I read a lot of bear attack stories in my teens about Alaskan and Canadian guides, hunters and backwoods homesteaders. Quite a few stories of big Alaskan Browns hit right in the brain pan with calibers like .375 H&H, .458 Winchester and .300 Weatherby Magnum that got back up and ran flat out for several hundred yards.
One very memorable story was about a hunter alone on a coastal BC island who put at least 11 rounds of .375 H&H in the chest and gut of a big bear that proceeded to maul him and disappear into the woods.
I read a lot of bear attack stories in my teens about Alaskan and Canadian guides, hunters and backwoods homesteaders. Quite a few stories of big Alaskan Browns hit right in the brain pan with calibers like .375 H&H, .458 Winchester and .300 Weatherby Magnum that got back up and ran flat out for several hundred yards.
A bears skull is shaped such that a shot slightly above the eyes, with the nose pointed at you, will miss the brain altogether. bears are not bullet-proof, but they have a lot of stamina and stored oxygen capacity. Hit them in the gut, even with large, powerfull calibers, and they will likely remain active for hours, even days. Hit them in the lungs, it can take several minutes or longer for them to die. Only hit one lung, and they may survive the shot.
Destroy the heart, and probably not longer than a couple of minutes at most.
Quite a few big bears have been stopped with pistols.