That sucks about your leg. I hope you are recovering.
However, while a .45 is very effective against a person, I would not want to use it on a bear.
A few years ago, a buddy was here on my place hunting whitetail with a .50 black powder. I was roofing my house just before sunset when I heard a shot. He came back to the house and I asked if he hit it. He says, I’m pretty sure I got him, so I came down off the roof, grabbed a flashlight and my Colt 1911.
It was dark and after a while, I saw two eyes glowing from the flashlight and the beast stood up, looking me directly in my eyes. I drew on him and shot. Nothing happened. I shot again and again. The buck just casually walked away. I thought I was just a terrible shot.
Eventually, we found him dead and loaded him into the tractor bucket and brought him to the house.
As we skinned him, there were multiple .45 slugs that fell out, just trapped between the skin and body cavity. They never penetrated into anything vital, just got stuck there.
Later, telling my FIL about it, he said, yep, a .45 won’t do anything to a deer.
If I had to shoot a bear, I would want something with more punch than that, at least a .357.
what loads?
A buddy of mine hike a lot in the mountains east of Albuquerque. There are black bears but pretty small. (Chased two off my property this year, probably 200 lbs max) He carries one of the super light Smiths in .357 stoked with 170 grain hard cast bullets. Fired it at the range to get a feel for it, and it split the web of his hand open. Still carries it but hopes he won’t have to use it.
It is common for bullets to go in one side, almost completely through an animal, and get trapped against the hide on the other side, without enough energy to penetrate the elastic skin to escape. So, which side of the hide were the bullet holes?
Second, it is not uncommon for a bullet to travel between the hide and the body cavity for some distance. It would be interesting to to see the wound channels your .45 bullets traveled.
Between bear raids, both men yelled and frantically sought the pistol (having forgotten the shotgun). Finally, Maurice found the pistol, pulled it from its holster and emptied the gun into the charging hulk.
The bear altered its course, and Maurice scrambled for a tree. He begged Jack to do likewise, but Jack refused to do so until he got his hands on the scattergun. Moments later Maurice felt the barrel of the shotgun and discovered Jack was on his way up the foot-thick cottonwood.
The next morning, the approximatedly 800 lb bear was found dead, about 1/2 mile away.
There was not much news coverage of my friends incident up on his place in Marias pass area here in Montana. The proper agencies investigated and found him to have defended himself against this 400 lbs sow grizzly with 2 cubs.
Roy was up on the edge of his property tending his fence line, when out of the brush she was a coming straight at him with her ears back. Roy drew and put 3 rounds of 230-gr FMJ in her neck shoulder area, then took off away from the trail about 5 yards. Roy said the bear was still coming at him, and he fired 3 more rounds into her frontal area. And again took off another 5 yards off in another direction. The sow continued to follow coming at him, so Roy fired 3 more rounds into her frontal area and she dropped taking a dirt nap.
Roy called to report the incident, and they came out and brought a metal detector to locate spent extracted shell casings. Roy was found acting within his right to protect himself against the grizzly bear attack. But they said, they wished he would have used Counter Assault Bear Spray. Roy did not have any, so they gave him a can, plus some 12 ga cracker shells, and some other 12 ga shells will rubber bullets in them.
Roy came into town and purchased a Glock 20 10mm auto now. I’m glad Roy is okay.
4. May 28, 2010, Alaska: Denali National Park: Backpacker Stops Grizzly attack with .45 pistol
A grizzly bear that emerged from a thicket and charged two backpackers in the backcountry of Denali National Park and Preserve was shot and killed by one of the two who was carrying a .45-caliber semi-automatic pistol, according to park officials.
The killing Friday is believed to be the first instance of a hiker killing a grizzly in the park’s wilderness. The killing occurred in the original Mount McKinley National Park portion of the Denali, which was expanded by two-thirds in 1980.
5. 2 July, 2010, California, Yellow Jacket Campground .45 ktvn.com black bear
Officials say the camper woke up to hear the bear going through an ice chest. He confronted the animal, and it charged and scratched the man’s face.
The man shot the bear, but it got away.
Wildlife rangers tracked the bear down and killed it late Friday.
Department of Fish & Game leading the investigation attack at 2 a.m.
From pirate4x4 quote:The man went out with a gun and tried to shoo the bear away, Macintyre said. The bear charged the man, knocking him to the ground and scratching his face.
The bear left with food, Macintyre said. The man tried to shoo it away again, but the bear charged and knocked him down again.
Macintyre said the man then fired a shot from a .45-caliber pistol, and the animal ran away.
6. 7 July, 2014, Alaska: .45 vs 9-Foot Brown Bear, .45 semi-auto
Many people claim that handguns are useless for protection against bears. Numerous examples have shown that this is a false notion. Handguns may not be ideal as defensive weapons for bears, but they can be effective. In a defensive situation, you have to use what is available. In this case, a homeowner in Alaska used a .45 against a brown bear that was trying to get into his house on July 7th of this year. He and his son were in the home. He had scared off the animal with some warning shots just three hours before.
According to Mike Porras with Colorado Parks and Wildlife, the bear came into the family’s campground while they were present and went after some food that was out.
An armed adult attempted to scare the bear by firing two shots but the bear didn’t show any fear and wouldn’t leave. The camper then shot and killed the bear and immediately reported the shooting to wildlife officers.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife has determined the shooting was justified and no charges or citations will be brought against the camper.