Bear rifle. Will 44 mag be enough?
- Thread starter Jdiep
- Start date
- Location
- Southern Vancouver Island
Likewise fer me, but my heavy 360gr WFN/LBT loads in my Rossi 92 RH ain't pleasant for lightly dressed shooters or recoil shy folks.
She be a tad booty.
Last edited:
Ardent
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
220gr .40 cal, 300gr .44, or 335gr .45, 400gr .475… it makes less difference than you’d figure. They all penetrate 3’+ of bear, that’s what they can offer, same to be said of a .45-70. .075 thousands of an inch diameter between the smallest and biggest of that list doesn’t appear to make any difference when they all go through whatever you shoot them at.
What makes the difference with slow hard bullets whatever diameter small hole it left from, is where you put them on game.
What makes the difference with slow hard bullets whatever diameter small hole it left from, is where you put them on game.
Depends on the bear, brown/grizz and polar are not the same as a black bear. A carbine will get around a extra 300fps over a pistol, roughly, no slouch at all. That being said, 12 slug and carry some bird shot as a survival? Ive seen a young black bear take a slug to the chest, drop, get back up and run to the treeline where it died. So if its charging feel free to second shot it! 4570 has stout recoil and on the plus side it can take 410 shells as well. Not sure how well levers take 410 though, mines a highwall.
I tried 410 in my double 4570 and while it did fire them. If the muzzles weren't held against the target the target was safe and I needed a cleaning rod to get the cases out. They slipped passed the extractors and needed to be forced out
As for bears being different I've seen a smaller black bear make a 80 to 90 yard run after taking a 180gr partition from a 300wm to the chest. The blood trail was like someone turned the forest floor into a red slip and slide but it still ran further than expected. The next bear #### with the same setup was shot when his nose touched the bait barrel. He died with his nose still touching the barrel.
As for bears being different I've seen a smaller black bear make a 80 to 90 yard run after taking a 180gr partition from a 300wm to the chest. The blood trail was like someone turned the forest floor into a red slip and slide but it still ran further than expected. The next bear #### with the same setup was shot when his nose touched the bait barrel. He died with his nose still touching the barrel.
Every bear is a unique and beautiful snowflake. But from what I've seen and heard, if any particular bear gets worked up, there's a good chance it's not going down easy. 44Mag? If I had no better options, sure. But I have better options.
That’s a very soft bullet. I’ve had separation during raking and neck shots on deer. Great broadside hunting bullet, probably my last choice for what you’re doing.
Switched to 240 xtp and haven’t recovered one of those yet in the couple deer/bears harvested.
None of the averaged sized bear or deer shot during hunting conditions with either bullet has made it out of eye sight.
Ardent
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Doing a picture test on the new improved site.
The top two I’d carry for purposeful hunting here in a heartbeat, the bottom one I’d carry for the smiles and pleasure happily when hunting casually and just to enjoy the day. Neat guns all.
Ardent
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
He’s actually making a good call if he’s limiting himself to .44 mag, going lighter and softer, you’ll see more effect from that as the .44 is velocity shy to begin with. For some reason the later period of Elmer Keith’s experiments is often forgotten or avoided due to inconvenience, he’d moved into softer HP’s launched fast at the end of his process and experiments. For whatever reason he’s remembered only for the hard SWCs though.
Photograph test as well. I prefer this method than the IMGUR ststem. In reference to the thread, I would love to use my S&W Model 29-3 44 Rem. Mag. for black bears. However, I can only dream and carry-on using my Merkel double rifle, 9.3x74R.
Attachments
Last edited:
Ardent
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
In cartridges as velocity limited as magnum handgun chamberings out of a carbine, there really isn’t a too soft threshold as they always retain enough weight due to the low speeds. Heavy, hard bullets penetrate but that’s it, hence the ‘eat right up to the hole’. That’s an academic way of saying less terminal effect.
Guys have said Grizzlies are different, yes and no. They are no harder to kill at all, in fact they’re identical in what a well placed shot with a good rifle, say a .30-06, does to black bears- even the very biggest of them. I’d love to be able to say I hunted something far tougher and more tenacious as per their reputation, but I found utterly zero difference between a nine hundred pound grizzly and a four hundred pound black bear in ending the show with an appropriate chambering for the task.
What they do differently in their last moments, is they will readily choose fight instead of flight, see the recent Alaska video. This is not a scenario you want a hard cast, slow to act round for, something with modern speed is what you’re after. Again I chose .375, as the best all round balance for stopping a grizzly as it was fast, and delivered .44 mag bullet weight. No down side.
Now again, I like .44 carbines and the like, and will happily carry one fishing on the BC coast in the Grizz as I’m very aware my odds of having to use it are extraordinarily remote when not actively trying to hunt and kill grizzlies. The advice I gave my clients was, pack your elk rifle, for many of us that’s the moose rifle. Even a 6.5 Creed would be handily ahead of a .44 as a bear rifle to put it in perspective. Anything that fits in a normal frame revolver, is a large compromise.
Ardent
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Hey, I mentioned I got an itch to build such a thing before. With 300-350s, it’s a .375 at close ranges, and would be an excellent coastal bear gun as you well know. 500s in my mind neuter the win mag on North American game, but it’s a hell of a round at the lighter end. Very nice gun.
