Couple of bear stopping episodes. I am not good for story telling sorry.
I lived remote in AK as a kid. I carried a short 44 mag super Blackhawk shooting 300+ gr at full tilt. I was charged at short range by a black bear for unknown reasons and I shot at point blank range. I was soooo slow out of the holster with that gun, thumbed it back and fired. I missed. I took a hit and went down. He overran me, wheeled around and then took off to my left as if he was scared? I don’t know but he gave me enough time to shoot again.
Second bear with problem. I stalked in the middle of the stream because the bear was in the brush up the bank and around the bend. When I rounded the corner bear was 20 yards. Dark and scrunched up looking back the bear was not at the angle I thought and I raked bear behind the ribs into the gut with a 458win mage 510 gr sp. The bear immediately charged and my second shot broke neck/shoulder into the chest. Again I got hit but bear was carcass .
2 dogs later as well, I would rather have the speed to draw and fire with low to moderate recoil.
