Today if I was fly fishing in bear country I would opt for a G22 with my 180 reloads that I shoot a lot with and am accurate. The gun is familiar and I can hit stuff with it. It is loaded and shot most of the time with 180g cast at 1167 fps which is on the warm side and comparable to many over the counter 10mm 180g loads, not the premium stuff but the everyday stuff.
I was sorting through some random boxes in the basement the other night and found a 20 year old bag of reloads in my basement. They were 40 cal loaded with 180g lazercast flat nose bullets over longshot. I had the velocity listed at 1170fps and "camping loads" was written on the bag.
I carried that load during a lot of campouts during my broke college years. At the time I only had maybe 6 handguns. Two were colt anacondas a 4" and 6" both 44 mags but I mostly just camped in black bear areas then and felt more comfortable with the 40. Most of the time around town then I carried a glock 19 with 124g gold dot +p loads but when I was in the woods I preferred the larger flat nose on most 40 ammo. Even the cheap factory 40 had a flat nose.
I bought a S&W mountain gun in 44 mag in the early 2000s and then when I moved back to grizzly country I started carrying it loaded hot with 310g Lazer cast true shot flat nose bullets. A friend used one I've my loads to knock a black bear out of tree and said it worked great so I stuck with that for years. I bought a 329 pd about 2006 or so and stayed with the hot 310s.
As I got older I realized I really can't handle that combo anymore. I've since worked up a lighter load with 270g gold dot jsp at about 1100 fps but even that seems a bit much in the 329. I've wanted to go 10mm for woods carry but my glock 20s were never reliable. My xdm 10s have both proven reliable so finally the last year or two I've mainly packed a 10 with either 200g xtps at 1150 or 200g hard cast at 1200.
A friend I've hunted with since I was 11 is the only one I personally know who had to stop a bear attack with a handgun. He used a single six in 22 mag to drop a nice boar at his feet. First shot glanced of the top of the skull and a quick fanned 2nd shot went in about 1/4" above the eye socket.
Bb
