40 S&W for bear

Zombie thread.

IMHO, the .40 is light for something as dangerous as a bear. It would be better than nothing. I believe if I were confronted by a bear I would consider shooting into the ground at least once. The most dangerous bear has her cubs with her, normally they are not that aggressive.

Regarding a laser, again IMO they are good for a quick aim under less than ideal conditions. At the range you will always shoot better with the sights. You can aim it like you aim a flashlight. You could look around the left side of a tree and hold your shooting hand around the right side. I do not have any laser equipped guns and when I see them at the range the laser is jumping all over the place.
 
Given the right circumstances, I'd bet you could kill anything with anything.....

Don't think a .40 would be my first choice there, and I've owned and shot a bunch of them. I would recommend, if you make the decision to carry it, you file the front sight off.....makes it a bit more comfortable when the bear decides to "re-holster" it for ya......:eek:
 
I'm a big fan of 40SW, & have four pistols in that caliber. That being said, in my "vast" arsenal, if I were confronted by a large carnivore, I think I would have the most faith in my 686-2. A 40 might just tick the bear off. Or my 4516-1 or 4513TSW, hopefully loaded with some BA self defense loads. I know nothing about hunting, so please correct me if needed!:cool::eek:
 
My feeling are- forget the pistol. I have a Browning BAR in 338 win mag that will be my go to gun for bear. The pistol is to put yourself out of misery while the bear is coming for you. But if you must carry a pistol, my advise is very simple. Do not be a tightwad. How much is your life worth? Buy the biggest gun you can afford and shoot accurately. Pretty simple really. BTW- this was my first bear thread comment! Yay!!
 
40 S&W for a bear...yep he can probably carry that pretty easy with a IWB holster!

As long as I can run faster than you and have a ...bigger gun...it doesn't matter what the bear is packin!!
 
fouad said:
I need to know if the 40cal will put down the bear if he is few feet from the tent. let's say I was sleeping and suddenly I hear noise and as I look out the bear is few feet away let's say around 5 to 15ft.

and if he is less than 5 feet away let's say he is scratching the tent and let's say I have to time to pull the trigger 2 or 3 times him being right in front.

I ma not going hunting but I have food and I am going for a long hike.

oh by the way, does the laser help ur aim in anyway or it is just for the look? I mean does it help to be quicker at aiming or ill probably be too distracted by the bear to even see the red dot?

I shoot with many guys but I don't hunt so I don't know if this will stop a bear.

I personally will not put my life over a pepper spray because as I spray him I might as well spray myself if it is windy. so it is really not helpful. I want to have a gun that I know will do the job.

currently I am using a 40cal s&w m&p. 165g target full metal jack. but I am sure I will probably get hollow points. or if u have a better advice please let me know.

my next weapon is going to be the 500 S&W the big boy's toy! looool
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If the bear is 5-15 feet away, hungry plus you just woke up--forget the .40 caliber and utter a fast, short prayer--your tomorrow's bear poop !
 
Having lived in bear country for 30 years, I've heard all sorts of stories, have had bear confrontations, and have had them walking down my road. They've come into my deer camp. I've bumped into them while packing in the hills with the pack string. I've surprised them while walking back to my tent. Most of the time, they try to avoid us as much as we try to avoid them.

Sure, I've heard of bears killed with a .22 magnum. A guy was treed by a grizzly, and the bear stood up on its hind legs and started shaking the tree. He had hold of the guy's foot. The fellow reached down with a .22 magnum handgun and popped the bear in the eye. Yeah, it killed the bear, but I sure as heck wouldn't want to be in a situation like that where I had to depend on a .22.

I've also heard of a guy who killed a black bear with an axe. Again...I don't want to have to depend on that form of defense against our furried friend, ursa.

When I'm guiding my pack string where black bears are prominent, the smallest caliber I pack is a .45 Colt loaded with 260-grain jacketed hollow points traveling at 1400 fps. Remember, I'm talking black bears here...not grizzlies.

When push comes to shove, I prefer to pack a lever action rifle, again in .45 Colt carrying the same load. But, sometimes that isn't possible, so I have to rely on a handgun.

I guess everybody has his own opinion on the subject. If not, we wouldn't be revisiting the topic a couple times every year. That being said, you pack what you're comfortable with...but I think I'd rather pack a little more on the heavy side than on the lighter side when it comes to calibers.
 
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When it comes to bears of any size. Bigger is better. The bigger the bullet, the higher your chances of survival. I used to live in far northern Maine. I've seen moose taken with a .22lr. I've seen blackies dropped with a .22 as well......

Smallest caliber i will carry is 9mm with some gold dots, and a lot of them. 15+rnd mags......and at least 2 spares. and that is cutting it close.

Now that's blackies, bears that run 300lbs around here MAX.

If were talking browns, grizzlies, kodiaks or the mammoth polars.......44mag min. Preferably a .454 or a .500.....1oz bonded slugs are desired as well :-D
 
OH GOODY A BEAR THREAD!!!

Something is better than nothing, but odds are that a 40 S&W will be found somewhere in the vicinity of either your carcass OR your carcass and the bear carcass.
It would be best to leave Mr. Bear and especially Mrs. Bear w/ cubs well alone. Whatever you do...don't turn your back or run.

Can we move on to zombies now?:D
 
Now that another bear thread has been started, I can ask this question.

I don't hunt or go hiking or camping. I am asking just to get some knowledge of the stopping power of come calibers.

Out of Just the following calibers, which would be the most effictive against a bear, and in which order would you list them?

45 Colt, 45 ACP, 10MM, 44 Magnum, 357 Magnum.

Thanks.

Stu
 
Oboy!!! A beer thread!!

Wait, this is a BEAR thread. :(

As far as I'm concerned, a 30/30, 30.06, 300 WinMag, .44 lever or .45 Colt lever wouldn't be enough gun for me. I'd want bigger because bears get mad when you shoot them.

If I have to shoot a bear, I want him dead.... Not mad.

I'm thinking more like L.A.W's or Claymores here... ;)

.
 
jaykellogg said:
Zombie thread.
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Good one!

For zombie bears I'm going to bump up to 10mm handloads. But should I go for an ultra fast 135gr or a 200gr XTP??? How much penetration does one need on a zombie bear? Does it make any difference what color the original bear was???
 
I think I'll sit this one out. Too tired of repeating myself. I ought to make up a standard post, copy it, and post in these frequent bear threads.

Yes, you CAN kill a bear with most service style handguns and sensible loads and proper placement. If I had to carry one of my curent handguns in bear country, It'd be a .357 with a stash of Remington's 165 grain hunting loads. These are structured for game shooting; aren't just a slightly heavier 158 grain load.

But if I had a M-629 with six-inch barrel, I'd carry that. Got a Safariland M-29 holster, green elk-lined, basketweave, for when I get such a gun. Used to have a M-29, but want stainless next time I go the .44 Magnum route.

A famous Alaska bear guide and his daughter carry Ruger .357's. That's for emergency sidearms of course; I'm sure they have rifles, too. He wrote that a .357 in the right place is enough and puts his life on the line with one.

BTW, the black bear used to be called Euarctos americana. Is it now classed among the Ursid bears? Bear Bio? My reference books still give the older name.

Jim Corbett once killed a sloth bear with an axe borrowed from an Indian native. The moral here is, don't shoot game to feed viilagers when you carry just five rounds of ammo for your rifle. I never understood why he'd do that. I'd take at least 20 rounds if I was out hiking the foothills of the Himalayas after man-eating cats.

Now, Corbett said that this five-round thing was the result of some superstition that he had. He also wrote that he thought that he wouldn't have a successful hunt for man-eaters until he'd killed a snake.

So, he once chucked a rock at a hymadryad! (King Cobra, Ophiophagus hannah.)

The Indians thought that he was a holy man, a sadhu. He must have been, or just been granted some serious miracles. He stoned that attacking snake to death before it tagged him. It was NOT happy after the first rock he threw hit it!

That's my bear contribution this time. And I mentioned a king cobra, opening the door for this week's snake thread...:D
 
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About 11 posts up, Mulepacker talks about a .45 Colt 260 grain bullet he pushes to 1400 fps. I'd like to see the specifics on this load since the .44 magnum bullet of that weight only reaches about 1140 fps. My .45 Colt loads of 260 grain bullets don't even reach 900. 1400? Wow!
 
Texas Star said:
BTW, the black bear used to be called Euarctos americana. Is it now classed among the Ursid bears? Bear Bio? My reference books still give the older name.
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The American black bear is now Ursus americanus, according to most taxonomists. Apparently a few holdouts still use Euarctos.


Texas Star said:
Jim Corbett once killed a sloth bear with an axe borrowed from an Indian native. The moral here is, don't shoot game to feed viilagers when you carry just five rounds of ammo for your rifle. I never understood why he'd do that. I'd take at least 20 rounds if I was out hiking the foothills of the Himalayas after man-eating cats.
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It's possible Corbett was limited to five rounds by state or local laws intended to prevent insurgents or bandits from becoming armed. As I recall, William Fairbairn when with the Shanghai Police had witness holes drilled into the Colt 1908 pistol magazines used by the native police officers. The holes provided a quick visual check that the men were bringing back all of their ammo after a patrol, and not selling a few rounds here and there on the black market.
 
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Geno44 said:
About 11 posts up, Mulepacker talks about a .45 Colt 260 grain bullet he pushes to 1400 fps. I'd like to see the specifics on this load since the .44 magnum bullet of that weight only reaches about 1140 fps. My .45 Colt loads of 260 grain bullets don't even reach 900. 1400? Wow!
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Check the Speer 9 reloading manual there are some hot ones in there. It has some 300 trainers running 1100 fps, and that is the load I carried in my woods guns.
 
Newbie

This is my very first bear thread! I am a noob! LOL
I have been an avid hunter for over 40 years. Bear has NOT been my prey. However, i have seen first hand the bone, tissue, skeletonal destruction firearms can do. I own most all calibers in handguns and a large share of rifle cals as well. 7mm magnum would be my very 1st choice in rifle. 12ga high power slugs come next in line, then at least a 6" barreled. 357mag as a BACKUP gun or if I could only have the pistol, the S&W .500 for sure, again, 6" barrel at least.

My wifes grandad killed a black bear in his home in Ocala Florida with a 9mm. They even arrested him for it as the bear was a protected species in that area. Bear did hundreds of $$$$ damage before he killed it, it tore off the screen door came in and gave the kitchen a feasting around midnight. Not a big huge bear as this one was only near 250lbs. True story.
 
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We'll The bear subject has been done.....redone.....tri-done and over done.

Lets get to a real serious subject here.....

What is the best load for self defense against DRAGONS!?
 
I'm sorry, but the rules of bear threads state

that you must start an entirely new thread if you change species (well, changing between grizzlies and black bears is okay). And if you change to dragons, you may include absolutely no Games of Thrones spoilers!


Smithsrevenge said:
What is the best load for self defense against DRAGONS!?
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I have bears at my camp on the front door step. I hear them hooting at night looking for a mate. I can mimic there hoot and bring them within feet of my camp. I hunt bear with a 338wm but at home with bears going thru my land I have a 12ga pump handy with the 400gr whistltng slugs.
 
Visiting bear country

Wow, this thread is simply too much to resist! I've got a little trek coming up in a few weeks in bear country. I will be traveling alone. I will be packing a 629 (3-in), with 305gr "bear loads". I am 67 years old and not much of a runner. I have absolutely no interest in shooting a bear, just prefer not to be dinner. I will not be putting bells on my boots, nor practicing any bear mating calls as I trundle along.... I will be thinking of this thread, though :)
You guys made my day!
XAVMECH
 
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