45-70 Government has been used to stop more than a few attacking grizzlies, and lever guns have been a top choice among backcountry guides the world over. There's no doubt that if you put a bullet or two in the right place, the . 45-70 can save your life.
If you body-shoot an attacking bear front-on, those 10mm bullets must be chosen for extremely deep, straight-line penetration to compromise as many vital organs as possible, and they must shrug off any bone—no matter how massive and dense—encountered along the way.
45 ACP is not the best caliber for a bear protection gun. The caliber lacks the penetration and power required to stop a bear in its tracks reliably. The . 45 ACP is, however, not a slouch and can be turned into a perfect bear gun, provided that +P loads are loaded with 255gr hard cast bullets.
357 Magnum or other similar-caliber load, a well-placed shot with a good bullet will certainly kill a bear, but it's not recommended.
44 magnum revolvers were used. The grizzly bear was killed. In total, there were 8 defenses against black bears and 27 defenses against grizzly bears. One pistol failure out of 35 cases translates to a 97% success rate for the use of handguns against bears.
Aim for the deadliest point you can find. On a close-in, charging bear, this will probably be the face or upper chest. Often full-attack grizzlies lower their heads as they come in, so that's about all you have to aim at.
The specific choice is yours, but if you use a minimum . 40 caliber, a minimum 200-grain solid deformable bullet and a minimum of 1,000 fps velocity from your chosen gun, you'll have a handgun load that will take any bear that shows itself. If you can stop shaking long enough to shoot.
Can you kill a full grown bear with a 7.62x39 based AK47? Yes, you can. There are poachers in a few of the former Soviet states that use AK-47s for bear (and other critters).
The 9mm can kill bears but is considered underpowered by many. The 9mm has 350 to 450 ft/lbs. of energy, while 1,000 ft/lbs is considered the minimum for a bear hunting gun. Proper 9mm bullets yield sufficient penetration in soft tissue, but it may not stop a bear quickly enough to avoid being mauled.
The weakest part of a bear's skull is behind the face, in a small triangular shaped area roughly bounded by the eyes and the tip of the nose. A bullet striking this area has the greatest chance of penetrating the skull, hitting the brain and stopping the attack immediately.
Firearms are not recommended for stopping an attack.
It's also harder to hit a charging bear with a firearm rather than bear spray, and a firearm can be dangerous to any hiking partners. While firearms have been effective at stopping an attack, they aren't recommended.
Neither wasp spray nor Tasers are considered proven bear deterrents. (A Taser is an electroshock weapon that uses electrical current to disrupt voluntary control of muscles.
Sure, in some situations, you'll only have time to get one shot off, sometimes zero, but there are also very real possibilities of needing more than five or six rounds in the gun. I've seen several brown bears take between six and 13 rounds of . 375 H&H before finally expiring.
Yes, technically speaking a slug-loaded semi-auto shotgun would be enough to kill a grizzly bear.
The animal is considered threatened under the Endangered Species Act and federal law allows people to kill grizzlies only in certain situations. Those situations are when the bear is threatening you. "It is legal under the law to defend yourself from a grizzly bear," says Joan Jewett.
30-06 is the bare minimum caliber that you should consider for brown bear hunting. Most people would agree that while it is still a little bit light. A deep-penetrating 200 to 220 grain bullet travelling at 2,600 to 2,700 fps put in the boiler room will always be effective.
10mm vs 44 Magnum: Stopping Power
The 44 Mag's 240 grain bullet consistently outpaces the 10mm's 180 grain bullet, even at 100 yards. And because it is so much heavier, it carries significantly more energy at all distances as well.
Looking at the ballistics tables below, we see that the 357 Magnum has higher muzzle energy for most of the handgun rounds listed. On average, the 357 has about 600 ft-lbs of energy at the muzzle compared to an average of 340 ft-lbs for 9mm.
12 gauge pump shotguns are preferred bear defense guns by many knowledgeable people living in areas with high grizzly densities. They are definitely adequate grizzly defense guns.
Yes, polar natives have done it with 22LR rifles when HUNTING bears, and pistols are similar ballistically.
Bears have relatively thin skin and shotgun ammunition can be extremely harmful and even lethal.
If the bear actually attacks, fight back. Use anything and everything as a weapon — rocks, sticks, fists, and your teeth. Aim your blows on the bear's face, particularly the eyes and snout.