.38 Special Effective Against Wyoming Grizzly Bear

AmmoLand ^ | February 18, 2022 | Dean Weingarten

[marktwain]

This article is part of a continuing series of defensive bear shootings discovered through a Freedom of Information Act request by AmmoLand. It appears these events were not reported in other media.

On September 13, 2011, two bowhunters were hunting for elk in a wild part of Wyoming, on the boundary of the Shoshone National Forest and the Bridger Teton National Forest. The location was on the Continental Divide between the Salt Creek and the South Fork of the Fish Creek drainages, about an hour north of DuNoir Junction, southwest of Dubois, Wyoming, near the boundary of Fremont County and Sublette County, at an elevation of about 9442 feet, according to the map contour lines. It is in the middle of the west edge of Wyoming.

The weather was cool in the morning and warm and dry in the afternoon. Temperatures varied from 35 to 70 degrees F in nearby Big Piney-Mableton at about 6,000-foot elevation.

Two hunters were involved. Their identity is deleted in the FOIA document. They will be referred to as Hunter One and Hunter Two. Hunter One had a holstered .38 Special revolver as well as his archery equipment.

At about 10:00 a.m., the two hunters were crossing a large area of downed timber, with numerous blowdowns. This type of terrain is very difficult to traverse, because you are constantly climbing up, over, and down large tree trunks. The pictures give an indication of the complexity. It is not a walk in the park.

Hunter One was “about to cross a big piece of downed timber” when he saw a large bear jump up and toward him. He ran up a downed tree, and the bear was “spooked” and ran north into the timber. Hunter One waited until the bear was out of sight;

[ought-six]

“I would be interested to know if the cartridge was .38 Special or .38 Special +P. A jacketed +P is a step up from the old lead round nose loads.”

That, and how long was the barrel? As you know, the shorter the barrel, the less time powder has to burn, and that affects the FPS and energy. In any event, it sounds like his shot placement was just right.

[Graybeard58]

The venerable old .38 Special has been getting a bad rap for about fifty years, and its disparagement is undeserved. It was the official police caliber for about 75 years

........................................................

Official side arm of the Air force, still was in the 60s anyway,.38 6 shooter revolver, loaded with 5 rounds.

[ought-six]

“Official side arm of the Air force, still was in the 60s anyway,.38 6 shooter revolver, loaded with 5 rounds.”

As a USAF SAT member, I was issued an M16 and a Smith & Wesson .38. I thought the .38 was a very good cartridge, and still do.

[MileHi]

In any event, it sounds like his shot placement was just right.

Yep

[riverrunner]

I have shot numerous bears with rifles, shotguns and handguns.

In rifles prefer heavy for caliber bullets, in shotguns Slugs over buckshot, handguns with at least 1000fps and good heavy stout projectiles. My 44mag load of a 315gr WFN hard cast has shot through 4 foot of bear.

My 210gr WFN 41mag has had no trouble shooting through side to side bears heads.