.45ACP for BEAR

[N.E. CHARTERS]

.45ACP for BEAR. The type that live around here. Not Grizzly, Panda, Qualla, or Polar.

Whats the Best Commercial Load. Solid Nose? Hollow Point? Rangers?, FMJ?



This s not for Intentionally Hunting Bear (In which case I would use a Big Ass .44 MAG Rifle.)

This is for the unplanned encounter as you are picking berrys and the Bear desides it wants to eat people.

 

[PatMcD]

I never heard of anybody using a .45acp, but I suppose if you did, you would want maximum penitration. 230 FMJ's?

 

[jhrosier]

You would do the bear (and yourself) a service by selecting a more powerful cartridge.
.41 Mag or .44 Mag would do the job with the right load.
I don't think that there is any .45ACP load that has the power and penetration to make a sure, clean kill on a bear past point blank range.

Jack

 

[Cross-X]

Just make sure you put a thick coating of grease on the muzzle.

It would probably be a good idea to grind off your front sight before you head out for your hunt. This will make the process much easier for all concerned.

 

[JonJ]

Just make sure you put a thick coating of grease on the muzzle.

It would probably be a good idea to grind off your front sight before you head out for your hunt. This will make the process much easier for all concerned.

Great tips!

 

[FPrice]

Just make sure you put a thick coating of grease on the muzzle.

It would probably be a good idea to grind off your front sight before you head out for your hunt. This will make the process much easier for all concerned.

Gosh C-X, it's just a bear, not Wyatt Earp!

 

[Cross-X]

The bear, she does not always lose!

 

[jhrosier]

The bear, she does not always lose!

IIRC, the mountain men used to say,"Sometimes you eat the bear, sometimes the bear eats you."

Jack

 

[clinotus]

Cross-X beat me to the bear jokes, but hes right on the money just as jhrosier is with his advice.

Unless the bear stands 10 yards away, stands on his hind legs, and turns slightly to the right to present his heart so that you can get that one power shot off...you are about to be in for a wild surprise and the finest moments of your short life.

 

[Knob Creek]

If you go with the .45 ACP save the last round for yourself!

 

[P-14]

.45ACP for BEAR

Find your answer here:

http://northeastshooters.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=365772#post365772

45ACP is not suitable for bear. Period.

 

[firtree]

In all fairness, he is talking about a backup gun. Like everyone else, I
would recommend something stronger than a .45ACP as a backup, but if
that was all I had, I would carry something like this Buffalo Bore .45 +p:

230 gr. FMJFN @ 950 fps (461 ft. lbs.)

F

 

[Executive]

The best way to effectively use .45ACP for bear is to trade in a POS Para 1911 for a more proper outdoorsman sidearm like a SW500, 460, or model 629 .44Mag.

 

[P-14]

The best way to effectively use .45ACP for bear is to trade in a POS Para 1911 for a more proper outdoorsman sidearm like a SW500, 460, or model 629 .44Mag.

If I thought I was going to encounter a brown bear or grizzly, I would take my Ruger Redhawk 44 mag or better yet a good rifle afield.

The impracticality of using 45 ACP against a bear is a fact and the chances of a bear attack are remote:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fatal_bear_attacks_in_North_America_by_decade
http://www.bear.org/Black/Articles/How_Dangerous_are_Black_Bears.html
http://www.samcef.org/Bear Attacks.htm

You'll probably really make the bear mad by shooting it with a 45. So, we're back to Col. Jeff Cooper and your state of awareness:

http://www.teddytactical.com/SharpenBladeArticle/4_States of Awareness.htm

It applies out there in nature, too. And avoidance is the key.

 

[john m]

45

Make sure you grind off the front site, So when the bear sitcks the gun up your A ** it doesn't hurt !

 

[Coyote33]

Of course, you are more limited after dark:
Chapter 131: Section 67. Rifles, revolvers and pistols; caliber

PART I. ADMINISTRATION OF THE GOVERNMENT

TITLE XIX. AGRICULTURE AND CONSERVATION

CHAPTER 131. INLAND FISHERIES AND GAME AND OTHER NATURAL RESOURCES

Chapter 131: Section 67. Rifles, revolvers and pistols; caliber

Section 67. A person shall not use or possess, where birds or mammals may be found, any rifle chambered to take larger than twenty-two long rifle ammunition, or any revolver or pistol chambered to take larger than thirty-eight caliber ammunition between the hours of one half hour after sunset to one half hour before sunrise of any day throughout the year.

See also:
http://northeastshooters.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=19993&highlight=night+caliber

 

[M1911]

Coyote: I believe that NE Charters is in Maine, so the stupid MA laws are not an issue for him.

 

[springer]

The best way to effectively use .45ACP for bear is to trade in a POS Para 1911 for a more proper outdoorsman sidearm like a SW500, 460, or model 629 .44Mag.

Your claim that the 460 and 500 are proper outdoorsman sidearms is ludicrous. Where are you going to be outdoors, Africa??? Planning on having a run in with a cape buffalo? I often hear this claim from people who have never carried a sidearm hiking more than a few hundred yards. My .44 redhawk becomes too heavy after a few miles in the field. I go to alaska yearly and after wearing my redhawk for two weeks my hips are annoyingly sore where my gunbelt hangs, and it weighs 1/3 of what the x-frames weigh.

I read the anchorage newspaper daily, there are always stories about people killing BROWN bears with .357's, 10mm, a .410 single shot shotgun, .223 rifles and even once a 9mm pistol. People often like to think that bear attack stories that they hear about on the Discovery channel are compareable to bear encounters here. Black bears here are docile, reclusive, small, whimmpy animals. While I would rather carry something a bit larger like a .357 or 1911 chambered in 10mm, a 45 acp 1911 with 230 grain FMJFN buffalo bore ammo is adequate new england bear protection. Lower 48 black bears are quite easy to penetrate. I recently killed a black bear with ONE shot from my redhawk. I used a Federal hardcast semi wadcutter. The bullet entered behind the left should and exited behind the right shoulder. The non-expanding bullet did very little internal damage, the lower portions of the left lung and the liver were the only organs damaged. Despite this small amount of internal damage the bear died quickly. Surprisingly no fusillade of ammo from a 460, 500, RPG or 50BMG was necessary. I now would only use a Hornady XTP hollow points in my .44s on east coast black bears.

Carry the 1911 with the buffalo bore ammo and don't worry about it.

 

[Adam_MA]

Springer once killed a grizzly with his breath!

True story!

 

[Higgy]

Make sure you grind off the front site, So when the bear sitcks the gun up your A ** it doesn't hurt !

LOL, that's a good one.

Anyhoo, the .45 ACP was designed as a battle round. Was it John Browning who invented the .45 ACP round as well as the 1911? Not sure, but I recall that its was due to the good stopping power with full metal jacketed bullets that made the US Army adopt it. It was meant to kill man-sized targets.

That said, there's nothing that makes me more squeamish than seeing a Northeastern Black Bear skinned. It looks like a human corpse! Well, at first glance, anyway. Here's the thing: bears have larger bones, and much-tougher skeletal structure than we do. They ain't no grizzly, but they do get rambunctious. We've been fishing up on the Dead River, and others in Northern Maine with bears all around us - poking around our tents - checking us out -spilling our cooler of beer out on the ground. A shot or two fired into the bank, or over their heads will send 'em running.

 

[springer]

LOL, that's a good one.

Here's the thing: bears have larger bones, and much-tougher skeletal structure than we do. They ain't no grizzly, but they do get rambunctious.

I have to disagree with that. Every eastern black bear that I ever seen skinned hasn't had bones much larger in diameter than a medium sized pig or an adult human. The bear that I got this season was small 4 feet 250lbs. It's ribs were the size of lamb ribs and were easily cut with just a knife. With the exception of the skull, I wasn't very impressed.

I spend alot of time in the deeper woods in the lower 48 and I've never seen black bear rambunctiousness outside of Alaska. Bears here know we are at the top of the food chain and a threat to them. In Alaska bears don't know what people are and dismiss you as a threat and if you run, see you as food. None of that exsists here.