Took a grizzly bear with my Ruger Blackhawk .41 mag yesterday. I was hunting over bait (yes, legal in my area) and expecting a black bear. I had seen 2 grizzlies on the trail cam, but they usually came in pretty late and not often. A black bear sow with 3 cubs came in first. After taking a few pics I shooed them away. Not an easy task as the cubs really didn’t want to listen to mom when food was right there (All kids are the same right?).
Sow
I did the old girl a favor as the grizz showed up an hour or so later. I had my Marlin 45-70 guide gun along, but really wanted to use my pistol if a decent shot presented itself. Mr. Grizzly walked in like he owned the place and very quickly gave me a 15 yd broadside shot. I took aim and hammered him high in the right shoulder with the bullet exiting low through the left. Not only did the bullet rip through the boiler room, but also clipped the bottom of the spine and paralyzed the back two legs. The bruin let out a RAWR and proceeded to use his two good legs to pull himself downhill. I could see bright red blood pouring out, but have experienced in the past just how tenaciously grizzlies will hang on to life. They really die hard. Not wanting to walk up to a bear that is just “mostly dead” I put a couple of insurance rounds through his chest. All shots were pass-throughs, so no bullet recovery.
Two of the exit holes.
The load:
NOE 411-251-FN (WW + 2% tin)
Felix lube
17 gns 2400
I forget the velocity. I’ll have to check at my next range session.