Whats the best handgun for bears?

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benny27

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Bears

People are always saying if confronted by a Bear and you're carrying anything smaller than a .50 cal your sol, personally I think anything from a 9mm or bigger will seriously change a Bear's priorities. I guarantee you, you put 15 rounds of 9mm into a Bear's skull that confrontation is over....:D, although a 9mm would not be my first choice, I think there are a lot of calibers out there other than the "sledghammer" calibers that would be perfectly adequate.
 
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pesta2

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was a blood curdling roar. The roar was so loud about 3 children started crying ASAP, and a couple peed on themselves.
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+1 on that. If you ever hear a Male Lion Roar it is unbelievable. It is a deep sound that carries for miles.
 
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Sgt.Fathead

Moderator
I was gonna' jump in with "How big are the bear's paws?" thing but instead decided to look up bear incidents. Apparently, lots of smaller caliber guns work. If you can get you hand and the gun inside the bear's mouth.
 
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Pilot

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IMTHDUKE,

Where you in the movie "Fugitive"? You know the guy that gets busted for drugs where Harrison Ford is on the lamb. :D
 
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IMTHDUKE

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Please believe me...that picture is NOT me..

It is I think of a guy in the deliverence movie that went high tech
 
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Socrates

Moderator
hmmm... the latest news is the wall was shorter than "regulation height" for tigers...
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What a joke. The 'fence' is an iron railing, maybe 4 feet high, with a hedge on the other side that's been let go to seed, also max 4 feet high, probably because the tigers jumped out before, and were petted as they paced between the rail and the hedge.:rolleyes:

That's what made the zoo such a cool place. No huge fences, cats that were very happy, and, you could see it in the way they played, and ran around. I'm not sure I like the idea of putting them in the tiny feeding cages overnight to sleep. They would then be very close to each other, in a very small area. Might make for an angry cat. In the grottos, they could sleep in their own area or shelter, much more cat like.

I've been to that zoo in the area of 100 times. They used to have these really cool little boxes that would play information on each animal. You needed a key, shaped like an elephant to play them. I had MANY keys...

I think the keeper that said,
"She does that all the time. She hates me."
May well have been the cause, or at least a reason for the cats behavior. I've NEVER heard a keeper say that about any of the cats there. About 100 percent I've talked to LOVE the cats they get to interact with. Likewise the elephant care people as well. I've never talked to anyone that worked at that zoo that didn't think they had the best job in the world.

We'll see, but, it's likely with the short fence comments, the zoo is admitting liability.
That means tiger food's family is going to become reasonably rich, and, the zoo will either be closed, or the exhibition areas redesigned. So, one stupid, likely drunk idiot and his family from San Jose have now managed to put in jeopardy a wonderful exhibit, and, a park that's worked, and been safe, for 50 of the years I've been alive.

I can't help but think about the drunk San Jose folks I ran into a couple Memorial Days ago, at Ocean Beach, drunk off their butts, with their pit bull off lead, and, how I wished I would have had a gun, or at least pepper spray at the time.
 
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chaad

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No question about it...

...those Smith and Wesson neon box jobs are the puddytat's pooper for Bear. They fit the two criteria I have for a good bear handgun:

1) The front sight is low and ramped so it will hurt less when the bear shoves it up your @$$.

2) Those bright colored grips would make it easy for the recovery party to see which pile of dung to send back to your widow.

Bottom line, bears are a critter yearning for a long gun.
 
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JohnKSa

Administrator
Bottom line, bears are a critter yearning for a long gun.
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The two most recent grizzly attack articles I've read were both attacks on bowhunters. Pretty hard (if not illegal) to carry a long gun while bowhunting.

Fortunately they didn't know that handguns were ineffective against bears and the attacks were stopped. One bear was killed and another broke off the attack after being wounded.

Then there's the incident awhile back in which a fisherman in Alaska stopped a bear charge with a 9mm pistol... No question that it was a lucky shot, but if he had believed what he read on the internet and had left his Ruger home because it was useless against bears he wouldn't have had a chance to even TRY to make his lucky shot. ;)

Handguns aren't ideal for bear, but the handgun you have on you is better than the long gun you couldn't carry that day.
 
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Socrates

Moderator
Nobody said it was useless.

Not a first choice?
Less likely then heavier calibers to be successful?
You can kill a bear with a knife, but, it wouldn't be my first choice.

Feel free, however, to cleanse the gene pool...
 
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Para Bellum

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Honestly: A glock 17 with a 19 or 33rd Magazine full of FLs

I'd use a high capacity 9x19mm handgun with extremely deep penetrating ammo such as the Fiocci/Hirtenberger FL.

Why?: You can't make a bear bleed to death quick enough. You can't shock him with any handgun, BUT: You can destroy his essential skeleton parts or his CNS. And therefore you need deeeeep penetration and exact rapid fire: 9x19mm FMJ or FL.
 
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DENALI

Moderator
Hmm another interesting bear question. Best handgun for bruin is the one depending on your perspective that best fits under your chin when you get down to your last shot...................:D
 
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44 AMP

Staff
About 4-5 years ago....

I can't remember exactly, I was shown some rather gristly (grizzly?) pictures of a hiker's bones (leg picked to the bone, sneaker still on the foot) who tried to defend himself with a .38. He failed.

The bear was killed a few days later by a ranger using a 7mmMag BAR (and several shots. The bear's head looked to be nearly as wide as the rifle was long! I think (not sure anymore) this happened in Alaska.

Read Elmer Keith, no matter what handgun you choose, you have to use it correctly, or you are bear scat.
 
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funon1

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The biggest Magnum wheelgun you can handle well.

Bears - .44 mag minimum
Tigers - Once again, I'll take my S&W 629.
Small BUGs - I'll still carry my P3AT, thank-you.

The two legged predators that pose as everyday people are still way more dangerous than bears or tigers!
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Quite good advice. I would add a snub .357 with 180 Grain solids would be much better as a bug than a .380 where bears are concerned.

Some good choices in order of preference assuming equal skill with all: .44 Magnum loaded with Garrett or BB +p+ .454 Casull, .500 S&W or one of several custom wheelguns in a .475 or .500 wildcat.

Funon1
 
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