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What are your thoughts on .357 for anti-bear purposes? I have a .45acp, but I’m thinking about stepping up.

I'm afraid that I'm not much of an authority on guns. I bought my .44 over 20 years ago, and have fired thousands of rounds from it, but It's the only pistol I've ever owned.

My sister bought a .357 revolver and was very happy with it. Lots of punch, and it can shoot .38's for plinking, which saves some money.

A general rule of thumb is that for large game you don't want a hollow point type of pistol cartridge. You want something that will smash through big bones.

The one thing that I do feel that I can comment on with some authority is that I prefer having a large caliper SINGLE ACTION REVOLVER for hiking/camping. With the single action you must cock the hammer back yourself... you can't just pull the trigger. When I'm sleeping with a gun under my pillow I do feel a little safer that way.

If you get a Ruger Super Blackhawk make sure it's a "New Model" version. With the original Super Blackhawk many people only loaded 5 shells at a time so that the hammer wasn't sitting on a live shell, which raised the possibility of accidentally firing the gun if the hammer was hit. In the New Model version the hammer can't actually reach the firing pin. It uses a "transfer bar" that only engages when the trigger is fully depressed. The trigger raises the transfer bar, the hammer strikes the transfer bar and the transfer bar strikes the firing pin. It's a very safe gun to cuddle with at night in a tent in the wilderness.

It's not much of a quick draw gun, and not a rapid fire automatic, but if you put a slug into a bear it'll probably do the job.

BTW, there are larger caliper magnum pistols out there than a .44. There's a .454 Casul (sp?), and I think a couple of .50 cal something or other, all of which will do as good or better than a .44 against a bear. But they're going to cost more for the gun, and more for the ammo. I'm very happy with my .44 because I can share the ammo with my friend who has an old lever action ranch rifle in a .44 mag.