Do you think a .357 would stop a brown bear attack ?

[Snowhunter11]

I won’t claim to be an expert.. here is some advise I was given.

MT biologist-if you aren’t proficient with your handgun it’s fairly useless. Bring bear spray just in case. Hard to miss.

Alaskan guide- he carried a .40 cal glock. Have a reliable handgun, decent size mag, and lots of practice.

Handguns can be heavy when trying to be ultralight.. This year I will carry spray/rifle. If I was archery elk in grizz land I would carry sidearm regardless of weight.

My 2c

 

[jpmulk]

Joel turner just sent a good email to his subscribers about this. A handgun round is a handgun round. None of them travel fast enough to cause hydrostatic shock like a rifle bullet. Carry what you shoot well enough to let the bear know you bite back. I really don’t think caliber matters nearly as much as the shooters skill or bullet choice. Joel affirmed this in his email.

 

[jpmulk]

Joel turner just sent a good email to his subscribers about this. A handgun round is a handgun round. None of them travel fast enough to cause hydrostatic shock like a rifle bullet. Carry what you shoot well enough to let the bear know you bite back. I really don’t think caliber matters nearly as much as the shooters skill or bullet choice. Joel affirmed this in his email.

I will also say I carry a 9 in griz country. I’m no expert. But it’s what I shoot well and am used to. Hopefully i dont determine I was wrong if I ever get eaten. But from the research I have done, caliber isn’t what really matters most.

 

[peppy870]

Will it? Yes, definitely. Everything you do in grizz country is a calculated risk. I would carry one if that’s what I had.

 

[BuckSmasher]

“Energy” doesn’t matter, bullet construction does. Use a hard cast or solid copper penetrating bullet and it will effectively penetrate whatever you hit. The key being “hit,” misses don’t count and a non-vital hit won’t stop the charge no matter what you’re shooting. The primary appeal of the 10mm is that it gives adequate bullet weight and velocity- but with double or triple the number of shots vs a revolver. In my one and only bear encounter, I fired 8 rounds of 10mm in about 2 seconds.

I wanna hear more about your bear encounter! Sounds like you were shooting awful fast. How many connected?

 

[Marshfly]

The entire "10mm or nothing" mindset is laughably ridiculous. Carry the gun that you shoot well, is light enough for you to take every time, and load it with the correct bullets.

It's really that simple.

 

[Scoot]

The entire "10mm or nothing" mindset is laughably ridiculous. Carry the gun that you shoot well, is light enough for you to take every time, and load it with the correct bullets.

It's really that simple.

Excellent point! That's why I carry a .22 in griz country!!!

 

[grfox92]

Couple points to make here.

10mm and .357 are ballisticslly the same cartridge.

Peppering a bear with any pistol weather it be a 22lr or a 500SW isn't going to stop a charge. You must hit it in the CNS. So head or spine. You can shoot one through the lungs with a 300WM and it will live long enough to maul, and maybe kill you.

That being said, if you hit one in the forehead with a 9mm or 454 Casull, it's going to stop a charge. So carry what you feel most comfortable shooting and shoot most accurately.

Sent from my SM-G990U using Tapatalk

 

[Marshfly]

Excellent point! That's why I carry a .22 in griz country!!!

Dammit. My Ruger Mark 2 Target weighs more than my Smith M&P. Guess I gotta take the 9mm.