Posted on 05/06/2024 8:04:47 AM PDT by marktwain
A continual debate in the firearms and hunting community is about caliber wars. 9mm v .45. What is the minimum caliber for whitetail deer? What calibers are good for elk? Moose? Grizzly bears? In the research of handguns fired in defense against bears, a surprising conclusion springs forth: Caliber is not as important as we thought. Having a firearm is more important than caliber. There are several reasons why this is so.
First, a firearm builds confidence. A person with a firearms has more confidence they can do something instead of nothing. Call it the psychological factor. A firearm gives a person the confidence to stand their ground. Even bear spray proponent Tom Smith acknowledges the importance of this. From byu.edu/news, 2008:
Smith believes one of the primary reasons bear spray works is that it gives users a reason to stand their ground. Running is the worst response to an aggressive bear, he said, “but it’s hard not to.
Second, there is noise. Firearms, even small caliber handguns, are loud, much louder than nearly anything in nature except for a thunderclap. Warning shots work primarily though noise. Warning shots are seriously underrated because most successful warning shots are not reported. Of the documented incidents where handguns were fired in defense against bears, warning shots worked 21 of 29 times or 69%. Bears that are indifferent to the presence of a human and to warning shots are very dangerous bears.
(Excerpt) Read more at ammoland.com ...
This has been clear for years. Every time I’ve see a history of encounters, even a 22LR was effective in getting the bear to leave.
Shot placement is key. I have large black bears around my home in the mountains and when I am out I carry a Ruger GP100 .357 magnum or a Virginian Dragoon in .44 magnum both with hunting loads.
The one time I have fired a weapon with a bear involved was a 400 lbs black bear that walked out of the woods into our front yard and our Irish Setter about knocked my oldest son who was 9 or 10 at the time down to get between him and the bear and he came running inside screaming as the dog and bear squared off in a growling match. I went outside with a Mossy 500 in .12 gauge with 5 rds of .00 buck and the two were about 10 feet apart the bear snapping its teeth and roaring and Katie hackles up, showing teeth and growling back in a stand off.
I told my wife Katie runs toward the front door or garage when I shoot any firearm get ready to grab her and drag her inside and I put a round into the ground and sure enough she broke and ran right at my wife who dragged her inside. The bear stopped it’s growling and just looked at me like yeah what are you going to do now? I racked another round into the chamber and fired again into the ground and chambered another round quickly preparing for a charge. The bear looked for a few seconds at me and slowly turned and ambled off into the woods with no great speed or desire so sound didn’t deter this cat.
I don’t believe this study at all. It is considering that bears may run away. To stop a bear with a less than perfect shot takes a high caliber slug. Anything less is either scaring the bear or making him mad. Don’t expect to scare away a mother bear.
Desert Eagle in .50 caliber may be a good choice...
The rare brown/grizzly mother bears that charge humans should be shot, and removed from the gene pool.
There are propagating their anti-survival "extra-bold" genetics.
Why not just shoot Bootle rockets at the bear.
(((( Chuckling))))
Thank you for taking the time for the helpful reply.
Maybe a flash bang grenade would scare the bear away most of the time?
I have 1 9mm Ruger single stack. My summertime EDC. Nice little pistol.
Bella Twin——Patron Saint of the .22!
Well my little .380 has 15+1, so more like pew pew pew pew pew pew....lotsa bangs lol
It’s probably better to be prepared for 1 and 1/3 bear. That way you know you can take the one bear.
The super magnums 454, 475, 480, 460 500.
Are a handful with full powdered loads.
I load them down to more comfortable levels.
A 200 to 300 gr from 1200 to 1300 is easy to handle.
They seem to do a fine job around there.
The raw smashing power above there is awesome. If one can handle the recoil that is associated with them.
The super magnums 454, 475, 480, 460 500.
Are a handful with full powdered loads.
I load them down to more comfortable levels.
A 200 to 300 gr from 1200 to 1300 is easy to handle.
They seem to do a fine job around there.
The raw smashing power above there is awesome. If one can handle the recoil that is associated with them.
OK with partial diff. equations. Suck at arithmaitch and speling.
Flash bangs would be a good start when backup by a firearm.
.9 mm is kinda small. /s
What is critical is the ability to score hits under extreme stress.
Using a Europellet gun (9mm or .38+P), I can consistently outscore “no caliber that doesn’t start with four” shooters once the scenario adds some stress.
Not even using a charging grizzly, which I imagine adds a bit more stress that we can achieve at the range or in a shoot house.
Having shot bears with rifles shotguns and a couple different handgun calibers.
Having hunted bears and lived in bear country for over 50’s years.
It sounds like to me you don’t know crap about bears or shooting and killing them.
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