Underwood 44 magnum for bear

[Desk Jockey]

what flavor of underwood do you prefer for bear protection medicine?

I am more of a 10mm guy but I have added a couple of 44 mags to the line up. I wanted to add a couple boxes of underwood to the stash in case I get the itch to tote a wheel gun on some future adventure.

4 inch 329 PD if that matters.

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[LeftyWilbury]

no direct experience with bears but i'd choose either the lehigh defense xtreme hunter or xtreme penetrator or black hills honeybadger for such an application.

the 40SW honeybadger is nicely accurate from a P320 and my sig 220 in 10mm likes the underwood 140 gr xtreme penetrator. goes fast and hits hard. no reason to believe the 44 mag offerings don't hit harder and go faster...

 

[11boo]

How do you like that 329? That’s the super light one.

 

[JCS271]

Underwood 305gr LFN hardcast is an outstanding deep penetrating round for bears....

But at 1325fps fired from a S&W 329 it WILL be a painful handful.

I love it in my 56oz Anaconda but it is very hard to control for multiple shots in my 27 ounce 329.

I now carry a hand loaded 260gr WFN hardcast at 1050fps in the 329 and it's controllable, while still easily punching through fresh steer heads/skulls.

 

[roosiebull]

Bear hunting or protection? Black or brown bear?

I assume with that particular pistol you are looking at bear protection

 

[Desk Jockey]

How do you like that 329? That’s the super light one.

It’s on order so I haven’t fired it yet, technically. I shot a friend‘s. fired a box of 44 specials that were fine. Spicy magnums were not “fun”. My best comparison is an air weight 642 with +P ammo - manageable, but not pleasant and a few dozen rounds are even to beat up your hand. I don’t expect mine will see a lot of use But I want to have the right ammo to take it for a stroll if I feel the urge.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Bear hunting or protection? Black or brown bear?

I assume with that particular pistol you are looking at bear protection

Protection. Primarily black bears.

I hunt a couple of areas with black bears that are known to sit up on gut piles and unattended kills. Sadly I don’t spend enough time in places with brown bears, but I am working on changing that.

 

[mtwarden]

I have a very light, short barreled .44 mag as well—S&W 69- I'm using 305 gr hard casts with it

It took 5 rds to sight it in. Those five rounds caused the base of my thumb to be severely black and blued and had a weird pain that took a couple of months to go away!

At the range now- one round of 305 to insure it's still on and then.............it's only .44 Specials

For black bears I think hard cast 200-240's would be plenty sufficient.

 

[roosiebull]

Protection. Primarily black bears.

I hunt a couple of areas with black bears that are known to sit up on gut piles and unattended kills. Sadly I don’t spend enough time in places with brown bears, but I am working on changing that.

In that case, I would personally go with a 240gr Hornady xtp, a thick jacket hollow point. There is nothing on a frontal black bear that will stop that, and if you don’t get cns, you will get plenty of penetration and do a lot more damage with such a bullet

I know very little about the structure of a brown/grizz, but black bear are not heavy built creatures, their skulls aren’t that thick, and bodies are softer than deer, even on a huge black bear.

Hard cast, you are limiting yourself to a VERY narrow wound channel, I don’t think it’s necessary, especially with black bear, and especially with a 44 mag

I don’t know why the default for any bear is hardcast, it’s never made sense to me. I could see it if you are shooting a small cartridge at big bear I guess.

After breaking down several black bear, mostly large boars, I have went from a 10mm to a 9mm for my carry pistol

I look at a 44mag for black bear like an 80lb compound with a 30” draw for deer, you can pretty much use whatever you want, and you may as well use something that causes a larger wound to take advantage of the extra HP

 

[11boo]

It’s on order so I haven’t fired it yet, technically. I shot a friend‘s. fired a box of 44 specials that were fine. Spicy magnums were not “fun”. My best comparison is an air weight 642 with +P ammo - manageable, but not pleasant and a few dozen rounds are even to beat up your hand. I don’t expect mine will see a lot of use But I want to have the right ammo to take it for a stroll if I feel the urge.

That’s too much horsepower in a light package for me. I would prefer to have something I can shoot a lot and be proficient with. That’s just me though.

 

[6.5x284]

I have a 329 and love it for carrying in bear country. I’d recommend swapping to the rubber grip before shooting. Once the rubber grip is on, it’s much better. I’ve run quite a few and like anything 300+ hard cast for bear. I generally practice with a non bear load and then run a few cylinders with full bear loads to reaclimate to the recoil. But for all my times drills and draw drills I just shoot whatever’s cheap. When hunting I like to draw on a stump or rock 4-5 times throughout the day as if it’s a bear to make sure nothings hung up or any gear is in the way of my draw sequence.


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[Axlrod]

I have a couple 329's. Practice a lot with one, pack the other. I use the 255 gr Buffalo Bore @ 1264 FPS. I load similar rounds for practice. Anything more is hard on those guns, and hard on the shooter. Get the rubber grips for the X frame S&W.
The recoil is significant, but can be mastered.
I have a 6" 629 that I bought in 1996. Used to hunt with it, killed elk, mule deer, wt. deer, antelope, and varmints. After 5600 rounds the trigger pin broke. I sent it back to S&W to be rebuilt. It is a heavy gun, so I didn't always take it with me. The 329 is so light I always have it. So my feeling is the heavy recoiling 329 is way better than my heavy 629 that is home in my safe.

 

[KyleV26]

I have a ruger blackhawk in 41 mag. with the short barrel. I got some underwood hard cast bullets for a back up bear gun....holy recoil. It is a hard gun to shoot accurately especially with quick follow-up shots.