Always wondered what a fmj 44 mag round would do to a bear in the short term. Carried some overloaded loads that I bought at Gary King's.
I am more convinced by either a hardcast wide meplat-type bullet, or a tough, limited expansion jacketed bullet. Jacketed bullets which come to mind are the Sierra 300 grain SP or the 300 Speer Uni-Cor. Mostly, full jacketed type handgun bullets seem to be too 'slippery' and less-than-ideal for creating effective holes. I don't care about finding a well-preserved bullet but I don't want the target to be left intact. I also don't want to use most handgun bullets which you can count on for decent expansion. I believe a better bullet in a handgun is one which has a decent frontal shape without expansion to begin with. If any expansion takes place I want it to be well controlled so the bullet doesn't come apart violently.
Sometimes, the air you 'let in'matters less than the air you 'let out'.
