Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns After Phil Story on the Bear

How many of you if going into Grizzly Country will now pack a 9mm for Bear Defense?

No bears here, so no worries.

I'll probably stick to my .40.




Travis

I live in grizzly country and Phil's story prompted me to load up some 147gr hardcast to a 1000fps for my 9mm.

Although my 10mm Glock 29 or Ruger 44mag will always be my first choice.

If you think about it a bullet of .355 penetrating the skull into the brain will kill about as well as a .475 penetrating the skull into the brain.

The light recoil and fast follow up shots are an appealing advantage.

Dead reliable 10mm or 45 ACP/Super with heavy hard cast bullets were I to ever hunt in grizz country again.

not a damn chance

little black bears skeer me. Especially when they paw my tent in the middle of the night...think I'd be a bit more rattled than Phil, if a grizz showed up...

My bottom line is a 45 colt with 325 grain flat point hard cast bullets at 12 to 13 hundred FPS

No big bears here, just black ones. We have an occasional mountain lion and lots of wild hogs to add to the mix. I don't worry unnecessarily about any of them much. When I do feel the need I've been using a G20 with Underwood 200 gr. XTP's at 1,250 fps. It's a good rough duty package that I can handle pretty well.

.500 JRH here......

I think a hardcast slug with a fairly large metplat and a sharp transition edge so it wont glance off the skull is the key.

Breaking major bones and continuing on to take out vital organs with body shots is probably asking for too much from something like a 9mm, although it appears Phil pulled it off!

A number of years ago a Montana game warden was relocating a problem grizzly and upon release from the culvert trap the bear managed to knock him from atop the trap and proceed maul him, he ended the fight with his 357 mag service revolver and only suffered minor injuries.

A handgun is obviously a last resort weapon but many lives have been saved using one in grizzly attacks.

I might add the closest thing to bear around these parts is Chicago Bears fan. Lol

Dont any longer but carried a 9mm sidearm for many years in grizzly country, knowing it would be better than nothing. Also carried .40, and .357. Now a 10mm rides my side. I still feel undergunned. Awareness is the best defense, seeing it before it sees you.

The question oughta be how many will be coming out of grizzly country.

We routinely fish in black bear country where black bears grow to be huge. It's very common to 400+ pound black bears. I've carried a .357 Mag with 180 grain cast and jacketed bullets. However, if CA permits the sale of Colt's new version of the Delta Elite in 10MM, I'm buying one. A 1911A1 has to be the most comfortable big handgun to carry. And 9 200 grain 10MM rounds oughta work on any black bear. It would probably work on griz, especially with another mag.

I've never humped around grizzly country without a rifle in my hands.

That bear got to him and he killed it with a 357

I will probably never be in Grizzly country again in my lifetime due to cardiac problems but Black Bear I will. A few weeks back I was changing batteries in my trail cam and less than 5 min's after I finished this task this momma and her two cubs were on the camera. she must have been watching me. I'm not afraid of blacks, but a momma with little ones is another matter. I had my Smith 645 45 ACP with me, but I had left it on the seat of the truck. Probably will never see her again but you never know. I will be packing the next time I visit the trail cam spot.

This little segment 'bears' repeating perhaps.



This struck me as significant, perhaps because I tend to act based on perceived risk as well......sometimes a revolver, sometimes the 30-30, sometimes a 375 or 45-70. (I have even gone 'nekid' which is probably not much worse than a 9mm in my view, or at least in my hands.)

10mm with Underwood 200gr Hard cast and bear spray.