What does it take to bring down a bear?

I have a .380 Walther for bear you would be better with a baseball bat. If your limited on what you can carry weight wise etc. a .44mag or bigger, and do a lot of practice. Most the time when someone needs to take some fast shots there all over the place. If you can like the previous post a 12 ga shotgun or both.
 
Bear spray is highly effective. However, you could get you a .357 or a .44. If you got a 3-inch barrel Ruger SP101 in .357, it could also double as a carry gun in town, as they are pretty easy to hide.
 
I appreciate all the posts! Here in NC bear attacks are absolutely unheard of, but since they are out there, I figure it's better to be prepared!
 
Bear attacks rare, usually bear spray will work so use that first if needed. 45 will work but just dos centavos from an old guy, forget the hollow points. SP, FP or JSWC for me. You won't be getting a nice clear center of mass shot if he is charging you and if he is sideways to you chances are you don't need to shoot. I want penetration.

Even old fashioned ball ammo will work better for you in a head on Bear on 4 legs coming at you shot. It will also be less likely to hang up in your gun, not a good time to have a feeding problem. This is why in the woods I am a revolver man.

Just dos centavos from a guy in bear and feral hog country.
 
Black bears kill more people per year than grizzlies- probably because there aren't that many grizzlies around. I know I would sure prefer meeting a black bear. One thing, black bears are very directional, once they start in a particular direction they don't like to change course. Last fall I was coming back from my stand for a P.M. coffee and ran into a bear- there are a lot of bears where I hunt and I'll always see tracks and maybe a bear about every 5th day. They are protected and have lost some fear. In any event as I was looking at this bear I began to realize how big it was, a really wide, flat face and little pig ears and I was probably staring at it too long cause it started popping its teeth, etc. I backed off about 40 yards and figured it wanted to keep on its route and that's exactly what it did, which again was sort of a thrill as this bear was close to 500lbs with a big raised rump. Pretty darn cool. Almost all other bears I've encountered will run. I had one follow me but it had a radio collar and was probably a problem bear.
In any event- I wouldn't worry too much. Like others I've heard a bullet- unless a brain shot- isn't going to kill a bear immediately- he can still chomp on you- the bear spray is supposed to be better.
 
Yep, you need a can of bear spray.

If you're east of the Mississippi then you don't even need that.
 
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