Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Handguns or Pistols defense against Bear attacks 96% effective

There could be several reasons for their apparent effectiveness! Some hunters/outdoorsmen may shoot the long gun too early in the attack, missing the CNS, and “not” have time for a second shot. The bear may so close when the attack occurs, that a rifle cannot be put into use. The handgun can still be put into use while the bear is mauling the hunter/outdoorsman. The handgun user, may actually be more familiar with his firearm......he may shoot/practice more! memtb

Most of those appear to have been handgun vs black bear, not brown. If you look at all data available in total, you see spray works better on brown bears, while handguns work better on black bears. Avoiding the things works better than either.

Did an Alaskan guide really tell you that or did you read it on every bear topic in the last 50 years?

can you share the data with us that shows that bear spray works better against the brown bears? I will be needing to make a decision as to which to bring with me, so please share that data!

From reading the report it sounds like I'll be OK for local Blackies with either 16 rounds of FMJ 9MM or 9 of 45ACP.
Or I could just spit and tell them to go away.

When I began college in the Fall of 1955, I lived in an old boarding house where there were about a dozen Korean war vets, going to college on the GI Bill. I became friends with one of them, an Army veteran who'd been a paratrooper with the 187 RCT (Abn.) who jumped in Korea with the last full regiment combat jump in the Army's history.

The following summer of 1956, he and a bud of his decided they'd go to Alaska for the summer, prospect for gold and strike it rich. He had a Walther 9 mm P-38 his father had brought back from WW II and given him. He'd carried it in Korea. He took it with him for "bear protection." When he returned in the Fall, I asked him how he and his bud had done? He said they did pretty well finding gold and he'd supplement his GI Bill with plenty of beer and entertainment money for the year.

I asked him if he had to use his P-38 on a charging bear or anything like that? He said "No, but an old sourdough we ran into looked at my P-38 and told me, 'If you're gonna use that thing on a grizzly, file the front sight off of it. That way it won't hurt as much when he shoves it up your ass.' " As said, that was in 1956 63 years ago. That was the first time I heard it,

As an aside, the following summer of 1957, my friend and his bud went back to Alaska to find more gold. When he got back to school, I asked him how he did? He said, "Didn't find a freakin' flake of gold. Damned near starved to death."

He never again went back to Alaska gold prospecting.

L.W.

My wife carries the bear spray. I spend some time in Griz country every year and have seen a few close enough to get a rush. We will spend 30 days in the areas between Jackson and Lander starting the last week of October and hope to see a bear or 3 but in reality Moose scare me more. I will, as always be wearing my Glock 19. A guy named Phil proved that a 9mm can be effective w/ some BB ammo so I will have my "Phil Drill" down to < 3 seconds. My wife carries the bear spray so I can spray some on the bear after the fact so the feds will be placated. Wind has little affect on BB 147gr. hard cast.



mike r

Did anyone start the usual 9 vs 10 vs 40 vs 45 vs 44....yet 😆

Didnt I read on here about a eskimo killing a bear with a .22 short?
Along with the 9 cs 40 vs......should I use 12 ga 3 inch buck, 4 buck or 4 pheasant load?
My Hope's are the noise will be enough and i will have no paperwork to do

Well said IB. Some of these "jokes" really get old.

Unless I counted wrong 38 out of the 73 cases were either brown, grizzly, or polar bear. It is also interesting that 9mm, 40, 45ACP, and 10mm combined for a significant number of the stops and were 100% effective. The 357 mag was only 80% effective, 4/5.

As an aside, the following summer of 1957, my friend and his bud went back to Alaska to find more gold. When he got back to school, I asked him how he did? He said, "Didn't find a freakin' flake of gold. Damned near starved to death."

He never again went back to Alaska gold prospecting. grin

L.W.




There are easier ways to starve to death!

I don't think the sample size is sufficient to make any significant comparisons between/among calibers. Even the lowly .22 rimfire did pretty good! I think the primary takeaway from this article is that handguns in general are better for bear defense than "conventional" wisdom has given credit to.

This^^^^ The old saw about a pistol is just good for fighting to your rifle has always been one of those things that sounds better than it works for real.


mike r

It’s bullshiit biologists, fish and game put out do folks won’t kill grizz.. I’ll gladly take my 69 44 over spray any day

There seems to be a big gap between "Conventional wisdom" and Common sense..............

No reason to get stupid about it, just have a lovely chat over tea.

Was in the Bear woods today and yes I had my 44 sp with Buff bore lead!

Several years ago Brian Pierce wrote about the S&W 625 shooting auto rim loads with a 280 grain cast slug running about 900 fps..... about a month ago I posted the "attempting to lecture a bear" clip

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/13993230/1

I had an action job done on my 625 after the most recent bear encounter and am very pleased with how fast I can launch a bunch of lead accurately. Pretty sure a 280 grain slug at 900 fps would pass straight through any NC sized bear.

The wife and I walked up within 25 yards of a big black bear last Saturday. I had my Glock 20 10mm along for the hike. Gotta admit, I'd rather have had my Marlin .45-70 or Benelli M1 Tactical with slugs.