This was posted in the Alaska forum, but I thought I would mention it here in light of all the threads about guns and bears. Link: Alaska Man Kills 9 Foot Grizzly Breaking Into Home

The blogs after the article include one post by the shooter's son, which says the gun was a High Point and that only one shot connected, to the lungs. Edit: The comment is ambiguous as to whether only one shot hit.

how much alcohol was involved?

An Indian lady killed one with a .22 short, if it was breaking into my cabin, I would use what I had.. Still doesn't make good sense to rely on a .22 short or .45 auto as bear protection..

I read an article where an Inuit woman killed one of the largest polar bears ever killed with a .22 rifle. Hid behind a door in the kitchen, when the bear poked its head in the kitchen, she put the muzzle of the rifle in it's ear and shot; dropped like a rock. They reported it was very difficult getting the bear out of the house.

Inuits typically use small calibers for hunting including polar bear. 223, 22-250, 243 are the most popular calibers. There are a few AK's up there too.

When the bear saw the High Point it laughed itself to death. The owner who lived in b bear country had to go out to the truck to fetch his gun, this fits the High Point owner profile.

mike r

I have an acquaintance of mine who has a son stationed in Alaska with the Air Force who uses a Ruger 1911 in .45 ACP for bear protection. Using +P I don't think he's that under gun for close work. Heck, I wouldn't feel under gun with standard velocity .45 ACP for close work.

Not what I would use for serious bear hunting but for close range work it should do.

If a .45 ACP bullet shot out of a Hi-Point pistol can kill a Grizzly Bear ...

It's just as dead as if shot from a Colt 1911.

I'd venture a guess that the High Point shooter was not using top shelf ammo.

Flanking the bear and connecting on a broadside shot into open lungs is probably a bit less taxing on a bullet than shooting head on into covered vitals. Reckon he still leaves the pistol in the truck at night? I doubt it.

I heard a rumor that a San Francisco man named Sheryl killed a Grizzly with a glittered stiletto pump. It was on an internet forum so it must be true.

A few years ago, there were news reports of a hiker in Alaska killing an attacking griz with a 9mm. Doesn't mean we should all rely on the same.....

Clearly you don't know what your talking about. A 45 APC is only 500 foot pounds and inadequate for grizzles. A 30 06 would work pretty well and the smallest pistol round I would use would be a 44mag with good bullets.

A hit with a .45ACP is better than a miss with a .44 mag. Certainly a .44 mag is better but if all you have is a .45 ACP I don't think you are under gun if you are close enough. As I said it's not for serious bear hunting.

As was posted above a bear was killed with a 9MM and IIRC it was a Browning Hi-power. Again not for serious bear work but apparently it worked this time at least.

If I'm going to be out in the woods I carry bear spray with my 1911 in .45ACP as back up.

I don't know how anyone survived in grizzly country before 1956 when armed with only a handgun, not to mention the people who only had homemade stick bows and stone and scrap metal arrow points.

Not saying that the 45 acp is proper for big bear protection, but foot lbs of energy has zero to do with killing power. Penetration of a properly constructed bullet in the correct spot will end any bears life.

Hold my beer and watch this. But in all honesty those 45s have some wallop.

well, they generally didn't get into arguments with bears, unless the whole tribe was with them.

I don't feel unarmed with a .30-.30 or a 44 mag. or a 10mm or even a .40


but having had a few encounters of the close kind with bears I can't think of a time when I wished I had less gun

course there was that one time I'd have liked to have had any gun

most of the bears I've had run ins with haven't been big bears

only 1 over 9 feet that we surprised each other, scared the crap outa both of us.

The guy in the OP missed 6 times

There's no reason anyone would miss more with a 44 if they know how to shoot

Reality is he just got lucky

If you are a shaking it's hard to hit with anything.

believe you make a valid point Snyper, based upon my experiences with bears

he may have been lucky indeed that those 6 shots missed.


by and large, shooting a bear that's already received non fatal lead (and sometimes even fatal lead/copper etc.) is a whole nuther sport than putting a killing shot in one that's just going about their bidness.

even if their business at the time is trying to get into your foodstuffs in your cabin.

even had one bear jump into our boat, lol, fortunately we weren't in it at the time

You can discuss killing power etc. forever, but the bottom line is that the guy used what he had. It is a different conversation when someone carries an inadequate weapon into bear county on purpose.

Before being shipped overseas in WWII, my Dad patrolled the coast highway with a partner from CA to Canada. Up near the Canadian border, his partner was squatting, taking a dump, when a bear poked its head through the brush at him. The guy emptied his 1911 into the bear's head at about 10 feet from the squatting position with expected results. And the encounter helped clear his bowels at the same time. I don't recall if it was a griz or a black bear and Dad is now deceased.

LMAO

I was responding to a poster who was saying that 45APC is perfectly adequate for grizzles and that a friend of his chose to carry it for protection from big bears. Clearly it's not adequate protection from big bears and a 44 mag is the minimum for this purpose.

I said it'll get the job done at close range. .44 mag is better but a .44 mag is big and heavy and without a lot of practice which most people aren't going to do is probably worthless. Hence, a .45 ACP especially with +P loads will get the job done.

Now days if I'm going to be out in the woods and especially in bear country which in Montana is just about everywhere now I'll carry bear spray and my 1911 in .45 ACP.