Posted on 08/18/2016 5:05:44 AM PDT by marktwain
The 10mm is becoming increasingly popular as a wilderness defense gun in Alaska. Fully loaded it is as light, and a bit more powerful than a loaded, small frame .357 magnum.
The Glock 20 holds 15 rounds versus five or six for a .44 or .41 magnum revolver. In this case near Homer, Alaska, on the Kenai peninsula, it did the job in stopping a charging brown bear sow. It happened on 29 July, 2016, a Monday afternoon about 4 p.m. From homernews.com:
A Homer man shot and killed a charging sow brown bear at Humpy Creek last Friday. Kim Woodman, 57, shot the bear five times with a 10mm handgun before the bear fell about 6 feet from him. While backing away from the sow, Woodman fell and accidentally shot himself in the left foot.
(snip)Woodman had another defensive bear shooting 24 years ago, in 1992. In that case he was hunting moose. In 1992 he fired his rifle at close range when the bear was stalking him.
Blackwell said Woodman surprised a brown bear with two cubs while hiking about 4 p.m. July 29 off the trail along the southwest fork of Humpy Creek in Kachemak Bay State Park. The bears were probably feeding on pink salmon in the creek. Woodman filled out a defense of life and property report, and Park Ranger Jason Okuly and Alaska Department of Fish and Game biologist Jason Herreman went to the scene and found the dead sow bear. They reported the sow had two gunshot wounds, one below the right eye and one in the chest.
Always felt ‘in control’ when my S&W 610 was loaded with “Double-Tap” 230s.
I’ve never been north of Mount Rushmore, for starters so I really wouldn’t know... internet commando, one might say... however there are anecdotal reports of the ineffectiveness of the .45auto as a bear defense weapon... but not many people around to testify to that effect.
Well....kind of pulled Adidas out of thin air.
Not like the ads for sneakers in the 1950’s, where “Wingy Wingfoot” dons his Keds and outruns freight trains while chasing the bank robbers driving an Oldsmobile with V-8 Rocket engine. He catches them, of course.
;^)
.45 ACP isn’t big enough and I suspect a 10mm isn’t either. The shot just below the eye was the one that killed the bear. It was a very lucky shot.
The .45ACP used to be called .45 short.
The last guy to kill a brown with .45 ACP shot 18 rounds before the bear went down!
.454 Casull, which is the long colt magnum, is the round generally carried by Alaskans. The 10 mm is way too light.
Bullet Placement,
Caliber,,,,?
Somewhat inconsequential.
I do reload, and it keeps the cost down. 10mm and .40 use the same size and weight projectile, more or less. Just buy a shipload of brass and police it up after every shoot.
No biggie. Just wanted to post it so people could watch it. Really funny (to me, not the slower guy).
180 hp opens up nicely and doesn’t over penetrate. i carry them in the winter. 220 caat penetrates deeply and is my carry load when the bears are moving. 10mm is a magnum pressure round and is loud. i use hearing protection at the range but will put up with the noise if a bear is chewing on me.
Since it’s all about shot placement, a .22 should be fine.
Absolutely. Plus, the guy gets a nasty scar to go along with his bear story.
I’ve read that the muzzle velocity is too low.
I’ve fished on the banks of the Kenai river and been to Homer spit. I was unarmed, though. Glad I didn’t see any bears close up and while on foot.
I target shoot my Colt 10mms all day long with .40 cal ammo, right out of box. Different feel, but it chambers and fires fine, the only thing is when you’re done you have to clean the bore out good between where the .40 casings stop and the 10 keeps going. Saves a butt load of money that way.
That I didn’t know. I’m about to pull the trigger on a Glock 41. Love the feel in my hand and the things being said in the reviews.
I had only really been looking at 9mm and .45 because of what I’d heard about .40 and the ammo price/availability on 10mm. I may need to revise my thinking here.
It is very quick and usually starts from about 10 to 20 feet from the quarry.
The bear will be on all fours during the attack.
He will move very quickly and will be on you suddenly.
His head will move very rapidly, bobbing up and down as his he runs.
Placement in this scenario is a big problem and you probably won't have the opportunity to pick your shot.
Use a caliber that is big enough to disrupt the bears nervous system at whatever point is available.
Some carry Ruger .45-70 revolvers.
Carry what they carry.
It isn't like the movies where the bear stands up and roars a challenge and only attacks then.
The bear will stalk you for dinner and they are very good at it.
5 bear hunters were killed during the several weeks my friend was in the bush looking for a trophy. He got his.
bump
For a bear? Probably lacks the penetration necessary do to fatal damage.
10mm 230gr @ 1150 ft/s
.45 230gr @ 830 ft/s
For the same weight bullet, the 10 is narrower and faster, therefore can be expected to penetrate deeper. Bears are tough.
You are on to something:
http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2015/06/jeremy-s/40-in-a-10mm-glock/
I don’t think a lot of people understand how quickly bears can appear and move out of the brush. 10-20 ft is a sucking half breath of time.
Fortunately, all I’ve ever seen is them running the other way. More like hearing them crash through brush situations than visual.
My research/observations agree mostly with what you said. For someone who is very observant and selecting their path to maintain SA, I think bear is more like 20 to 40 feet away at start of attack, but at any rate the bear accelerates very quickly to full dash so you only have several seconds (or less) to react, aim and get your shot off. You may only get one shot off in this time, so reliability is critical. Also, over-penetration is a very good thing for bear due to hide thickness, and personally I would never trust any handgun in this situation. I concluded best gun is a light “bush” over/under (two shots off instead of one with practice, even in a fraction of a second). Because the “elephant gun” rifles in this class are a bit pricey, I went with a 20 gauge shooting stabilized steel slug (D Dupleks)— obviously too much penetration for much of anything else, but perfect for this application. I carry it ready to go anytime I’m out and about where bears are likely to be.
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