Travis' bear hide.
Travis' bear hide.
Did he send his pants to the laundry or just throw them away?
.45 Colt can be loaded pretty hot, if you have the right gun, like a Ruger Blackhawk/Redhawk/Super Redhawk, or a rifle.
Reloading manuals have two sets of data for this reason.
Ruger Blackhawk revolvers in .45 Colt are marked as “.45 Caliber,” which I always thought was interesting.
Travis Newman was lucky. He would have been better off with full metal jacket bullets instead of hollow point ones.
45 Colt can be loaded to levels approaching magnum status. They can’t be used in (my) 1873 Winchester or in Colt’s Single Action Army, but in Ruger or Taurus, they can be stout. My reloading manuals actually have separate data for “Ruger Only” loads.
The bear invited Travis to dinner…
Travis declined the invitation.
Good on him.
.45 Colt can be loaded to higher power levels than the .44 Magnum, but it’s only safe to shoot in select over-built revolvers (incl. .454 Casull & .460 S&W), top-breaks, falling blocks and maybe a couple of lever guns. I knew guys 50 years ago who were shooting .45 Colt in Blackhawks loaded hotter than anybody’s factory .44 Mag loads.
Buffalo Bore sells .45 Colt with a 260-grainer loaded to 1500 fps and 300-grainers to 1325 fps (with a long list of cautions attached). For a handgun, that’s some serious horsepower.
He had 5 rounds in his pistol and 4 more rounds in his pocket.
And he missed with 4 rounds out of the 8.
He’s lucky to be alive.
I’ve only hunted in bear country once in my life (not too many bears here in central Kansas), but I carried a Smith & Wesson Model 500 chambered in .500 Smith & Wesson magnum. First time I ever fired that revolver I just about ended up on my backside. Helluva a handgun round, generates more kinetic energy at the muzzle than the old .45-70 Government rifle cartridge which in its day was considered a “buffalo rifle”. Don’t shoot it much, just enough to stay proficient. At my age I wake up sore enough as it is. Regards.