Handgun or Pistol Defense Against Bear Attack

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Originally Posted by glocktoberfest

why not just use bear spray? i'm no Davy Crockett but supposedly it's way more effective than a firearm. Btw, i do carry a 10mm pistol as the backup to the bear spray

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The advice that bear spray is more effective is always sourced to people who care more about bears than you.

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Originally Posted by spqrzilla

The advice that bear spray is more effective is always sourced to people who care more about bears than you.

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Hear hear

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Originally Posted by Bailey Guns

I was especially surprised at the effectiveness of the .22 in the cases mentioned.

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22LR will absolutely kill just about anything that walks, crawls, slithers, flies, slides or swims on this planet. Just gotta get that shot placement right.

I think the example given of the guy with the Ruger was an example of killing the bear with lead poisoning. Sounds like it took two magazines but fortunately for him two rounds found their mark on vitals.

All the .22 examples were with black bears, too. I'm curious what the outcome might've been against an 800 pound Grizzly as opposed to a much smaller black bear.

I know a .22 will kill a black bear. Mrs BG and I found a dead black bear just outside the fence line of our Bailey property. Cause of death wasn't obvious. I searched the carcass with my metal detector and found one .22 LR LRN slug. Really pissed me off that someone shot that bear with a .22 and left it to die what was most likely a slow and painful death.

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Originally Posted by ChickNorris

... because 9 year olds run pretty slow.

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Especially when they "fall"...

I suppose that's kinda not funny after hearing of the kid attacked by a mountain lion in Bailey last night.

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Originally Posted by spqrzilla

The advice that bear spray is more effective is always sourced to people who care more about bears than you.

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so to be clear, are you saying this is not accurate?

The world record largest brown bear was liked with a .22lr IIRC.

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Originally Posted by Bailey Guns

I think the example given of the guy with the Ruger was an example of killing the bear with lead poisoning. Sounds like it took two magazines but fortunately for him two rounds found their mark on vitals.

All the .22 examples were with black bears, too. I'm curious what the outcome might've been against an 800 pound Grizzly as opposed to a much smaller black bear.

I know a .22 will kill a black bear. Mrs BG and I found a dead black bear just outside the fence line of our Bailey property. Cause of death wasn't obvious. I searched the carcass with my metal detector and found one .22 LR LRN slug. Really pissed me off that someone shot that bear with a .22 and left it to die what was most likely a slow and painful death.

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There was an unsuccessful defense against a polar bear with a .22:

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3. 1 September, 1995, Norway, Svalbard Island, .22 rimfire, Failure Polar Bears: Proceedings of the Twelfth Working Group

On 1 September, 1995, two male tourists were attacked by an adult male bear on a remote island in eastern Svalbard. The two tourists defended themselves with a .22 calibre pistol which proved ineffective. One man was killed, the other injured. Police later shot the bear.

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Police later shot the bear.

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Now you're assuming the local po-po was using something larger than a .22LR. That's as bad as assuming someone's gender.

[Coffee]