Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns 40 S&W for bear

I hunt mule deer in the most densely populated area of bear in the State of WA.

Seems every year we have a bear problem, as in bear in camp, at night, especially if there are no berries and there has been a deer kill. (i'm not asking for a lecture on how to avoid them with how I/we handle meat)

I have a G23 40S&W.

What bullet/load would you use for bear?

Go light and hot or big and slow?

Don't go with light bullets on a bear, they are more compact than an equal size deer & you will need penetration to make them stop wiggling. Use a tough bullet, no hollow points or lightweights. A heavy bullet with a good meplat will turn their lights out with good loads.

Dick

Big & Slow. Are trade it for a Glock 10mm Model 20. .40cal may work for 2 legged critters, but for bear, I wouldn't bet my life on it.

Doubletap has a 200gr WFNGC load for the 40SW. DT claims 1050 fps from a Glock 23. It might be one of the better 40 loads for deep penetration and tissue damage.

http://www.doubletapammo.com/php/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=21_26&products_id=210

DT also sells the bullets alone, if you want to load some yourself.

Ironically I was just on DT's website and noticed that load. I think it'd make the best of a compromising situation.

Must agree on that.

Thanks, MM, I'll check them out. I'll be handloading for the pistol.

http://www.doubletapammo.com/php/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=77&products_id=269

Maybe Longshot powder??

A proper wide me-plat hard cast will turn a black bears lights out pronto

".40cal MAY work for 2 legged critters..."

That's funny right there. Try WILL instead.

Big and slow; and file down the front sight on that .40...

My pocket (second) gun is a Kahr CW40 and it is loaded with the Double Tap .40S&W 200gr WFNGCs with "the bear" possibility in mind.

For what it's worth, on my chronograph I get the following results.

From the Kahr's 3.5" barrel, 65 deg F and 5 paces from the muzzle, the Double Tap .40 S&W 200gr WFNGC avgs 920 fps for 5 rounds.

The Double Tap 10mm 230gr WFNGC avgs 1,045fps from a glock 20 at 65 deg F and 5 paces from the muzzle.

Paul

Dont forget this!

A Must for bear hunters!

I would use the 180 gr FMJ loads just for the penetration

LOL

I'm not familiar with Longshot, so I can't offer any opinion. It may be great, I just don't know where it falls in burn rate.

I was thinking Power Pistol might be a good powder. If Longshot is similar in burn rate, it should work well.

If you shoot a bear with any load from the .40, and it's not a CNS hit. You will see it run of a very long way. If that's the goal your good to go. However if your going to go look for it, you could be looking a while, over a long way.

Odds are better then not you will get only one hole, .40 bleeds good, but depends much on placement. Higher in the chest will bleed with the initial puncture, but stop at about 50-75 yards if above center of the body. Quartering towards or away will be a bigger struggle for a blood trail then broadside.

I guess, if it were my situation and this as the only option, I would probably play with the rubber bullets available that can be used as a deterrent for bears, rather then trying to puncture one with that cartridge.

All this chat about shooting a bear is well and good. However the situation away from the laptop, out in the bush, searching for spots of blood, ........ well recreational sport hunting feels a bit different looking for a bear you cannot find in thick bush with fading light.

I've tracked a bear recently that was hit poorly. After a one hour wait we went looking. The light was fading but being in the thick woods it was dark. Using a flashlight to see the blood spots here and there, I could hear the bear panting just in front of us. He did not seem to be moving, but his panting grunts were clearly audible. I took the higher ground to see if I could find him looking down into the canyon. We were about 50 yards away would be my guess.

No luck seeing it this way. I slowly moved through the bush to what I would guess is 30 yards. The breathing was clear and struggling. No blood on the ground at this point about 1/2 mile from the shot. I was not sure where the bear was exactly and he was not moving. At this point is was not dark.

We sat right there facing the sounds of the bear. To close the gap further would require crawling on hands and knees. He was clearly hit hard, but no longer leaving blood, and not dying. We were about 2 plus hours into the tracking since the shot. I moved ahead another 10-20 feet seeing if it would open up and allow a better view. No luck, the thorns would pull at my clothing and make too much noise.

The hunter was freaked out beyond words. He wanted out of there an hour ago, and to come back in the morning. I was not convinced this bear would stay put if left over night. He was very alive, but simply pissed off and deciding to stay and fight if we chose that option. This was a big male bear easily 400 lbs. I crawled back to the hunter and we sat another 20-30 minutes. The bears breathing would stop and start again at random. I must have thought 10 times that "he's finally dead" only to hear it start again.

It was now about 11:30 over three hours from the shot. I had one remaining fully charged streamlight left. I held it in one hand and the .44 mag in the other. The hunter had only his bow with him. I went in about 20 feet and the breathing became a low growl. The brush moved a bit, I froze.......... everything stopped, total silence. ........... What to do? the growling was intimidating to say the least, and thorns don't impede the progress of bears as they do my clothing. I froze for about 5 minutes, my hunter started calling to me, but I did not want to reply and give away my location to the bear. He was relentless calling to me so I backed out again to him. I told him I could not reply so he should just be patient and wait for me.

He was now at this point done with this. His panic, shaking, and emotions were breaking him down. He said " I'll never shoot another bear in my life, I'm done with this S%#@!..... I relented and agreed to get him out and away from this. He was about to completely freak out and break down in the dark hearing this bear only a few yards away with a puny light and nothing but his bow.

I got us back out of there and we retuned in the morning, less then 6 hours after we left. I crawled right to the spot the bear was laying, a small spot of blood was there, but no bear, and no further blood, it was obvious he laid there for a while. The bear was now gone. The hunter was done too. He will never hunt a bear again not even with a gun. This was not the recreational event he signed on for.

I guess the point of all this is that when you decide to pull the trigger, or release the arrow there is a responsibility that goes with that. Choose the tool that stacks the deck in your favor. Once you pull the trigger the reality of what you just did will smack you in the face when setting off to find this bear!

Great post and illustration, JJ.

Plus 1 on moving up to at LEAST a 10mm. A S&W 329PD which weighs even less than your Glock but is significantly more powerful would be an ideal sidearm but for in camp, where is your rifle? Get a flashlight mount for your scope, mount it up on the scope when you hit the sack each evening and use THAT if you need to snuff out a trouble bear. No packable lighweight handgun is as powrful as even a middle of the road big game rifle.

The 200 grain wide me-plat hard cast load from Double Tap that Montana Marine posted will do the job nicely

The man is familar with the handgun that he has, no need to change. It is about the bullet

That deserves to be repeated.

I also thought it was clear from the OP this was for defensive use not sport hunting, although a .40 with the above mentioned bullet would be more effective than archery tackle.

This bullet could do the job. I'm going to order some and try 'em out, not necessarily for bear, but I like the idea of having a heavy-for-caliber round for my G22 and G23 should I need to use one of them for a backup gun in a hunting situation.

I have to reiterate what I've said many, many times before, though: handguns are a poor choice of firearm for bear defense. A rifle or slug shotgun are my preference.

FWIW, though, unlike others have posted I wouldn't be totally averse to using an XTP or GDHP 180 gr load for black bear under the circumstances you've described, but it wouldn't be my first choice. I think you should also heed what JJHack has written, above... whether you're going to be hunting bear, or defending yourself and/or your camp from bear, you really should go with a larger/heavier caliber in the .44 Mag or .45 Colt class or larger.

Using rubber bullets combined with airhorns and/or pepper spray as a deterrent to bears approaching camp is also an alternative to consider, but once the bear is in close proximity to you/your camp, especially if it's a hungry bear trying to get at your meat cache, this may not be a viable option. Gary Shelton describes several bad encounters of this type, and in his experience/opinion you need a heavy rifle or slug gun in such situations. I happen to concur with Shelton on this.