Handgun for a lower 48 black bear encounter

[Tripplebeards]

I think to be well protected from these marauding vicious black bears
a woods walker auoght to have a 12 ga loaded with slugs or a
500 Linebaugh minimum
the only growl I have ever heard from a black bear is a death bawl

Yeah, I did have some bloodcurdling moans and roars the last one a shot but it sounded exactly nothing like the video posted above. Sounded like loud moans with gargling noises. It was the last minute of legal shooting light and put the hair up on the back of my neck. I was on high guard when I was tracking it on my hands an knees through some thick brush with a flashlight. Luckily it was stone cold dead when I found it and only went about 45 yards.

[Norske]

The lower 48 can cover a big variety of black bear sizes. Here in MN, there are big ones, but 150-200# is average. But in the mid south, a 500# bear won't get much attention. I was told the boars don't hibernate there, and eat year-around. If the bear doesn't lose 25% of its weight over winter, the weight adds up quickly. Different bears, different gun.

[MOA]

MOA: What is that red pointed boolit you load? GF

GF, it's old Ideal mold that I saw in a article write up in one of the older Lyman cast boolit manual. It's a 429-303 that is powder coated with HF red. I find it very accurate, easy to cast and it powder coats up real nice too. With enough powder loaded in the 44 mag case it will go clean through a 3/16" plate steel plate. It's a gas check mold and I just love it. MP made a group buy mold in 50 cal for the S&W 500 a few months ago that was identical to this one in 44 and I jumped on it for use in my 50 Alaskan BPE.
I'm sure either one of these will take care of any BEAR that comes around if need be.

[ddixie884]

Himmelwright wad cutter...............

[Iowa Fox]

The 429303 is a very unique bullet. When I got my mold the first thing I did was order a nose punch for the 450 and a seating stem for my Lyman seating die from Lyman so as to protect that point. I've got a 35793 also but its horrible trying to get the bullets to drop from the mold.

If a mean bear was a possibility I would use a LBT WFN

[Poygan]

Iowa Fox,
I have the 429303 and also have a hard time getting the boolits to drop from the mold. Because of that, I have used it very little. I may try to use some spray to see if that would help them drop from the mold. Deep lube grooves don't help either.

[MOA]

I guess I'm lucky on the boolits dropping, I do smoke the mold quite heavy with my BBQ gas lighter and have not had a issue with it dropping both cavities. I always smoke all my mold with a heavy black coat of carbon before starting. As far as why I like the pointed for bear is maybe not so much for blackies but the bigger bears depending on how heavy the fat layer is, most of the issue is getting the boolit into the organs. The pointed one will make it to the vitals.

[ranchman]

I've always understood the pointed bullets have a greater tendency to veer off coarse and penetrate odd directions vs swc or wfn designs, which tend to straight line more reliably. And without a meplat disrupting tissues and muscles along its path of penetration, bear fat specifically has a very good rep for sealing small wounds & complicating track jobs ... a guy might get incredible penetration on steel plates and things of that sort with the points, and it surely punch a bone if bone was all it hit, but will it enter where you aim on a bear and continue straight (like a guy wants), or will it fish-hook after entry into flesh and gristlly muscle just to exit out an armpit instead of reaching organs & bones like intended??

Those are the problems I've always read relating to sharp points in flesh & bone vs paper & steel. The mentality and theory is there, but I'll take swc's & wfn for my bear country excursions.

[hockeynick39]

I lived in black bear country most of my life. I never really hunted them specifically, but if a chance opportunity during season came along, I would've taken one. My father and grandfather have hunted them and they used 30-30 and 32 Specials in the Adirondack Mountains of NY. They always taught me that when you shoot them, shoot them in the shoulder first (no matter what angle because it keeps them from charging and grabbing) and then go for the boiler room with the follow up. I've seen plenty of black bear outside of season and was even being stalked by one near my grandparents cabin in Wilmington, NY. My grandmother, all 4' 7" and weighing maybe 150 lbs came running out and beating the hell out of that bear with her broom and cussing it out in French. Dad came out shortly with the rifle and the bear had retreated back to the woods. My brother was the one who alerted them by running back to the cabin yelling. Anyway, ever since we were allowed to shoot, we always carried a .22 rifle with us, not much against bear, but when you crack a shot near the ear, it dissuades them pretty good. Only had one encounter like that as a pre-teen. I received a Remington 1903A3, made in 1943, for my 16th birthday and every time I went into the woods at my grandfather's farm in Port Leyden, NY, it went with me. Never had any bear encounters there, at least none that I know of because them damn things are sneaky! My late teens and early 20s were spent on active duty in Europe and a few other places with combat duties. Ended up in Fort Carson, CO and did some mulie, elk, and turkey hunting there and saw plenty of black bear sign and only encountered one set, a momma and her two cubs at about 200 yds while hunting mulies. Moved back to the Adirondacks with my job and found myself hunting some old familiar areas again, but no bear sign. I always went spring turkey and early bow for deer, in each case I carried my tactical pistol with me in a cross draw (Springfield XD in .45 ACP and ball ammo). That lasted for several years until we went to 9mm and my backup was a Glock 33SF in .45 ACP. So, when I went to the woods, I carried a 6" barreled S&W 27 in .357 Mag. A little heavy, but carried well on the hip. Ended up moving to the White Mountains of NH, Berlin to be more specific and ended up in black bear central with at least 7 dens within 1/4 mile of my home, in town. I ended up falling in love with the .41 Magnum in S&W 57 and a S&W 625 JM in .45 ACP. Both N frames, one stainless and the other blued. Also started to cast my own boolits at this point with some very nice loads for defense. I carried those interchangeably depending on how I felt on any one particular morning. I even used to carry them out kayak fishing with me, because one never knows. The biggest bear I saw was a 450 lb sow that ran through a small apartment complex park, which was across the street from my backyard, and while children were playing. The reason I know the weight and sex is because one of the locals that lived up the street shot it. Yes it was a legal and ethical shot in all manners because the woods started at the edge of the apartment property and there were no dwellings within 300 ft. Another neighbor and co-worker one street over from mine, came home and found a bear eating peanut butter at the kitchen table. He had to have a professional cleaning service come in and clean up all the blood from the dying bear. He unloaded, reloaded, then unloaded again until the bear stopped moving. 25 shots from a 9mm and that boar weighed 300 lbs and was aged at about 4 years old. Shots were less than 10 ft and all about the left shoulder, from the neck to the abdomen, and throughout the chest cavity. He was lucky his kids were playing at a friend's when all of this went down. Now I am in South TX and have to worry more about javelina and hogs than I do about bear anymore. BTW, javelinas are worse than hogs if anyone cares to know. Them little ******** WILL chase you down, almost worst than piranhas! Anyway, I still carry the S&W 27 and S&W 625 JM on hip when out in the scrub. Don't have to worry too much about HPs getting stuck in fur and fat anymore, so I load the cylinder alternating between LHP and LFP and have a couple speedloaders with me as well.

Sorry for the long winded dissertation, just some memories. When it comes to bear, carry what you feel comfortable with, but for me, it's go big or die in place and become a turd pile!!!!!!! Good luck and stay safe.

[Three44s]

Reading post 89, the thought occurred to me about the “9’s” being referred to as the “Wonder Nines”!

I think it fits aptly: “I wonder if I am going to run out of bullets or bear first”

The bear just a sittin’ at the table eating up his peanut butter, indeed!

I bet if the home owner had not happened upon the four legged trespasser when he did, that bear would have finished off the honey, chocolate and the ice cream also!

DA NERVE!

Three44s

[Cary Gunn]

Gents,

I think one should never say never when speaking about the activities of any wild animal.

In August of 1998, I and my 11-year-old son took our first of many annual trips to the fish-rich big timber lakes of southern Ontario.

Since near-wilderness camping on order for some those trips, I wondered about the potential need for protection from the black bears inhabiting those Canadian woods. Crossing the U.S./Canada border while packing my Ruger Blackhawk .41 Magnum was not a legal option, so I left the revolver at home and took instead what I considered to be a very, very poor alternative -- an 8-inch Bowie in a belt sheath.

Knowing that I'd feel very, very stupid for a very short time should I ever be forced to defend myself or my son with that pig-sticker, the best I could do was just hope I never had to use it. The half-way point on those long drives to the Canadian North just happened to place us in northwestern Wisconsin, and we often over-nighted there with a longtime friend who lived on Long Lake in Wisconsin's rural Washburn County.

There are black bears aplenty in northwest Wisconsin and my buddy living there was more than passingly familiar with them, so I spoke to him about my concerns of being virtually unarmed while camping among the blackies 400 miles further north in Ontario. I felt reassured when he told me not to worry -- his experience had shown that black bears were far more scared of people than people should be them.

Thanking my friend for his reassurance and hospitality, the next morning my son and I continued on our way north to a wonderful week-long acquaintanceship with Canada's abundant bass, walleye and northern pike. It was midway through that fish-filled week that a scratchy, weak-signaled Northwoods radio newscast informed us of a tragic outdoor happening to our south.

A Boy Scout, about the age of my son, lay struggling for life in a Wisconsin hospital, having been dragged by the head through the wall of his tent by a black bear that attacked the boy on Long Lake.

For many years, the Boy Scouts maintained a more-or-less permanent camp site about five miles down and on the other side of the lake from my friend's house.
The attack there occurred only a few days after my friend's assurance that black bears are too terrified of people to pose a real threat.

Unarmed Scout Masters resorted to banging pots and pans to scare-off that bear, but the animal had ultimately been able to drag the young camper into the brush about 70 yards from the tent attack site. The scout lingered under medical care for some days before succumbing to his head injuries.

In a decade of annual trips to the Canadian North after that, my son and I were never bothered by bears. I was, thus, never forced to display my stupidity in trying to defend against a bear attack with a damned knife.

We learned, though, to never say never about the activities of any wild animal.

By the way, through the years I've tried to stay abreast of news involving animal attacks, and I've read at least a couple of reports that were alleged to include all authenticated bear and lion attacks going back many, many years in the U.S. and Canada. In none of those reports was there an account of the August, 1998 Long Lake, Wis. fatal attack.

I wonder how many other actual attacks have failed to make the historical list of animal attacks.

Anyway, I'd sure prefer to be sided by my Ruger .41 than my ridiculous 8-inch Bowie.

Happy trails,

-- Cary Gunn --

[HCH]

A Redhawk 45 Colt, loaded hot;

or a 4" .40 S&W. 8 grains of Longshot will get you 1150 FPS in a reasonably sized package

[Bigbore5]

I've hunted black bear most of my life. We've run them with dogs. Bait hunted. Spot and stalk. You name it. I've personally taken 14 ranging from 200 to over 600 pounds and been present at the demise of over a hundred others. So far I have only been genuinely charged twice. One I stopped with a 444 marlin that had been gutshot by a client and of course headed to the worst thicket it could. The other was a predatory charge by a 500+ pound male when I was freshening some baits. 500 linebaugh, 525gr at 1000fps did not glance off the skull.
The best bullet for stopping bear with a brain shot from the front is a heavy cast with a wide sharp edged meplat. Any rounding of the nose tends to cause the bullet to follow the contour of the skull. That's why the semiautomatic should never be carried. In most cases the semiautomatic has been successfully used for bear defense, the shooter was not the one being directly charged. It was someone they were with who the bear focused on or it turned at the first shots. I've seen enough brain shot bears in my years of hunting and guiding to know what works.
That round nose 38 would probably fail to stop a charge. But swap to a wfn, and even at 800fps, I am positive enough that a heavy 170 grain 38+p will penetrate the frontal skull that I sometimes carry my k38 when tending bait and have taken two baited bear with it. It works but still isn't my 475 I carry when following the dogs or working a bait I know a big bear is hitting.

[dougader]

More on the 41 magnum used in Wyoming bear attack:

https://www.ammoland.com/2020/12/tan...#axzz6ffUi7ZzB

[dougader]

I used to carry a 9mm in a fanny pack when I was out fishing for salmon or steelhead... until I ran into a black bear on the Sandy river. Summer steelhead, low water and I realized how fast that bear could make it across to where I was fishing... and that Glock 19 seemed really small.

Even though the bear ran away from me as fast as he could when he spotted me, I started carrying a 45 Super after that. When I started having reliability problems running the Super I traded out for a 45 Colt loaded with WFNGC bullets from Beartooth bullets.

Now the 5 shot snub-nose S&W 69 in 44 magnum covers that role. I like both the Keith 250 and the WFN 250 with a stout charge of 2400.

[Chill Wills]

There have been two more black bear attacks here in Colorado so far this spring. One fatal.
The latest one, a bear got into an open garage near sundown and the home owner just happened in there to close it up for the night. The human did everything right according to the reports, backed away slowly and talked to the bear in a low voice.
It turned out the bear had cubs and was in no mood to let him go.
He lived but is hospitalized with "Severe injuries" to the head and legs.
I don't have details on the woman that was killed.

[memtb]

I view this as pretty simple......carry the largest caliber handgun that you are proficient with, using heavy for caliber wide metplat non-expanding bullets. Is this “NEEDED” to stop an attack from the average Black Bear..... Absolutely not! However, if you meet a very large, very aggressive bear.....you may not get a “do over”! Assume the worst.....hope for the best! See my signature line....I’ve this philosophy most of my life! memtb

[Markopolo]

i have lived remote for 25 years in the bear country of Alaska. both brownies and blackies. in all those years, I have not had to use a handgun (my 44) on any bears. till last season. I have been stalked several times, even by smaller bears. Do I think I didn't need to carry all them other times it wasn't required? or need to switch to bear spray? no way. i have taken on average 3 bears every year for food in the last 25 years. i still say, a very familiar 44 mag loaded with lee 310's is my security blanket. practice, repeat, then do it again... every year. what good is a gun you fumble with? A charged up bear fighting for his life is a unpredictable force to be reckoned with.... then there is the alpha bear in the area that is used to bullying all other animals in the forest and truly is the King poop bear. those king bears are just out right grumpy, and i give them a wide berth...

[Texas by God]

Google " 17year old pushes bear"- what a brave/ crazy teenager! She has street cred now!

Sent from my SM-A716U using Tapatalk

[atr]

I was up at my place in the Okanogan for 3 weeks in May. Did a lot of hiking and did come across a nice black bear. I was glad I was carrying the .44 Mag. The critter was about 50 yards away searching for food and never saw me. But still I was glad to be carrying that revolver.