Posted on 08/30/2023 4:40:22 AM PDT by marktwain
On August 25, 2023, near Kingston, Massachusetts, a bear attack was stopped with a pistol. The bear started by attacking a goat. Bear attacks against animals that depend on people for their protection are much more common than direct attacks against people. From Kingston Police on Facebook:
Shortly before 3pm this afternoon KPD responded to Hawthorne Road for a report of a black bear attacking a resident’s livestock (goat). Initial investigation appears to reveal the following:
Upon the bear attacking the resident’s goat, the resident attempted to scare the bear away, the bear postured up towards the resident and the resident reported he was in fear of being attacked. The resident then shot the bear with his lawfully owned firearm.
At that time, the bear fled into the wood line. Upon police arriving, we were unable to locate the bear. KPD contacted the Massachusetts Environmental Police who are conducting an investigation and have been unable to locate the bear as of this time.
This correspondent made contact with the Kingston Police PIO, who communicated the firearm used was a .38 caliber handgun. In an update, NBC Boston reported the man had fired warning shots in an attempt to scare the bear away from the goat. The bear became threatening instead of fleeing, and he shot the bear. From nbcboston.com:
The man said he was afraid of being attacked so he shot the bear in the leg and it fled into the woods.
Wildlife officials say the injury is minor and local police say the resident does own the gun lawfully.
Kingston police and Massachusetts Environmental police have been looking for the bear since this incident yesterday afternoon but they haven’t been able to find it.
(Excerpt) Read more at ammoland.com ...
My brother-in-law was a police officer for 30+ years and he briefly carried the .41 magnum as his duty gun but went back to his standbys, the S&W Model 19 .357 and the Colt 1911 .45ACP. He alternated those for many years until he handled a Glock 22 and was hooked.
“Wadcutter is a target bullet.”
You really need to read up on wadcutters. Damn good defense round
You mentioned shooting lower powered rounds for practice. I load all my magnum range/plinking/practice rounds at lower velocities. 44 mag is 44 special velocity. 357 mag at 38 velocity.
With the model 19, a special problem arose. Light weight bullets at max velocity combined with slow burning powders were purportedly hard on the top strap from excessive cutting due to prolonged burn time. I've looked at my K frames and can see some scarring, but I don't shoot any one gun enough for that to be an issue.
S&W intended the 19 to be carried much and shot little. They fixed that issue with the beefier L frame.
I knew a lot of folks from Harlan. Tell Boyd Crowder lou says ‘hey.’
But be my guest. You're clearly the expert.
Sometimes I get the impression FR is a haven of firearms Luddites — but then most firearms related internet threads are mostly bluster and trolling. Glock this! Calibers start with 4! etc. etc.
Personally if I foreknew that I’d have to shoot a bear I’d leave *all* the handguns behind — pick your favorite long arm I guess but the easy default might be a 12ga slug or several.
In any case *this* guy achieved the desired result regardless of what we all think he should’ve used.
“You’re clearly the expert”
Actually, I am an expert.
Exactly. I love my pre-27 (3 1/2”) too, very badass looking. Also have a pre-19, first year. Somewhere along the way I also snagged an autographed copy of “No Second Place Winner” signed by Jordan, and personalized to Joe Peot, who at the time was an officer in the Army AMU. Nice piece of history.
Against a human or a vicious dog, maybe.
I would want a round you could count on to penetrate a bear's skull. If he's charging the only way to stop him quickly is hitting the brain or spinal cord. At a close distance even a solid heart shot would leave enough life in him to get ya.
Hard-cast semi-wadcutter or flat nose, heavy weight.
I carry a speed loader and an extra box of 50. Statistically the ordeal is over after the first five but times are a changing.
Love it. I inherited dad’s 44 black Hawk. It garners a lot of respect at the range. I upgraded from wooden grip to oversized rubber grip.
Yes, Bella Twin did it back in 1957.
I still have boxes of 44 hollow point from the Y2K stockpile that are marked $9.99 for 40 rounds. Glad I stocked up.
A very dynamic situation.
Hard to know how bad the bullet wound was. Could be anything from a graze to a through and through intersecting a lung. Not good if it hit bone.
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