Best handgun for a bear attack?

[7dogguy]

watched the show "I Was Bitten" on cable the other night. Two hikers out in the woods, can't remember where, walked upon a big bear, one dude takes off running, the other not so lucky, bear had him on the ground quickly. Bit the guys head with teeth clamping on sides of eyes. Popped out his eyes, crushed is cheek bones, continued to eat upon him. Guy survives, will never see again, but survived. Better to have dead eyes than dead ass. My point? Anything would be better than nothing. I think OS said to carry for defense of peeps and hope you are a good enough shot in the moment to disable bear. Personally, I do my homework before going to or hiking in places where bears might be present.

The moral of this story: hike or hunt ONLY with people you can outrun.

[7dogguy]

Yes Texas has some big mean hogs. Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana also have some massive, mean hogs. Many of those have been bred with a particularly large and aggressive Russian hogs. Some guy in Louisiana decided to bring these hogs over here several years ago to have a place to hunt them. Unfortunately they got out of his property and have now spread far and wide.

This thread has now drifted, sorry. But if you are hunting or hiking in this part of the country protection from bear or hogs depending on the area, is a good idea. Out west it is bear or cougars that you might need protection from.

Thanks, yep, gotta be protected. But I am in all honesty protecting myself more from my fellow man than God's creatures - the animals are doing what they do (generally speaking) from instinct; people can just be plain old rotten.

[Kenstaroni]

I watched an episode of Alaskan State Troopers a while back and a Trooper came across a fisherman and went to check on him to make sure he was ok since he was by himself out in the middle of nowhere. The guy was carrying a S&W 500 revolver for bears....a huge caliber is great as long as you can actually hit something with it. Not sure I wouldn't scale it down a bit and have something I know I could shoot well, especially for the bears in the Southeast as they are nothing like a Grizzly.

I fell just fine with a 9mm or .40 in the Smokey's...should take care of anything that comes my way. I'll take the trade off of having 17-19 rounds of 9mm in my Glock 19 which I know I can put round after round into something the size of a baseball at a good distance than a 5 shot revolver shooting .357 that I could just hope I connect with one or two rounds.

Edited December 2, 2010 by Kenstaroni

[Guest smileyguy]

I usually pack my XD 45 when I'm camping. It's more for two legged critters than bear, but I think 13 rounds of 45 could take care of the black bear around hear. Now if I were in grizzly country I might pack a 454. I shot a friends once. It is a beast, it's not pleasant to shoot, but it is managable enough to get off some follow up shots.

[Oh Shoot]

I've thought since this thread started that just like your wife, you should let the damn bear decide which gun he wants to attack with!

- OS

[Bad_Bowtie]

Anytime Im in the woods I usaully have a Glock 20sf strapped on and filled with some Double Tap ammo. Hopefully try it on a deer real soon.

[Jonnin]

I would use a 44 mag, with hunting ammo (jacketed soft point) for deep penetration and expansion, hard hitting. A desert eagle would be nice here for extra shots, if you are not a marksman, but personally a long barreled (6-8 inch) revolver in 44 mag with good ammo will do all you need.

[nightrunner]

All good and well to have a big handgun like that. However, we are not really talking about hunting bear here with pistols. We are talking about last ditched protection.

If I were hunting bear it would be with a .458WinMag or a .458Lott, I would rather not take the chance when the animal attacks you.

[Guest jwrebate]

When in bear country my favorite handgun is a Remington 870 with 1 ounce slugs. Sure, it is really heavy for a pistol, but with the right sling, you almost forget you have it with you...

In all seriousness, although bear attacks in Tennessee are few and far between, you really never want to be in a situation like that with anything less than a rifle or a shotgun.

All joking aside, I have traveled into bear country several times with only a Glock 20 SF after saying a few prayers.

[Guest italia]

I'm intrigued by the Guncrafter .50GI

[JG55]

Beware of black bear and grizzly bear in the area.

Use of whistles and pepper spray is recommended.

To identify bear, black bear scat is dark, elongated droppings.

Grizzly bear scat is large,smells like pepper and has whistles in it.

HEHEHEHE!!!!