Originally Posted by 458Win
As I said, I have been doing a lot of testing and when completed and written up I'll check again to see if Lee Hoots is interested and if not will publish it elsewhere.
But the simple answer to the question of whether or not a 9mm offers adequate protection against black bears, the answer is yes. Would it work on a 1000# brown bear ? It certainly will penetrate deep enough to reach the brain from any direction.

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And it should come as no surprise to anyone on this forum that bullet construction, sectional density and velocity are all major factors in penetration.



I just saw this thread. Thanks very much for sharing your expert opinion!

I’ve got no bear shooting experience, and I don’t have the time or, quite frankly, the ability to get good with monster caliber handguns or even a Buffalo Bore 180 hard cast out of my .357 SP101 (tried it a couple of times :)). I can hold my own with a semi-auto in service calibers, and practice stuff like shooting from weird positions and while moving, and shooting at moving targets. I like the idea of merely switching ammo and carrying my everyday guns while bowhunting or just tooling around in the woods. jwp475’s test using Buffalo Bore .45 ACP +P 255 Hard Cast Flat Nose against water jugs got me thinking about merely doing an ammo change. Since then, I did his test using my gun, tested here. I also tested the 9mm +P Outdoorsman in both the Glock 43, tested here, and in a Glock 19, tested here. (As an update concerning the Glock 43, I recently was able to get two rounds to register over a chronograph, and I got (IIRC) between 1025 and 1030.) So, I am pretty sure these rounds will penetrate deeply in soft tissue, and I am looking forward to seeing what they do to skulls! I’ll pay for that data!

The last couple of years I carried the G30 while bowhunting. I am carrying the Glock 19 more on pavement, so I am toying with carrying it in the woods this year. The black bears aren’t too big where I hunt, and there are no grizzlies. The biggest threat probably is a moose.

Thanks again!



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