Best .45 ACP round for black bear protection

[Granygudness]

If I chose to carry a 45 for bear defense, I would carry 230 grain flat nose solids or perhaps the 255 grain hardcast FN solids. Buffalo Bore and Doubletap make them both, Underwood makes the 255 grain, and Winchester makes the red45, a 230 grain. Other sources can also be found. FN solids give better straight line penetration than round nose ball along with a larger permanent wound channel.

 

[Marrs_Hills]

Wow, I never even would have thought about a .45 to go up against a black bear. Most hunters I know would go no less than a 44. But that is interesting.

 

[dneaster3]

If I chose to carry a 45 for bear defense, I would carry 230 grain flat nose solids or perhaps the 255 grain hardcast FN solids. Buffalo Bore and Doubletap make them both, Underwood makes the 255 grain, and Winchester makes the red45, a 230 grain. Other sources can also be found. FN solids give better straight line penetration than round nose ball along with a larger permanent wound channel.

Tim Sundles at Buffalo Bore agrees with you...

 

[CoElkHunter]

Tim Sundles at Buffalo Bore agrees with you...

Very interesting. I learned from reading Sundle’s tech articles on his website that a true hard cast lead bullet is much “slicker” than a copper or brass bullet and thus a heavy hard cast bullet can achieve a higher velocity than a copper/brass bullet of the same weight with a similar powder charge. What I was surprised by is the penetration through both shoulders of a black bear that Sundles describes with a 255gr. hard cast out of a .45ACP? I have those bullets for my Glock 21, but since I bought a Glock 40 10mm a few years ago, I’ve been carrying BB 220gr. hard casts in it when out in the woods.

 

[analog_peninsula]

Food for thought: graphs of bear attacks by decade and species. Also, rate of attack by population count.

 

[analog_peninsula]

I meant to include this graph.