hand gun for bear defense

[grumpyvette]

I was asked if a 2.5" snubby revolver in 44 mag or 454 cassul would be a good last line of defense against bears while out fishing in the Alaskan rivers, well if limited to those choices
theres no doubt the 454 will hit a bit harder, but with a 2.5" barrel neither cartridge will reach near its full potential, power level, and recoil and accuracy will suffer, now obviously your talking about use at extremely close ranges, but Id doubt many people will not have started firing at 7-10 yards and at the speed of a mad or aggressive bear, youll be lucky to make more than one or at most two hits, on a moving target with your adrenalin peaked, I doubt your accuracy will be top notch, if you started firing at 15-20 yards Id doubt your accuracy will be great with a 2.5" barrel revolver and marginal hits may only serve to piss off the bear further
personally Id be thinking about using a 10ga Ithaca road blocker,

throwing 2 oz slugs or at least a 6" barrel to gain some hitting power

which do you think will be more effective a couple 300 grain slugs of .45 caliber or a couple 75 caliber slugs that weigh 875 grains at similar velocities

the object here is to protect yourself and survive, your choice
personally Id be thinking about a 8" barrel 445 dwsm, 454 cassul, 460 S&W or 500 S&W if limited to a revolver

http://www.midsouthshooterssupply.com/i ... 0000690227
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[John]

I'm a big fan of the Ithaca shotties, I learned to shoot doves with a 20 ga model 37 Featherweight. Fine guns. While I don't discount your choice, I'm pretty sure production of the Ithaca Mag 10 Roadblocker ceased in the late 80's or early 90's and the production numbers are low and resale prices are high. IIRC, it fell the way of the "street sweeper" if not before, at the 94 gun ban.

 

[John]

Addendum - whether you can get one or not is irrelevant. There are plenty of shorty 12 ga shotguns still available that are a much better choice than the large caliber wheel-guns S&W markets as "bear guns". For 99% of us, these handguns are far too uncomfortable to shoot to ever hope to become proficient with and thus a piss-poor choice for a "bear gun".

And I fall in that category - I'll NEVER shoot another handgun that's unpleasant to shoot. My handgun skills are too hard fought and won to work through the flinch again.

 

[grumpyvette]

I purchased a 10 ga road blocker, when they first came out as I was hoping it would be an exceptional deer hunting shot gun, after use, Ive found its rather heavy, ammo,s rather hard to locate at times and its expensive,but its darn effective.
if you absolutely need to stop some animal at short range its hard to improve on those big 1.75 oz or 2oz 75 caliber slugs

http://www.midwayusa.com/viewproduct/?p ... ber=449238

http://www.google.com/products/catalog? ... 8wIwADgA#p

or throwing 18 oo buckshot in a tight pattern

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theres always guys wanting to carry a heavy caliber revolver like a 44 mag-480 ruger,500 S&W for bear defense, mostly because its far easier to transport than a 12 or 10 ga shot gun or a 375H&H or 458 WIN rifle.
I freely admit to never having stood my ground on a bear charge but I have killed several dozen rather large hogs,here some thoughts
bullets alone do the work on the target but its shot placement that mostly determines the results, heres my experience, hard cast bullets easily zip thru most large hogs and deer,and don,t expend a great deal , (remember large hogs have thick Grissel like armor on shoulder areas) but if you don,t impact the brain, spine or larger bones the effects are not instantaneous, so obviously when your desired result is an instant stop, the CNS (central nervous system ) and larger bones are the desired target,, (the neck/spine junction or brain,seems like an obvious target here) Id concentrate on the spine or skull or neck and shoulder areas, heart and lung or liver shots are almost always fatal but it does little good to mortally wound a bear if he still has mobility and can kill you before the damage proves fatal.
now having used hollow point bullets in the past I can assure you they tend to get a much more dramatic reaction from the game on heart/lung hits, but they also rarely exit or drive nearly as deeply on raking angle shots. Ive used my revolver to kill a few cattle we butchered on a freinds ranch, and a hard cat bullet punches thru and easily exits a steers skull, I don,t expect a bears skull would be so much thicker than a steer that weights as much or more than a bear,or that a properly place shot would not reach and destroy the brain, or spine, but having the presents of mind and nerve to shoot accurately under a bears charge might be difficult for most people.
I doubt a 44 mag or 445 dwsm properly loaded would have any problem busting thru to vital cns areas , like the brain or spine in the hands of a cool shot, or that given the chance you wont be firing rapid shots in quick succession, so adding power and recoil might be counter productive, to well placed rapidly fired repeat shots, but the added power might be helpful on near misses to vital ares as the more powerful calibers do transfer more energy to surrounding tissue. but any shot that punches thru the brain or forward 1/3rd of the spine should instantly bring resulting cessation of an attack.
your doomed to fail if your just shooting "INTO THE BROWN" with a revolver rather than picking your target
if your just shooting at a large moving mass you better have a M14, or MG42
I would strongly suggest selecting a 6"-10" barrel pistol or revolver for any serious hunting application to maximize velocity and to provide a good sight radias.

http://www.ballistics101.com/357_magnum.php
(while certainly not a power house choice, Or something Id recommend),
in the hands of a skilled hunter I has taken about everything in north America at one time or another)
http://handloads.com/loaddata/defau...&Weight=All&type=Handgun&Order=Powder&Source=


http://www.ballistics101.com/10mm.php
(not bad for a compact auto pistol used for hunting and with proper hand loads certainly useful)
http://handloads.com/loaddata/default.asp?Caliber=10 mm&Weight=All&type=Handgun&Order=Powder&Source=


http://www.ballistics101.com/41_magnum.php
(great choice if recoil bothers you, provided you hand load )
http://handloads.com/loaddata/defau...&Weight=All&type=Handgun&Order=Powder&Source=


http://www.ballistics101.com/44_magnum.php
(without doubt the least expensive and most effective choice for most people)
http://handloads.com/loaddata/defau...&Weight=All&type=Handgun&Order=Powder&Source=


http://www.ballistics101.com/454_casull.php
(great choice if recoil does not bother you, provided you hand load )
http://handloads.com/loaddata/defau...&Weight=All&type=Handgun&Order=Powder&Source=

http://www.ballistics101.com/460_sw.php
(great choice if recoil does not bother you, provided you hand load )
http://handloads.com/loaddata/defau...&Weight=All&type=Handgun&Order=Powder&Source=


http://www.ballistics101.com/480_ruger.php
(great choice if recoil does not bother you, provided you hand load )
http://handloads.com/loaddata/defau...&Weight=All&type=Handgun&Order=Powder&Source=

http://www.ballistics101.com/500_sw.php
(great choice if recoil does not bother you, provided you hand load )
http://handloads.com/loaddata/defau...&Weight=All&type=Handgun&Order=Powder&Source=


http://www.sixguns.com/tests/tt445sm.htm

http://www.danwessonforum.com/?page_id=37