I’m hearing and reading folks with ideas about the best pistol for bear. I’m an old man, and have carried a pistol off and on for a lot of my life. I tend to feel a little more secure with a short gun this time of year – but I’ve also had the experience of holding a revolver on a large grizzly with full confidence that my 357 was absolutely inadequate.
Some talk of the 44 magnum – Black Hills shows something around 850 foot pounds of muzzle energy. The old M1 Carbine lists 964 foot pounds – and is generally considered a bit underpowered for deer.
It’s the season for hyperphagia in bears – whether black or grizzly. Whatever caliber I pack on hip is going to feel inadequate if I need it. But there is always the story of Bella Twin – who, in 1953, killed a record grizzly with a single-shot Cooey 22. As I recall the story, she put a 22 long in as a headshot, then added another 6 rounds to make sure. Just to be technical, that’s on the close order of 67 foot pounds muzzle energy. Definitely inadequate.
As a kid, I got ten black bears. One with a borrowed 270, one with my own 30-06, two with a 22 revolver, and the other six with my single-shot 22 rifle. Unlike Bella, I used 22 long rifle cartridges. After 6 bears, I kind of got the idea that the Remington single shot was a pretty good bear gun – Bella Twin had to cock the Cooey for every shot, my Remington was self-cocking.
So the old man view is that there is no perfect caliber for bear. The pistol on my belt is to keep my hands busy and my voice calm if I encounter a threatening bear. This summer, I’ve encountered one. He’s a fairly small black bear who likes to harvest insects from stumps – and he doesn’t run when I tell him to get out of here. I probably outweigh him, but he isn’t scared of me. And I am confident that, if push comes to shove, I can handle him with a pistol or light rifle. Twenty-five years younger, I would have felt that a cruiser’s ax was enough.
The pistol – or carbine – is there to keep me calm if I do have problems. If I have to use it, it will be a close encounter – and, everyone shoots expert at six feet.
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