I do so enjoy these threads and the replies. Only one here so far has killed a bear and he did it with a handgun. kudos Crazyphil. I have taken and seen taken hundreds of deer, elk, and antelope but only 3 black bears. Never think any wild animal wont be aggressive. I had a beaver fail to give ground and moved in my direction every time I tried to walk around it. I had a wounded bull elk try to come for me. I have shot several deer and an antelope with a 357 and recovered no bullets as all were pass throughs. Hard cast handgun bullets are non expanding and are the same as fmj, these are illegal in most states because they seldom kill and only wound. I read a report that a professional bear hunter wrote. He killed over 1,000 black bears so he has some experience. He felt the 44 magnum was the best handgun only if expanding bullets were used. He used hard cast on several bears and they remained aggressive. When shot with expanding bullets the bears all ceased any aggressive attitude and went to biting at their wounds. He also said they died considerably faster. He said bears shot with non expanding bullets died slowly if at all and showed virtually no effect to being hit. Interesting stuff. I crawled into a shallow bear den after a wounded black bear. It was so tight in there that I pushed my Ruger Security Six loaded with 173 grain KSWC's ahead of me with my right arm extended. When I felt the gun touch the bear I unloaded 5 rounds into it. Not a fair test though as the bear had been lung shot with a 300 Win Mag and was breathing its last as I unloaded into it. I removed myself from the den, reloaded and went back in but by then it was all over but the skinning.
