October 10th, 2022
9minute read
Ed.
Note In todays article, the author examines the use of handguns for bear defense.
Cynthia saw the bear as it rose, 10 feet away.
She yelled and waved her arms.
It didnt move off but crept toward her.
The rush was sudden.
Struck a staggering blow, Cynthia pitched forward, landing face-down.
She willed herself to stay still.
The bear bit into her right shoulder and shook her.
When she tried to reach the radio in her backpack, the beast tore into her.
Conscious of her flesh being shredded and teeth against bone, she heard the canines crunching on my skull.
She managed to key it.
Im being eaten by a bear!
Chopper pilot Ed Spencer, whod brought the young U.S.G.S.
geologist to the Alaska ridge that morning, caught the call, relayed from camps radio 80 miles away.
When at last he spotted and extracted her, she was badly hurt.
Though fit and strong, Cynthia would lose both arms in surgery.
That attack, August 12, 1977, was launched not by a grizzly, but a black bear.
Bear attacks on humans are rare but violent, and sometimes fatal.
They distill all we fear in wild places: ambush by an invincible, implacable predator.
No Bear Defense Solutions?
Reports from survivors are typically more lucid than informative.
The cause of an assault even the bear species may be unclear.
In 1980 Canadian journalist Mike Cramond reviewed records of 250 attacks dating to 1929.
Human fatality counts were similar too: 12 and 14.
Half the humans killed by both species had been fed upon.
Most commonly, bears attack to protect cubs or a carcass, sometimes when surprised.
If an attack is predatory, it avails nothing.
Heavy human traffic can leave bears less fearful of people, or unwilling to give way to them.
Grizzly attacks during hunting season seem to be increasing.
Bear numbers have climbed above target in the Yellowstone Ecosystem.
A guide field-dressing an elk the next season was not so lucky.
The grizzly sent his client off with light wounds and apparently unable to use a pistol to advantage.
The guide was killed.
General advice for people in bear country: Make noise.
Travel in groups and only in full daylight.
Avoid thickets and, should you spot them, bears and their kills.
There are several flies in this ointment.
Bear spray is a pious idea.
Still, the bear that killed the guide had spray on its hair when rangers dispatched it.
Spray takes effect only in a bears eyes and nose.
You must direct it, and aiming a canister isnt as intuitive as pointing a pistol.
Another challenge: keeping spray available.
Youll probably reach a can quickest if its in a chest holster.
Thats also the handiest place if a bear takes you down.
Practice with bear spray is as necessary as practice with a firearm.
Spray travels about 30 feet.
A bear nosing into the cloud can brake before its near enough to bite.
Still, a bear in mid-sprint can clock 35 mph, gobbling 30 feet in .6 second.
The single advantage bear spray has over bullets: It doesnt harm the bear.
How About Handguns for Bears?
Many hunters carry a handgun in bear country.
Most popular pick: a .44 Magnum revolver.
But an Alaskan brown bear guide once reminded me: Rifles trump handguns every time.
Hitting is easier, and compared to bullets from a .30-30 carbine, even stiff revolver loads are wimps.
When clients show up with pistols, I tell em their back-up is my .375.
It lands 4,200 foot-poundswherethey need it,whenthey need it.
This fellow carried a DA .44 too, as no one was backinghim.
A mountain of bear hide erupted in my face.
I emptied my .44 as, literally, he ran me over.
Those bullets two tons of energy didnt faze him.
He died a few yards on, probably from the rifle wound.
He was just trying to leave.
Lesser loads have sufficed.
A grizzly trapped for relocation turned on the wildlife biologist whod released it from a pickup-bed cage.
A bullet from his .357 killed the beast mere feet away.
Minimum bullet weights and energy figures for stopping bears are no less arbitrary than those for stopping elephants.
Also in common: shots so close that bullet arcs and downrange ballistics dont matter.
A friend uses a .357 with 180-grain hard-cast bullets.
His load gets 500 ft-lbs from a 6-inch barrel.
A .41 Magnum with a 210-grain Swift A-Frame (Federal load) sends over 850 ft-lbs out the muzzle.
Pistols for Bear Defense: the Modern Option?
Reliability has been cited as a reason autoloaders seldom sell as bear guns.
But current renditions of the 1911, such as those from Springfield Armory, cycle with sunrise certainty.
Havent autos become the overwhelming favorites for home defense?
Modern .45 ACP loads include some heaving more than 400 ft-lbs my arbitrary bear-stopping minimum.
Hornadys 220-grain FlexLock and 230 XTP deliver 460 from 5-inch barrels.
Cor-bon and Remington list 165- and 185-grain JHPs with well over 500 ft-lbs!
The .40 punches above its size.
Remington 165-grain BJHPs exit packing 480 ft-lbs, which Winchester delivers with its 165-grain Defender .40 load.
Winchesters 155-grain Silvertip HP eclipses the 500-ft-lbs mark.
Solid-copper bullets designed to drive deep, like the Black Hills Honey Badger, are an exception.
The 10mm, shooters found, had more case than was needed to send 200-grain bullets at 1,000 fps.
Trimming the hull from .992 to .850 hiked efficiency and suited it to existing 9mm frames and slides.
I rediscovered the 10mm recently with aSpringfield Armory 1911 Ronin but also Springfields spanking new XD Elite.
Both activate the 10 to stretch its legs.
Federals 200-grain HST clocks 1,130 fps, lands with over 560 ft-lbs.
Hornady lists four 10mm loads, including 180-grain and 155-grain XTPs that carry 650 and 684 ft-lbs.
Remingtons 180-grain FMJ delivers 530 ft-lbs.
Winchester has a 175-grain Silvertip HP that exits with 560, and a 180-grain Defender packing 615.
But a range session tested my fidelity.
The Elites double-stack magazine bumped its grip dimensions to fit my big hand perfectly.
Intelligent contouring and impeccable balance gave it a nose for the target.
I thumbed in Winchester cartridges.
At 25 yards my first bench group was promising.
Three of the next five holes touched in a triangle that held four shots inside 1.4 inches.
Of course, I had to nudge the fifth an inch out at 9 oclock!
But clearly this pistol, well directed, is capable of golf-ball groups at 25 steps.
Ive shot rifles that wouldnt do much better.
As pleasing was the Elites civil behavior in recoil.
No stranger to XDs, I like this 10mm Elite best of any Ive fired.
Trigger pull is a consistent 5.3 pounds.
The pistols flat profile keeps it closer to my hip than a revolver with the same thump.
A revolver cant match the XDs 10-shot capacity.
The 334-inch barrel makes for finger-quick pointing, easy sitting.
The factory-installed HEX Dragonfly red-dot sight, a favor to aging eyes, hunkers low and speeds aim.
of smash, the10mm XD-M Elite qualifies!But theres a caveat.
False charges to shoo you off are hard to tell from the real thing.
Given time for only one aimed shot, should you charitably send it into the ground?
Depends on how lucky you feel, shrugged the fellow whose .357 turned the sow and cub.
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