Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Bear protection: 9mm, 40 S&W, 45 ACP?

As a quick point, brown bear bones are nothing like most expect. They are relatively light and far lighter than ungulate bone. They are probably as tough and flexible as bone gets, but not hard nor dense.

Bump for Lee Hoots.





Travis

Phil's use of the 9mm on bear reminds me of the old advertising posters for the .38 Super back in the 1930s..."will stop anything" with a 130 grain FMJ-RN bullet running 1080 fps in 1929 to 1300 fps by the mid 1930s... Penetration seems to be everything.

Interesting when one looks at the numbers...seems everyone wants the heaviest .44 or .45, anything under 300 grains being "marginal".

The sectional density of a 147 9mm is 0.166. This is the same as the following:
.357 150 grains
.40/10mm 190 grains
.410 200 grains
.429 210 grains
.452 230 grains

...most considered "light" for the caliber.

..and yet this 9mm fully penetrated the bear..

So a question...if when carrying a heavier handgun is it really all that necessary to go for the most velocity one can muster with the heaviest bullet, maybe sacrificing accurate rapid followup shots for more than necessary muzzle energy?

I am also wondering if in this instance, looking at the shot placement, that the bear was hit through the kidneys or liver...very painful and rapidly debilitating hits for sure.

And a question for Phil...although the outcome of this situation was very positive, would you rather have had the .44 Mountain Gun?

Bob

The one shop in Eagle river, no clue of its name? They didn't have em? I swear they had 10mm BB last time in there.

Local shop in Delta Junction had quite a bit of BB last time too, but not thinking I saw 9mm either... may have to get teh shop to order it in on the next order....

Or buy cast bullets and load.....

[bleep], I was drinking coffee as you could plainly see


if it had been good beer or whiskey I'd have had to pepper spray you

Great skill, great nerve and a fair amount of luck save the day it would seem. If the bear had gone for Phil instead of the clients, would there have been time to get that many shots off? The 9 worked this time but holy cow I'd feel better with something out of a bigger longer barrel!

Even a blind hog finds an acorn every now and then. I'm sure when this first started he wished he had brought something other than a 9mm.

Isn't Lee Hoots the one that said a 270 was inadequate as a mule deer cartridge?

Seems he doesn't quite decipher things accurately now and again. An article like that would be the main seller for that magazine issue.

Why a longer barrel?

Boondocks.

Longer barrel - as in rifle

I have a bullet mould for a 286 gr.
lead bullet for my 35 Whelen.
I am betting that with lino type or Lyman #2 alloy that it should really penetrate well.
whelennut
One of my neighbors told me that they have a nocturnal black bear that they are nervous about on their property. She says that by looking at trail cam pictures it would weigh 600 lbs live weight.

Art, I'm glad you mentioned the strength of the bones comparing bears to equally heavy ungulates. No contest! A bear is rather fragile structurally compared to a equal size Hoofed animal.

One difference outside of that I have noticed as well. The mental strength of the Bear is by a fair margin much stronger then the will of a vegan hoofed animal( not pigs).

A few Exceptions come to mind, like Cape Buffalo..... but the vast majority of ungulates do not have that same dare I say almost a vengeful attitude towards humans that Ole Ursus can exhibit!

9mm bear defense I just came across the story yesterday of a guide killing a grizzly with a 9. Good read

If you read this thread from the beginning, it might ring a bell.

Wait, a guide killed a bear with a 9mm?

The hell you say!

No fuggin' way!

When wielding a 9mm v. bears, the old adage about 'age and treachery' comes to mind.

Alaska Ammo has BB 9 MM 147 GR HC 907-868-7676 in Anchorage
only place I found it in stock.