighting.

He carried a big dirty harry type revolver, a 357 or 44 i think.

The worst story was a bear that dropped and came not at the dogs at the base of the tree but directly at him. He unloaded his handgun at it, swears every round hit and did not even phase it. He ran and survived, the story goes, by climbimg into thorny bushs the cut him to ribbons and required a lot of stitching. The bear was comming through the thornes ti get him when the dogs attacked from behind. The bear turned around, killed two of the dogs, maimed the rest, and ran off.

I don't know how embellished this tale is, but I've eaten bear at his house, and have seen the rugs.

Personally, I don't like bear enough to ever go through half that much trouble. Every once and a while, if I feel the need I do stalk a steak in the meat dept and stab it with a plastic fork before having the meat lady field dress it in paper and drag it to the checkout counter on the way to my grill. ;)

Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk 2
 
The caliber isn't as important as the lube you use. When carrying in bear country your best hope is a gun lubed with bacon grease. When you unload on the bear you can throw the gun at him and pray he stops to lick the grease.
 
Every time we have this topic, we get the same responses.

Look: a very experienced bear guide in Alaska told Rifle or Handloader, for which he has written, that he and his daughter considered the matter. They carry Ruger Security-Six .357's with four-inch barrels. They believe that the power is adequate with precise placement. Their .357's are only for emergency protection.

In, Sporting Classics about a year ago, a doctor hunting in Alaska told how he used a .44 Magnum Super Blackhawk to kill a bear that charged him while he was processing the carcass of another bear. He killed the bear!

It can be done and has been done many times. Bears can be killed with handguns, even big browns.

That said, I'd certainly carry a .375 H&H Magnum rifle or .416 for bear defense or a 12 gauge with slugs, probably Brenekkes. But if the rifle or shotgun is just out of reach when needed, I'd have a Mdel 629 with six-inch barrel on my hip.

Anglers should have a rifleman backing them up as they fish.
 
Of my handguns I would either carry my 27-2 with some good stout cast bullets like the 358429 cast bullet or 358156 which I have cast and loaded quite a bit. Either that or my old New Service in .45 Colt with some 452424 cast bullets.

Or a slower friend carrying a bag of french fries from 5 Guys.
 
I carry one of those squirt bottles of honey -- first bear I see, I'm squirting whoever is with me, then I take off running.

I was once asked by a friend why I carried a dive knife -- I told him:

"First shark I see, I'm cutting you, then I can leisurely swim to the dive boat" .

Caj , I'm no expert but we have a place in New Mexico and lots of black bears in the spring/summer/fall. I like the 327 PD (.357) or the 329 PD (just bought one and will carry it on hikes this summer in Angelfire) -- 26.5 oz - the water I carry will weigh more.. Will bring solid copper core rounds. I would like to find a 357 PD. We carry bear spray and bells (to let the bears know that you are around and don't startle them) -- NM is an open-carry state -- so we carry. We have a couple of rifles and shotguns in our home there but are very very careful to not leave stuff out that attracts bears. The dogs go up there with us (we have nice dog runs) but we feed them inside, so no kibble smell outside. We have had several instances of finding a bear sleeping/resting in our driveway early morning/late afternoon. We pretty much just leave them alone.
 
reminds me of an off color joke.....

Bill, the bear hunter, is in the woods, sleeping in his tent. Suddenly, his tent is ripped open by a bear. Before he can react, the bear drags him out of his sleeping bag and sodomizes him. When the bear is done, Bill loads up his backpack and leaves the forest immediately.
The next year, Bill returns to the woods. He has had all year to think about it, and he is going to kill that bear. He tries not to fall asleep, but eventualy nods off. As soon as his eyes close, the bear is on him. The bear shreads Bills pants and sodomizes him again. Bill is devastated, and hikes out of the woods again.
Another year passes, and Bill is determined to kill that bear. After 5 days of hunting with no sleep, he falls asleep sitting under a tree. The bear is on him in an instant. The bear has him pinned face down, and whispers in Bills ear......"you're not really here for the hunt, are you?"
 
A Montana game warden was pinned down by a grizzly they were relocating. He was armed with a S&W M-66 with 158 grain ammo. I was unable to learn just which load.

He fired all six shots in a panic. One hit a vital zone and killed the bear, saving the warden. There were a number of witnesses, inc. a former outdoor magazine editor who wrote it up for publication.

I also know of a case where a man being dragged off by an African lion killed it by stabbing it in the heart. His blade was just six inches long, but worked.
 
I once read of an individual who killed a grizzly with 6 shots from his .22 caliber revolver.

Therefore using some logic a .22 revolver is quite suitable for grizzly.

All of his shots were in the roof of the grizzly's mouth. So one has to get close to be effective.

However not many folks want to wait for a grizzly to get that close.

Maybe something bigger would be more prudent?

Seriously, I would not want to rely on any handgun to try to stop a true charging grizzly, brown, or polar bear.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top