If you had to shoot a Black Bear;

[Bumpus13]

Before I got my .44 I used to carry .357 as my “oh ****” sidearm while hunting

You want Buffalo Bore 180gr hard cast.

 

[IAM Rand]

chased a black bear away with a shotgun loaded with bean bag rounds. Most are more scared of you or are more interested in rummaging around in the trash.

 

[SGT ROCK 11B]

Most hunters go for a lung shot but it would probably take time to drop the bear.

I'm too old to turn and run away.

Any advise ?

Hunting and killing animals are two different things.

22s and 38s have finished a lot of animals. The biggest wild boar I took was with a 22 when I found it stuck on a barb wire fence.

We ran into a black bear on the Oregon coast last year and he ran from us.

 

[Model19man]

Aim is going to be important. A missed shot might make the bear mad.

 

[biku324]

Black bears are usually more afraid of you or your house dog than you are of them. On the advice of Canadian guides, the bears I've killed I shot in the shoulders to immobilize them, then finished with another shot.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

I have had mother and cubs in my yard. I heard a strange drumming sound outside the house so went and looked. Two cubs were jumping up and down on the bottom of a canoe I had turned over just outside. Moma was about 10 feet from the door and she ran and left the cubs. They went up a tree in my yard, She just waited out on the road for them to come down. {I went back in the house} I've never really had any problems with Black Bears, even when the acorns are falling and they are in my yard feeding. I did have a big bear slap the ground and wolf at me tho.....it was dark and I hadn't seen him. There were 5 of them and I just told them to be gone when I came out in the morning.....they complied.

That may have been your experience but I had a totally different one.

I got off the highway in PA at a truck stop to get some coffee and a snack. There is a side road near the stop. A tractor trailer was coming down the back road. Mom and 2 cubs were crossing but one of the cubs froze in the lights. I saw mom rear up and let out a huge roar then charge the moving truck. That mom actually was willing to take on a huge tractor trailer to protect her cub.

Back to the question. Im not sure if you're asking about hunting a bear or protecting yourself from a bear attack. If you're talking about protection a hard cast SWC or FMJ-FN bullet would be best. Shoot right into the snout because the brain is directly behind the snout. Shoot until it drops and hopefully your aim it true that that happens before you run out of ammo.

Remember, hit the snout when the bear is charging.

 

[ken158]

That's a huge misconception.
Most black bear attacks are from males and you are food.
IIRC it's around 80% from males

Apparently Paul believes a bear would fight more for a bag of doughnuts than its cubs.

 

[reddogs]

I think op is thinking about personal protection not hunting.A 357 with hardcast or jacketed sp should work close range headshot.Close range you won't get many shots before he is slobbering on you.Hunting is a different story.

 

[329]

This question seems to come around every so often. Realistically a charging bear wouldn’t notice a difference between 600 ft lbs of energy and 900 lbs of energy. For example most elk hunters think that 2000 fl lbs of energy at point of impact is a good rule of thumb. To get that at 200 yards a 30-06 will be pushing 2900 ft lbs flow to the muzzle and even a 30-06 is not the best choice for a large charging bear.
Couple the energy fact with the probably that you will ever face a charging bear…well you get the idea. I have come a across numerous bears at close range archery hunting and have never had one charge or threaten me. I’ve had them curiously start to climb up to my tree stand, approach with a cub and one time walked on a game trail within 10 feet of me. I said “boo” to that one and it ran back down the hill a** over tea kettle.
Sooooo, yes a 357 would be as good as a 41 or 44, especially if you shoot it well, but bear spray would probably be better. On the other hand if you want a 44 mag., this is the perfect excuse to present to your spouse. ������

 

[jaguargolf]

I knew an old timer who killed a Bengal Tiger with a .45 during WWII. It jumped him out on the OP. He didn't show us young boys all his scars, but his son was our buddy and he had seen most of them.
My neighbor took on a big old male black bear with a garden rake to get it to let go of her goat. She's a tough old grandma.
Sometimes you have to go with what you have at hand.

 

[Tom Kent]

I used to bear hunt in the North Maine woods about every year. The State of Maine wildlife folks have some strict laws about caliber of back up guns. When my outfitter found out that the three inch model 629 I was carrying was .44 magnum he stopped me from carrying it because the .44 magnum is apparently legal for hunting bears and I would be carrying a "bear gun", loaded when it was not permitted. That would incur a citation and confiscation of the firearm. I checked with the guides who worked the site and found that they carried about an even mixture of .45acp and .357 magnum. I switched to a 686 from then on.

 

[RoyM52]

these days , with conceal carry permits I think that a 3 inch 44 would fit the non hunting class and actually Because it is carried as such would not be considered as being used to hunt.

A model 69 2 3/4 inch would make a perfect bow hunter defense carry. If you were carrying it as such and had a permit, I doubt any problem would be incurred. It should be obvious that it was a conceal carry gun and not a hunting gun. Sometimes I carry one in the woods for just this reason. Obviously NOT a hunting gun.

 

[BabaBlueJay]

Comment deleted because I was wrong.

 

[venomballistics]

I think I'd opt for the hard cast SWC .... if I could choose at the time.
The XTP is a good bullet, but I'd shy away from it as expansion trades penetration off for terminal performance.
A bear has a skull thicker than a politician. Either may deflect, but the hard cast SWC has a better chance of goin' home.

 

[ddixie884]

I’d go with the SWC or JSP and leave the HPs at home. That’s just my opinion. I would go for penetration.

 

[Hair Trigger]

Doesn't matter what you shoot it with, what matters is where you hit it. You're taking a chance shooting any animal that weighs 2X to 5X more than you do and expecting to stop it unless you can hit it in the head or in the spine. Kill it outright or paralyze it, otherwise hope you can put something between you and it that will protect you. Preferably, a lot of distance.

You might hit the bear and it will run away, but just as likely will charge and take you with him.

 

[BabaBlueJay]

I was wrong disregard my post

 

[Autonomous]

This really falls into the fantasy land of being a gun owner...and I've never even seen one.

I'm not quite sure what to say.

Some of us live and recreate in actual bear & lion country.
I've had close encounters with both.

 

[BabaBlueJay]

I was wrong on this one, post delete.

 

[Autonomous]

The guy that has never seen a bear in the wild dismisses the experiences of someone that has had close encounters with apex predators as an anecdote.
I'm not sure what to say.

In our corner of the country, we have had people killed by these encounters.