Bear attack in your tent

While a handgun is not good for bear defense I think the importance of shot placement has been lost. Stories of how a person was shot in the leg to prove that it won't help with a bear don't make a lot of sense to me. We all know that shooting a bear in the leg isn't going to do the trick.

I would guess that having enough rounds to get a good shot in the heart, spine, etc. is the best thing you can do if you're forced to fight a bear with a pistol.
 
Sleep with a Ka-Bar clenched in your teeth and one eye propped open with a toothpick ... (Groucho Marx had a joke that went something like "how he got into my pajama's, I'll never know" that seems oddly appropriate for this situation).
 
One is in your tent w/you you're in a real bad place. it's not like shooting one at 50 yards. No gun is a reliable DRT bear stopper. handgun I'd want at least a .41mag w/hardcast. It may kill it but you're probably going to get hurt. 12ga. w/slugs would be better but you will still probably get hurt.
 
For a bear attack, all I need is a .38 or 9mm.

When the bear comes at me, I'll shoot myself. It will be less painful and terrifying that way.:barf:
 
While it wasn't one of the OP's questions, and therefore kind of off-topic, it's at least about bears -

electric bear fence

I have no experience with this, but I'm thinking of getting one for car-camping. It does seem a little bit heavy for backpacking...
 
Myself and most folks I know sleep with a revolver in the fart sack with us. By the time you get unzipped and get your hands on a rifle, you are already getting dragged out of the tent.

At least with a revolver in the bag with you, (I keep mine next to my hip) you can shoot through the bag if necessary. I also keep a red Krill light on inside the tent to avoid being disoriented if suddenly awakened.
 
When it happened to me I was in a little 2 hoop 4 lb Moss backpacker tent.I can't explain why,but I gave him a not very hard bump across the face with my Win 97.He jumped back about 30 yds.I think it surprised him.But he was a big boy and he was coming back.
Bought the tent new for the trip and kept all food away from it.The answer to the usual question about my wife(who was with me ) was "No"
I will agree,sometimes people do things to bring it on,but bears don't always operate according to Hoyles Book of Proper Bear Behavior.It seems some of the bear experts become bear scat upon occasion.We did decide the oversight of using baby wipes for personal hygene could have contributed.We also discovered we were in a dumping ground for problem bears from the pipeline construction
I support the gentleman who suggested sabot copper 12 ga slugs.There are other good choices
In my opinion,the circumstances of hunting are far more likely to give the hunter an opportunity to chose the moment and precisely place a shot.I don't understand how a smaller weapon is more OK for an up close and personal violent need to defend oneself.
My choice would be to come up with a .44 at the minimum.
 
One thing is for sure in this thread.

The decision you make can save your life or kill you.

Ninety percent of the deal seems to be solved when you assert that bears are very dangerous and deserve your respect and fear and you need to be armed and ready if ever this situation occurs.

Kind of like everywhere else humans are come to think of it.
 
To your original question:
I'd try and find something like a punch bullet load for the .357, and something like a flat point for the .40, and take both.
 
This has to be one of the most common threads on this board over the last eight years. I propose a sticky post about bears-and-handguns threads called "file off the front post." :rolleyes:

'bear' found 49924 times in 32969 documents
'handgun' found 105537 times in 78467 documents
complete matches found in 2748 documents
Click to expand...
 
Shot placement

OK. People have mentioned a lot of different weapons.
So where do you place the shot(s) for the different rounds?
I know. I know. If a bear is stomping on your tent, with you in it, you'll take anything you can get...
But if you're in a face to face with,

black bear
brown bear

what are you aiming for?
 
As the late Col. Cooper said, if you are not allowed to take a gun into bear country, don't go. As for a tent gun in black bear country, I'd vote for a double-action revolver, .41mag or .44mag minimum, with a 4" barrel. Or the Ruger Alaskan may be even better for a tight fight. Because you are liable to be contact-shooting the bear on top of you, while he is eating your face.

I live in black bear country and they badly hurt people here three or four times a year. Even the smaller bears have attacked people. I keep a Smith .44mag Mountain Gun handy, or a 4" Redhawk, with heavy bullets. But in the 12 years I've been here, I've never shot a bear. In fact, I've only seen them at night, crossing the road in the headlights.

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I do quite a bit of solo camping in grizzly country. I sleep with a Redhawk loaded with 330 grain Hammerheads in my sleeping bag. I just don't think a long arm would be very effective in the confines of a collapsed, tangled tent. It is not possible to be 100% safe in bear country, that is a large part of the allure. I think though, that I would have a fighting chance with this revolver close at hand. This past August I was sheep hunting and poked my head out of the tent. There was a grizzly on the ridge above me. I find it hard to believe with their noses that he did not know I was there. I wonder how close he may have been over the night. I was canoeing the previous summer and had to camp at a far less than ideal location because of a stiff wind that made progress with canoe impossible. I climbed up cut bank and pitched my tent right on a bear trail, as that was the only spot that was not covered in thick underbrush. At about 3am, I was awakened by a very large animal outside my tent. I jumped up to unzip the tent and heard the sound of rapidly retreating footsteps. Never got a look at it, but almost certain it was a grizzly. Could have been a black bear. Another thing to consider is having bear spray available. Even without direct contact, this stuff is nasty enough to possibly deter a bear with spray in the air. It would not be pleasant for you of course, but would be better than getting mauled.
 
I sure as hell wouldn't want a bunch of semi-auto FMJs, I'd rather have 6 more powerful rounds. I take my 6" SW .357 (7 rnds) camping loaded with 180gr castcores for superior penetration and 625+ ft-lbs. I'm sure Buffalo makes an even more powerful 180 gr. If I were in Alaska or some place where I was really concerned about bears or hawgs, I'd probaby go out and buy a .44 Mag for that trip....
 
A couple of years ago two of my uncles were charged by a black bear while hiking. The noise of their .357 was enough to scare it away. One uncle now carrys a .44 and a change of underwear.:)
 
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