Outdoor Handgun Caliber Choice

Anything wrong with a .454 Causal(spelling)?

To big and heavy maybe, but sure packs a punch.

Darren
 
We had a black bear come into the edge of our tent camp last fall. I had a 45 auto with 230gr hydra Shok's in it and felt extremly wimpy until the 12ga came out with some 00 buck.

I've also talked with a few people who are saying their are more bears and mountian lions about today than ever. I've got a good friend who works with UP RR. He has seen several bears and Mountian lions along the tracks as they go by.

I'm now carrying a S&W 629 44mag and am ordering some of Garretts http://www.Garrettcartridges.com 310gr Hammerhead ammo http://www.garrettcartridges.com/products.htm

The Wyoming Bear team carries Garretts ammo and if it's good enough for them it's good enough for me.

IMHO pepper spray is just somthing the bear puts on you before he munches down. However here is a good link for pepper spray from sombody that's seen the inside of a Bears mouth. http://www.udap.com/

Check out these links for more info. Some of them have posts from Randy Garrett and he explains about his ammo. http://www.thefiringline.com/NonCGI/Forum5/HTML/000237.html http://www.thefiringline.com/NonCGI/Forum5/HTML/000231.html http://www.thefiringline.com/NonCGI/Forum1/HTML/004718.html

And a excellent page from sombody that has survived a bear attack! http://members.xoom.com/keithrogan/


 
The wyoming bear team also carries handguns as a back up to larger weapons. The story they have of the guy stopping a bear with a handgun loaded with their rounds was a bear that had already been hit by a larger gun. Over all, I've seen several places that the probabilities of you surviving an aggressive bear situation with a gun are lower than those of you surviving an aggressive bear situation with the spray. If I could, I would carry a long gun or a shotgun for bear protection. That is frequently difficult for my activities, and my second will be the pepper spray. In reported spray uses, the bear has been successfully deterred about 75% of the time.

Stryver, who noted that one page suggested you spray 'When the bear is breathing in'. Like I'll be counting his breaths by then...
 
The Wyoming Bear Team carries Garrett ammo.

On the Garrett website, there is a story by a guy who was carrying a short bbl. .44 Mag loaded with Garrett hammerheads. There were two or three guys in front with rifles, and they went in the brush to find a wounded grizzly. The guy with the pistol in his hand was the last guy in line. The bear had circled around, and charged the guy with the pistol. He dropped the bear with one shot; it happened so fast that he said had he had his pistol in his holster, he would have never been able to deploy it.

I don't hunt, and if I did hunt grizzlys, I would only use a pistol as a last resort, but it is an effective tool with the Garrett ammo. These bullets have a huge meplat, and are made of very hard lead. They will break both shoulders of an elk. Walt
 
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