Is the 10mm enough for a bear gun???

Does the 10mm have enough power to kill a bear before it kills you?

  • 10mm is effective on a bear

    Votes: 65 62.5%

  • 10mm is not effective on a bear

    Votes: 39 37.5%
  • Total voters
    104
Depends.....

On how big the bear is :eek:

And as always, the smaller the caliber, the better your bullet placement has to be (and hope your gun doesnt jam after the first shot :eek:)

Bigger is better to stop a bear, But 10mm will do, shot right :D
I mean,You could probably kill an elephant with a .22 you would just need lots of bullets in the right place to do it

Muzza
 
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At least here in Colorado, it's perfectly fine to carry a handgun as long as you're in the act of hunting legally. You can carry it concealed if you want to, as long as you're hunting.
 
opinions are like butts... ( I'm being nice )

IMO, a couple things to look at here...

what type of gun do you shoot the best... if you are going to have a real self defense ( non hunting ) type of shoot at a bear, you are likely to only get time for 1 or 2 shots, so the gun you can get the fastest on target 2 shots off is best ( even if thats a 22 ) better to hit twice, than to blast in the air twice with your 500 Magnum...

now... to all these guys are posting, that saying they'd use thier Glock with these super hot 10mm loads... does the gun fire 110% reliable with those chosen loads ??? cast bullets ??? great if it does great... not so great, if you graze the bear on the 1st shot, & the case stovepipes... next, how much does this super duper slow down your 2nd shot ???

to the 44 mag revolver guys... can you get 2 shots are target very quickly... with those super duper hot loads ???

I own a Witness 10mm that I'd feel comfortable carrying, but I'd probably pick a more sane loading, my gun is not 110% reliable with super hot monster loads... I also have a large frame Dan Wesson 44 Mag snubbie with a barrel nut compensator... I know it works well with super duper loads ( I designed the gun for that use )... but it is an older blued gun, not stainless, like I like my rough & tumble outdoors guns... so I bought a Ruger Alaskan in 454 Casull last year... the gun is heavy, so that helps with a follow up shot, but it's still not as fast as my old Dan Wesson with a double tap on target shot...

if you are looking at more realistic loads for better auto reliability, or faster 2nd shot, avoid hollow points, & look at either FMJ round nose or flat points...

but thats just my opinion...
 
jgcoastie,

Interesting post. Can you elaborate on your experience with bear spray? I have used OC on people on a few occasions and it definitely works. Unfortunately, depending on weather conditions and the condition of the intended recipient, sometimes it doesn't work immediately. Also, depending on wind patterns, you can end up with a good sniff yourself. Which spray do you use and what is its range?

I have read the same studies that show its effectiveness at around 90% but agree with your methods of having spray AND a sidearm. I have a Smith 629 .44 for my "Brown Bear survival fantasies" and a G20 for my "everything smaller fantasies". lol. It was a great excuse to buy a couple of new guns.
 
if you are looking at more realistic loads for better auto reliability, or faster 2nd shot, avoid hollow points, & look at either FMJ round nose or flat points...

but thats just my opinion...
Click to expand...

Hell, I'd rather have a hard cast 147gr 9mm projectile than a 10mm or 44mag jacketed.

Jacketed ammo just means there is a soft lead wire core that was swaged in there. very weak.

Gimme hard cast solid lead projectiles any day of the week when it comes to stopping 300lb and larger critters.

For me? I'd prefer a wheelgun just in case toothy tackles me before I can draw and present. I don't want that slide out of battery.

I'd take a 10mm wheelgun with moonclips, 41mag, 44mag, 45Colt or anything similar. Double action, though. No single actions... tricky to thumb that hammer back while wrestling with a critter.
 
REDHAWK... sorry... I was refering to use in a semi auto, if cast bullets didn't work as well...

I'd also prefer a hard cast bullet in my revolver ;)
 
Heavy hardcast 44 from buffalo bore as a minimum 300 grain and in a ruger redhawk as some s&w's can't handle them. or larger and the spray. You don't reaaly want to injure a bear.
 
While not optimum it would be better than a sharp stick... provided the right ammo is used.... that is the sticky point...most ammo for the 10 mm is geared toward the human predator and wouldn't be suitable for bear mainly because of bullet design.
 
Does the 10mm have enough power to kill a bear before it kills you?

A 22lr has enough power to "kill a bear before it kills you".

The question is:

Do you feel lucky, punk?.... Well.... Do ya?



Far, far too many variables.
Power removes variables. More power removes more variables.
How many variables are you comfortable controlling yourself versus having them eliminated from the equation?
 
I think that a 10mm could possibly be effective under certain circumstances but realistically if you are going up against a bear you want a rifle or a shotgun. Some guys do hunt bears with super pistols for sport so I would ask one of them what pistol load would be best at dropping a bear. Never know though you may get a lucky head shot! :)
 
bears

Some guys do hunt bears with super pistols for sport
Click to expand...
I am reminded of the legendary Fred Bear who hunted Kodiak bear with a bow and arrow. At the time, before the really big cartridges of today, he carried a .44 magnum as his own backup gun.
More telling is that fact that he had also a guide as a back up; he was armed with a .375 H&H.
That, for me, is the point. I know that it would be/is inconvenient to carry a rifle when hiking or fishing. So we opt for pistols (bear spray is probably better). BUT.....if an animal is charging, it seems to me that I don't just want to shoot it and kill it, I want to stop it....right there and now in it's tracks. It's not going to happen with a handgun under the vast majority of circumstances. Optimally, you need a rifle that is big enough like a .375 or a .416 or a .458, etc.
I carried a 10mm while hiking in AK in the Wrangells and fishing on the Russian river. I did not feel comfortable.
Just my .02.
Pete
PS - the poll question. The original question and the poll choices are really quite different. The original question requires only a yes/no answer.
 
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Is 10mm ideal? Absolutely not (nothing short of a centerfire rifle or slug-loaded shotgun is ideal for bear). Is 10mm a bad idea? I don't think so. No handgun made has enough energy to knock a bear off of its feet so the two main concerns are placement and penetration. With 180grn or heavier FMJ or Hardcast bullets in full-power loadings, 10mm certainly has plenty of penetration and a Glock 20 has less recoil than most magnum revolvers.
 
Well It might just be me but I know that i can definetly shoot faster more accuratley with a semiauto. I can shoot more accuratley with a revolver, but they are slow steady shots. My semi unload-the-clip-as-fast-as-you-can practices are from short ranges, and usually I can get 8 out of ten on a human size target within 30 feet. It just seems to me that with a creature that big once it got pretty close you could get 5 to 10 shots of 10mm in it in a few seconds.
 
The smallest caliber I would use against a bear is a .44 magnum. I would prefer larger.

A 10mm is woefully inadequate. Might as well use a b-b gun.
 
I have both and if I could only carry one or the other, I would carry my .44.

Please see my post in the other thread. http://www.thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?p=3410261#post3410261

How about Desert Eagle .44?

I have a BFR 45-70 and that would be my first choice only after lots of practice in a timed course so I can pull it fast enough to do any good, and after lots of practice with pepper spray so I will instinctively draw both at the same time and spray like a mad man.

Please read my post in the other thread. I have lots of experience with spray...Not on bears, but experience non the less.

Mel
 
I'll jump on the bandwagon about bears and say that the 10mm is not enough. Bring a howitzer. You never know. Sometimes a bazooka isn't enough.
 
What is bear spary and what does it contain to make supposedly effective. Disregard just googled it pepper spray,err windy day bear charging yikes no thanks give me a 500 S&W
 
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