On my recent Alaska trip I talked to local lawmen, firearms instructors, and gun dealers about handguns for defense against bear attacks.

In years past, the .44 Magnum revolver was the hands-down choice. In recent years, however, the most popular sidearm in bear country has become the 16-shot 10mm autoloader. Ten more torpedoes ready for launch before the need to reload, and deep-penetrating bullets. The G20 from Glock in that configuration is by far the best-selling outdoorsman’s sidearm in Alaska.

That said, in a recent compilation of handgun usages to stop bear attacks, our friend Chris Baker at Lucky Gunner found only a few 10mm cases but over forty in which the .44 Magnum was what saved the day. No surprise: the latter has been around longer. The .44 Magnum was introduced in the mid-1950s while the 10mm Auto cartridge didn’t become mainstream until the late 1980s, and the Glock 20 wasn’t introduced until 1990.

Check out Chris’ take on the matter, here:

Or watch video here.

16 COMMENTS

  1. Was there an ammo preference for 10mm? Recent gel testing on the Gun Sam channel indicated tumbling with the fluted solid copper bullets while hard cast flat noses penetrated deep & straight. I haven’t seen any tests of the new Buffalo Bore Mono-Metal flat noses.

    • Mark wrote: ‘I haven’t seen any tests of the new Buffalo Bore Mono-Metal flat noses.’

      There are plenty of videos on youtube.

      njk

  2. Great video; thank you for posting this Mr. Ayoob.

    Living here in TinyTown™ in NW Wyoming we have a local population of grizzly bears, many of which wander out of “The Park” (aka Yellowstone National Park). My everyday carry is a 1911A1 in .45 ACP, but it is also my fishing/photography/hiking carry. I’m far more worried about 2-legged varmints than I am worried about bears. Quite honestly I’m far likelier to be harassed by a local pack of coyotes than I am to be attacked by a grizzly.

    I have tried many times to shoot a .44 Magnum but the recoil is just too much for my small hands and body frame. Yeah, I can shoot downloaded .44 Specials, but then what is the point? I’ve read the reports from Ammoland which lead me to believe that a .45 ACP, even loaded with my everyday carry 230-grain JHP’s, will probably be just as effective at deterring a bear as a .44 Magnum loaded with hard-cast lead. Heck, given how people worry about whether or not a hollow-point will expand I’m guessing that the grizzly fur will probably clog the HP giving it better penetration. Yeah, I carry a Sig C3 with only 7 rounds, but I’ve always got a spare magazine in a carrier on my belt. I should be able to solve a bear problem with 14 rounds.

    Heck, if I KNEW I was going to be encountering a bear, I’d just opt to stay home that day! I liked the narrator’s comment that if he was going to be in Alaska hauling a carcass, he’d be carrying a 12-gauge (he didn’t say, but I’m assuming loaded with slugs) with a .44 as a back-up, and a couple of friends carrying the same. Me, I’m most likely to see a grizzly when I’m touring the Park in a car, and the only shooting I’d be doing is with a camera. The next likely scenario would be if I hike into some of the local forest following a trout stream. I’ve seen a bear (grizzly) at one of my favorite fishing spots, and all I had to do was quietly back up the way I came and leave…I don’t think the bear ever scented me. I didn’t go back to that particular spot for almost a year.

    I’ve seen grizzlies run in the wild, and their acceleration is almost unbelievable. They can maintain a 30 or 40 MPH run for hundreds of yards, and when you see one bounding away from a dead still position with both front feet going between their rear feet for the first second or two, you realize that if they come at you rather than away, you’d have just a couple of seconds before they’re on top of you. I believe that the best way to avoid bear encounters is to be situationally aware (eyes, ears, and surprisingly, nose, since bears really stink) and just leave if you think there’s even a teeny-tiny chance that there’s a bear in the area. Look for scat (yes, we know the joke about it containing bells and smelling faintly of pepper), look for claw marks on trees (surprisingly high up on them).

    What we really need here in Wyoming is to de-list the bears, and establish an out-of-the-Park hunting season on them again. We need to keep the bears scared of human beings, rather than the other way around.

    • I have spent many years in “bear country,” from Alaska and the Yukon Territory to Arizona and back, all where bear have killed people. I have dispatched several aggressive black bear, and managed to dodge grizzlies and browns, although I have been within ten yards or so of some several times. I almost always carried a powerful long gun, usually a Winchester Model 70 in 375 H & H. I have carried different handguns, sometimes in support of a long gun, and only occasionally without. The farther north we get, the more predatory the black bear becomes. Please study bear expert Stephen Herrero if you do not believe me about differences in latitude and black bear predation. The fatality scale also shows that grizzly have attacked less than black, for various reasons. In any event, we don’t carry a firearm because an attack is likely, we are guarding against the infrequent exception to the rule that bear do not usually attack unprovoked. I have studied Ammoland over its few years, and consider it a must view. “JJ Hack”, John Linebaugh, and Tim Sundles are the top three on my Internet study of handguns vs. bear. None of these men is ever likely to choose .45 ACP vs. any bear. More likely at least .44 Magnum, HEAVY .45 Colt. or .475 Linebaugh, the latter one of the more reliable-yet-manageable genuine hand cannon calibers for grizzly. Give me a heavy .375 H & H or Ruger rifle, or an M1 Garand in .30-06. Experience shows that a 7-shot pump shotgun is actually minimal for stopping grizzly, but perfectly adequate in cool hands. If you only want to carry one handgun as a protective firearm, make sure that you have it in your shooting hand BEFORE the wash does hit the fan. .357 Magnum or 10mm can do the job, especially on black bear, if used expertly, with bullets appropriate to each shot.

  3. I have a 44 and a 10mm but in griz country, I carry the 44. I drew the 44 once when I walked into a cub and didn’t know where mama was. I also retreated to a barricade position. Fortunately, she took the cubs (including the one I didn’t see) and boogied so no shots fired. Given the point where one can identify the threat and the closing speed of the bear, I think the difference between 6 shots and 16 is irrelevant even assuming you use one for a warning shot. I always figured I didn’t have to worry about muzzle flip on the 3rd shot because it would be a contact shot.

  4. I guess I’m one of the few holdouts, I still love the 41 Magnum. Not quite as much recoil as the 44, but doggone it, that is one flat shooting round. Also, though I’m no ballistic expert, I don’t think even the hottest 10mm rounds approach the power of a true full house 41 mag.

    Setting aside trying to whack big fuzzy bruins, I have to admit as a retired old graybeard police officer I have a strong affection for the 41 magnum and its history.. who wouldn’t love it? The baby of Elmer Keith, Bill Jordan and Skeeter Skelton? Additionally, my late father carried one for the Amarillo Police Department way back in the mid-1960s… it just has a nostalgic cache that warms the cockles of my old Irish heart.

  6. I have both but the Redhawk with heavy loads takes a while to get into position and follow up shots are slow. Some buffalo bore 44 mag would be what I’d want if I have time. That said the Glock 29 with heavy loads is a lot faster on target and I can get 3 shots off in the time of one 44. I’d want lots of practice before I’d head into grizzly bear country.

  7. Living in the Eastern U.S., as I do, grizzly bears are not a problem. I have never seen a grizzly in real life. Only on TV.

    I have encountered black bears (in real life), on several occasions, but they all seemed far more afraid of me. Usually, they were gone in a flash!

    Frankly, more likely threats (when hiking in my local area) would be poisonous snakes, rabid skunks, feral dogs, and (of course) feral humans. For these kinds of threats, my preferred carry option is a Taurus Judge (lightweight alloy frame, 2.5 inch cylinder, 3 inch barrel).

    This gun is fairly light to carry and I can load it with a mix of 45 long colt and (for snakes) #9 2.5 inch birdshot shells.

    Faced with a multi-dimensional threat profile, rather than just bears, a flexible tool (like the Judge) is my go-to option. YMMV.

  8. I lived in Alaska for almost 20 years and spent a good deal of time outdoors. While I did occasionally carry a .44 magnum (Mostly for convenience and ease of carry) I mostly had a shotgun loaded with slugs and buckshot. This usually was while fishing. Unless you actually seen bear in their natural environment you just can’t appreciate how quick and fast they can move. They will ambush prey and it doesn’t leave a lot of time for multiple shots.
    My father told me growing up in Colorado watching with my grandfather a grizzly out run and catch running elk!

  9. Mas, this is an unbearble subject – I like Chris Baker and his videos, but I could bearly watch this one!

    Sorry, please bear with me as I sort myself out – just drove from NC to Pittsburgh today and have to get my bearings again.

    Too much?? 🙂

    On a serious note, I saw an article a few years ago about a father and son who were bow hunting elk in Wyoming who were attacked by a Grizzly. Here is their harrowing tale – bet they started packing a large caliber handgun after that! (I took out the two ‘.’s in the URL in case the whole link would send this to spam)

    https://www(dot)outdoorlife(dot)com/photos/gallery/survival/2008/10/backcountry-grizzly-attack/

  10. Should give props first to Dean Weinberg, who has been gathering these stats for years, and upon which that video is based.

    Kurt

  11. I have killed about 17 whitetails over the years with my stock Ruger Redhawk 7.5″ barrel. I have never yet recovered a slug. 23 gr Win 296 under a Sierra 240 gr SWC or 240 HP. Chronoed at nearly 1500 fps. I have shot clean through every deer, including one that went in high in the front shoulder and came out low in the rear hind quarter from a tree stand. What is that…like 3′ of deer tissue and bone? In an attempt to get a round to deposit more energy on target, and recover an expanded slug, I loaded 240 Speer Gold Dots (ie, flying ashtrays). Nada. Same result. Clean through and dead deer. I have pierced cleanly through 3″ of solid Lexan. I really cannot see the need for anything more powerful. What’s not to love? I’d love to own a10mm, but I wouldn’t choose it over the wheel gun for bear protection. I don’t want to experiment in that terrifying moment.

  12. I continue to amazed by anybody who thinks a handgun is “good enough” for any dangerous game!! Having hunted in Africa 3 times with MANY dangerous game species, there is NO WAY
    any professional would go out into the bush with a pistol!!!And the best excuse I have heard is
    “A bigger gun was too heavy.” For god sakes!!! These aren’t “maybe they will kill me” animals!!!

  14. I carry 1911 goodness chambered in .460 Rowland. .44 Magnum ballistics in a cut-down .45WM case.

    Muzzle flip is negligible, and the ergonomics are much better than a revolver. [sorry wheelgun guys; I like wheelguns just fine, but I can’t shoot them with a darn]

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