Image courtesy of Todd Orr, 1 October, 2016, Gallatin National Forest, text by Dean Weingarten
Posted on 08/14/2019 4:13:37 AM PDT by marktwain
In January, 2018, I published some original research on the efficacy of pistols in stopping bear attacks. It started with this observation:
On the Internet, and in print, many people claim that pistols lack efficacy in defending against bear attacks. Here is an example that occurred on freerepublic.com:
“Actually, there are legions of people who have been badly mauled after using a handgun on a bear. Even some of the vaunted magnums.”
OK, give us a few examples. As you claim “legions”, it should not be too hard.
I never received a response. I believe the claim was made in good faith. There has been much conjecture about the lack of efficacy of pistols for defense against bears. A little searching will find a plethora of fantasy, fiction, mythology, and electrons sprayed about the supposed lack.
In the original article, there were 37 instances of bear attacks where people attempted to defend themselves or others from a bear or bears, with a pistol. Of the 37 attacks, there was only one failure, giving a success rate of 97%.
The criteria for inclusion in this study is a pistol had to be fired to defend against a bear or bears. If a pistol was not fired, the incident was not included. If the use of the pistol stopped the attack, it was a success whether the bear was killed immediately, or left the scene, as long as it stopped attacking.
(Excerpt) Read more at ammoland.com ...
Image courtesy of Todd Orr, 1 October, 2016, Gallatin National Forest, text by Dean Weingarten
Different, but related, I’d like to know what the circumstances were for each of these attacks, so maybe we can learn something about how to avoid them.
Guess it all depends on the handgun, I certainly wouldn’t feel very confident plinking a bear with a .22, however with a .50cal Desert Eagle, all that would be left is picking up some of the larger bear chucks and having a cookout.
All of the cases are in the article, at Ammoland. The article is about 12,000 words long.
Each one has a link to an original article, or explanation if a link is not available.
Thanks!
Just to be a contrarian: Wild Bill Hickok
Don't bring a .36 caliber Colt Navy revolver to a bear fight.
Thanks,,,,,marked for later,,,,,
I’ve chased off black and sometimes they’re brown bears with a little .22 that I keep handy. I do it from a distance and shoot over them. It’s a 9 shot that has hollow points and long rifle rounds. If they don’t take off then I go back in the house and grab the semi automatic rifle with a 30 round clip with armor piercing rounds. Thank God I’ve never had to use it but there’s a piece of mind that I’m glad to have. You know the old saying,better to be tried by 12 than carried by 6. The game warden up here is a complete bunghole with jackboot, Australian bush hat and a black Dodge power wagon with his gun rack. I would like to have a bear rug for my living room but I’m too old and lazy to skin a beast.
I’ve hunted with handguns. Watched large 200lb deer fall when shot from the rear and the 240 grain .44 magnum pill pushed through the whole deer through the heart/lungs and out the sternum. I wouldn’t want to have to shoot a large bear that is coming straight for me but I certainly wouldn’t feel under gunned. The trick I assume is not to forget accuracy when confronted but to take a good aimed shot. A heart lung shot to the bear might kill you even after the bear is mortally wounded. A brain/ spine shot will anchor it. Not an easy shot while being charged.
Until she recently died, my 19 year old cat would play the under-the-truck game with me. No matter which side of the truck I knelt on, she was on the other side, apparently not paying attention. I didn’t know she was blind as each day she’d walk down the stairs and get under my truck.
One day recently, after she had come back in, I discovered a bear had tried to get her by digging under all sides of the truck. She successfully played the game with him even though she could barely move and was blind.
My bear visits about every three weeks. It used to be more frequent, but I now put the trash in the garage. I have to carry a gun as we have rabies in the area. A rabid bear would be something I don’t want to get too close.
if you use the armor piercing rounds, make sure you shoot him in the thickest part of his skull.
I'll bet they take one look at that and go "Whooaa!"
The 44 mag makes good round for bear protection.
They are powerful enough, common enough to be readily available anywhere, and cheap enough that you won’t go broke getting range time.
You’re famous!
I suspect the effectiveness of a handgun depends on how early in the attack bullet(s) were placed on target.
And from what I've read, how many struck the target.
I prefer to grin ‘em down.
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