Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Bear protection: 9mm, 40 S&W, 45 ACP?

I do alot of hiking in the Smoky's. We see bears often, most encounters are pleasant. We see each other, sometimes at close range, we each decide to give the other its space and all goes well. These bears are people habituated and are not afraid of people. In the last 2-3 years, people are getting mauled and bitten; we've had 2 in the past month. A good friend of ours was chased last weekend and followed for 1/4 mile by a youngish bear. The prevailing theory is that the bears had a bad mast year last year, went to den hungry, and came out hungrier. I'm not sure I'm buying that story. I do believe the Park has way too many bears. I've suggested to the park superintendent that shooting half the bears in the Park would be a good idea. They aren't going to shoot Yogi.

Which leads me to my question. I carry a Ruger Security Six 357 loaded with 180 gr LBT style bullets backed by a stiff charge of 2400. I have no doubt in its capabilities against Yogi. I watched the video of the guy shooting the moose with his Glock off the snow machine and got to wondering if a semi loaded with the right bullet might be better bear protection. I think moose-snow machine guy used a Glock 40 S&W. Don't know the bullet but they obviously worked.

I've seen the gelatin penetration testing and the 9mm seems to work the same as the 40 and 45 - but bears aren't ballistic gelatin. I have a 9 and think a bigger bullet is in order when dealing with a 2-300 lb bear.

What say you guys about semi's, cartridges, and bullets for this purpose?

Stick with the .357

That^^^

If you want to change cartridges/calibers go for a 41 or 44 magnum.

9mm is a poor choice for quick neutralization of a threat. Several NYS Troopers lost their lives before the department dropped the 9 and adopted a larger caliber.
A 40 cal is better and a 10mm is "more" better if you have to have a semi.
Some years ago, a fellow and his girl friend made a poor choice to walk near the Russian River late at night. Surprised a brown bear, unloaded his 40, and exited the area. The bear was found dead the next morning.
Your revolver is not a bad choice, but larger calibers are always a better choice, thinking 41 & 44 mags, or a 45 Colt with an appropriate bullet.

I'd carry a 9 without the slightest hesitation if it was only black bears I was worried about.

Tanner

If you can draw and fire your handgun into a 6" target at 7 yards 6 times in < 3 seconds you are on the right track. When you can do this on demand w/ the gun you carry all the time you have proved your potential matches your reality.


mike r

That's an interesting drill - and my concern. I can't do that double action. With my 9mm no problem. I practice that drill with my semis, not so much with double action.

If I was you I would stick with the 357 Magnum and the load you mention

.40 has been proven to have better intermediate barrier penetration than 9mm or .45 so its safe to assume it would out penetrate the other two on wild animals (if using identical bullets in all three calibers).

Bear protection is an interesting subject. If you're looking to truly protect yourself from a bear it will be done with the bear attacking you and not just shooting at one because your nervous of its presence. In the case of an attacking bear I would want something more powerful. Something like a 44 mag or 480 ruger as long as you can shoot them well. No point of messing around if your life is truly in danger.

My backcountry gun is a Glock 23 w/ 180gr Golddots. Works pretty good in town for CCW too. Did you mean to say single action? The drill is pretty doable w/ a double action revolver or semi auto pistol. The draw is, for me, the most time consuming portion of the exercise.


mike r

A .40 or 10mm loaded with a hardcast bullet would be just as good as what you are carrying now but not really any better, unless you can shoot the auto significantly better than a revolver.

I have killed quite a number of big game with a Glock 22 using 180 grain Gold Dots. I used to carry a 357 as well but much prefer my Glock in a kydex holster strapped to my hip with 15 rounds available. I am seriously entertaining a 10mm. Anything bigger is probably not going to get carried enough.

Were I in Grizzly country I might reconsider the 40 but I'm not and you're not. A 40 is your friend.

We have killed 5 black bears but never had an encounter with one. I am wondering why nobody mentioned bear spray? When I visited Yellowstone last year it seemed like you can buy bear spray in every town we visited including drug stores.

Get the LARGEST can of bear spray you can find and a 10 MM something; in that order.

I used a 10 mm Mag (Glock 20) to kill an adult male black bear. He was pretty fresh out of hibernation and probably weighed between 300 and 350 lbs. I shot him out of the window of my pickup at 15-20 yards with 180-grain CorBons. The calf that he was dragging by the scruff of the neck survived. The first shot put the bear down and I shot him a second time for good measure. The Glock was my winter carry gun down on the ranch for several years.

In warm weather, I carried either a Browning Hi-Power in .40 S&W or an 4-inch S&W Model 66. I used 135-grain CorBons in the Browning and 125-grain CorBons in the 66. Both were used to put down mule deer and pronghorns hit, but not killed, by traffic on the ranch road that ran down the middle of the valley. I also have used both to administer coup de gras to animals when guiding guest hunters.

I would feel comfortable carrying any of those three pistols in bear country, although the Model 66 is the only one that I still own.

I know on the first hand that a 100# black bear can/did take 8 124 grn gold dots and stand and look at me at 15 ft. (I have some of the slugs I will post pictures if I can find them. ) The bear stood on all fours looking at me and took 6 like he was being stung by bees no reaction of pain or so on. He slowly turned and walked away and took two more. 5 minutes later about 40 yards away he let out a death moan. You can pack what you want but I recommend 357 10mm 45acp and up.




This is a pic of the two that were in the lungs.
And yes bear on the coast of wa all bear are shot at any size as they eat a good number of fawns and elk calves.

Yeh, bad guys used to soak up the wonder nines too!

wow, dude...

For protection from bears you don't want, or need, any expanding bullet. All you need is one you can shoot well and rapidly as you will need to poke a hole through the brain or CNS. Your 357 setup is perfectly suitable for that purpose. I know for a fact that it works on our much larger brown bears. If you prefer some brand of 9mm, Buffalo Bore makes a heavy, hard cast 147 gr bullet that gives 1100 fps from a 4" barrel and I personally wound not feel the least bit inadequate in grinning down any black bear with a magazine full of those.