Home Forums Reloading Handgun Reloading 357 Magnum - Reccomend a black bear defense load

PA, I just go book max: 15 grains lil gun for exactly 1200 fps. Brass drops out as
If they were 38 special.

What good is a revolver with 5 stuck cases? That 180 buffalo bore stuff is not for me.

Regarding the sp 101: they are crude and require at least a thousand rounds of shooting and some parts as well.

Grip is worthless. Gotta go pachmeyer. Your middle finger knuckle gets bit hard by the trigger housing when firing 180s.

Springs: the pull in double or single action is absurd. Gotta go lighter on springs if your gonna take aim at that ruffed grouse 20 yards off, or that beaver swimming about. Missing on tasty food will really piss yah off.

Sights are too big for precise work. Not many choices so went with a little burris fast fire on an allchin mount.

Good info Mainer, thanks. Do you have a pic of your set up handy? It seems the universal opinion on these is a spring change. I’ll check out the pachmyer grips. I’ve come to really like the hogues or smith and wesson grips that are secured by a screw through the bottom. I put an eyed screw there in order to attach a retractable lanyard to prevent losing the gun. It’s saved the day twice so far. I’ll also check out the allchin mount, never heard of that one.

PA, I apologize for the late reply.

I do not own a 22 rifle, nor 22 handgun. After the rimfire shortages and all the dirt-bag fear buyers hoarding all the 22 rimfire ammo, I gave up. I sold off all my 22s and gave away all my 22 ammo to kids who couldnt find any in the stores.

All my small game work is precise stuff, 158 grain speer tmj/alliant unique handloads are as accurate as they come. At exactly 1000 fps, they don't damage any meat. Even small pests like red squirrels end up with a clean hole.

I really like the little burris fast fire. Turn it on and forget about it. Last picture is after I overhauled the stock pistol new parts. I also re-countered some metal off the bottom of the barrel to get balance proper. Groups immediately cut in half, misses now a rare occurrence.

I've got you by 2 years, and for 50+ years every black bear that I encountered turned tail and ran away as soon as they saw me. So did a couple of grizzlies. The abut 15 years ago one of our Forest Service trail crews was clearing a trail and the lead worker was attacked by a black bear. After the initial attack he climbed higher up a tall fir tree than I thought was possible. Then every time he yelled for help, the bear climbed up the tree and bit his feet and legs.

I was in the area and heard of the attack on my radio. I met our FS LEO and a Deputy Sheriff at the trailhead. The LEO gave me his AR-15 and the three of us went up the trail. We got to the tree where the attacked trail worked had climbed at least an hour after the initial attack, and the bear immediately charged us. The three of us shot almost in unison and killed the bear. When we checked the bear we saw that it was a female.

We then got the injured worker out of the tree and other help arrived, including a helicopter from Yellowstone NP. I then noticed a little black cub of the year running through the brush and up a tree. I immediately realized that the crew member had worked between the mother bear and her cubs. She hadn't left the area probably because she couldn't gather up her cubs.

I thought that with the mother dead, someone would say the cub wouldn't survive and want to shoot it, so I climbed up the tree with it and drug it out. He was only a few months old, but he had very sharp teeth and claws. I had a tight two hand hold on him for over an hour until the FWP bear biologist arrived with a 5 gallon plastic bucket that he could carry him out in. The next day FWP went back there with dogs and found another cub. They took the two cubs to a wildlife rehab center in Helena, and released the cubs back in the woods two years later.

So back to the OP's question on a .357 magnum load for black bear defense, when I carried a .357 in bear country, I had it full of 158 grain hard cast gas checked SWC bullets over a full charge of 2400. Most of the time when I carried a bear defense pistol it was either my 1911 .45 acp or one of my .44 magnums. I have killed two black bear with those pistols (not in defense) using my home cast bullets. Both were one shot kills and neither bear ran over 10 yards after I shot them.

Tagged for a deer load.

I'd load heavy cast bullets

I'd buy some 180 hard cast from Buffalo Bore and get some 180 coated from Missouri Bullet for practice. Both shoots well in my Smith 66 4" . I don't feed it those as a steady diet, but it behaves nicely when I do. Hold tight. You don't need expansion with a bear, you need penetration. That's why the hardcast are prescribed.

Great news on the 629. One I'd enjoy having, too.

I think it was jjhack that told me not to use the hard cast in the 357. He said it took too long to kill. After talking with him I went to the 158 xtp. At 1200 fps or under it expands some but still penetrates pretty well because it doesn't over expand.

Bb

Bear defense isn't bear hunting. I don't think you could go wrong with any stout bullet of at least 158 grains. I have some 185 WFNGC, some 205 WLN, and some 235 WLN that I carry for bear defense and hunting when I carry a 357 My favorite is the 235 at 1050-1100 out of a 6" barrel. It is cast soft enough that it rivets and expands enough turn into a cylinder, and shoots through many feet of tissue and bone. It has claimed one very huge corn-fed moose, an old dry cow that was delicious.