Ultimately, most seem to agree that a . 44 magnum is the minimum power you want to be packing against a bear, but we fully support going beyond the “minimum” in a situation like this. As far as handgun models are concerned, some favored options for bear defense include: Glock G20.
The Glock 20 is the easiest to carry bear defense pistol. It's not too big, and light enough to carry all day, but it has less power and more recoil than the other options.
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.
Regardless of where you are on your self-defense journey, the 9mm is the best option for self-defense. It has age, proven efficiency and a slew of other factors on its side. It has even survived a period of being ostracized in the U.S. The 9mm has secured its place in American self-defense handgunning.
For black bears, in country where there is no grizzly presence, the popular deer and elk cartridges will certainly work very well; a . 308 Winchester or . 30-06 Springfield loaded with a 165- or 180-grain spitzer bullet will handle black bears.
No bear gun roundup would be complete without a big-bore cartridge. The . 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 .
Also, 10mm is right on the borderline, where it fits well into a semi-auto without making the gun monstrously large or heavy, but it still has enough power to stop an 800lb hostile Grizzly bear if you put the rounds where they need to go.
Both cartridges have been used to defend against bears, but again, there are more effective calibers for that purpose. A . 45 ACP boasts more “stopping power” than a 9mm, but the extra rounds in most 9mm handguns might be more useful. In short, it's a tossup.
The 10mm was created in the 1980s, relatively recent in the world of shooting. It was adopted by the FBI in the mid 80s due to its impressive stopping power.
All that having been said, the margins between the performance of . 40 cal vs. 9mm are close enough that in a real world situation, the damage done by each round is — for practical purposes — about the same.
44 Magnum is the minimum for charging bears, many others have opted for a Glock 20 in 10mm Auto and, interestingly enough, passed right by the . 357 S&W Magnum. Several folks have even successfully killed bears with a 9mm. While a well-placed shot from a 10mm can no doubt do the trick, the .
45 ACP comparison, the 9mm is smaller and more compact and has less power. The . 45 ACP is comparably larger, heavier, and wider. Therefore, it can hold more gunpowder and stopping power.
Glock 19's striker-fired trigger design makes it easy to engage with the pistol accurately. Its trigger pull is fairly lightweight, with a positive and short reset that makes shooting the weapon easy. It's large enough to be easy to control, and its 9mm rounds aren't known for their excessive recoil.
Bear pepper spray can be an important thing to carry when exploring the back country. It is used defensively to stop an aggressive, charging, or attacking bear. Although it's used in the same manner you would use mace on an attacking person, bear pepper spray and human pepper spray are not the same.
The . 45 Auto may have won a World War, but for hunting and bear defense, the 10mm is the better option.
The 10mm has a faster velocity and energy than the . 45ACP. But the 45 gives great diameter and has stood the test of time. Maximum damage becomes very handy when you're in dangerous situations and the 45 is going to give you the largest bullet expansion.
Both are popular choices for self-defense and both have a lot of stopping power. The 10mm is a bit more powerful than the . 45 ACP and it also has a higher capacity.
Although it was selected for service by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in 1989, in the aftermath of the 1986 FBI Miami shootout, the cartridge was later decommissioned (except by the Hostage Rescue Team and Special Weapons and Tactics Teams) after their Firearms Training Unit eventually concluded that its ...
The .500 S&W Magnum is considered the most powerful commercial sporting handgun cartridge by virtue of the muzzle energy it can generate.
That depends on the bullet. A round nosed full metal jacket likely will. An expanding bullet may, but is less likely to since it's design deposits more energy in the target.
Every GLOCK pistol comes with 3 independent safeties: Trigger safety. Firing pin safety. Drop safety.
The larger and faster 10mm will give 624 foot-pounds of muzzle energy when sending a 180-grain bullet at 1,250 fps, while the . 40 S&W drops that figure to 400 foot-pounds with its 1,000 fps velocity, making for a rather significant difference.
Simply put, the 10mm is an excellent cartridge for any kind of defensive duties. While the most powerful 10mm ammo will kick a little more than a 9mm, it is not scary or painful to shoot.
When it comes to muzzle velocity, there is a lot of overlap between different loads for 357 and 10mm. However, the 357 Magnum will typically have a slight velocity advantage over the 10mm as the 357 can fire lighter bullets.